Trust the Thai courts, not mob justice

Who is right? Can we the public be judge and jury in deciding the fate of the two men accused in the Koh Tao case? How would the victims’ relatives feel if the two were released over a miscarriage of justice, when the judges of the Samui criminal court accepted evidence – however flimsy in the eyes of some observers? Shouldn’t we allow the process to take its judicial course, through the Appeals Court and finally the Supreme Court? If we cut corners we risk dishonouring the justice system. Is our court system really so bad that it deserves the insults it is receiving in Myanmar, Britain and even Thailand?

It may be fun to engage in the case as if it were an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, but we need to wake up and realise that this is a real tragedy with real victims. It should not be treated as a game of whodunit. 

Thailand’s justice system might not be perfect, but it is not dominated by “kangaroo courts”, as some guilty suspects would have us believe. In the Koh Tao matter, the court gave opportunities to both the prosecution and the defence to prove their cases by submitting evidence. Rendered by independent judges with supporting rationale, the subsequent ruling was of an acceptable standard that can now be disputed at the appeals and supreme courts. To call for that ruling to be scrapped without proper consideration of the evidence from both sides strikes me as senseless, immature and callously irresponsible – especially if the call comes from a Thai.

Songdej Praditsmanont