5	Thailand, airport, fiasco

Boonsong Kositchotethana in an op-ed in the Bangkok Post on the one-year anniversary of the anti-Thaksin PAD's seizure of the international airport. Key excerpt:

In July, there was an attempt by the police to indict 36 "terrorist" suspects, including Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who incited the mob to lay siege to the two airports. But the action, which at least showed that the rule of law does exist in this country and that justice would be served, quickly lost momentum and has been in mute mode since.

It is quite clear that very little, if any, has been done by authorities so far to make those who committed the serious crime against the whole nation during Nov 25-Dec 2, 2008, accountable.

The inaction has kept many people wondering whether the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration has double standards because other cases related to the Thai political squabbling and the convicted former prime minister are being resolved much more quickly. The lack of progress to find the culprits of the airport blockade and the fact that Mr Kasit, himself a major PAD supporter, remains as Foreign Minister despite calls to remove him, has only cemented suggestions that PM Abhisit was siding with the yellow-shirt movement. Just because Mr Abhisit's Democrat Party opposed the two previous Thaksin-backed regimes should not mean the current government can turn a blind eye on the issue. The present powers-that-be and law enforcement authorities should not get too embroiled in the political dimensions and personal political bias to blur their sense of righteousness and duty either.

As blogged back in April on the double standards:

Yes, there are differences between cases, but to bring charges against the PAD leaders in relation to Government House protests under Sections 116 and 215 of the Criminal Code took about 6 months. To bring charges against the UDD leaders for the exact same offences, it took less than a week during Songkran (see this post for details). Now, explain that.

BP: In fact, back then we had updates on the case with police telling us it was 80 percent complete, then 90 percent, but now we just hear of delays with seemingly no conclusion. Now, Thai justice is slow, but it is the double standards which are glaring.