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NEW PRESIDENTS PART 2 NEW POLITICS
Posted on August 19th, 2001 No commentsWhen we wrote Chapter One some time ago it was mentioned that our new Prime Minister THAKSIN was facing a case at the Constitutional Court about his “forgetting” some few billion Baht when declaring his assets, whilst he started to run for the office as Prime Minister (PM), an offense, which could cost him his position as PM should the court find him guilty as charged.
Late July we were all guessing about the outcome. We all know, that nobody, even if super rich, forgets billions of any currency, but Thaksin claimed he did not know that his wife had transferred billions of shares to family and to servants and driver of his private household. We were all laughing at the fact that last year his cleaning maid was among the richest women in our country. Before court Thaksin claimed it was an “honest mistake “(is that not a super term?) And he should be found not guilty since he was unaware of the transactions.
Most of Thailand was the opinion that he was guilty and thus forcing him to leave his office. So it was anticipated that 15 judges of the Constitutional Court was to issue a verdict not favoring him. It was put to the public, that the Court had enough evidence to suggest that he had indirectly benefited from these transactions. The National Counter and Corruption Commission presented all the evidence needed: Among the share-transactions (shares in his Empire) was a “gift” to a friend in the amount of 738 Million Baht, but the shares belonged to Thaksin’s maid. By receiving the shares as a “gift” the receiver avoided paying income tax in the amount of 273 Million Baht. The same commission published at the same time, that the family’s driver, security guard, housekeeper and maid held shares, worth more than 1 billion. This is actually very common in Thailand among the billionaires.
It was made clear that members of the commission were sure that Thaksin and his wife had “forgotten” about rather large fortune and had tried to avoid paying taxes on same, so the big question was, how would the 15 judges solve this problem: If guilty the country would need a new PM after Thaksin had won the election by 11 million personal votes (the largest election victory in the history of Thailand) and the country needs a man with his power, if found not guilty how to explain this verdict, not alone to Thailand but to many others, outside of the country, as well, because clearly he had violated the law. Some of us expected a real THAI solution, which is NOT to take any responsibility for anything and then find some excuse for not carrying out your expected job properly. We all admit to the fact that the 15 judges were under a tremendous pressure being mainly political of course.
Thai Rak Thai is the name of his party, it means Thais love Thais, would the judges do same and free him not adhering too closely to the real legal part of the story?
The Chairman of the judges had promised a verdict latest by mid August, so we were all taken by surprise (including Thaksin) when out of the blue the ruling was published Friday 3rd August. In favor of Thaksin not guilty 8 judges, guilty 7 judges.
This was a real Thai way out of the dilemma, because the main reason for the “not-guilty” votes was that at the time he submitted his Asset Declaration he was not holding a Public Post and that the paragraph in question, which he was supposed to have violated, only applies to persons, who already hold a Governmental Post. That the declaration itself was wrong means then nothing.
Then several storms started. They did so mainly due to Thaksin’s very bad behavior. When he the same day was interviewed Nationwide, he started by accusing the 7 judges for their attitude. How did they dare to find him, the richest man in this Country, the owner of the biggest party and the most popular PM since ages guilty? Next remark was that the Court ought to be “reorganized” and since he was elected by 11 million votes and holds a very comfortable majority all over, he could do that.
Nasty rumors had it that the price was a cash payout to the 8 judges of 600 million Baht, but who will believe those rumors? A fact is however that some of the judges are soon up for retirement and a contribution to a better life from now on would be so nice. The truth is that the judges violated some basic rules applying to the “court” but since they have no persons above them, who can sue them?
Thailand is a Constitutional Monarchy in contradiction to the USA, which is a Republic. Thaksin, who is educated in the US often, compares every issue here to the States, which of course is a big mistake, let alone that the average Thais do not fancy that comparison. His second mistake now is that he tries to carry out his tasks in US style manners and considers himself being the CEO of Thailand Co. Ltd, assuming people will do whatever he says without hesitation or asking questions, as he is used to in his capacity as owner of more than 70 companies. Furthermore he operates almost as a one -man show and holds more than one position in his new government.
So the verdict or ruling raised a storm of criticisms, which he is not used to and consequently handles this in a bad way trying to use his tremendous power to kill it. The Chairman of the Campaign for Democracy has warned Thaksin. Even with 11 million votes behind one does not allow that person to violate the powers of the various political instruments all implemented by persons, who have also been elected by voters.
The chairman claims, that in a true democracy all constitutions belong to the people and if Thaksin now in his rage wants to change them it can only be done by peoples accept. No MP, no PM has the right to change this concept. Again Thaksin defended the ruling by saying that in the US a President can only be impeached the congress and not just a handful of persons (the 15 judges) and this remark shows his ignorance and confusion. Lucky for Thailand it is not based on same constitutional system.
The next storm came from all previous high ranking, now ex politicians, who just a few years back and even recently has been found guilty by same “court” and had to leave office. They had done exactly same as Thaksin, just smaller amounts, but they were ruled out of influence and cannot hold another political post for 5 years.
We have not seen the last clip of this Soap Opera. All the debates and the controversies will not stop at once of course. The ruling has left an overall impression that the democracy in our Kingdom has been given a serious blow, and the democracy here is fairly new and very vulnerable, so it is set back by years. This is a shame because Thailand has made so much progress in the last 4 to 5 years taking all power away from the generals and now for the first time in our history having a Senate completely without control from the Army.
But even if the ruling is a setback for the democracy it is not the end of all reforms being implemented. And of course Thaksin has been fathering some and trying to keep his promises but he is still far away from solving the major problem of Thailand, which is the declining economy, a situation now shared with many other Asian countries and also partly the US. The people, who voted for Thaksin is now demanding results and not only sweet words, which we here call to have a “chocolate mouth”. He needs now to deliver, but can he?
He is trying very hard, no doubt, but all the considerations you have to adhere to in politics compared to a private enterprise, are blockings, which are not easily removed. To change the course of a whole country is a big task, we all admit to that, but Thaksin does not fully understand the true meaning of getting things done by teamwork and not trying to behave as if Thailand belongs to him. Before he changes his attitude and his management policy for exercising his job properly, he will get nowhere.
He also needs to pay attention of other events, which have happened in same period as the case against was being considered. What has caught a lot of attention here recently is one big case where a State Agency has filed a suit against a former banker, who fled Thailand in 1998 apparently taking with him several billion Baht. He is just one of many who now live in luxury abroad. The former banker in question is Mr. PING, who now lives in London. The Thai Bank lost the case in London 2 weeks ago due to lack of proper evidence and furthermore has to pay Ping a substantial amount to cover his legal expenses. He now sits laughing with all his monies and laughs even more as the daily Thaksin soap opera takes the stage.
In 1997 we had a lot of white-collar crimes in connection with the financial crash. A huge amount of bankers were deeply involved in all shades of dirty business from gray to deep black. During the time up to the crisis banks loans were based on personal relationships and collaterals of any kind. All banks in Thailand are in principle controlled by the Bank of Thailand and when 56 financial houses were closed in 1997 it came to the light of the day that the actual value of assets against loans was like 1:25 meaning there was no security at all. The loans officers and managers had been paid “tea-monies” to give loans and the bank turned bankrupt. Now the Bank of Thailand has tried to take responsible persons to Court, including Mr. Pin, but failed. The prosecutors are still “waiting “for some high-ranking superman to tell them, what to do. They have evidence that top bankers have executed reckless lending causing the collapse of the banks, no bank manager has been trained in reading a business plan or a budget, so how can he know if the client lied to him, when the loan was given? A typical Thai way out of problems.
Clearly instructed by Thaksin the ruling is now, that there is not enough evidence and nobody should be taken to court. We can all make “honest mistakes!” A drunken driver hits another car, but it was not his intention to do so, it was a mistake even if violating the law.
Thaksin is now facing criticism on 3 fronts: His negative attitude against the Court, which did not free him completely, his handling of the above bank-court-cases and finally his strong negative behavior against the press if the are critical towards him.
So when wring these lines we are waiting for the publishing of the verdict of his case. On Monday 105 pages will be released to all of us stating why he could not be found to have violated the rules by intention, it was a mistake, an honest one by his wife.
Did I forget to mention that now US and Thailand have a Figure Head, who are in office thanks to corrupted judges? At the time, when chapter one was written I had no clue how many more similarities these two guys have. The judges in Thailand (in sharp contradiction to the same in the US) will Monday ask the public to air their opinion about the verdict. If the present charter used from the constitution is not acceptable, a new one has to be made! Guess who found this way out? Whatever end result the nice country needs to move on, the people deserve a break and some progress.
Hua Hin
August 2001
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