The worst may be yet to come

Even some highly educated and prominent Thais will not make a move until they have consulted their favourite soothsayer or oracle.

Well, I am none of the above, but I will give you a prediction for the future. And no, it isn't based on looking at the leaves in the bottom of my breakfast cup of tea. It is based on common sense.

If Thaksin Shinawatra is granted an amnesty, pardoned of his crimes, and is allowed back into Thailand to walk the streets as a free man, all the dreadful chaos and civil strife we have seen over the past few years will be but the soft overture to the dramatic and ghastly scenes and acts to follow. It will be the start of even deeper divisions in Thai society and the end of any talk of reconciliation. It will be the litmus for more mass gatherings and demonstrations, leading to further riots, violence and deaths in the streets of Bangkok and provincial capitals. And it will probably spark the 28th military coup in Thailand's relatively short experimentation with democracy.

Thais need to ask themselves: "Is this self-serving, self-centred man worth all of this?"

David Brown

Rayong