Thailand Does What America Tells It To

In recent weeks we have had much of the same old nonsense from the Land Of (lost) Smiles. Mr Abhisit saying, we’ll do this, only for his deputy Mr Suthep saying, no we’ll do it this way. Do they even talk to each other? Is it a carefully orchestrated campaign or just Mr Suthep intent on making Mr Abhisit look the fool, most of the world see’s already?

Dominating the news recently is the news that Viktor Bout, Russian Arms dealer, who has been in Thai custody since his arrest, has been shipped off to America, to face charges there, after both America and Russia wanted the arms dealer. Thailand had to be allowed to go through the ‘mascarade’ of pushing the extradition case through its court system. Anyone who thought that Mr Bout would be going anywhere other than America is probably someone who thinks that the Democrats stand a chance of winning any free and fair General Election! I wonder how long it will be before the Thai military start to show off its new and shiny American made weapons/tanks/aircraft that suddenly start appearing and have nothing to do with Viktor Bout going to the States.

There seems to be alot of speculation concerning whether the military are planning another military coup. I have read some interesting posts on the subject but can’t say I can see the need for one. Quite simply speaking, most people who know how Thailand is governed will tell you that the military are in charge at the moment through CRES. The pass-the-parcel has been going on recently, Abhisit saying one day that it is up to CRES when the SOE is cancelled in Bangkok (and other areas), only for CRES to come out a day later saying it is up to the PM. Why would they be playing pass-the-parcel over this issue? If you have read my blog you will know that I do not have a very high regard for Abhisit, but he could definitely score some “brownie points” if he took the bull by the horns and said, OK, as the decision is up to me, I will lift the state of emergency.

So why does he not do this? Could it be that under the SOE and Emergency Laws, the Thai military can detain and torture anyone they wish, without much cause? Could it be that he would have to release or even try the main UDD leaders in a Court of Law (hopefully courts still operate on grounds of law and proof being required to find someone guilty?). It is believed that there are more than 200 people still being held in Army detention without proper recourse to the criminal courts, even though their cases might be going through courts right now. This figure does not include people serving time in jail right now, who have been found guilty (often in their absence from court) of violating the Emergency Laws, purely because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many documented cases of people signing false confessions out of ignorance and/or fear of more beatings. Do we hear anything from Amnesty International Thailand? The trouble with AIT is that it is staffed by people who owe allegiance to the Peoples Alliance for Democracy, also known as PAD (or Yellow Shirts). I’m pretty sure that Amnesty International must be secretly pulling its hair out when it comes to their Thailand ‘division’.

Meanwhile as I write the Redshirts will be gathering on Ratchaprasong intersection, in a symbolic rally to remember the 91 people who died 6 months ago. I feel it is disgraceful that nothing has been done so far to right the wrongs of April and May this year. It would seem that Abhisit’s idea of reconciliation is to buy time to cover-up the crimes committed by the Thai military, rather than trying to find out who killed the people. If Mr Abhisit is worried that he will face charges in International Criminal Court for Crimes Against Humanity he is doing a good job of trying to hide the evidence. If he was innocent of blame, should he not be showing evidence that proves he did not order the crackdown? The fact remains that Abhisit and his closest confidents are acting like guilty men trying to hide evidence of their wrongdoing.

I hope that the United Nations International Criminal Court see’s that the document presented to them from Robert Amsterdam holds enough merit to order an investigation into the whole affair. You cannot order a crackdown on your own people and expect to get away with it in todays modern world. You cannot shoot your fellow citizens without facing charges. If Thailand continues to “look the other way” and does nothing to investigate the killings of April and May 2010, then surely the UNICC has to do it for those that died. If Thailand had truely followed “internationally recognised crowd control methods” (as CRES spokesmen are happy to say) then no one would have been shot and everything would be OK now, but they clearly didn’t follow accepted measures.

Thailand is a marvellous country. I love the country, that is why I blog about it, if I didn’t care I wouldn’t write the extent I do. Thailand at the moment is a sick country. There is a sickness at it’s heart. It would be too simple to say that the sickness is called the Democrat Party (or even in coalition that supports the current govt). The sickness infects not only the heart (government) but the lungs (military) and eyes (police) and brain (judiciary). All these things need radical reform.

The Disappointing Mr Abhisit (part 3) continues to disappoint

This is the third time I have returned to the same subject and I’m sure it won’t be the last time either. Hopefully I do bring something new each time I broach this topic, but that’s for you (dear reader) to work out.

After nearly two years “in charge” it is starting to become obvious to outside observers the truth of the matter.

The Democrats were “helped” into government by the military, that’s pretty much accepted now. It shouldn’t be overlooked how much help the judicial system gave to paving the way and ensuring there were no trip-ups on the Democrats road back to power.

We all know that the government in Thailand was “an acceptable face” for where the power really is. So in a way I have to apologise to Abhisit for my earlier blogs about him being a useless leader. It’s becoming clear that he is not the real leader of Thailand.

So who is the de facto leader? We can hazard guesses and if a scatter-gun approach were adopted then you might be lucky and say the right name,  but I am mindful of the Computer Crimes Act in Thailand and how it is used to silence the press. I will not name any candidates for who is the real leader as I don’t wish to break the law.

The government of Thailand is a military one that was hiding behind the Abhisit led coalition government but since May and the world seeing the army in Thailand shoot it’s own people, CRES was set up to oversee the trouble. Five months later and CRES is still there. Still in charge, the military telling the civilian government what to do.

Yet again it’s Amazing Thailand..

Thailand In Need

As if the political problems of Thailand were not enough to be getting on with,  another scandal has arisen that has the ordinary people annoyed at perceived inaction by the authourities.

The scandal of course is the open sale of child pornography in public places in and around Bangkok.

The story broke nearly two weeks ago,  credit for this goes to the Bangkok Post.  Anyone who wants to follow this story would do well to follow “freakingcat” on twitter.

If the selling of child pornography is not vile enough the whole sorry saga highlights the pressing need for a close look at the Police in Thailand.

It is a policeman’s duty to uphold the law. There are allegations that there may be police officers protecting people who are selling these dvds.

If this is true you will not get results by taking the route The Nation newspaper took (until recently) of trying to ignore the problem.

The problem of child pornography and possible police extortion will not go away if nothing is done. I believe that the issues have grown to such an extent that the Thai people expect their government to take radical action now.

Failure to act is not an option.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Biggest Hypocrite of all?

Just when I thought I knew who the biggest hypocrite was in Thai politics, along comes Kasit Pirom and gives a speech to the United Nations, the likes of which propel him to the top of the hypocrite chart! But hold fast and wait a minute. Let us not race to judgement. Lets take a little while to study things a bit (or this will be a very short blog – and that would never do!).

Kasit was making the speech because Thailand wants to be considered to be invited on to the Security Council in 2017, when a vacancy comes up. So there is a reason for the speech given. In fact, there is reason to say what he knows the world wants to hear. But the question remains, does he realise that the sea of faces he saw, as he gave his speech, with faces in stunned silence were aghast at his audacity and expediency and not at his clever word-play or in awe of Thailand’s many achievements (extolled by the former UN Ambassador).

I could if I wanted reproduce the whole speech here, it isn’t a long speech, but it is also a very dull speech and I will save you from having to read it all. What I shall do here is pull relevant sections from the speech to illustrate not only Kasit’s hypocracy but also a general malaise that effects the Democrats.

Mr Kasit in his speech starts off talking about all the ‘divides’ in the world, that we strive to overcome and despite all this “Thailand was ready to help the world cross into a better future”. As long as Thailand does not offer its Army as the means by which this assistance can be given.

“The Thai Government was committed to democracy, good governance and human rights and was resolutely working to heal the political and social division in the country, setting up an independent fact-finding commission to look at tragic events earlier this year.” Of course he fails to mention that this “independent fact-finding commission” is not looking for the people who shot the Red Shirts, but is in fact looking for ways to promote reconciliation that does not include any ground given (or blame taken) by the present government. One sided reconciliation does not make for peace and is called ‘capitulation’.

“The Government also recognized that some political grievances arose from economic disparities in society and it was working to bridge economic and social gaps.” Not only is this a very narrow view of the causes of the unrest in Thailand, it is an attempt to ‘gloss over’ the real reasons, I wont go over that well-worn ground right now!

“Thailand, a developing country herself, believed in greater cooperation between developing countries. It had achieved most of the Millennium Development Goals and was ready to share knowledge and experience, especially in alleviating poverty and improving well-being.” I doubt that the “Millennium Development Goals” included enacting a law that strips people of their Human Rights. The easiest way that Mr Kasit’s government could alleviate poverty and improve well-being would be to call a general election so that the people could decide to elect a government that isn’t dominated by the Democrat party!

All of this pales into insignificance when he got to his final section in his speech and where my loudest cries of hypocrite stem from. “Development was linked to human security which was linked to human rights, a core principle of the Thai Government, he said. As a member of the Human Rights Council, Thailand aimed to make it more effective through a more even-handed approach that engaged concerned countries to forge consensus. Instead of mere criticism and imposition of values seen as foreign, we must persuade countries to understand human rights were values common to all.” This is all said with a straight-face, no hint of a smile, but then Mr Kasit has been chief amongst the government of Thailand in trying to stamp out the smile in the Land of Smiles. I can imagine jaws-dropping open in surprise that he had the front to say this whilst his government is looking at extending Emergency Rule (in Bangkok at least) that marches all over peoples Human Rights, effectively stripping people of even the most basic Human Rights. I think it is for this reason that Kasit Pirom has out-done his leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and has become the biggest hypocrite in Thailand today.

Open Letter to Abhisit from Robert Amsterdam

I hereby copy (verbatim) an open letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand, written by Robert Amsterdam in his legal capacity as council for Thaksin Shinawatra. I do so in the knowledge that most Thai people will not be able to see Mr Amsterdam’s website as it is no doubt blocked by the government. I believe people can still read this website though (mostly because I am no one of any great importance!). The letter makes for interesting reading…

September 23, 2010
Hon. Abhisit Vejjajiva
Prime Minister of Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
(By email: email address removed by me for possible legal reasons)
Re: Thailand’s Violations of International Law

Dear Prime Minister:

As you now know, this law firm acts as counsel to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and as advisors to Thai counsel for members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) charged criminally in connection with the socalled Red Shirt demonstrations in Bangkok in April and May 2010 (referred to here as the “Demonstrations”). We are writing to you in your official capacity as prime minister, and in your individual capacity as an individual of interest under international criminal
law standards.

We have written you twice – first on June 29, 2010 and subsequently on August 6, 2010 – to notify you of Thailand’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to perform a genuinely independent and impartial investigation into the deaths of more than 80 civilians killed during the Demonstrations. We also notified you of your duty under the ICCPR to provide defense counsel for the charged UDD members with the opportunity to review all evidence, and we requested access to same. You have not responded to either of our communications.

It is increasingly apparent that your government does not intend to comply with its obligations under international law, but is instead engaged in a cover‐up of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Thai Royal Army against unarmed civilians during and after the Demonstrations.

On April 20, 2010, you divested the police of its legal authority to investigate the killings, placing that authority instead in the Department of Special Investigations (“DSI”). For more than four months, the DSI conducted no investigation into the killings. It made no effort to comply with the Thai Code of Criminal Procedure, requiring a presentation of all available evidence – including evidence regarding the identity of the perpetrators, and evidence to justify the use of deadly force – to the Courts, which are in turn required to issue findings regarding the identity of perpetrators of the killings. (See Code of Criminal Procedure of Thailand, Division II, Section 148, et seq.)

Nevertheless, your government arrested and formally charged UDD leadership with responsibility for the civilian deaths – having conducted no investigation into the cause of the deaths – in violation of these defendants’ due process rights. As of this date, nineteen UDD leaders remain arbitrarily detained.

On August 28, 2010 – more than four months after the first killings during the Demonstrations, apparently in response to public outcry – you finally instructed the DSI to form committees to investigate the facts. In this regard, we note that the DSI is neither independent nor impartial, in that it answers to the Center for Resolution of Emergency Decree (“CRES”), created under the authority of the Emergency Decree dated April 7, 2010. The CRES has repeatedly accused the Red Shirt leadership of conspiring to overthrow the monarchy, while the Emergency Decree remains in effect even though conditions in Thailand have largely returned to normal. These circumstances are fundamentally inconsistent with any notion of investigative independence and impartiality.

Your refusal to dissolve the Emergency Decree and return investigative authority to the police is a strong indication of a cover‐up, in the face of numerous eyewitnesses and video evidence indicating that members of the Thai military are responsible for the more than 80 civilian deaths. The CRES transfer of investigative authority away from the police department on April 20, 2010 put an immediate stop to the investigations by the Royal Thai Police, which were in progress. The DSI is in possession of autopsy reports for all civilians, but none have been provided to the defense team for our clients or to the relatives of the victims, nor has the DSI provided the defense team with any close circuit video footage of the Demonstrations and their dispersal. No member of the Thai Royal Army has been arrested or even interrogated, despite extensive photographic and video evidence clearly identifying soldiers who appear to be discharging their weapons into civilian crowds. The DSI has never summoned other witnesses, including, for example, management personnel at buildings used by Army snipers to inquire into how troops obtained access to tactical positions atop those buildings, or authorities of the Bangkok Transit System to ascertain the identity of Army personnel who were videotaped atop the Sky Train on May 19. Indeed, the DSI’s months of delay have resulted in stale evidence and a general difficulty identifying witnesses.

Indeed, the government has created an ongoing atmosphere of intimidation in Thailand, which discourages witnesses from speaking openly about the events. The continuation of the Emergency Decree itself – which permits authorities to exercise extraordinary measures against suspects – creates an improper chilling effect. At least three UDD guards have died of unnatural causes since the end of the Demonstrations. CRES continues to use its powers to freeze assets of individuals associated with the Red Shirt movement, leading to fears of financial investigations in retaliation for unwelcome opposition. Various incidents involving M79 and rocket‐propelled grenade have been blamed on the Red Shirt movement by the state‐controlled media, without evidentiary support. The DSI recently dismissed credible allegations of financial wrongdoing involving funding to high‐ranking members of the Democrat Party, signaling a continuation of the double standard employed by Thai authorities to the detriment of the Red Shirt movement. All of these circumstances contribute to the reasonable appearance that your government cannot be entrusted to conduct an independent or impartial investigation into the civilian killings, while it holds the UDD leaders criminally responsible for the deaths.

We again remind you that failure to ensure a remedy for the victims of serious crimes such as extrajudicial and/or arbitrary killing can itself constitute a violation of the ICCPR. Additionally, the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court imposes criminal responsibility against military and civilian superiors who fail to submit crimes against humanity for investigation and prosecution if they knowingly or consciously disregard information that clearly indicates the commission of such crimes by subordinates within their responsibility or control. See Rome Statute, Art. 28(b)(III).

This doctrine is also a matter of customary international law, applicable to Thailand. Given the conduct described above, it is apparent that there is a resolute unwillingness and inability on behalf of the Government of Thailand to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into these crimes against humanity.

We suggest that you govern yourself accordingly.

Sincerely,
Robert R. Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM & PEROFF LLP
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
cc: Madam Navi Pillay (by email)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland
cc: Mr. Geert‐Jan Alexander Knoops (by email)
Knoops & Partners Advocaten
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

PAD’s 4 Point Reconciliation Plan

In a strange twist, 3 times convicted criminal Sondhi Limthongkul told assembled press of PAD’s new 4 point reconciliation plan and on the face of it it looks surprising. It is only when you look a little closer that it falls apart. Sondhi’s words will be followed by comments in italics by me.

1. Uphold the rule of law. The litigations linked to the turmoil, including those involving the PAD and ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, must be resolved through the judicial process. Thaksin must stop undermining the rule of law, directly by resorting to violence and indirectly by using the political party to fix his legal predicament. The PAD is determined to fight all charges and will accept the judicial decision.

All of a sudden PAD are prepared to fight their cases in court? In a few months it will be two years since the PAD called an end to its illegal occupation of Suvranabhumi Airport. I suspect that they have been given assurances from govt that if they have their day in court, that they wont be found guilty. If this is the case, it is further proof (were more needed) that the Thai Judicial system is politically motivated and directed. I am pretty sure that Sondhi would be hiding away in Hong Kong, as is often his wont, if he felt he might have to serve time for being found guilty of the many crimes he has been convicted for.

If the courts trying the PAD leadership where going to be impartial, and transparent, I think the Red Shirt side could agree with this sentiment.

2. Uphold the monarchy. All activities deemed offensive to the country’s revered institution must cease.

As far as I am aware, no one on the “Red Side” is talking about making any changes to the institution of the Monarchy in Thailand. Claiming that the monarchy is somehow ‘under threat’ is the war-cry of those that have ‘lost the argument’. What I mean by this is people who argue against the Red Shirts will eventually resort to saying the Red Shirts are somehow a threat to the monarchy. They do so because they only have to make the accusation, they don’t have to prove whether they are right or not.

Note also the second sentence in number 2 above; “All activities deemed offensive to the country’s revered institution must cease.” Seems pretty clear but remember, there is no threat from the Red Shirts to the institution and who decides what might be ‘deemed offensive’? I think the Red Shirts could agree with this point too.

3. Root out courruption. To achieve this, politicians must reform themselves because most graft violations have stemmed from politicians.

Just when you thought PAD might actually be making some sense and being conciliatory they come out with this ‘doozer’. As if politicians are going to self-police themselves to root out corruption! Oh yes, in the current climate of reconciliation as proposed by PAD I would like to resign my seat in Parliament because I have acted in a corrupt way and taken multiple bribes and participated in corruption! That isn’t going to happen is it?

I’m not sure whether 3 times convicted criminal Sondhi Lim is being naive or making ‘soundbites’ that he knows will never come to be. There is a third alternative theory behind him making this statement, that he can say later, that the govt is not interested in reconciliation, because they wont do anything about corruption. In a similar way that you can make aspersions about perceived threats against the monarchy, you only need to hint at ‘rampant corruption’ in order to tarnish a govt. A recent report said there is more corruption now than ever there was under Thaksin Shinawatra.

Of course it must not be forgotten that Sondhi Lim is a spokesman for the New Politics Party that ‘promises to reform Thai politics’ (not in a way that the ordinary Thai person would necessarily like and this statement could be ‘loading the ammo’ in his gun, ready to shoot at the government later. With a ‘friend’ like Sondhi Lim, who needs enemies?

4. Oppose amnesty. The PAD suspects the amnesty bill has an ulterior motive to absolve officials involved in the botched operations to rein in protesters. Under the draft article 6, all officials responsible for the crowd control will be pardoned and shielded from prosecution. The bill will benefit former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his deputy Chavalit Yongchaiyudh rather than those participating at rallies since they were not targeted to strand trial anyway.

Sondhi Lim again demonstrates that he considers the death of 2 PAD members as more important than the near on 100 that died in spring 2010. He seems to be ignoring this fact altogether. As a matter of interest, to my knowledge (in other words I could be wrong here) but one person died as a result of injuries she received from a gas canister that was fired by police in an attempt at crowd control (many have speculated that her injuries might be consistent with carrying an unexploded canister under one arm) the other death was as a result of cardiac arrest. A selective memory works on both sides (as I have just demonstrated) and reconciliation can never work or indeed make any progress if one side or the other has ‘unresolved issues’.

So, was Sondhi Lim’s pronouncement productive? No! Don’t be foolish! Why the government still seem to be giving him special treatment is beyond my understanding. He has been found guilty on three occasions of defamation and sentenced to two years in jail, he should be counting his lucky stars that the government does not throw him in jail where he clearly deserves to be.

Do not be fooled, this proposal is not an attempt to calm the situation in Thailand down but a rather cynical attempt to build up Sondhi Limthongkul’s importance in the eyes of the present unelected government of Thailand.

UK Reds Demo in London

Sunday 19th of September found me standing on Westminster Bridge, next to my wife, with a big sign in my hands and a red shirt on, as you can see in the picture to the right. We had all met up perhaps half an hour earlier in the park near the London Eye. We had posed for and taken lots of photo’s of people playing dead, which is preferable to actually being dead, which the Thai Govt would probably prefer. A surreal moment occurred when laying “dead” a Hurricane and a Spitfire flew overhead, followed a short while later by the Red Arrows display team! They looked to be pretty close to the London Eye.

The day had started much earlier for me. Up at 6:30am, my wife and I had set out from our home just west of Norwich (UK), and arrived in North London at 10:30am. We found a car park just down the road from the Wood Street Train Station and got an ‘all day pass’ for London Underground, which turned out to be the best choice in the end, due to a large amount of disruption on the Underground due to engineering work.

When the small protest group (about 50 people) moved from the park near the London Eye, to Whitehall (opposite Downing Street), we had to go over Westminster Bridge. I am not too sure how it happened, but my wife and I seemed to be leading the protesters! There seemed to be a lot of interest in why we should be demonstrating, I noticed many people reading my sign in particular. I am not convinced that people unfamiliar with Thailands troubles at the moment would have understood what my placard meant; Abhisit – you can lie to the thai people but you can’t fool the world. I think other signs there would have got the message over better. “91 dead, 2,000 injured in Bangkok” seemed better IMHO.

It was a pleasure to meet Giles Ji Ungpakorn. I didn’t really get much opportunity to talk to him but he struck me as a very interesting man, in that he seemed to be a shy man with an inner confidence (and yes I realise that sounds like a paradox). Robert Amsterdam met the group in Whitehall and posed for photo’s and gave a little speech that went down well. He maintains that he has to be seen as impartial, but in the present situation it is impossible to be impartial as his speech clearly showed. The thrust of his speech being that the present Abhisit govt wont last much longer and it is trying to cover-up the murders it has ordered. They are trying to buy time to avoid being charged with crimes against humanity, believing against hope that people might forget what happened in their putting-down of the Red Shirt rally this year. As long as their is breathe in my body that wont happen!