Banjerd Singkaneti (Thai: บรรเจิด สิงคะเนติ;) (born, 11 February 1964) is a Thai legal scholar, a lecturer of law at Thammasat University and a noted critic of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Banjerd completed an LL.B. at Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University. He received an LL.M. in public law from Thammasat University, followed by a Magister Legum (LL.M.) Doktors der Rechte (Dr.jur.) from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany. He returned to Thailand after completing his doctorate and now teaches administrative law and constitutional law at Thammasat University.[1]
Banjerd was a leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group active in 2006 which attempted to bring down the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.[2] He famously criticized Thaksin as being even worse than Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
The Embassy of Israel protested in a letter to the Bangkok Post, the English-language newspaper which published Banjerd's statement.
After a military coup overthrew the government of Thaksin in a coup, the junta appointed Banjerd to the Asset Exemination Committee to investigate allegations of corruption against Thaksin. He was also appointed to the Constitution Drafting Committee prepare a new constitution.
During the drafting process, Banjerd said in an interview:
I personally believe in social structure and administration through traditions and customs that we once had in small communities. It’s more real than western-style democracy because people rule by themselves. I firmly believe that we really need to look back into our village life.[3]