Send Thaksin Down: In Praise Of The Prison Option

[chainarong]

Thaskin should stay away, forever, if he ever returned to Thailand there would be so much mega sh!!t happening it wouldn't be funny, besides I like the quiet life.

[Gonsalviz]

I am not really interested in politics. But I do believe all countries are the same....... power corrupts and thus it is hard to have honest people in power.

Thailand currently is not a democracy, but a police/military state. Under this condition Thaksin would be crazy to surrender himself to the will of his opponents.

I read all the posts painting him as an evil person who harmed Thailand. These people obviously know nothing of the recent political history of Thailand.

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand, he was & is popular with the majority of Thais. He was ousted while he was out of the country by his opponents with the backing of the military.

Was he good for Thailand? I believe he was ... he is a good businessman and Thailand was prospering. Was he corrupt? Probably. Are there any honest politicians taking his place? Not likely. If all politicians are the same, isn't better to have one that does good things for Thailand?

His party got re elected by the poorer people because they were bought off. He had gazillionz to buy anything which is not much in reality. In other words he was elected illegally. He got caught. Not for that but other things.

[FarangGirlinKorat]

i love S. Tsow. nice work. kudos.

[ThaksinKharma]

"Just as Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to redeem sinful humanity, so do I now sacrifice my freedom to redeem the nation from the strife and conflict which, through no fault of mine, have convulsed it for so long."

Sounds good.

Go for it, Prisoner Number 999:

WOW very nice pic !!!

I liked his own words of people-get-what-they-deserve in the lower right.

[hardy1943]

I am not really interested in politics. But I do believe all countries are the same....... power corrupts and thus it is hard to have honest people in power.

Thailand currently is not a democracy, but a police/military state. Under this condition Thaksin would be crazy to surrender himself to the will of his opponents.

I read all the posts painting him as an evil person who harmed Thailand. These people obviously know nothing of the recent political history of Thailand.

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand, he was & is popular with the majority of Thais. He was ousted while he was out of the country by his opponents with the backing of the military.

Was he good for Thailand? I believe he was ... he is a good businessman and Thailand was prospering. Was he corrupt? Probably. Are there any honest politicians taking his place? Not likely. If all politicians are the same, isn't better to have one that does good things for Thailand?

The one thing about him he was not scared to hold election. WHY IS THE CURRENT ONE?

[ballpoint]

The one thing about him he was not scared to hold election. WHY IS THE CURRENT ONE?

The question should be why were the reds so scared to wait till November to hold the election? There are numerous reasons for not holding elections right now, all of them in the hands of the reds to rectify.

By the way, Thaksin was terrified of an election in the months prior to the coup. He lost the support of the CTP, failed to get a mandate in the 2006 elections, retired, came back as a self appointed care taker, was legally obliged to hold new elections, clung on, started making fake attacks on himself as a way to bring in more draconian laws, and clung on some more being removed according to the Thai tradition.

Edited July 23, 2010 by ballpoint

[carnac]

This is total trash. Thak can't be compared to Aung San Suu Kyi. He is a lying, cheating, vengeful sack of crap and she is an honorable person. Forget about this prison mess. The best thing is for somebody to blow Thak's head off and screw the reds if they don't like it. Maybe heard them up and sell them to a Brazilian gold mine. Screw em.

[hardy1943]

I do not care about Thaksin now and I did not when I came here in 2004, but under him I loved the exchange rate for my US$ 40-42 I even liked when the Military was in power they kept at 36.5 I settle for them any time over the present one what ever his name is.

[jfchandler]

Let's just hope he gets the same rapidfire justice that he and his minions handed out to so many during his reign...

[gregb]

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand = he bought and rebought the votes of the people of thailand

And let us not forget intimidating the villages who didn't support him. Who can ever forget his classic statement that he would spend the public budget to help those villages who supported the TRT first. And that is just what he said in public. I can only imagine what was said behind the scenes.

Anybody who calls the Thaksin era free and democratic is living in a fantasy world. He was one of the worst dictators Thailand has experienced in ages, and in my opinion is the biggest threat to Thailand today. He must be stopped at all costs. Thailand has to be protected, even if that means more lives lost. I want my children to grow up in a truly free country.

If only the reds would denounce Thaksin in all of his evil forms and all his wicked ways we could actually get on with reconcilliation. As it is, there is no choice but to support the military, no matter how corrupt they are, because the alternative the PT represents is even worse.

[Phuket Stan]

I do not care about Thaksin now and I did not when I came here in 2004, but under him I loved the exchange rate for my US$ 40-42 I even liked when the Military was in power they kept at 36.5 I settle for them any time over the present one what ever his name is.

Thailand was lucky in that it did not have Gordon Browne or George Bush in control of its finances...strange that people who complain about the strength of the Thai baht dont compare most Asian currencies against the $US or UK pound during the same period ...all of them have strengthened against the foolish financial policies of both Bush and Browne...Asia had its lesson (Thailand in particular) in 1997

[MaiChai]

Taksin follows a long list of dictators who tried to remain in power so they could hide their crimes. Fortunately for the country this did not happen and now he has to answer his misdeeds and corruption.

Thailand also needs to modernise and people in the country need to follow and obey laws. Just because you are rich and powerful does not mean you are excluded from this. Being uneducated is also not an excuse for not obeying laws (and alot of folks are uneducated through choice; they chose not to go to school).

If more people are forced to obey laws, Thailand will become a safer and better place to live (this includes police who are also not above the law).

Just my opinion/experience.

[ballpoint]

If only the reds would denounce Thaksin in all of his evil forms and all his wicked ways we could actually get on with reconcilliation. As it is, there is no choice but to support the military, no matter how corrupt they are, because the alternative the PT represents is even worse.

The reds and their leadership are far too entwined with Thaksin for this to take place. I would be first in line to support a totally independant movement exposing corruption, keeping politicians, police and military honest and calling for justice on all sides. There is nothing democratic about an organisation financed by a crooked politician, having leaders either self appointed, or chosen by that same politician, making enormous decisions without a word of consultation with the grass roots members (claiming the protest was all about getting early elections and then three people rejecting outright an offer by the government following the receipt of a text message from who?), and being aligned with a political party that is itself aligned with the same corrupt politician that finances the group. A true pro democracy group would have accepted early elections, negotiated to see how far they could be moved forward, be open to free campaigning by all sides (instead of bragging about how they attack and terrorise anyone they don't agree with), made it clear they would monitor the government up to those elections, made it clear they would be watching all sides for vote buying and voter intimidation, made it clear that they would accept whoever won, and made it clear that they would continue to monitor the next government's performance. Points the reds fail miserably on. Their "pro democracy" face is the biggest scam in Thailand.

[Phuket Stan]

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand = he bought and rebought the votes of the people of thailand

And let us not forget intimidating the villages who didn't support him. Who can ever forget his classic statement that he would spend the public budget to help those villages who supported the TRT first. And that is just what he said in public. I can only imagine what was said behind the scenes.

Anybody who calls the Thaksin era free and democratic is living in a fantasy world. He was one of the worst dictators Thailand has experienced in ages, and in my opinion is the biggest threat to Thailand today. He must be stopped at all costs. Thailand has to be protected, even if that means more lives lost. I want my children to grow up in a truly free country.

If only the reds would denounce Thaksin in all of his evil forms and all his wicked ways we could actually get on with reconcilliation. As it is, there is no choice but to support the military, no matter how corrupt they are, because the alternative the PT represents is even worse.

Remember when Thaksin had a lawyer serving libel writs daily against any/everyone who said/wrote anything he did not like....the young 28 year old lady reporter who had virtually no money was sued for 400 million baht...she won the case...and the time he tried to force the sale of the other english national paper....its really refreshing to see that the current PM is not suing people for large amounts of money on a daily basis...I note the the PT have inherited Thaksin's trait of suing each and everyone for silly publicity reasons

Edited July 23, 2010 by Phuket Stan

[greens]

The writer of the opinion article overlooked something: there are quite a number of court cases pending against Thaksin. His prison time might be a lot longer than just the two years he has been convicted to so far.

He didn't overlook it. He addressed it directly in this paragraph:

We do know that Thaksin is facing other charges that might be brought against him. But with all the lawyers and spin doctors he has mustered, surely he could manage to work out a deal. For him, the best deal would be for all pending charges against him to be dropped if he agrees to serve his prison term. Whether this would be legally possible is for the lawyers to figure out.

The author of this article has TOO much free time.

[Brewsta]

This is total trash. Thak can't be compared to Aung San Suu Kyi. He is a lying, cheating, vengeful sack of crap and she is an honorable person. Forget about this prison mess. The best thing is for somebody to blow Thak's head off and screw the reds if they don't like it. Maybe heard them up and sell them to a Brazilian gold mine. Screw em.

Careful that you don't prophesise the Martyr Thaksin that I fear could follow.........out of the Frying Pan (see Bangkok Riots 2010).....etc

Brewsta in Arabia

[Brewsta]

This is total trash. Thak can't be compared to Aung San Suu Kyi. He is a lying, cheating, vengeful sack of crap and she is an honorable person. Forget about this prison mess. The best thing is for somebody to blow Thak's head off and screw the reds if they don't like it. Maybe heard them up and sell them to a Brazilian gold mine. Screw em.

Careful that you don't prophesise the Martyr Thaksin that I fear could follow.........out of the Frying Pan (see Bangkok Riots 2010).....etc

Brewsta in Arabia

prophesise = [to] prophesy the....? Help!\ Any Ajarns in the house, please?

Brewsta

Edited July 23, 2010 by Brewsta

[Bagwan]

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand = he bought and rebought the votes of the people of thailand

He paid for the votes with the peoples own money.  The poor and downtrodden, by taking the money offered, ensured their ongoing misery.  The rank and file of  the red shirts might care to think about how  they contributed to their own suffering. Since nobody in Thailand takes the blame for anything this is of course highly unlikely.

[biplanebluey]

<STRONG>I was going to ask you to explain the meaning of one of your big words ,but haveing read the whole script i find there are too many of them-----forget about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif"> <IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif"> </STRONG>

[jayjay0]

Dear Mr. Tsow, Thaksin is out of the country and can't be caught - not by Thai authorities anyway. For a fleeting moment there was a 1 million baht reward for his capture, but (as most Thai promises go) it had as much credence as a Catholic priest saying he never lusted after little boys.

Prison would be too good for Thaksin. Better to let events unfold as they will: Thaksin will continue to lose money (incidentally, until his late 30's, Thaksin had never had a successful business venture) - and he will continue getting depressed. A man like him has a lot to get depressed about because he's so attached to worldly things:

Mainly money and acquiring obscene amounts of wealth, but he's also attached to continual aggrandizement of his self-image. Californians would call it 'strokes' (to his ego).

His wealth will continue to shrink and the tiny bit of respect he once had will continue to erode, and he'll wind up a wrinkled, frustrated and angry old man.

Keep an eye out for a newly written book about him titled: GUARDED CONVERSATIONS

....

What do you mean " he'll wind up a wrinkled, frustrated and angry old man. " He all ready is. I think you were being kind to him. LOL

[jayjay0]

I do not care about Thaksin now and I did not when I came here in 2004, but under him I loved the exchange rate for my US$ 40-42 I even liked when the Military was in power they kept at 36.5 I settle for them any time over the present one what ever his name is.

So it is all about money to you. Bush and Brown had nothing to do with the Euro falling in value. But I wish they had both been in Thailand instead of where they were.

Actually it is the States fault if they had been a democracy Gore would have been the president and I believe thing would have been a lot different.

Just because the current one is not afraid to hold elections is no reason to hold one. Besides the red shirts need time to build up there money to buy votes. It is not as easy as it was for Thaksin to transfer money into there coffers.

[likeaking]

If Thaksin were imprisoned in Thailand I think he would be assassinated.

[ballpoint]

I do not care about Thaksin now and I did not when I came here in 2004, but under him I loved the exchange rate for my US$ 40-42 I even liked when the Military was in power they kept at 36.5 I settle for them any time over the present one what ever his name is.

So it is all about money to you. Bush and Brown had nothing to do with the Euro falling in value. But I wish they had both been in Thailand instead of where they were.

Actually it is the States fault if they had been a democracy Gore would have been the president and I believe thing would have been a lot different.

Just because the current one is not afraid to hold elections is no reason to hold one. Besides the red shirts need time to build up there money to buy votes. It is not as easy as it was for Thaksin to transfer money into there coffers.

Conspiracy theory number 97347: By keeping the baht value high they also ensure that Thaksin gets less bang for his buck when he transfers money into the country.

[jomtienbob]

The writer skipped the most obvious simile in regards to Toxin.

One would this a certain figure from the 1930's & 40's is a far more accurate comparison.

Thanks to some visionaries and a quiet majority of intelligent ones, history is less likely to repeat itself here...

[yesdavy]

To the young lady that contrived the opening verbiage, Thesaurus in hand; you write like one that loves the sound of one's own...make that one's contrived, voice. You may wish to add naive, to your amateur byline, for reasons so obvious to those that aren't.

[Sateev]

Send him down: In Praise of the Prison Option

By S. Tsow

Special to The Nation

THERE'S a simple solution to the ongoing political standoff in Thailand. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra should surrender to the Thai authorities, serve out his prison term, and then be allowed to rejoin the political process.

I realise that there must be arguments against this that I don't know about. This is because I'm a foreigner. Foreigners never know what's going on in Thailand. Even when we think we know, we really don't. In fact, the surer we are that we know the score, the deeper is our ignorance. Why? Because this is Thailand. Thailand is like a murky stew. There will always be ingredients simmering beneath the surface that foreigners will never know about. It's a good thing, too, because ignorance is bliss.

We do know that Thaksin is facing other charges that might be brought against him. But with all the lawyers and spin doctors he has mustered, surely he could manage to work out a deal. For him, the best deal would be for all pending charges against him to be dropped if he agrees to serve his prison term. Whether this would be legally possible is for the lawyers to figure out.

Assuming that this and other obstacles can be overcome, how would Thaksin benefit by turning himself in and serving his time?

Very simple. It would enable him to paint himself as the saviour of the nation. He is the main obstacle to reconciliation between the warring camps. His capitulation would break the logjam of political gridlock, if I may mix my metaphors, and enable the government to get on with the business of running the country.

Indeed, if Thaksin were to do this, his spin doctors would go wild singing his praises. I can already hear the laudatory hosannas gushing forth from their spin-mills to inundate the planet:

"Former Thai prime minister and persecuted political refugee Thaksin Shinawatra today demonstrated his selfless love for the Thai people by surrendering to the Thai authorities.

"'I am innocent of all charges,' Thaksin proclaimed as he was led away in chains. 'But to restore political harmony to my beloved motherland, I willingly sacrifice myself for the benefit of all Thai people. I not only accept, I boldly embrace the cruel and unjust sentence that the authorities have inflicted upon me. I do this as a free love-offering to the Thai people. Just as Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to redeem sinful humanity, so do I now sacrifice my freedom to redeem the nation from the strife and conflict which, through no fault of mine, have convulsed it for so long.'"

There might even be a few brain-dead people who would buy that.

It would be a huge public relations triumph for Thaksin. The international news media would immediately stop comparing him to Silvio Berlusconi, Huey Long and Al Capone. They would lionise him as a hero and a martyr. In one cathartic moment he would vault in public esteem to the elevated status enjoyed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.

All of these great icons of the modern world became canonised in the public mind by going to prison for their beliefs. Jail time gave them an immense boost in moral stature. Simply by surrendering to the authorities, Thaksin can easily join their ranks. Once enthroned in that august pantheon, it will be hard to get him out. His immortality will be guaranteed. At least, his spin doctors will make it look that way.

Doing time in prison can transform a person's reputation, and sometimes even his character. Look at Mandela: He entered prison as a rabble-rouser and an insurrectionist. He emerged 27 years later as a saint. The same thing happened to Aurobindo. Transformed in prison, he abandoned political activity, turned to religion, wrote books of transparent luminosity on spiritual striving, and founded an ashram and a religious movement that endure even today. Gandhi and King read books in prison, prayed, meditated and thought deeply. They wrote letters and manifestos from prison that had great influence and continue to inspire reformers in every nation. They emerged stronger and wiser than when they went in.

Thaksin can do the same. Given time to read, reflect and write in prison, he can easily produce a manifesto for political and social reform that will astound the world and confound his foes. The austerities of prison life will discipline his character, soften his bellicosity, temper his vengefulness, mellow his moodiness, smooth out the rough edges of his personality. They might even purify him of that vaunting hubris which is his fatal flaw. (We're all waiting for that.)

Day by day, the public will gradually forget his reputation as an arrogant autocrat and power-mad greedhound. Honed and refined by the vicissitudes of prison life, he will emerge, like Mandela, as the very embodiment of virtue.

For all these reasons, if Thaksin wants to go down as one of the greatest figures in Thai history, he should give himself up, submit to martyrdom, and serve his time. Greater men than he have found redemption in prison. "Saint Thaksin" would make a wonderful title, but it has to be earned.

You don't earn it by shopping at Harrods.

S Tsow is a humorist and amateur theologian who can be flamed at s.tsow [at] ymail.com, when he's not in prison

-- The Nation 2010-07-23

Finally, someone who can write appears in print on the Nation.

Bravo.

[antony77]

Indeed the kudos that would arise from facing the truth and its consequences would ensure a landslide victory for Thaksin and any political party as he may be involved with.

Those politicians in the party that Thaksin was involved with wouldn't just have their hands inthe pork barrel they would be totally immersed in the pork barrel.

However the massive ego that Thaksin has will not allow him to face the truth in any way shape or form.

"Former Thai prime minister and persecuted political refugee Thaksin Shinawatra today demonstrated his selfless love for the Thai people by surrendering to the Thai authorities.

Dream on Thaksin, dream on Thailand.

Thaksin the man, (I use the word man a gender identification rather than as a statement regarding his status) could never ever face reality if it stood in front of him stark naked and punched him on the nose.

If Taksin returned to Thailand and was jailed. Millions of red shirts would besiege the jail. Taksin would edge them on to break him out and create real problems. Why do you think they let him leave in the first place?

[zzaa09]

I am not really interested in politics. But I do believe all countries are the same....... power corrupts and thus it is hard to have honest people in power.

Thailand currently is not a democracy, but a police/military state. Under this condition Thaksin would be crazy to surrender himself to the will of his opponents.

I read all the posts painting him as an evil person who harmed Thailand. These people obviously know nothing of the recent political history of Thailand.

Thaksin was elected & re-elected by the people of Thailand, he was & is popular with the majority of Thais. He was ousted while he was out of the country by his opponents with the backing of the military.

Was he good for Thailand? I believe he was ... he is a good businessman and Thailand was prospering. Was he corrupt? Probably. Are there any honest politicians taking his place? Not likely. If all politicians are the same, isn't better to have one that does good things for Thailand?

Regardless of what one considers towards Thaksin, the proposed prosecution should should be set in order first. Those responsible for an illegally organized and pre-meditated coup should be first upon the judicial docket, yes?

[asiawatcher]

Classic non entity article - is the author paid by the word?

[OZEMADE]

I believe his lawyers have appealed the decision of the court to confiscate his billions of Baht. I wouldnt mind betting that he will get some if not all of it back and do his time at home with an ankle bracelet on and then run for PM and sh*t it in again. Give it time.