Admission and remorse come before amnesty

“The debate itself has aggravated the divide,” writes The Nation’s editor, and, yes indeed, “all truths have their price”. And that, I suggest, is precisely why the TRCT has suggested we re-examine the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit Thaksin Shinawatra at the very beginning of his first term.

The hidden assets case in 2001 is a perfect one to revisit not only because Thaksin was found innocent on that occasion, but because he benefited enormously from the very “double standards” and “unequal justice” that so infuriate the red shirts today – and everybody else in Thailand too, as far as I can see. Indeed, everybody’s up in arms about injustice, yet nobody can let the cases go that go against them, or for them when they might be opened up even just for discussion.

The TRCT idea is not to reverse the hidden assets decision [or] take the Supreme Court justices to court for malfeasance. The damage has been done already, in a sense, and we have to live with it, just as the damage that was done when Thaksin called the snap election in 2006 can never be recalled. For Thaksin had no cause whatsoever for that crucial dissolution either, leading directly to the coup. His majority in Parliament was so iron-clad, it was already a parliamentary dictatorship, and indeed he himself almost never took part in parliamentary debates because he could enforce his will so utterly behind the scenes. Thaksin dissolved the House and called that election just to avoid having to stand up and answer questions about the sale of Shin Corp in Parliament, that’s all – billions of baht and man hours spent setting up a general election just to save his own face!

And that’s what it’s about, really: face. And why we’re where we are right now. Thaksin’s face, both his photograph and his reputation, has become a holy icon for a large section of the population who believe their leader has all the answers to everything and can do no wrong. For another, equally large section of the population, Thaksin’s face represents duplicity, greed and self-delusion, indeed everything that is wrong with any human being who thinks he really does have all the answers and is beyond reproach. 

By revisiting the hidden assets case, Thailand could learn something of tremendous importance without taking sides. It could learn that justice is manipulated when people feel something is to be gained by distorting the facts, even when the object of that distortion is for the good of the people! 

South Africa didn’t scrap justice in its truth and reconciliation years – far from it. For to benefit from that amnesty, even for torture, mayhem and, yes, terrorism against the state, each individual involved had to stand up in court and admit to what he or she had actually done. And that individual had to show remorse, and by showing remorse help the whole country to heal its wounds and grow.

Connect what South Africa did with the idea of the Thai people revisiting the “illegal” vote that allowed Thaksin to continue in politics in 2001. That distortion was engineered with the very best intentions by good people for the public good. But was it in fact “good”, we have to ask? Did the distortion help us or did it place this curse upon our heads? What is it in us that does such things? And why?

Lung Kip

Chiang Mai