Still time to defuse rice-case time bomb
Re: “Yingluck case is an opportunity to show magnanimity”, Have Your Say, July 24.
The junta will be nerve-racked if Yingluck is convicted and imprisoned. Will she be safe in jail? Will the red shirts take it to the street? A lot of chaotic things may happen. Will the mainstream media brand the conviction as politically motivated and interpret the verdict as de facto Shinawatracide?
On the other hand, if the court acquits her, the US and the EU will slam the coup, branding it a terrorist act against a democratically elected government. They’ll say, “Poor Yingluck, she tried to help poverty stricken farmers and she got screwed by the military.”
A not-guilty verdict can’t happen, period.
The win-win situation is for the junta to secretly arrange for Yingluck to flee the country before a guilty verdict is announced. This way both sides will be happy. Yingluck can escape imprisonment and the junta can get rid of her for good. Moreover, they can use the escape to vilify her, taunt her and defame the Pheu Thai Party.
It can be done. This is Thailand.
Somsak Pola
Samut Prakan
