Change of priority

The red-shirt struggle was not a political act at all, but a gold rush. Nevertheless, amnesty for the rank and file red shirts, who have probably done their time, should be awarded right away, leaving the judicial system to sort out the rest individually. The root of the amnesty bill was the inertia in the judicial system that allowed Thaksin to stay abroad and evade trial for crimes exposed in the Shin Corp shares sale. This needs to be addressed immediately before Thailand can move forward. Ministers involved in allowing Thaksin a new passport should be impeached. It is a good opportunity for the new attorney general to silence his critics regarding honesty and independence. Then he can crack on with helping to prosecute the 400 senior political figures exposed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. If this shows bias towards one political party, so be it.

Richard Bowler

Bangkok