Calling a spade a spade in wonderland

The three are going to file charges with the International Court of Justice against the Abhisit government over the deaths of 91 innocent people killed during the Ratchaprasong riots in 2010, asking the court to see that justice is served. They feel that each and every Thai government must be held firmly to the same international standards, and that abuses must no longer be swept under the carpet by just changing the laws or simply forgetting.

Sunai and his friends will also want to consider filing similar charges against the Somchai Wongsawat government for overseeing the violent assault on yellow-shirt demonstrators outside Parliament in October 2008, in which teargas grenades ripped apart several innocent spectators.

Even more urgently, Sunai will certainly ask the ICJ to open the case against the earlier government of Thaksin Shinawatra that oversaw the extrajudicial killings of 2,500 Thais in a “drug war”, not one of whom ever had a day in court before their executions, nor their families any justice afterwards. 

And, of course, Sunai will want to include the 85 innocent demonstrators who were crushed to death in the aftermath of the Tak Bai protest in 2004, also on Thaksin’s watch, as well as the 32 unarmed Muslim teenagers gunned down by his government in the mosque at Krue Se the same year.

One other charge the Pheu Thai MP will certainly want to file at The Hague, once again against ex-PM Abhisit, would be for the deaths of demonstrators who were reputedly shot in Bangkok during the Songkran riots in April 2009. Thaksin apparently has proof of these deaths and even tried to present that proof on BBC TV immediately after the mayhem – I remember very well that he had some photos in his hand during the interview and was trying to make the information available to the public. I haven’t seen the photos myself, but feel sure it would be of great value to the ICJ.

Reconciliation can only be achieved when justice is not only done, but seen to be done, and Sunai certainly knows where to start.

Lung Kip

Chiang Mai