Impeachment would be an own goal

However, Yingluck’s impeachment would be an own goal for the nation, drive us even further apart and make us the laughingstock of the world.

Impeachment is a process to remove a person from office, but how do you remove a person who is no longer in a post? Rightly or wrongly, millions of Thais believe she is being persecuted on political grounds, and impeachment would reinforce that belief.

Also, lawmakers won’t find it easy to convict her: if she was negligent, was it because she lacked the expertise to decide what steps to take and to monitor results, or because, despite having the expertise, she wilfully and with criminal intent failed to act? Not even her own party made claims for their young leader’s political acumen, instead proclaiming “Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts” in a campaign poster that made no mention of their candidate for prime minister. If we elected an incompetent, whose fault was it?

The NLA might have the legal authority to impeach a person who’s no longer in office, but what is legal is not always wise. Drop the case.

Burin Kantabutra