Thaksin got off lightly
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Post Bag
Thaksin got off lightly
Commentary columnist Veera Prateepchaikul is to be commended for writing a very truthful, very good column, ”Loose cannon with passion for revenge” (BP, Oct 27).
Thaksin wants justice, yet he lambastes the legal system. How many innocent people asked for plain, simple justice for themselves during the Thaksin administration? E.g. the little boy, Fluke, who was shot to death during a Thaksin-inspired drug bust, and Khun Angkana in the South who is still asking for justice for her missing husband who disappeared in broad daylight in Bangkok. Did Thaksin ever advocate justice for them? Did he ever go out of his way to order serious investigations?
Why should he, of all people, now bleat like a sheep that he was denied justice? He was tried by the same judiciary that tries all law-breakers, fairly and squarely. He got off lightly by all conventional standards. Other justice systems in other countries would have sentenced him to 10-20 years, no time off for good behaviour.
DISGUSTED MANGO
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Flagrantly racist pricing
Yesterday my family and I discovered one of the more unpleasant sides of Thai tourism. We decided to visit Siam Ocean World at Siam Paragon. My children were looking forward to the visit. On arrival at the premises we learned that it is 1,500 baht for family entry _ that is, if you are a Thai family. For a foreign family the entry fee is double: 3,000 baht.
I have never seen a more flagrantly racist policy which is an insult to all foreigners and should not be allowed.
How would Thai people feel if they visited Disneyland or Ocean Park in Hong Kong and there was one price for locals and a double price for overseas visitors?
The Tourism Authority of Thailand needs to stop this travesty, and I hope foreign visitors stop going to Siam Ocean World until entrance fee parity is achieved for locals and visitors alike.
Hong Kong
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The brink of anarchy / If the country is still divided by the reds and yellows who are strongly intoxicated by what they believe in, I can bet you there will be anarchy in Thailand very soon. Here we have a government which proclaims it has nothing to do with the reds, but indirectly allows all the red movements through the government media, with even the government spokesman cheering for more reds to join the red rally. On the other hand we have the yellows claiming to be righteous and fighting for justice, who have gone way beyond the limits of legality.
Now we have no one to turn to except the judiciary, which is neither red nor yellow, and also the only hope for Thais to keep the reds and yellows in order. And if either side flouts the judicial system, anarchy will prevail.
Is there a way to solve this problem? The answer lies in one word: money. The reds are supporters of Thaksin and know that he has all the means and wealth to even buy Thailand; the yellows want to see Thaksin in jail, they want to destroy his dignity, even to the extent of confiscating all his assets so as to make him poor.
If and when Thaksin is no longer that rich, the reds will have no pillar of support and the yellows will have no one to complain against. Then the country will return to normality.
However, this is only a dream that will never come true. Even if all of Thaksin’s assets in Thailand are confiscated by the Thai legal system, no one knows how much more he has stashed in foreign countries. The leaders of the reds know this, and they know that their pillar of support will always be there.
The leaders of the yellows also know that. They are worried that if Thaksin and his cronies are not nailed properly, one day they will come after them. This is what I call Thailand’s conundrum.
Is this divisiveness due to money worth it? The Bible makes that very clear: The love of money is the root of all evil. And if one day Thailand should end up split into North and South Thailand, Thaksin’s name will be reviled in history; then the reds and yellows will realise how foolish they have been, to have been the tools of this division.
MICHAEL
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Guilty as conflicted / Thaksin has declared with self-pity that the verdict against him was politically motivated, and he is right. Politics is a dirty game and if you have corrupt skeletons in the closet, your opponents inside or outside parliament are going to get you. Just ask Sarah Palin.
Certainly, when you have a destructive and self-serving government, there is going to be a big effort to bring this clique down, and they have done so legitimately through the courts, despite a clear lack of cooperation from Thaksin-loyal state officials in submitting evidence.
This is perhaps the most balanced panel of judges we’ve ever had. More importantly, Thaksin wasn’t found guilty of breaking the law, only guilty of the more vague ”conflict of interest”.
JUSTICE ABOVE POPULISM
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Bangkok Post
Tuesday October 28, 2008
