Make cheats pay the cost of new elections
Three cheers to the Election Commission for red-carding Hai Yai's major and all 24 municipal councillors, who won the race last year after buying the votes of 500 municipal leaders. It is right and fitting that public servants who seek to be our leaders a
The purpose of any punishment is both to take back any ill-gotten gains and to deter would-be crooks. In vote-buying, the losers not only betrayed the public’s trust but necessitated a by-election, for which they should bear the full cost, so that the public doesn’t lose financially from their misdeeds.
But to deter potential wrongdoers, those guilty should be fined several times the cost of the by-election, say treble damages, as in Sherman anti-trust cases, and be given a quick, fair trial on criminal charges, with jail terms proportionate to their would-be terms in office.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
