Freshmen forced to dance naked at university hazing ritual in Thailand

Electrical engineering students from a private university in Bangkok’s Nong Khaem district were allegedly forced to dance naked in front of women during an off-campus “hazing” ritual.

Twitter user @RedSkullxxx posted a video of the incident online on Saturday with the caption…

“This is an off campus hazing ceremony for fourth-year electrical engineering students from Southeast Asia University. In which era do juniors need to get naked to please the seniors? There is a fine line between intellect and idiocy.”

The same account said that hazing rituals took place within the university’s Bangkok campus, but they were “normal.”

The university later issued a statement to say that off-campus initiation ceremonies are strictly prohibited. The university said will launch an investigation and punish whoever is responsible for the ritual.

Hazing rituals, locally known as “rab nong” (accepting youngsters) are banned at most Thai universities because of their long and violent history, but in reality, they have become ingrained in the Thai education system and are still rife today. Senior students often lure junior students to a secluded off-campus location where they know they will not be caught by university staff or police.

It is normal for seniors to tell junior students that they are going on a “field trip” or to a “party,” but once they arrive, they are forced to drink alcohol and subject to humiliating or dangerous tasks which sometimes end fatally.

In March, a student of Rajamangala University of Technology in Nakhon Ratchasima in northeast Thailand was beaten to death during an off-campus hazing ritual in a rice paddy. The seniors told the juniors they were taking them off campus for a football match. The 19 year old student was forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, sing, and was repeatedly punched in the stomach and chest. The elders took him to the hospital once he lost consciousness, but he died before he arrived at the hospital.

In 2014, 16 year old Pokai Saengrojrat went to a secluded beach 200 kilometres south of Pathum Thani Technical College for a night of fun with 40 fellow students. During a hazing ritual, senior students forced him to drink copious amounts of alcohol and then pressed his face into the sand. Pokai died during the ritual and a group of students brought his corpse to the hospital in the early hours of the morning, claiming he had drowned.

SOURCE: TNR