EDITORIAL

The futility of another passport pursuit

By The Nation

 

The hounding of Yingluck Shinawatra would only further damage Thailand’s international reputation

It is disappointing that moves are afoot to revoke the Thai passport held by fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. While the Foreign Ministry must wait until after the Supreme Court verdict in her case is announced next month – and until police organise a formal complaint if the verdict is guilty – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has already raised the idea of revoking the passport.

 

The ministry’s time would surely better be spent in helping resolve the serious issues confronting the Asia-Pacific region. There is the possibility of war between the United States and North Korea, heightened once again yesterday when Pyongyang launched a missile that flew over Japan. There are the overlapping claims to territories in the South China Sea, which might unhinge security on a global scale. There are the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya Muslims of west Myanmar, which could trigger a refugee crisis on Thai shores.

 

And there is the fact that the Islamic State group has gained a foothold in the Philippines. 

 

Thai officials might object to this last inclusion, saying Thailand is nothing like Mindanao, but if attacks on Western cities offer any indication, the nature of global terrorism has changed dramatically. Attacks no longer need to be carried out in a particular country to have an impact on that country’s government. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), for example, didn’t have to dispatch militants to Australia – it simply set off a car bomb in front of Australia’s embassy in Jakarta. The effect was the same.

 

In seeking to revoke Yingluck’s passport, the ministry would risk humiliation, just as it did on the orders of then-premier Abhisit Vejjajiva when Thaksin Shinawatra’s travel documents were the target. Not only did the exercise accomplish nothing, it unnecessarily antagonised our allies overseas. 

 

Now, under the direction of the military junta, the ministry might again end up tempting political and diplomatic fallout. There was an undeniable political dimension to Yingluck’s trial, but Thailand would have the international community believe otherwise. Based on the fact that both brother and sister were toppled in Army coups, the junta government can’t possibly expect to be seen as impartial in continuing its legal and diplomatic pursuit of them. We are witnessing a travesty of our justice system and risk further loss of our collective dignity. 

 

Adding to the humiliation is the fact that Yingluck – utterly recognisable anywhere she goes, the junta’s primary target, under constant surveillance – somehow managed to slip out of the country to freedom. The conclusion that the military arranged or helped in her departure is a fair one, but the government has strenuously denied the allegation. 

 

Regardless of how it happened, Yingluck’s flight must have been a relief to the generals, who had seen 

her being hailed by supporters during the trial as “Thailand’s Aung San Suu Kyi”. Yingluck is surely self-aware enough to know she is no Suu Kyi, and certainly not the Suu Kyi who won the Nobel Prize for championing rights and democracy. 

 

Yingluck’s morally bankrupt rice-subsidy scheme cost the country billions of baht, and in this regard the rule of law, as applied against her and her ministers, should have been and was permitted to prevail. The rule of law cannot be denied just because it doesn’t suit the popular mood. Now, though, we have the spectre of the junta possibly allowing her to escape justice. If the rumour is true, the generals have forsaken the law. It’s an appalling notion, given their 2014 post-coup pledge to restore law and order.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30325260

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-08-30

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

Now, under the direction of the military junta, the ministry might again end up tempting political and diplomatic fallout. There was an undeniable political dimension to Yingluck’s trial, but Thailand would have the international community believe otherwise. Based on the fact that both brother and sister were toppled in Army coups, the junta government can’t possibly expect to be seen as impartial in continuing its legal and diplomatic pursuit of them. We are witnessing a travesty of our justice system and risk further loss of our collective dignity. 

 

Bravo to the Nation for pointing this out! I must admit that I am a bit surprised...

 

There is an unwritten rule internationally that people toppled in a coup aren't extradited. 

 

Sometimes the best option is to do nothing. I hope that the Junta will heed this good advice.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Not only did the exercise accomplish nothing, it unnecessarily antagonised our allies overseas. 

I doubt they were sufficiently interested to be antagonised. But in any case, it's all a question of nationality, and despite the fact that one can only have two parents and four grandparents, the Shinawatra siblings seem capable of buying enough cheap citizenships to confound both the generals and the theory of evolution.

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

Bravo to the Nation for pointing this out! I must admit that I am a bit surprised...

 

There is an unwritten rule internationally that people toppled in a coup aren't extradited. 

 

Sometimes the best option is to do nothing. I hope that the Junta will heed this good advice.

 

'There is an unwritten rule internationally that people toppled in a coup aren't extradited.' That depends on the nature of the coup - and of the toppled leader.

 

And while both of the Shinawatra coups were initially popular - and not just among the 'elite' - that against the Yingluck government was a long time coming, despite pressure for the military to do something about the protests.

Edited August 30, 20178 yr by Jonmarleesco

9 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

Bravo to the Nation for pointing this out! I must admit that I am a bit surprised...

 

There is an unwritten rule internationally that people toppled in a coup aren't extradited. 

 

Sometimes the best option is to do nothing. I hope that the Junta will heed this good advice.

 

 

Bravo - only they missed out that Yingluck was removed by a court for an illegal act PRIOR to the 2014 coup. And that Thaksin was illegally occupying the caretaker PM role when he was forced out.

 

Details - the devil is always in the detail, and sometimes so it the truth.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

In seeking to revoke Yingluck’s passport, the ministry would risk humiliation, just as it did on the orders of then-premier Abhisit Vejjajiva when Thaksin Shinawatra’s travel documents were the target. Not only did the exercise accomplish nothing, it unnecessarily antagonised our allies overseas. 

The current military Generals in power are like Bulldogs without brains, they charge ahead not looking from side to side, that is what military generals DO

The Nation seems to be confusing the issue of cancellation of passports of convicted felons who have fled overseas with the coup and the prosecution of Yingluck.  Thailand's allies certainly have, or claim to have, a problem with the 2014 coup and the fact that the military government is still in power for over three years with no end in sight.  Some of them may also have a problem with the prosecution of Yingluck for what they may see as merely pursuing a declared policy, although others may agree that prosecution for failing to do anything to prevent massive corruption revealed in the policy was justified.  If she is convicted, however, cancellation of her passport will be a total non-issue to allies, since it will be merely a by-product of the  other issues.  

 

It is as if The Nation thinks that, as long as Yingluck's passport is not cancelled, key allies will suddenly have no problem with the military government or the fact that she was prosecuted at all (if that bothered them) or convicted (if she is convicted).   Meanwhile, Yingluck probably might not care that much anyway (or won't in future when the reality sinks in) because she is never going back to Thailand and already has Montenegrin, Fijian, Ugandan and Nicaraguan passports arranged for her by big bro.  

 

On the other hand I can't understand why Wattana, Pracha and all the other convicted Thai crims are allowed to keep their Thai passports and laugh at the Thai courts that allowed them to escape by giving them bail.