Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand, also spelled Porntip Rojanasunan[1], M.D. (Thai: พรทิพย์ โรจนสุนันท์; RTGS: Phonthip Rotchanasunan, born: 21 December 1955) is a Thai forensic pathologist, author, human rights activist, and cancer survivor.[2]
Pornthip is presently Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, in Bangkok. During the Thaksin Shinawatra government, she repeatedly publicly accused the police of abuses.[3] During Thaksin's anti-drug campaign in early 2003, during which more than 2,500 people were killed in what most non-government observers cited as extrajudicial killings, Pornthip claimed that some of these deaths were caused by police.[4] Other sources claim that some of the killings were carried out to silence those who knew which police officials were involved in the drug trade.
A media personality and the most famous pathologist in Thailand, Pornthip often appears on television sporting her unorthodox style: punk-rock hair dyed purplish red, eccentric clothing, and glittery eye makeup, and platform shoes.[5][6] The Thai English-language newspaper The Nation chose Pornthip, along with Chote Wattanachet and brothel-tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit as persons of the year for 2003. She was awarded the Chulchomklao (fourth degree) decoration and the honorific "Khunying" in 2003.[7]
In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, Pornthip took charge of the effort to identify victims of the tsunami in the Phang Nga region.[8] She and her team were widely praised for their hard work and dedication, but on January 13, 2005 Police General Nopadol Somboonsab complained that the police's identification centre in Phuket should have charge of all identification operations. Pornthip attributed the intervention to Nopadol's supposed personal vendetta against her.[9] Nopadol was ultimately successful, and the Phang Nga operation was closed down on February 3, 2005.[10] Her life story and her work in Phang Nga were documented in the 2004 National Geographic documentary Crime Scene Bangkok.[11]
2008 clashes between police and the Peoples Alliance for Democracy resulted in several serious injuries, but much confusion as to whether the injuries were caused by police tear gas grenades or improvised explosive devices carried by the protesters. Pornthip used a GT200 device to conclude that the protester injuries were not caused by IEDs and concluded that faulty tear gas grenades caused the injuries, leading to the removal from office of the national police chief.[12]
In the early months of the Democrat-led government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, western news agencies broke the news that up to 1,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar had been captured by the Thai Navy, beaten, then towed out to sea without engines or navigational aids and with little food and water. The scandal and subsequent government cover-up sparked global criticism of the Thai military and Abhisit. The Thai military asked Pornthip to investigate some refugee boats that had landed on Thailand's Andaman coast. Pornthip found "substances and chemicals found that can be used in explosives" in one of the boats, leading the military to link the refugees to Islamic insurgency in the South of Thailand.[13] She did not reveal what devices or techniques she had used to detect the substances.
When news of the fraudulent nature of the GT200 devices became public in 2010, Pornthip defended the use of the devices, even if they were proven ineffective. She noted, “I do not feel embarrassed if the bomb detector is proven ineffective. Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist.”[14] As of March 2011, an official English language translation of Dr. Pornthip's autobiography, containing her side of her life story and most famous cases is currently being reviewed for publication from Singapore.
In June 2009, she was one of the pathologists investigating the death of actor David Carradine.[15]
In October 2009, she concluded that Malaysian Democratic Action Party employee Teoh Beng Hock, who had been detained by the Malaysian federal Government's Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had an 80% probability of having been being murdered.[16]
In April 2010, she was appointed to the Center for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation or CRES (previously known as the Center for the Administration of Public Order), a military organization charged with suppressing protests by the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship.[17]
Dr. Pornthip's autobiography, which details her life and most prominent cases, has been translated into English and is under editing for publication. In the book, Dr. Pornthip reiterates problems with state authorities in obtaining justice for those subject to injustice, a theme carried throughout the book.