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Website reposted August 10, 2007; last updated:
Sunday August 26, 2007 11:48AM
Organized Crime,
the Justice System and the Privy Council of Thailand
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An Article by John Thomas
Organized
Crime and Thailand 's Privy Council
Appointment of Crime Figure to Privy Council Points Out Spreading Influence of Organized
Crime
Refocuses Attention on the Country’s Primitive Judicial and Penal Systems
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| Crime Figure Appointed to Thailand's Privy Council |
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| Santi Trakan aided and abetted pedophile rings, complicit police, intimidation of witnesses |
| Secretary to President of Supreme Court |
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| Jiraniti Havanon conspired in the traffic in children and intimidation of witnesses |
Attaniti Ditam-naj (Atthaniti Dittha-amnart)
(Thai: อรรถนิติ ดิษฐอำนาจ)
President of the Supreme Court
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Secretary-General to the Supreme Court
The date of the following article is April 10, 2005; it was posted on June 30, 2005
Revised
07/19/06
By John Thomas
The appointment
of a former chief justice of Thailand's Supreme Court, Santi Thrakal (pronounced Trakan) (Thai: สันติ ทักราล), in March of 2005 and his inclusion in the King’s annual honors
list on Coronation Day on May 5 point to the spread of organized crime to country’s highest and most sacred institution
- the monarchy. It calls into question the credibility of the country's most prominent officials, including the
king’s closest advisors.
The appointment
of Santi (the surname is spelled also as Trakal, Thrakan, Thakran and Thakal) to the Privy Council also draws attention once
more to Thailand’s conspicuous lack of a credible legal system and to its deplorable penal system.
The country’s
legal codes, judicial procedures, courtroom facilities and judicial officials are primitive and inadequate
- and allow for gross human rights abuses, especially through the criminal justice system.
The pervasive
cronyism, corruption and the lack of basic education, especially training in logic, of judicial officials preclude a working
and reliable judicial system. (Proficiency in English, for example, is a prerequisite for a law degree, yet fewer than one
percent of licensed lawyers, prosecutors and judges understand the language.)
Homosexuality,
pedophilia, pimping and prostitution are common in Thailand and have a drastic effect upon the conduct of a large number of
government officials, including police and court officials.
Policemen, prosecutors
and judges use the courts for their own criminal purposes or for those of gangs that they consort with.
Intimidation of
complainants and witnesses by the police, prosecutors and judges is common.
Policemen, prosecutors
and judges conspire to accuse plaintiffs and witnesses of committing criminal offenses, usually defamation or contempt of
court, to prevent them from pursuing a case or testifying against criminal gangs and exposing corrupt officials.
Judges conspire
with one another to pursue cases based on false charges against innocent persons; they operate freely, without fear of
reproach by their superiors: provincial court chief judges, regional court justices and Supreme Court justices ignore complaints
against other judges and evidence of misconduct.
The Experience
of Expatriates and Foreign Travelers
As much as 90 percent of felons brought before the courts in Thailand go completely
free. As much as 35 percent of persons condemned by the courts are wholly innocent of any wrongdoing.
A survey of expatriates
and seasoned travelers in Asia would list Thailand and Indonesia as the least desirable (and most treacherous) places for
an individual to pursue a criminal matter through the courts.
Foreign tourists
and expatriates often complain of discovering Thai acquaintances conspiring with local policemen to set them up for arrest
on false charges, usually drug trafficking offenses. This, of course, is an old story in much of Asia, but
it is particularly so in Thailand.
Many foreigners
are held in crowded police station cells, immigration jails, or prisons for weeks, months and even years. Some of them are
ignored or forgotten by their embassies.
Many persons perish
while in police custody and prisons. (Countless young migrants from Burma , Cambodia and Laos age 14 and under, including
infants, languish in small and crowded cells in police stations for many months before deportation.)
In nine cases
out of ten, Thai lawyers cheat their clients. Foreigners, in particular, complain that Thai lawyers are corrupt, ineffectual
and untrustworthy - and ultimately of value only as conduits for the
payment of bribes to their embassy’s officials to complete urgent and essential official paper work.
The American embassy
in Bangkok offers a list of lawyers, available to Americans upon request, that includes some of the sleaziest and least
reliable lawyers in the country. Some notoriously bad lawyers employ Americans in their offices who assist them to set up
American clients for arrest and imprisonment on false charges, for extortion, and to deny them legal representation.
Western countries
have delayed complicance with extradition requests to Thailand because of the country’s appalling human rights
record, unreliable judicial system and dangerous prisons.
Judicial Misconduct
During his tenure
as chief justice (a position officially called “president”) of the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2003, Santi, the
son of an Indian Sikh and a Thai, from Phrae Province in northern Thailand, conspired with the court's long-time
secretary, Jiranti Havanon (Thai: จิรนิติ หะวานนท์),
criminal gangs and other corrupt judicial officials to falsely accuse and condemn complainants, witnesses
and other innocent persons, particularly in cases involving the traffic in women and children.
Santi and Jiraniti
conspired with international pedophile rings, procurers, corrupt policemen, welfare, foreign ministry and other judicial officials
to obstruct investigations and prosecutions of pedophiles and traffickers in women and children, to obstruct victim recovery
efforts, and to imprison and murder complainants and relatives of victims.
Santi and Jiraniti
conspired with officials of the Central Juvenile and Family Court, which is under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court,
in particular the chief judge, Deungman Silpa-archa, a relative of the former Prime Minister, Banharn Silpa-archa, to obstruct
victim recovery efforts.
Santi and Jiraniti
conspired with Thai lawyers, including lawyers assigned by the Law Society of Thailand to represent victims and
witnesses, to obstruct victim recovery efforts and to imprison and murder complianants, relatives of victims and other witnesses.
Santi and Jiraniti
conspired with officials of foreign embassies who hide behind diplomatic cover and so-called "non-governmental organizations"
("NGOs") that have arrangements with the police to traffic Thai women and children abroad and to obstruct victim recovery
efforts.
Santi and Jiraniti
also conspired with lower court judges to deny bail to plaintiffs falsely accused of minor criminal offenses, like contempt
of court. Some foreigners have been detained in the country for more than a decade without bail or permission to leave. Their
embassies destroy all trace of them.
Santi’s
immediate successor as chief justice of the Supreme Court, Atthaniti Disathaamnarj (pronounced "Atanitti Ditam-nat") (Thai:
อรรถนิติ ดิษฐอำนาจ),
who retired last year, conspired with Jiraniti, organized crime figures and complicit judicial officials,
particularly in the traffic in women and children, and followed Santi’s misconduct. Atthaniti ("Atanitti") was honored
by the king on Coronation Day last year.
Two other, much
older, former chief justices of the Supreme Court, who preceded Santi, sit on the Privy Council.
No Recourse
Inevitably, most,
if not all, criminal cases in Thailand are referred to the country’s Supreme Court -
usually as an appeal, or to request a change of venue, or to complain about the misconduct of lower court
judges.
Complainants against
the misconduct of judges (and justices) are often advised to send their complaints to the president of the Judicial Commission
of the Office of Judicial Affairs, or to the president of the Office of Judicial Affairs, or to the permanent secretary to
the Office of Judicial Affairs. Ultimately, according to current regulations, all complaints to the Office of Judicial
Affairs must be referred to the Supreme Court for a final determination. Needless to say, Supreme Court justices discard the
complaints - and complainants require protection.
The Thai press
likes to tout the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) as the country’s leading graft fighter. But the NCCC
has yet to respond to a single complaint against officials of the Supreme Court, Attorney General's Office, police, and ministries
of Labor & Social Welfare and Foreign Affairs for human rights abuses, especially for complicity with international pedophile
rings and the traffic in women and children. The NCCC is utterly powerless against the courts. Last year, the Supreme Court
suspended all NCCC commissioners for giving themselves a pay raise and forced them to resign last May. The
NCCC, which is under the direct supervision of the Thai Prime Minister’s Office, is generally considered a joke and
a rubber stamp for the prime minister.
The United Nations
Human Rights Commission ignores 99% of complaints of human rights violations it receives because the perpetrators are
government officials.
The Thai Monarchy
and the Privy Council
In the last resort,
cases are referred to the king of Thailand
The king is the
country’s head of state. However, the king does not have
the power and influence at home that do absolute rulers in Asia like the king of Bhutan and the Sultan of Brunei. He is a
constitutional monarch. Nor does he have the freedom of the king of Nepal , also a constitutional monarch, who can, if he
decides, take over the government and rule as he sees fit. Nor does he have the influence of the king of Cambodia , another
constitutional monarch, who often plays a pivotal role in his country’s affairs.
The king of Thailand
is not a mere fiigurehead, however, like most European monarchs today. He is not just a rubber stamp. He can object to requests
and decisions of his advisors, the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers.
The King of the
Belgians has been accused of all sorts of hideous things in public. In marked contrast, the monarchy in Thailand is considered
sacred and the king is considered beyond reproach. He cannot be criticized in public. But the king’s men
- his closest aides, advisors or relatives - can
be held to account.
An 18-member Privy
Council screens all petitions for pardons to the king.
Privy Council
members are from the royal family or former high-ranking military and government officials.
The council’s
current president, a former Prime Minister, General Prem Tinsulanonda, earned the king's favor by protecting him from two
army generals who were out to kidnap him during a failed coup
d’้tat attempt 24 years ago.
The appointment
of Santi - notorious for ties to organized crime, particularly to regional
mafiosi and smugglers of contraband, like narcotics, counterfeit goods, and women and children for prostitution, and his
persistent abuse of office for criminal purposes - to the Privy Council,
was unexpected.
If given the benefit
of the doubt, it could be said that the king’s advisors did not consider sufficiently the significance of Santi’s
appointment to the Privy Council (or the Coronation Day honor) and its possible implications.
It is possible
that the king’s advisors are out of touch with the world around them, that they failed to read the changes in the times,
that they are unaware of crucial goings-on and uninformed.
Santi’s
appointment could indicate also that the king’s advisors are unconcerned about what they do and the possible consequences.
The king’s
closest advisers and relatives make lucrative deals and reap millions of dollars in bribes every year from individuals seeking
royal appointments, royal patronage, royal pardons, etc.
Santi’s
appointment could indicate that the Privy Council was up for sale and that someone paid a substantial bribe to place Santi
on it.
The monarchy,
like the government, in lavishing undue praise, awards, honors and appointments upon unworthy public figures, can be used
for negative purposes and appear to be lording over crime and corruption.
Santi's appointment
points out growing cronyism of Privy Council members with corrupt judicial officials who front for organized crime and the
establishment of a conduit to extort more money through the courts.
Gangsters; pedophile
and prostitution rings; traffickers in women and children, narcotics, counterfeit goods; etc., and their criminal associates
in the government, including the courts, with whom Santi openly conspired as a judge, will make use of Santi in the Privy
Council.
Santi's appointment
to the Privy Council should be thoroughly investigated by an independent international panel, with emphasis on crime and human
rights.
John Thomas
Thailand
FLASH!
Atthaniti Ditathaamnarj, age 63, was appointed a Privy Councillor on August 17, 2007.
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Other Thai officials using the monarchy to cover criminal behavior
| Phan Wannametee |
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| President of Thai Red Cross Society |
| Dej-udom Krairit |
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| President, Law Society of Thailand; heads of law firm, Dej-udom & Associates |
| Sak Khaosangrung |
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| President, Law Society of Thailand |
| Phan Chantraphan |
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| Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare |
| Sakthip Krairiksh |
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| Thai Foreign Ministry |
| Somchai Homla-or |
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| Human Rights Division, Law Society of Thailand |
| Jane Puranananda |
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| Dej-Udom & Associates, Bangkok law firm |
Prasert Khienninsilli
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President of Regional Court
Northeastern Thailand
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Anupote Bunnag |
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| Office of the Inspector General, Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare |
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V i s i t o r s' C o m m e n t s
A comment from Victor Kowlaski, Bankok, October 1, 2006:
I noticed that this website was deleted on the eve of the recent
military coup d'etat in Thailand (September 19, 2006) and that several of the officials exposed in this website have since
accepted high posts from the ruling junta.
Victor Kowalski, Bangkok
Ed. note: Other websites, critical of the same lawyers and judicial
officials, were also deleted. See comments by Vance Lewin, below.
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Parents Shocked by King's Appointment of Santi Trakal
A comment from Patiwat Panurach, June 8, 2006
Dear John,
I read with great interest and dismay your startling accusations that Santi Thakral was involved in drug and child trafficking. These
crimes are disgusting, and I find it horrible that the Thai King would appoint someone like this as one of his personal advisors.
I wish to do further research into this issue, and would greatly appreciate it if you could send me some more links or
articles involving Santi and the trafficking charges.
Regards,
Patiwat Panurach (A concerned father)
Editor's reply:
Santi Trakal, Attaniti Dijam-nat and Jiraniti Havanon conspired with an international
pedophile ring that included Thai police, welfare, foreign ministry and judicial
officials. The relevant documentary evidence is in the Thai criminal courts.
The Thai judicial system is extremely slow. Some cases take decades to conclude. By the
time some criminal cases come to court, the statutes of limitation have run out. That is what happened in the case, for example, of
Sobraj, a French national accused of committing numerous murders in Thailand. The statutes should be changed so that
murderers and kidnappers and their accomplices do not get away.
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About the Privy Council
Comment from Puang Phanich, Bangkok, March 26, 2006
Just who sits on the Privy Council? The public would like to
know!
Just who is on the Privy Council? And who are the secretaries?
Considering
the news today, it is understandable that readers should demand more details.
Now would be a most appropriate
time for the the Thai press to describe the duties of the Privy Council and list the names of all 19 Privy Council members.
Not a single website provides an accurate up-to-date listing of the Privy Council membership. The press should also include
biographical details about the Privy Council members.
The press should also tell the readers something about
the King's secretaries. After all, they too are often in the news these days.
Puang Phanich
Bangkok
Ed: the King's Principal Private Secretary is Arsa Sarasin
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Comment by Arisa Ratanakul of Bangkok, June 10, 2006
Abuse on royal power by crooks
At the beginning of the year the King expressed
concern about the unusually high and increasing number of lese majeste complaints and stated that the king was not
infallible; His Majesty invited and welcomed personal criticism.
The scandal-ridden night safari of Chiang
Mai obtained use of public land by a royal decree.
This is but one of many instances of abuse
of royal powers by crooks in Thailand .
Ultimately, and above all, responsibility
for such royal decrees lies with the king - then his aides, the privy council and the prime minister’s
cabinet.
Arisa Ratanakul, Bangkok
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A Comment by Siriphon Prousakh
of Bangkok , May 31, 2006
Thailand will have to implement French presidential system
The
King could have responded to persistent requests to appoint a new prime minister by appointing an interim prime minister.
He chose not to. Instead, he deferred to the courts.
The costly political impasse in Thailand
, which will not be resolved before late October at the earliest, could have been avoided by a strong presidential system.
It appears that the King, who is almost
80 years old, acted as he did to warn his fellow countrymen to prepare for the day when they will be without him.
The king seems to realize that eventually
Thailand will have to replace the monarch by a president as head of state and that the president will have to have considerable
power, like the president of France .
Siriphon Prousakh
Bangkok
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Visitor's Comments:
About the NCCC
From Yuan Jammkrapong, Thonburi
August 1, 2005
Dear Mr. Thomas,
There are several anti-graft and anti-corruption
agencies in Thailand. The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) is the most highly-touted and the best known. The
NCCC has reportedly more more than 7,000 complaints against government officials to investigate. But aside from one or two
highly publicized cases, it has accomplished very little.
Last year, the Supreme Court took the NCCC commissioners
to task over a self-pay hike proposal. Almost one year later, the Supreme Court found the NCCC commissioners guilty of breaking
the law and forced them all to resign.
In the next day or so, nine new NCCC commissioners are to be selected
in a process overseen by the president of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is not above the law. But it is
certain that the NCCC will remain ineffectual if the new commissioners must be approved by Supreme Court justices who will
blackmail them or suspend them if they consider complaints against judiciary.
The governing rules and regulations
of the NCCC should be redrawn and the public should elect NCCC commissioners.
Yuan Jammkrapong, Thonburi
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Visitor's Comment, August 2, 2005
From Tharm Wasawang, Bangkok
Dear Mr. Thomas,
I submitted the following letter to the Bangkok Post and The Nation. One printed it recently after editing.
Feel free to add it to your visitors' comments.
The Thai public should be allowed to elect the commissioners of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC). Otherwise,
the NCCC will never function properly or effectively.
An NCCC selection panel, composed of government officials and others who work for the government, is not free of conflicts
of interests and cannot be trusted to make a fair and impartial selection of NCCC commissioners.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court is one of 15 members of the NCCC selection committee. Two years ago a notoriously
corrupt and ineffectual Supreme Court justice made it all the way to the semi-final round of voting for NCCC commissioners,
largely through the support of cronies. Judges can make deals with one another to ensure that one is appointed to a committee
or commission now in order to help the other onto it later.
The public should elect NCCC commissioners from persons who are not personally associated with or obligated to the government
in any way.
The government should provide candidates with a set amount of funds to campaign for a position on the NCCC. The government
should prohibit the use of personal resources in the campaign. The campaign should last three to four months to allow the
public to familiarize itself with all of the candidates. Candidates should be allowed the same amount of free air time on
television and free space in newspapers.
Tharm Wasawang, Bangkok
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Visitor's Comment, August 3, 2005:
From Martin Bishop, Bangkok
The current procedure for selecting candidates for the Thai government's National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC)
ensures that there is no possibility that the anti-graft body will ever live up to its name.
A government selection panel, made up of 15 members, is to choose 18 candidates from all applicants and present
them to the Senate for final selection this week or next.
The public has often complained that NCCC commissioners had conflicts of interests, usually stemming from ties to
government and government officials.
Thus, the selection panel should keep government officials off the NCCC.
But the selection panel itself is composed almost entirely of government officials and appointees, including several
chief justices (or presidents) of various courts - the Supreme Court, the Constitution Court, the
Administrative Court, etc. - and it is chaired by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. According
to the Bangok Post today, August 3, the applicants for the NCCC are "many active and forner Supreme Court judges,
a number of former provincial governors . . ."
Outside of Bangkok Province, where the provincial governor is an elected official, provincial governors are still appointed
by the Ministry of Interior. District chiefs, provincial and regional court judges, and other government officials are also
appointed officials.
Two days ago, Thais nation-wide chose their township (tambon) headmen for the first time through popular elections.
It appears that Thais are also ready to elect provincial governors, district chiefs, provincial and regional court
judges, etc.
Some have advised choosing NCCC commissioners through a national election. Indeed, that would be the best
way to do it.
By the way, note that according to The Nation today, August 3, " . . . as of yesterday . . . . only 16 people
had asked to be considered . . ." but, according to the Bangkok Post, also today, " . . . althogether, 39 people
have applied . . ."
Martin Bishop, Bangkok
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Visitor's
Comment, August 6, 2005:
From
Khun Mongkhol, Bangkok
Dear Sir:
With regard
to the visitor’s comment by Tharm Wasawang of Bangkok on August 2, I should like to say that indeed the English-language
newspaper, the Bangkok Post, published all but part of one paragraph of his comment, which he submitted
as a letter to the editor, on July 25.
According
to Mr. Tharm's comment in this website, the part of his letter that was edited by the Bangkok Post referred to a former Supreme Court justice, unnamed, who failed to get a seat on the National Counter
Corruption Commission (NCCC) two years ago. Mr. Tharm described the judge as "notoriously corrupt and ineffectual".
Mr. Tharm
was clearly referring to Prasert Kiennilsiri, who is again seeking a seat on the NCCC.
As regional
court chief justice in northeastern Thailand and, later, a Supreme Court justice, Prasert had a foul reputation for ineptness,
dishonesty, corruption, perversity and conspiracy. He joined criminal gangs, pedophiles, pimps, and other corrupt judicial
officials in the traffic in women and children and the intimidation of victims and witnesses.
Prasert
should have been impeached long ago. He should be prosecuted for malfeasance and other criminal offenses. He should be taken
to task also for human rights violations. Since the findings and recommendations of all investigative bodies in the judiciary
must ultimately pass through the Supreme Court, Prasert is free.
That Prasert
is the judiciary's leading candidate for a seat on the NCCC is symptomatic of a thoroughly corrupt criminal justice system
in Thailand .
Khun Mongkhol,
Bangkok
Ed.
note: The second name, Kiennilsili, is also spelled Khieninsili,Khienninsilli, Khienilsiri, etc.
The
first name, Prasert, is pronounced as two syllables: pra (short a) - sairt'. The second or family name, Kienninsili,
is pronounced as four syllables: Kyen (hard k, short e) - in' (short i, pronounced "in"; (the n is
sometimes pronounced as an l and the syllable is pronounced as "il") - si (short i) - ri' (i as long e); the last syllable
is also pronounced as li' (i as long e).
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Visitor’s Comment, August 9, 2005:
From Teth Sarasin, Bangkok
Mr. Thomas:
There are actually 80 applicants for a seat on the Thai government’s much ballyhooed National Counter Corruption
Commission (NCCC). The government-appointed selection panel must trim the list to 18 candidates and refer it to the senate
by August 25. The senate will appoint nine commissioners from the 18.
In your article, you pointed out that proficiency in English is required for a law degree in Thailand and yet few lawyers
in Thailand can understand the language. Indeed, it is obvious that those deficient students made deals with their instructors
to get the passing marks that they did not merit. It is, therefore, ironic to see a former Supreme Court justice, Prasert
Kieninsilli, requesting a seat on the NCCC. Prasert does not understand English. He needs a translator. He could not have
gotten a law degree without corruption.
I should add that Prasert hates foreigners, especially Americans. While chief justice of the regional court in northeastern
Thailand and a Supreme Court justice, Prasert formed a criminal conspiracy with several provincial court judges; two other
northeastern regional court justices, Nipon Jaisomran and Sootichok Teptrairat; two successive chief justices of the
Supreme Court, Santi Trakan and Attaniti Dit-am-nat; and the Supreme Court secretary, Jiranati Havanon, to reject cases presented
by foreigners and also back complainants against them.
Respectfully yours,
Teth Sarasin
Bangkok
Ed. notes:
A comment from Mr. Teth, similar to the comment above, appeared as a letter to the editor in the Postbag
section of the Bangkok Post on August 15, 2005.
The first name, Nipon, is pronounced as two syllables: Ni (short i) -
pon' (short o); the second or family name, Jaisomran, is pronounced as three syllables: Jai' (ai as a long i) - som (short
o) - ran (short a).
The first name, Sootichok, or Sutichoke, is pronounced as three
syllables: Soo ' (double as in the English words look or hook) - ti (short i or long e) - choke (long o and silent e); the
second or family name, Teptrairat, or Teptairat, is prounounced as three syllables: Tep' (short e) - trai or tai (ai
as long i) - rat (short a).
photo of Prasert Khienninsilli
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Photo |
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| Prasert Khiennilsiri, former
judge |
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Visitor's Comment
Comment by
Michael Whitman in Khon Kaen, Thailand, August 15, 2005:
Mr.
Thomas:
The
judiciary is the most corrupt branch of the government in Thailand. There are infinite reasons for complaints, including the
fact that complaints against judges are passed around from one office of the judiciary to another without receiving proper
consideration before they are finally squelched by Supreme Court justices and judges serving as their secretaries.
Complaints
must be resubmitted, therefore, to offices outside the judiciary. The result, however, is almost always the same.
Thailand's
leading anti-corruption agency is the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) and as such it is one office that receives
complaints against the judiciary. But, like other government offices, the NCCC is ineffective. It’s not even a decent-looking
scarecrow.
Last
year, for reasons having more to do with showing off one’s bureaucratic superiority than with enforcing proper ethics,
the Supreme Court justices suspended all NCCC commissioners over the commissioners’ attempt to give themselves a pay
increase. The Supreme Court found all the commissioners guilty nine months later, gave them suspended jail sentences and forced
them to resign.
This
month, a government-appointed selection panel of dubious design and qualification, chaired by the chief justice of the Supreme
Court, and the senate are to select new commissioners for the NCCC.
The
contest to fill the post of NCCC commissioners is a reminder that notoriously corrupt government officials enjoy great freedom
in Thailand and that they expect to run the government's anti-corruption agencies to maintain their status-quo.
Obviously,
an agency with more power and authority than the NCCC should be created to keep the judiciary in check.
It
remains for the press, therefore, to point out the need for more transparency, allowing for closer public scrutiny. The local
press, however, has not released the names of all the 80 candidates for the NCCC and it has, by reference to merely a few
candidates who are government officials, given the impression that journalists and editors themselves have conflicts of interests.
Michael
Whitman
Khon
Kaen
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Visitor's Comment
Visitor's Comment from
Jang Boonyai of Bangkok , August 19, 2005
Sir:
According to Thailand 's leading English-language daily newspapers, the Bangkok Post and The Nation,
on August 19, 2005, a government panel of 15 officials selected 18 candidates from 80 applicants for the nine posts of commissioner
on the government's National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) yesterday and referred the shortlist to the senate.
The shortlist is an example of cronyism at its worst.
The selection panel was chaired by the current chief justice of the Supreme Court. It is not surprising, therefore,
that the shortlist of 18 includes three former Supreme Court justices: one chief justice and two associate justices.
One of the former associate justices, Prasert Kienninsili, is unqualified for a position on the NCCC and was rejected two
years ago. He is a crony of a former chief justice, Santi Trakal, and Supreme Court secretary, Jiraniti Havanon.
Hopefully, the
senate wull show better sense than the selection panel.
In the future, the NCCC selection panel should be composed of persons outside the government who have demonstrated
an understanding of corruption and proved their sincerity and honesty in combating it.
Jang Bounyai
Bangkok
Ed. note: The above comment from Mr. Jang appeared in similar form, abbreviated or edited, in The Nation,
an English-language daily newspaper in Thailand, on August 21, 2005.
-------
Purging
Thaksin and his cronies, the
military
appoints new NCCC commissioners.
Alas,
the purge is imperfect and Klanarong returns.
A commment by Grapan Ladikul in Bangkok, September
23, 2006
The army has desposed Thaksin
Shinawatra, the Prime Minister, and is purging his cronies from the government and armed forces.
The army has dismissed the
nine commissioners elected by the senate to the NCCC earlier this year and appointed new commissioners:
The Nation, September 23:
New NCCC meets
on September 25
Nine new NCCC commissioners
Bangkok Post, September
23, 2006
Appointment of
some graft busters criticised
Klanarong Chantik is one of
the nine new commissioners appointed by the army.
Klanarong was secretary-general
of the old Office of the Counter Corruption Commission (OCCC), which was formed in 1996, to investigate complaints against
public officials. This office was "under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister's Office". It changed its name to the
National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) around 2000.
As secretary-general, Klanarong
handled thousands of complaints submitted to the NCCC against public officials after other agencies and offices had failed
to consider them.
A teacher up-country molesting
pupils? A cop demanding bribes from victims of crimes to pursue their complaints? A headman not doing his job? A criminal
court judge lost his marbles? A prosecutor ignoring trafficking in children by welfare officials? Superiors ignoring complaints?
Complain to the Prime Minister!
That was the last step. 999 times out of 1000, the Prime Minister's office sent the complaint to the OCCC/NCCC. Within a couple
of years, Klanarong wrote to the complainant to announce, with regret, that the OCCC/NCCC could not pursue the complaint.
No explanation given. Thousands of people throughout Thailand have such letters from Klanarong. 999 cases out of 1000 were
never investigated by the OCCC/NCCC.
In 2000, the local press made
Klanarong a hero for pursuing a complaint of assets concealment against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
As secretary-general, Klanarong
did not have a role in determining the NCCC's commissioners' decision to eventually drop the case. But for bringing the case
to the commissioners, Klanarong was dismissed from his job.
In 2003, Klanarong was accused
of defaulting on a Bt1.9-million loan.
Also in 2003, Klanarong was
accused also of adultery.
Also in 2003, Klanarong ran
for a vacant NCCC commissioner's seat and lost.
Earlier this year, 2006, Klanarong
joined the anti-Thaksin bandwagon. For having presented a complaint against Thaksin to the NCCC commissioners years ago, he
was hailed as a graft fighter.
Also earlier this year, Klanarong
declined to run again for a commissioner’s post on the NCCC.
Now, the military has staged
a coup, taken over the government, scrapped the NCCC that was elected by the senate earlier this year and appointed Klanarong
as one of the NCCC commissioners.
And Klanarong has accepted
the posting.
The same worm who sidetracked
thousands of legitimate complaints from the public against government officials while secretary general of the NCCC is now
an NCCC commissioner because the military does not know any better.
What will Klanarong do now
on the NCCC?
Toss out thousands of complaints
resubmitted to the NCCC since he was dismissed from it!
Grapan Ladikul
Bangkok
--------
Visitor's
Comment, from --------------------, January 12, 2006:
US Embassy gave
Thai judges visas
I can confirm personally
that two of the above-named Thai judges, who conspired in the traffic in children to pedophiles abroad, received visas to
travel to the United States. They are Jiraniti Havanon, secretary to the Suprme Court, and Sootichoke Teptrairat, associate
justice of the regional court in Northeastern Thailand.
---------------------------
A comment from Sukhon Thinakhon, Bangkok, March 19,
2006:
Sukhon Thinakhon, Bangkok
------
The CIA, Mafia and Yakuza
Visitor's Comment
Hiritomo Ken, Bangkok
May 25, 2007
Some of the Thai judicial officials
named by John Thomas in his website as complicit in the traffic in women and children and intimidation of witnesses have American
citizenship. Others reside in the U. S. Others travel freely to and from the United States.
And some of them have been in contact with the
U. S. Central Intelligence Agency (C. I. A.).
When Thai judicial officials do a real dirty job on someone, check to see who else is involved. Often
enough, when the traffic in narcotics or in women and children is involved, the C. I. A. is involved too.
------------------
Visitor's Comment, September 6, 2005
Constitution Court Chief Justice Phan Chantraphan was guilty of misconduct at Ministry of Labor and
Social Welfare
Comment by Wattana Jongkal na Ayuttaya, Bangkok:
The current chief justice of the Constitution Court of Thailand, Phan Chantraphan, committed malfeasance and other felonious
offenses while holding successive posts at the Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare ten years ago.
Mr. Phan failed to take proper action when informed of the complicity of welfare officials in the traffic in women and
children.
|
Phan Chantrapan |
|
| Acting Chief Judge, Constitution
Court |
Who are the Constitution Court judges? For a listing of each of the 15 judges, with brief biographies, see:
--------------------------------------------------------
A Comment from Sonkheth
Rejwanwan, Bangkok , November 24, 2005
Add Dej Bunnag to the
list of Corrupt Officials in Complicity with Pedophile Rings
With reference to the
comment by Wattana Jongkal na Ayuttaya about the misconduct of Phan Chantraphan, current chief justice of the Constitution
Court, while he was at the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare ten years ago, I would like to add that another well-known official
in the same ministry at the same time, Dej (pronounced "Det") Bunnag, was also guilty of similar misconduct.
Dej Bunnag ignored
complaints about traffickers in women and children and the complicity of ministry officials in the illicit trade. It was his
responsibility to investigate the complaints and take proper action. He did absolutely nothing.
Sonkheth Rejwanan, Bangkok
----------
It was Anupote Bunnag!
Visitor's
comment:
Name
Withheld, Bangkok,
June
2, 2007
Dear
Mr. Thomas,
I would like to point out
a crucial error in one of the letters from the public to the John Thomas website.
In one particular letter its
author complained that Dej Bunnag was involved in the traffic in women and children. This was a mistake. The letter mentions
Dej Bunnag as having conspired in the illicit trade while at the Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare.
Bunnag is the surname of many
people in Thailand. The Bunnags are an old family of Muslim merchants from the Persian Gulf who settled in Thailand some 500
years ago. You will find Bunnags everywhere today. Even the King of Thailand is related to the Bunnag (pronounced
Boon - agh) family.
The Bunnag concerned in this
matter was not Dej Bunnag, who has worked mostly for the Foreign Ministry.
It was Anupote Bunnag.
Anupote worked in the Inspector-General's
Office of the Ministry of Labor & Social Welfare in the mid-1990s. He was the one involved in trafficking cases.
Please note the above and correct
your website.
--------------
Visitor's Comment
Puang
Panich, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, September 27, 2005:
In
Thailand, a committee of the legislature’s upper house, the senate, is soon to decide the composition of the government's
much-ballyhooed graft fighting agency, the National Counter Corruption Commission, also known by the acronym NCCC.
The
Thai media has long played up the NCCC while the public has complained that the commission is a political ploy, set up solely
for cosmetic purposes, and that its commissioners are as lazy and corrupt as the officials and organizations they are asked
to investigate. Another oft-repeated complaint about the NCCC has been that it was set up to function under the direct supervision
of the prime minister's office.
Last
year, when NCCC commissioners voted themselves a pay-raise, there were protests from other government officials. The Supreme
Court suspended the agency. Nine months later, the Supreme Court declared that the commissioners had acted unconstitutionally.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court gave the commissioners suspended one-year jail sentences and forced them to resign.
Subsequently,
a committee was formed by the government to recommend 18 candidates to the senate, which would select nine new commissioners
for the NCCC.
There
were protests from the public that the government's selection committee was composed almost entirely of current and former
government officials and dominated by the military, police and judiciary. The committee was chaired by the chief justice of
the Supreme Court. Two Supreme Court associate justices also sat on the committee.
To
give the committee the appearance of some legitimacy, the head of a local university was appointed to it. In an immediate
display of unethical conduct, this person invited a former NCCC commissioner, who had been tossed off the NCCC two to three
years ago, to apply to the selection committee for a commissioner's post. This particular ex-commissioner, about whom there
had been many complaints from the public, has been the darling of the media in stories about anti-corruption since his removal
from the agency, pointing out the corruption and conflicts of interests of newspaper editors.
Eighty-eight
persons applied to the selection committee for the nine commissioners' posts on the NCCC.
Unfazed
by complaints of cronyism and bias, the selection committee proceeded to nominate three former Supreme Court justices, including
one who had failed to get a commissioner's post last year.
The
fact that this particular ex-judge, Prasert Khiennilsiri, is again a candidate for an NCCC commissioner's post and has made
it as far as the senate screening committee points out the cronyism, ignorance and irresponsibility of the Thai government
officials who have considered his candidacy thus far.
While
chief justice of one of Thailand's regional courts, in northeastern Thailand, and, later, as a Supreme Court associate justice,
Prasert conspired with pedophile rings that included government officials to traffic in women and children, obstruct investigations,
thwart victim recovery efforts, and intimidate victims and witnesses.
Prasert
was the subject of numerous lengthy and well-documented complaints to the NCCC, which the previous NCCC commissioners sat
on or filed away. He would like to get his hands on those complaints. If he does, many people will require round-the-clock
protection.
Prasert
joined the political party, Tai Rak Tai, of the multi-billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, in the hope that the
prime minister or his party would pave the way for him.
Interestingly,
Thaksin himself was involved in at least one child trafficking case in which Prasert was complicit: Thaksin, after he had
become prime minister, ignored the pleas of a family for his cooperation in rescuing a child.
That
could be another reason that Prasert, who knew all about the case, joined the Tai Rak Tai.
Puang Panich, Korat, Thailand
---------------------------------------
Visitor's Comment from Thana Hethisethiran of Bangkok,
October 13, 2005
When lawyers in Thailand
cheat their clients the latter can complain to the Law Society of Thailand and often do.
Unfortunately, Law Society
officials seldom take any action against the lawyers, especially when the lawyers concerned are Law Society staff members
or were appointed to the complainant by the court at the request of the Law Society.
Worse still, Law Society
lawyers and officers often form criminal conspiracies with government officials, including court officials, to cheat
a client.
Previous commissioners
of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) claimed that they could not accept complaints from the public against
lawyers or the Law Society because the lawyers were not government officials and the Law Society was not a government agency. NCCC commissioners maintained also that they could not consider
complaints against lawyers who had been appointed by the courts at the request of the Law Society.
Law Society lawyers and
officers work hand in hand with the courts. Thus, the
NCCC should take Law Society officers and lawyers to task for cheating the public or conspiring with government officials
against the Law Society's clients.
------------------------------
Senate to select NCCC commissioners today
Visitor’s Comment,
from Wong-wong Kaiwanlit of Bangkok , November 1, 2005:
The senate is to select nine commissioners
for the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) from 18 candidates today.
A senate screening panel is to submit its
findings to the senate for consideration before the vote.
There is wide-spread concern that the process
by which the commissioners are selected is seriously flawed.
One of the 15-member selection committee
that paired the list of 80 candidates down to 18 in August was himself the object of a complaint to the NCCC.
Complaints to the NCCC were also made against
12 of the 18 candidates.
The senate screening committee deemed five
of the 18 candidates unfit for NCCC commissioners’ posts.
Many of the candidates, including Police
General Darun Sotthibandhu, Supreme Court Justice Surapol Ekyokha, army chief Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, Provincial Administration
Department director-general Siva Saengmanee, Attorney General Kampree Kaeocharern, former judge Prasert Khiennilsiri, and
the Prime MInister's deputy secretary Naengnoi na Ranong, are cronies of high political and government figures. There is great
concern that they could cripple the NCCC if posted to it. All complaints of corruption against government officials and politicians
must pass first through the NCCC, which can accept or reject them.
The pro-government press in Thailand , especially
the English-language daily newspapers the Bangkok Post and The Nation, which are owned and run by local and
foreign Chinese interests, has been touting the above-mentioned candidates “as highly favored”.
There are rumors of bloc voting. Politics,
particularly “money politics”, could determine the composition of the NCCC.
In the past, the NCCC refused to investigate
so-called "independent" non-governmental agencies. Apparently, it will have to do
so in the future. But that seems to be the only new positive aspect of the NCCC. The commissioners are to serve nine-year
terms, far too long in a country where corruption is a way of living. Furthermore, it will be difficult to impeach corrupt
commissioners. Three to four-year terms would be more than long enough.
Wong-wong Kaiwanlit
Bangkok
----------------------------
Another comment from Michael Whitman in Khon Kaen, Thailand, November 18, 2005:
New NCCC unlikely to be anything new
On November 1, Thailand's senate selected nine commissioners for the country's number one anti-corruption office, the
National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC). All complaints of corruption against politicians and government officials must
be considered first by the NCCC.
The senate selected the nine commissioners from 18 candidates.
There were many complaints that the selection process was seriously flawed. The 15-member selection panel, which selected
the 18 candidates from a list of 80 (or 88) in August, consisted of high present and former government officials and chaired
by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. One member of the selection committee was himself the object of a complaint to
the NCCC.
Complaints to the NCCC had been made against 12 of the 18 final candidates. A senate screening committee deemed five
of the 18 wholly unsuited for a post on the NCCC.
Most of the new commissioners are cronies of high politicians and government officials.
The commissioners are to serve for nine years - absurdly long terms -
and it will be difficult to impeach them. Three to four-year terms would have been long enough.
Previously, the NCCC had refused to accept complaints against private or "independent" agencies, like the Law Society
of Thailand and the Thai Red Cross Society, or so-called "non-governmental organizations", better known by the acronym "NGO",
like local United Nations agencies. Apparently, the NCCC will accept complaints against these organizations now and investigate
them.
One of the candidates for the NCCC, Prasert Khienninsili, was a former chief justice of the regional court in northeastern
Thailand and an associate justice of the Supreme Court. While on the courts, Prasert conspired with pedophiles and traffickers
in children and their accomplices in government positions to obstruct search and recovery efforts and to intimidate relatives
of victims and complainants and witnesses. (There is documentary evidence to that effect.)
Twice, after his retirement from the judiciary, Prasert tried to get a commissioner's post on the NCCC. After he was
rejected last year, he tried again this year, this time with the backing of the Prime Minister's political party. It appeared
also that the local press was behind him. While, in fact, few expected him to get a post on the NCCC, the press described
him as a "favorite". But the senate, meeting in full session on November 1, rejected his candidacy.
Prasert has yet to answer for his crimes. Complaints against Prasert have been made to the NCCC. But few expect the NCCC
commissioners, former Supreme Court justices among them, to deal him proper justice.
Michael Whitman
Khon Kaen
--------------------
The
Un-Dead! Perverts Masquerading as Juvenile Court Officials!
A
comment by Michael Whitman, New York, August 19, 2006:
Prasert
Khienninsilli is a retired judge in Thailand.
Several years ago, Prasert was chief justice of one of the country’s four regional courts, region # 4, northeastern
Thailand, located in the city of Khon
Kaen.
More
recently, Prasert was one of 87 judges on the Supreme Court, located in Bangkok.
While on the Supreme Court, Prasert tried twice to get a post as one of the nine commissioners on the Thailand’s much-ballyhooed National Counter Corruption
Commission (NCCC). He failed both times. The first time he reached the final list selected by the senate. The second time
he was cut out early by the senate.
Stepping
down from the Supreme Court, Prasert was posted as a consultant to the Juvenile & Family Court in Khon Kaen.
How
could Prasert, who was in complicity with pedophile and prostitution rings, get posted as a consultant to a Juvenile &
Family Court should be thoroughly investigated?
Easy!
After all, that is how organized crime works.
Most
recently, in July 2006, Prasert resurfaced in public in an attempt to get one of the five commissioners’ posts on the
highly controversial Election Commission (EC). But he was turned down.
Evidently,
Prasert’s ties to the Thai Rak Thai political party of the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, could not help him.
That
should be the end of Prasert.
For
the whole story, "The Un-Dead! Perverts Masquerading as Juvenile Court Officials!" visit the website: http://whitmanth.tripod.com/
------
A visitor's comment by James Page of Bangkok on January 7, 2006, 2005:
King should reject senate's NCCC nominees
The nomination of the post of auditor-general requires the approval of
the king of Thailand.
The king has refused to approve a new nominee for the post, which was meant
to replace the current auditor-general who has upset many by her determination to take corrupt officials to
task.
The King of Thailand should reject the senate's
nine nominees for commissioners' posts on the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) because the nominees have connections
to high officials in government, non-governmental organizations, politics and even the media.
In fact, the King's approval of the senate's nominees would ensure that
the NCCC would not function as an honest anti-graft body should. His approval would be inconsistent with his earlier
refusal to approve a new nominee for auditor-general.
The King should return the list of NCCC nominees to the senate without
his approval and with the recommendation that the senate select nominees with less obvious conflicts of interest.
The King should recommend also that the senate reduce an NCCC commissioner's
term from nine years to a more realistic, or reasonable, two to three years.
James L. Page
Bangkok, Thailand
---------------------------
Comment
from Vance Lewin in Bangkok, November 6, 2005:
An American woman in Bangkok is in conspiracy with the Thai Mafia to commit crimes against foreigners,
including other Americans.
Photo
of Jane Puranananda
When
foreigners in Thailand get into legal trouble and need a local lawyer, they ask friends and their embassies for advice.
Lists
of local lawyers, handed out by embassies to their nationals upon request, are merely a suggestion and often list unscrupulous
lawyers who habitually cheat clients. Unfortunately, treacherous lawyers remain on
embassy lists many years after they have been roundly denounced and should have been disbarred and imprisoned.
In
the last resort, some foreigners, from the East as well as the West, have asked the Law Society of Thailand (LST), a private
organization of local lawyers that provides free legal assistance to those who cannot afford it, for representation.
However,
the LST rarely helps foreigners. In almost every case, foreigners who contact the LST are given the runaround and dissuaded
from trying to obtain legal help. LST officials pretend not to speak English. They skip appointments. They insist that all
foreigners are rich and can afford to pay lawyers whereas Thais are poor and cannot.
Nonetheless,
the LST has on rare occasions provided lawyers to foreigners who could not find a one even for hire. But the lawyers
provided by the Law Society often cheat their clients and, in many cases, deliberately make matters worse for them. And they
are covered by senior LST officers. It is useless to complain.
For
the past several years, foreigners contacting the LST have been referred to a local American woman, Jane Puranananda, who
works for a local law firm, Dej Udom, named after the firm’s owner, Dej Udom Krairat. LST officials maintain that Ms.
Puranananda will explain to them what is required of them.
Indeed, Ms. Puranananda is listed as the law firm’s contact. And her boss, Dej Udom,
is currently also the president of the LST. Before becoming president, he was LST vice-president.
Ms. Puranananda has published a book on local textiles and is currently co-chairman
of the advisory board of the James H. W. Thompson Foundation in Bangkok .
Ms.
Puranananda, however, seems to be under instructions to get rid of anyone referred to her by the LST. She gives them the runaround.
She even claims that Dej Udom is not actually with the LST. In other words, she’s
part of a scam, with Dej Udom and other LST officials, and often corrupt government officials, to deny foreigners urgently
required legal assistance.
Ms.
Puranananda is one of those Americans in Bangkok who thinks nothing of cheating other foreigners, including Americans, for
local swindlers. Perhaps she thinks her connections, through her marriage to a Thai royal, place her beyond reproach?
Ms.
Puranananda should be charged with conspiracy and other felonious offenses, not just in Thailand but in the United States
and other countries as well.
Of
course, Ms. Puranananda is not the first American woman in Bangkok to conspire with local Thais to cheat other Americans.
But she is one that many people know about. The press should too.
Vance Lewin, Bangkok
Ed. note: The above letter was submitted to Thai
English-language newspapers but editors refused to publish it. The letter was posted on the website forum of The
Nation, Thailand's second biggest English-language daily, and drew several comments before the editors withdrew it, apparently
at the request request of one of Purananda's or because the newspaper has conflicts of interests. The article and comments
can be viewed at
+Vance+Lewin+website+about+Jane+Puranananda&hl
=en&ct=clnk&cd=2
A
comment by Vance Lewin, December 9, 2006:
The above letter
was sent to this website on November 6, 2005. I submitted
it to Thailand's two major English-language daily newspapers, the Bangkok Post and The Nation. The
Nation posted it on its on-line forum on January 16, 2006. The posting drew numerous comments before the editors removed
it shortly afterward.
Around the time
of the September 19 coup d'etat in Thailand the website, along with many others that criticized the same lawyers and judicial
officials, who have since resurfaced through appointments by the junta to high positions, was deleted by Lycos/Tripod,
a South Korean company.
Since then, I learned
that one of the editors of The Nation was related to Ms. Puranananda's Thai husband and, also, that one of the editors
was a client of the law firm, Dej-Udom & Associates.
Further, a former staffer of The Nation informed
me that the newspaper had working agreements with the law firm, Dej-Udom, the Law Society of Thailand, and the government's
National Counter Corruption Commission.
Considering other information that I have received, I believe that I
have good reason to believe that The Nation, Dej-Udom and certain employees of the American Embassy in Bangkok were
behind the website deletions.
If it is deleted
again I will post it again.
Vance Lewin
email:
eastbywestv@yahoo.com
website: http://vancelewinreposted.tripod.com/
For American Expatriates and Tourists
in Thailand - Americans with
legal problems in Thailand are easy prey for Thai mafiosi and American accomplices
----------------------------------
Comment by Harold Schwartz, Washington, D. C., June
15, 2006
American agents of foreign interests
Considering the work that Jane Puranananda,
who is an American citizen, does for Dej-Udon Krairat, she must be registered with the United States government as employed
and representing a foreign agency. Apparenlty, she is not registered as such. This is a violation of U. S. laws. Ms. Puranananda
is not immune to prosecution in the United States for her conduct abroad.
Harold Schwartz, Washington, D. C.
------------------
A Visitor's Comment from John Reasoner in Bangkok, March 18, 2006:
The letter from from Vance Lewin, about the criminal behavior of a local American
woman in Bangkok who is in conspiracy with local criminal elements to swindle other Americans, is a warning to
expatriates and tourists in Thailand .
Mr. Lewin's letter was posted on the Forum website of the English-language
Thai newspaper, The Nation, for many months. There were nine replies to it. The newspaper took it down recently.
The editors seldom remove a site.
Why did the editors remove the site? Did someone make a specific request
to have it removed? If so, who? What were his or her objections?
A former
American embassy employee in Bangkok told me that Jane Puranananda conspired with Central Intelligence Agency (C. I.
A.) operatives at the embassy. These persons were usually officials from the consular and political offices. Indeed, their
intention was to cheat and endanger Americans in Thailand who were not professionally connected to the American government.
This was often done in conspiracy with local Thais, including Thai lawyers. Usually, this involved committing fraud.
The American and Thai public
should know about this.
John Reasoner, Bangkok
-----------------------------------
Comment by Thomason L. Keller,
Washington, D. C., April 10, 2006
What can Americans do about
bad American officials
I have been interested in the comments about
Americans in conspiracy with local Thais to swindle other Americans.
Traveling aboard as a tourist, or living
abroad as an expatriate, especially in the Third World, has always posed risks and dangers that do not ordinarily exist at
home in the Western world.
Many Westerners in the Third World have
been the victims of theft and, after identifying the thief or thieves, have been accused and sometimes charged with defamation.
Many Westerners have been innocent victims
of a car accident and wrongly accused of causing the accident or accused of defamation by the driver at fault.
Often, locals and policemen defend a local
involved in an incident even if he or she caused it.
Thieves can come from all walks of life.
There are kleptomaniacs and psychopaths from wealthy families. They inflict injuries upon others. They run away. They refuse
to own up. They often have the backing of local residents, the police and law courts against their foreign victim.
Indeed, there are many western tourists
and expatriates in Thailand who refuse to report crimes to the police or appear in court as witnesses. They have learned from
experience that it serves no purpose to do so and can even lead to accusations against them, physical injury and internment.
Often, the Thai police fail to report accurately
a witness's account of an incident. And the policeman's superiors, all the way to the national police chief, will not respond
positively to requests to correct an errant policeman or report. They are unlikely to heed a report or complaint submitted
directly from the public.
Prosecutors are reluctant to accept complaints
directly from the public or question a policemen's report.
The Attorney General seldom acts upon complaints
submitted directly from the public.
There are no stenographers or audio recordings
in Thai courts. There is only a secretary who takes dictation from the judge. The judge dictates to the secretary a summary
of a witness's testimony. Often, that summary is inaccurate, sometimes very much so and sometimes entirely so. Witnesses can
petition the court, with an affidavit, to correct a judge's summary of their testimony, but such petitions, though accepted
by the court, are seldom heeded.
A low court judge's superiors, all the way
to the Supreme Court, seldom accept complaints against the judge or oppose the judge's decisions.
Often enough, witnesses, translators and
lawyers are intimidated by the police with harassment and threats of arrest to dissuade them from making or pursuing a complaint
or report.
A policeman, prosecutor and judge can charge
a witness with any number of offenses to dissuade him or her from testifying or pointing out their misconduct.
Worse, for a Westerner involved in a legal
matter in a Third World country, like Thailand , the employees of his country's local embassy are often reluctant to help.
Instead, they prefer to take issue with him and back the native locals against him.
Unless a Westerner has a personal contact
in the embassy of his country who can persuade local officials to cooperate the embassy is useless to him and can even make
matters worse.
There are many Westerners employed abroad
by native businesses, including law firms, who, without the least compunction, will oppose other citizens of their countries
if asked by their native employers to do so,
Embassy officials, including police and
intelligence operatives, have established relations with native policemen, prosecutors, judges and law firms that they do
not want to use to help a fellow citizen who has been injured, victimized, cheated, harassed or wrongly accused or detained.
This is usually due to timidity, pettiness and mendacity that is typical of many Foreign Service personnel and government
desk jobbers. They feel it inconvenient to question their local contact's actions. Often, they prefer to agree with the native
officials, just for the sake of agreement, regardless of the facts. Consular, political and economic officers at the American
embassy in Bangkok are definitely this sort of Foreign Service official. They can also perpetrate crimes against an innocent
individual through their native contacts.
There are provisions in the laws of the
United States that allow an American who was wronged by fellow citizens abroad or by the natives of a foreign country abroad
to pursue prosecution of those persons as well as sue them for damages 9n the United States.
The best known examples of such cases are
the recent prosecutions of pedophiles in America who committed criminal acts abroad. In another well-known example, victims
of human rights abuses committed by the Burmese Army, who used forced labor to build the Yadini pipeline for the American
oil company Unocal and the French oil company, Total, had recourse to an American court in pursuing claims for damages against
Unocal.
Americans can be insured at home against
many types of injuries and losses abroad, but not all. In the end, they will have to turn to American courts for justice and
compensation. Perpetrators of crimes against Americans in Thailand, be they Thai or American, common civilians or government
officials, acting individually or in conspiracy with others, in committing crimes or trying to cover up, can be prosecuted
in the United States under certain provisions of certain laws. Diplomatic immunity is limited.
Thomason L. Keller
Washington, D. C.
------------------------------
A comment from James Page, January 28, 2006:
The King and the NCCC (senate)
The King has just rejected the senate's list of nine commissioners for the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC)
because they were selected from a shortlist of 17 instead of 18 as required. One candidiate withdrew at the last minute. The
senate did not bother to select another candidate. Some senators argued that an eightheenth candidate had to be
added to the shortlist before the senate could select the nine commissioners. Others were tired of the lengthy process
and wanted to get on with it.
Apparently, the King has agreed and asked the senate to chose again.
Having rejected the list of commissioners for a purely technical legal reason, will the King find it difficult the
next time around to reject the list again for the more evident reason that the nine commissioners-to-be have conflicts of
interests that will inhibit proper conduct on an anti-corruption body?
James Page
Bangkok
-----------------
The following comment was published also as a letter to the Bangkok Post on March 11, 2006
The Public has a Right to
Know
The Thai press has been extremely
sloppy in its reporting of developments in the selection of new commissioners for the National Counter Corruption Commission
(NCCC).
The press has repeatedly reported
that the King rejected the senate's selection of nine commissioners who are to serve nine-year terms on the NCCC, which requires
royal approval, last January.
According to the press, the
King rejected the senate's list on a simple legal technicality: the senate selected the nine would-be commissioners from a
list of 17 instead of 18, after one withdrew his name from the list at the last moment.
According to the press, the
King felt that complaints that the senate should have selected the nine from a list of 18 instead of 17 were just.
But in an article, "Rejected
NCCC nominees reapply" in the March 3 issue of the Bangkok Post, a reporter, Tul Pinkaew, revealed that "seven of the eight
candidates were rejected by the King's principal private secretary in January on the grounds that the process was 'inappropriate'".
Thus, readers learned for the
first time, two months after the fact, that it was not the King who rejected the senate's list of nominees, but actually his
"principal private secretary".
Which was it? Who rejected
the senate's list? The King or his principal private secretary? There is a world of difference between the two. And what was
the reason? A simple legal technicality, as previously reported? Or was it, as the reporter seemed to have trouble saying,
because the King deemed seven of the eight candidates unfit?
Further in this matter, it
has been more than a week since the senate panel that is to select the NCCC commissioners announced that 44 people had applied.
But the press has not listed the 44. Only a handful has been mentioned. To provide for transparency the press should list
all of the candidates for the NCCC and details about them. In a democratic society, there can be no excuse for not doing so.
The press should be more careful
in its reporting. It should report the news more fully and precisely instead of beating around the bush and offering doubletalk.
The public has a right to know to full facts.
Wattana Jongkal na
Ayuttaya
jongkalnaayuttaya@yahoo.com
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Organized Crime, the Justice System
and the Privy
Council of Thailand | |
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Website
last updated: Monday June 4, 2007 1:21PM
The Thai military junta and dictatorship has just deleted John Thomas' Website, "Organized Crime, the Justice System
and the Privy Council of Thailand", again.
The website pointed out corruption in the Privy Council and the complicity of the Thai judiciary in the traffic in women
and children.
The website, www.johnthomasgo.tripod.com, was posted in 2005 and frequently updated and revised. It was deleted on the night on the Thai coup d'etat, September
19, 2006, by Lycos, a South Korean company.
The website was posted again almost immediately as www.johntohomasrestored.tripod.com, deleted by Lycos within several
days but, after protests, quickly restored.
The website is posted again here, today, May 2, 2007.
John Thomas Website (restored)
Saturday April 21, 2007
You are probably searching for the following
website:
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Was a foreign power - perhaps Japan , the United States or the United Nations - behind the appointment of Santi Trakan
to the Privy Council ? ...
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----------------------------------------
John Thomas' Website: "Organized Crime, the Justice System and the Privy
Council of Thailand" ( website: johnthomasgo.tripod.com/index.html ) was
deleted by Lycos/Tripod in mid-September 2006.
According to Lycos/Tripod, the site "violated terms of service". The site has asked Lycos/Tripod for a more precise explanation: Just what particular terms of service did the
site violate? Was Tripod asked by someone to remove the site? If so, who?
-------------------------
Thai officials in conspiracy with international
pedophile and prostitution rings and traffickers in children | |
Your comments are welcome.
The original site was deleted with this counter reading:
141;
It was reposed and then deleted again with counter reading:
85;
It was reposted and delted again at this meter reading:
97;
It was reposted and deleted again at this meter reading:
214;
It was reposted and delted again with this meter reading:
266;
The previous website was deleted and then reposted, with the same meter reading but then deleted again with
the meter reading:
266; | | | |
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Welcome back to John Thomas's website!
This is the fifth time that the site has been posted. It was just
blocked by the Thai junta again, a fourth time.
It is reposted here.
The original website, John Thomas, was deleted by Lycos/Tripod (the company was sold by a Spanish firm to a South Korean firm two years ago) on the eve of the
recent coup d'etat in Thailand, which took place on September 19.
Contrary to its guaranty, Lycos/Tripod did not provid an explanation
for its deletion of the site, which it had to do within 72 working hours, other than to say that terms of service
had been violated. To this day, it has not explained what terms were violated and how.
This website, John Thomas (restored), is a copy
of the deleted website with updates and revisions. This website, too, was deleted several days after posting but eventually
restored.
The website was deleted
five times and reposted each time.
Numerous Thai officials identified by the website for
their conspiracy with organized crime accepted prominent posts on advisory boards to the new government that was installed
by the military junta, in particular, the lawyers Jiraniti Havanon, Sak Khaosangrung and Dej Udon-Krairat, and Klanarong
Chantrik.
The prime minister and cabinet, advisory panels, and the
one-house parliament are all controlled by the junta. To ensure his position, the junta's leader, General Sonthi
Boonyaratglin, had to appoint cronies of the 86-year-old Privy Council chairman, Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda, to key
positions.
Almost all of the cabinet members are over 60 years old and close
cronies of Gen. Prem. The new interim prime minister was a privy councillor, Gen. Surayud Chulanont.
Members of the new cabinet, advisory panels, and
the National Legislative Assembly were handpicked by Gen. Sonthi, who later said that they were
actually chosen by General Vinai Paetayakul, who was invited into the junta, as secretary-general,
for his legal expertise.
All positions must be approved by Gen. Sonthi, as well as by the
King, which means that they must be approved by Gen. Prem.
Shortly afterward, the press exposeded conspicuous
connections and meetings between Gen. Vinai and Thaksin's #
1 man, Somkid
Jatusripitak, who had left the Tai Rak Tai party and started his own party. It appeared that Gen. Vinai was
preparing for a career in politics following his retirement from the military and that he expected Somkid to pave the
way for him.
In February 2007, the intermim government of Surayud
appointed Somkid its economic envoy. Somkid quickly resigned when ex-newspaper publisher, Sondhi Limthongkul, and
the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protested.
In mid-March 2007,
there were large public protests and demonstrations in Bangkok against Gen. Prem, considered to be the instigator
and mastermind of the coup and the ruling junta.
The
junta promised elections next October, 2007. The junta promised to stay out of politics. But there have been signs
that some junta members want to stay on as civilian rulers.
Is Thailand
heading into another Black May?
Many people in Bangkok believe that there will be a repeat of Black May 1992 next December
- protests by pro-democracy forces, a confrontation with the army and much bloodshed in the streets.
Indeed, the conduct of the junta in recent months could be viewed as provocative.
Gen. Sonthi and Gen. Surayud, who is generally viewed as Gen. Sonthi's puppet, made
numerous proposals to roll back some of the most crucial democratic gains of recent years and to fill certain civilian posts
with military personnel.
It is most crucial to practice democracy at the local level. Gen. Sonthi and the
Surayud cabinet proposed abolishing recently instituted local elections.
In the past, the village (muban) headman (phu yai ban) and the township
(tambon) headman (kamnan tambon) were appointed by the Ministry of Interior. They kept their positions until
reaching mandatory retirement age at 60.
Two years ago, for the first time in Thai history, villagers elected their headmen in
elections held throughout the country. The headmen were elected to five-year terms. Some believed the term was too long.
Earlier this year, Gen. Sonthi proposed extending the terms of headmen to ten years.
Still more recently, he proposed extending their terms to the age of mandatory retirement, 60.
The cabinet passed the proposal to abolish local elections and to make headmen officials
appointed by the provincial governor to retirement age.
Gen. Sonthi and the Surayud government also proposed replacing one of the two deputy
provincial deputy governors with a military official.
Further, the junta recently reinstated of Gen. Panlop Pinmanee,
who, against the orders of his superior, Gen. Chavalit Youngchaiyudh, ordered an attack on suspected native
Muslim militants hiding in a mosque in April 2004. The resulting massacre provoked the wrath of local Jawi-speaking
Malay Muslim inhabitants who for hundreds of years have bitterly resented the dominance of Thai Buddhist rule by Bangkok and
triggered the current bloody civil war in the three southern-most provinces of of Thailand - Pattani,
Yala and Narwathiwat.
The junta has also blocked more than ten thousand websites since the coup
d'etat.
In May the Constitution Court banned the Tai Rak Tai party and many of its officers
from politics for five years although one of them accepted a high post in another party without causing a stir.
Political elections are expected in late December.
Gen. Sonthi is expected to retire from the army at the end of September. There
is widespread concern that he intends to accept a post in the puppet Surayud government as deputy prime minister and that
Surayud would eventually step aside to let him assume the post of prime minister. There is also concern about the next army
head. For the present, it appears that Gen. Montri will be the next head.
For details see Top Boot Politics:
Looking beyond the immediate future, it appears that Thai politicians, the Thai press and
the Thai government, especially the Privy Council and the judiciary, are too corrupt and ineffectual to maintain
a democracy and that, thus, the army, which is currently led by very mediocre personnel, could, by necessity, continue
to play a dominant role in the country for some time. The police, the judiciary and ofen the press have been made to heel
and closely obey Gen. Sonthi.
Some privately laugh off the Thai junta's leaders as "Southeast Asian cowboys",
"Third World tinhorns" and "fascist punks".
Indeed, some junta members have displayed behavior that could draw such
remarks.
Just a few days after the coup d'etat, Gen. Sonthi ran off to Burma to meet
the Burmese junta. The trip appeared to have been a way of congratulating himself
and celebrating his coup. He intends to close out his military career with another similar trip to Burma.
A top Thai army general recently said that the generals of the oppressive and unpopular Burmese
junta were the ideal model for Thai soldiers to follow.
Enter secondary content here
Playing with the System
The recent extradition of an American from the United States to Thailand was unprecedented
- and shocked many people. The American, a native Caucasian, was an alleged swindler. He was extradited to Thailand
to stand trial for the murder of a New Zealander who was one of his partners in an underground stock brokerage and swindling
operation in Bangkok.
It is widely believed that the extradition was bought by the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, with sizable
bribes to judicial officials in the American state of Georgia and officials of the State Department, so he could show
off an honorary doctorate recently awarded to him by a criminal justice college in Texas -
to which the American president, G. W. Bush, and former Secretary of State, James Baker, are associated
- and/or that Bush, in a private deal with Thaksin, leaned on American officials to allow
the extradition.
Some likened the
extradition to Bush spitting in the soup of Asia watchers, legal experts and human rights monitors. They point out that the
US has not complied with the requests of Southeast Asian countries for the arrest and extradition of thousands of Thais currently
in the US.
There followed,
however, a surprisingly short trial and swift acquittal of the alleged murderer by the criminal court, without an appeal by
the prosecution, widely suspected of having been contrived by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has a
hand in local stock swindling operations run by underground stock brokerages called “boiler rooms”. The American
was returned to prison in the US, where he faces charges of swindling
---
Traffickers in Women and Children
Was a foreign power - perhaps Japan, the United States or the United Nations - behind the appointment of Santi Trakan to the
Privy Council?
The Yakuza, the Mafia, State Department, Thai Red Cross Society, and UN
agencies in Bangkok are notorious for their involvement in
the traffic in women and children. In Thailand,
so-called “non-governmental organizations" (“NGOs”) have privileged access to the courts.
Officials of foreign governments in Thailand,
including the US, are involved in the
traffic in Thai women and children. They ignore complaints from the public, including their own nationals, against corrupt
Thai policemen, lawyers and judicial officials complicit in the illicit trade. American embassy personnel tip off local police
contacts in attempts to stop complainants. They use the complaints for excuses to establish contacts and networks with corrupt
local officials in the traffic in women and children. They conspire with local lawyers and judicial officials to frame and
extort money from American tourists and expatriates. They grant visas for travel to the US to their co-conspirators in the local police, judiciary (like Jiraniti) and
other government offices. They pave the way up the ranks of officialdom for criminal associates in the Thai government.
-----
The
Monarchy in Thailand
The current Chakri dynasty
of Siam rose out of the destruction of the city of Ayutthaya, capital of Siam for four centuries, by invading Burmese
armies in 1767.
After the fall
of Ayutthaya, the governor of Tak Province, or Phraya Tak, whose name was Sin, rallied forces against the Burmese
and restored Siam to its former strength. As King Taksin, he established a new capital of Siam south of Ayuttaya, in Thonburi
Province, on the Chao Phraya River.
King Taksin was deposed and
replaced by one of his generals, Chao Phraya Chakri, in 1782. Born Thong Duang, he was the son of the Chao Phraya
Chakri Pitsanuloke, of an old Mon noble family of the former Ayutthaya ruling elite. His mother was from a family of
Mons and a family of Teochiu Chinese merchants in Thonburi.
Chao Phraya
Chakri was known as King Ramathibodi (the third Siamese king with that title). He was given the posthumous title
of Phra Yuttha Yod Fa Chulaloke. He is better known today as Rama I, however, and best remembered
for his establishment of Bangkok as the new capital of Siam, across the river from Thonburi. Under Rama I, Siam reached its
greatest territorial extent.
The Chakri dynasty's fourth king, Mongkut, is the probably the best known king in Siam's history. Mongkut
was popularized by a best-selling book written by the English tutor of his children, Anna Leonowens, which
was published in 1870. A long-running popular Rogers & Hammerstein stage musical on Broadway, "The King
& I", with the legendary movie star, Yul Brynner, portraying Mongkut, and several big Hollywood films, of which the best
known was "The King and I", also starring Brynner, in 1956, were based on the book by Leonowens.
Absolute monarchy was
abolished in a coup d'etat led by young western-educated soldiers and politicians in 1932. The lawyer and politician,
Pridi Banomyong, led the civilian faction; the future dictator, Plaek Pibulsonggram, was one of the leaders of the military
faction. The king, Prajadhipok, Rama VII, went abroad two years later, in 1934, and abdicated in 1935. The coup leaders
dominated Thai society for 25 years, until 1957.
The throne passed in
1935 to a nine-year-old nephew of Prajadhipok, Ananda Mahidol, then living in Switzerland. Except for a two-month trip
to Siam in 1938, Ananda remained abroad until late 1945. Six months later, on June 9, 1946, Ananda, age 20, was found
dead in bed, shot through the head. The shooting was called a gun accident.
It was also called a
suicide. More than anything, however, it appeared to have been a murder and, if so, one committed by persons
who wanted the young king out of the way because they felt he was ill-suited for the role of king, or preferred a return to
the regency, or wanted abolition of the monarchy altogether. Three of the king's closest servants were held responsible and
executed, though it was widely suspected that they were scapegoats.
Ananda Mahidol's younger
brother, Bhumipol Adulyadej, 18 years old, inherited the throne on the same day, June 9, 1946.
Bhumipol was born
in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1927 while his father, Prince Mahidol, was studying medicine at Harvard
University; his mother, Sangwal Talabhat, a commoner, the daughter of a Chinese goldsmith in Thonburi, was a nurse.
Bhumipol was educated in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Following Ananda’s
death, there were reports that Bhumipol also had been targeted for assassination.
Bhumipol remained in Switzerland to study. He married
a cousin, Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to France, in 1950. He was coroneted shortly afterwards, also in 1950.
He did not become a prominent public figure, however, until 1957 when the country's military dictator, Marshall
Sarit Dhanarajata, a Lao from Northeastern Thailand who was related by marriage to the Laotian royal family, encouraged him
to take on an active roll by traveling about the country, supporting government projects and participating in public
ceremonies.
Bhumipol has been king
longer than any monarch in Thai history. He is the ninth king, with the title of Rama IX, of the 225-year-old Chakri
dynasty.
Bhumipol is also
the world's longest reigning monarch. As of this year, 2007, he has been king for 61 years.
Bhumipol lost an eye in a car accident while studying in Switzerland. He has suffered health problems for more
than 20 years. He wears a heart pacer. Nonetheless, he maintains an active role in his country's affairs.
He appeared to play a promiment role in resolving the country's political crises in May 1992 and March 2006 and,
most recently, in May 2007.
For many years, the
king was closest to the oldest of his four children, a daughter, Ubon Rattana. She studied at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (M. I. T.) and University of California in Los Angeles (U. C. L. A.). She married an American, Peter Ladd Jensen, who
she met while studying at the M. I. T., and relinquished her royal titles. They had three children. She lived in the United States for many years. The couple divorced in 1998. Ubon Rattana returned to Thailand.
Ubon Rattana lost
her oldest child, her only son, to the tsunami that swept the southwestern coast of Thailand on December
26, 2004.
A highly attractive
woman, Ubon Rattana is one the most prominent social figures in Thailand. At age 56, she looks 30 and designs and
models her own fashion ware.
The king’s second
child and only son, the crown prince, Vajiralongkorn, however, has long been unpopular and criticized at home. He was a playboy
in his youth. He threw his weight around; in a jealous rage once, he forced the country's most popular rock singer, Thongchai
"Bird" McIntyre, to go into exile for several years. He salted away millions. He has three wives -
in a country where polygamy is widespread but illegal and polygamists have been sentenced to jail.
The queen, Sirikit, was once considered one of Thailand 's most beautiful women. But Sirikit has not
always been popular at home. Long ago, she was blamed by the Thai Buddhist clergy for a plane crash in Thailand
in which many monks on board were killed.
For many Thais, the queen and the crown prince made themselves unpopular by their response to the democracy
uprising in Bangkok in October 1973 that temporarily ended military rule in Thailand. The queen beckoned the crown prince,
then studying at the Duntroon Royal Military College in Sydney, Australia, to hasten home to join the leaders of the
army in suppressing the protests. At the same time, the king threw open the gates of the royal palace to offer sanctuary to
students fleeing policemen and soldiers who were gunning them down. During mass protests in Bangkok three years later,
in 1976, students hanged and burned effigies of the crown prince.
Most Thais do not want
the crown prince to succeed his father as king. They recall an old prophecy that there will be nine kings in the Chakri dynasty
and point out that Bhumipol is the ninth. Many have suggested that the king's second daughter, Sirindhorn, who never
married, could succeed her father as the country's monarch instead of the crown prince. The law of succession was
changed several years ago to allow a woman to succeed the king. Both Sirindhorn and Vajiralongkorn have been designated as
first heirs to the throne.
--------------
For full listing of Privy Council members and biographies, see:
or
For full listing of of all 87 judges of the Supreme Court and biographies, click here.
Latest News
More about the Monarchy in Thailand
Last year, 2006, marked the 60th year since Bhumibol Adulyadej inherited
the throne, at age 18, when his older brother, King Ananda, who died in "mysterious circumstances" in 1946; Bhumibol's
coronation was four years later, in 1950.
As of this year, 2006, Bhumibol is the world's longest reigning monarch, havng been on the
throne for 60 years.
For the latest news about the 60th anniversary see:
Related websites:
About King Rama VIII, Ananda Mahidol, older brother of Bhumibol Adulyadej,
his succession to the throne at age nine in 1934, his return to Thailand in late 1945, and his death, for which
no explanation was ever fully satifactory, a short time later, at age 20, in 1946:
About Bhumibol Adulyadej:
Thailand celebrates the King's 78th birthday, December 5, 2005:
Is the King sacred and divine? An absolute ruler? A tyrant? Some of
his men, and other government officials in particular, would like others, especially foreigners who are visiting, living
and working in Thailand to think so.
For a long time, malicious Thai officials, and policemen especially, have
tried to intimidate foreigners by threatening to charge them with two crimes in particular - possession
of narcotics or lese majeste (defamation of the monarchy) - in order to put them in prison, to extort money
from them, to force them to flee the country, or to simply to harrass them.
The King of Thailand, addressing the country on his 78th birthday,
spoke out on the matter for the first time. He said he was not opposed to criticism and invited personal criticism from
the public.
The King's address:
Reports about it:
A website about the Privy Council of Thailand is listed on the web
as an "untilted document" and out of date:
Royal Prerogative
There was considerable discussion about the Thai monarchy in Thailand
in September 2005.
The king delayed for many weeks his required approval of military
appointments that were submitted by the prime minister.
The king also withheld his required approval of the appointment of a new auditor-general that was submitted to him by the speaker of the senate.
Eventually, after more than 100 days, the appointee withdrew the appointment.
See articles from two English-language daily newspapers in
Bangkok, The Nation and the Bangkok Post, on the websites listed below.
A graph, listing the prerogatives and limitations of the Thai monarch,
mentioned at the end of the text of the article, was not included in the newspaper's on-line edition and is thus provided
privately on the following link: http://johnthomasgo.tripod.com/scanneddocument
Updates, September 7, 2005:
Updates, September 8, 2005:
The delay in granting royal approval of the appointments provoked
public discussion of royal powers for the first time in Thai history.
Updates, September 9, 2005:
---------------------------
The Furor over the Auditor General
The country's first auditor-general assumed office in 2001. The
State Audit Commission elected a woman, Jaruvan Maintaka, to the post. As required, the senate approved, or endorsed, the
appointment, and so did the king.
But the auditor-general stepped on many toes and became unpopular
in many quarters.
Thus, a year later, eight senators petitioned to the Constitution Court
to remove Jaruvan by ruling that she had been appointed illegally.
The auditor-general's office was padlocked and Jaruvan was prevented from
going to work.
Last year, 2005, the Constitution Court agreed that Jaruvan had been
appointed to the post illegally. But the judges maintained that the court had no authority to rule on
her status.
The State Audit Commission elected a new auditor-general, Wisut
Montriwat, in June 2005. The speaker of the senate submitted the appointment to the king for approval.
But the king did not approve the appointment of a new auditor-general.
It was the first time since Thaksin Shinawatra became prime minister, in
2001, that the king withheld approval of an appointment.
After 100 days, four senators inquired to the King's
Principal Private Secretary, Arsa Sarasin, about the delay in royal approval of the appointment of a new
auditor-general. Then four members of the staff of the speaker of the senate asked the police to charge the four
senators with "lese majesty" - defamation of the monarchy. Then, many senators called for the resignation
of the speaker of the senate for having submitted the new appointment to the king for approval.
The new appointee, Wisut, withdrew his appointment. The king accepted
his withdrawal.
The incumbent auditor-general, Jaruvan, refused to resign until the
king approved a new appointee, to be selected by the Office of the Auditor General.
All the relevant offices beat about the bush, apparently determined to keep
the auditor-general from resuming work, as many viewed the office as against their interests.
The senate withdrew a motion to reconfirm Jaruvan. The State Audit
Commission asked the Constitution Court again to rule on the matter. The Constituiton Court left it up to the senate. The
senate asked the State Audit Commission is to select another auditor-general.
The senate committee on administration planned to submit to the NCCC complaints
of malfeasance and lese majesty against the SAC for failing to reinstate Jaruvan.
Finally, on February 1, 2006, the SAC reinstrated Jaruvon.
Many cases of alleged corruption have been shelved for years.
About the auditor-general
September 21, 2005:
September 25, 2005:
October 11, 2005
Where things stand now:
October 12, 2005
The investigation of many "high-profile" corruption cases
await the return of the auditor-general: investigations into the refurbishing of parliament, the government's purchase
of rubber saplings (for latex) and American bomb detectors for the new international airport south of Bangkok; bidding irregularities
for the new airport's catering facilities, electric power distribution, unbalanced compensation to poultry farmers who
were victims of the bird flu epidemic, etc.
SAC reinstates Jaruvon, February 1, 2006
January 18, 2006
The senate committee on administration plans to submit to the NCCC
complaints of malfeasance and lese majesty against the SAC for failing to reinstate Jaruvan.
RECAP:
In
2001, the SAC named Prathan Dabphet as its first choice for nominee for auditor-general. The SAC chairman, Panya Tantiyavarong, submitted
Prathan's name along with two failed candidates, including Jaruvan, to the senate. In the end, however, the senate endorsed
Jaruvan and the King appointed her.
In 2004, the Constitution Court ruled that Jaruvan's appointement was unconstitutional.
On May 30, 2006, a criminal court decided that the SAC chairman,
Prathan, was guilty of malfeasance for submitting the names of the two failed candidates and sentenced him to three
years in jail.
Bangkok Post, May 31, 2006:
The Nation, May 31, 2006:
----------------------------------
An article providing an typical example of open and pervasive corruption
within the Thai judiciary is on website below.
The son of a justice of the Constitution Court, caught with narcotics,
goes scott free a second time.
Constitution Court judges:
-------------------------
Last year, NCCC commissioners gave themselves a pay raise.
The Supreme Court ruled that the NCCC commissioners acted without authoritzation, gave the commissioners one-year suspended
sentences, and forced them to resign.
Now, Constitution Court justices, having voted themselves a payraise
too, are accused of violating the same law and are to be taken to task.
For a listing of Constitution Court judges see:
-----------------------------
Up-to-date news items about the selection of NCCC commissioners:
Nine commissioners were selected by the senate, meeting in full
session, on November 1, 2005 but the nine, including a former Supreme Court justice who they chose as their chairman, had
questionable ties to high politicans and government officials.
November 25, 2005:
The speaker of the senate expressed reservations about the
qualifications of the nominees for commissioners' posts on the NCCC that were selected by the senate and that he was
to send to the king for approval:
From IHTThaiDay, December 14,
2005:
The King rejected the senate's list of nine NCCC commissioners,
pointing out that the nine commissioners were selected from a shortlist of 17 candidates instead of the required number of
18. One of the 18 candidates was forced to withdraw at the last moment. He claimed health reasons but really wanted to avoid
an investigation into his qualifications. Some senators argued that the senate should have selected another candidiate to
replace him. The King agreed on this point and he returned the list to senate. The King's decision astounded many who believe
he is merely a figure head and a rubber stamp monarch.
Bangkok Post, January 28, 2006:
The Nation, January 28, 2006:
The senate will discuss the NCCC on February 9 and 10, 2006
The Nation, February 1, 2006:
Bangkok Post, February 1, 2006:
The Senate voted unanimously to reselect 18 candidates,
from whom nine will be selected as commissioners of the NCCC:
The Nation, February 10, 2006:
Bangkok Post, February 10, 2006:
The senate's NCCC selection committee took applications for the
NCCC:
The Nation, February 21, 2006:
Bangkok Post, February 21, 2006:
Forty-four applicants applied to the senate screening panel for
a commissioner's seat on the NCCC. Only a few have been named by the press.
The situation to date:
Bangkok Post, March 26, 2006:
As of March 29, 2006 there are 51 applicants for nine commissioners' posts on the NCCC
----------
The King and the Prime Minister
The current prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, has
angered the king several times since assuming office in February 2001. More than once, the king, who is Thailand's official
head of state, felt that Thaksin took him for granted or tried to by-pass him.
Likewise, the Thai Buddhist clergy (sangkha) was angered recently
by Thaksin's appointment of an acting head of the clergy (sanghkarat) to conduct the duties of the current head of the clergy,
who is elderly and ailing. Thaksin made the appointment without consulting the clergy.
Matters could reach a critical point one day if Thaksin
and his cabinet determine that the king is unable to carry out his duties and responsibilities and decide to assume the
position of acting head of state.
----------------------------------
Thais demand more and more transparency
In late 2005, a newspaper publisher in Bangkok, Sondhi Limthongkul,
started regular nightly rallies, eventually attended by 100,000-plus people, in public parks in
Bangkok, denouncing Thaksin and cabinet members for corruption, cronyism, nepotism and dictatorship.
Sondhi and Thaksin agreed not to invoke the king's name in their
attacks and rebuttals - that is to say, not to accuse one another of lese majeste.
Showdown between the Prime Minister and the Privy Council
The most popular man in Thailand, General Chamlong Srimuang ("Mr.
Clean"), joined Sondhi in demanding Thaksin's resignation. Chamlong led the democracy protests in 1992 that brought an
end to military domination of Thai society, government and politics. Chamlong was Thaksin's mentor and got him started in
politics.
Sondhi and Chamlong led a non-stop marathon mass rally of 50,000
to 200,000-plus protesters against Thaksin in Bangkok.
Chamlong and Sondhi petitioned the King to appoint a new prime
minister.
In mid-March 2006, The Nation reported that on March 8
the Privy Council voted 15 to 4 to replace Thaksin as chairman of the committee in charge of celebrations of the
60th anniversary of the king on the throne, with the Privy Council president, Prem Tinsulanonda.
Around this time a bomb exploded outside Prem's quarters.
Thaksin disputed The Nation report of his replacement
by Prem as master of ceremonies. So did Privy Council spokesmen. The Nation stuck to its reports. Thaksin insisted
that he was still in charge of the celebrations. So did the Privy Council.
What is the situation? For an assessment: "
Bangkok Post, March 26, 2006:
-----------------------------
The king met the largest gathering of privy council members in many years,
at his private residence, to express concern about the current political situation:
Bangkok Post, March 24, 2006
Concern among Thais that democracy activists are relying too much upon
the monarchy, throwing away hard-fought gains won over the years:
The Nation, March 24, 2006
"Royal intervention denies our history"
-----
What
happened to "People Power" in Thailand?
Amid countless complaints
of lese majeste, suits and counter-suits, the anti-Thaksin protesters and their leaders, Sondhi and Chamlong, persisted and
prevailed!
Well, not quite .
. .
In a long-delayed
response to mounting demands for his resignation, the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, dissolved the lower house of
parliament in February 2006 and called for snap elections, to be held in early April. (This followed a suggestion by a former
military dictator, Suchinda Kraprayoon, published in the press.)
But the nationwide
parliamentary elections were boycotted by opposition parties and a vast section of the voters.
Thus, Thaksin's Thai
Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais") party ran unopposed in many constituencies. Thaksin claimed an overwhelming victory and scoffed
at calls to quit.
On April 5, Thaksin
met the King and an hour or so later he announced his resignation. (Was it at the king's urging that he quit?)
Thaksin said that
he was going on a long vacation abroad and named a deputy prime minister as acting prime minister of a “caretaker”
government.
Thaksin declared that
he would resign when the lower house, dominated by his party, convened.
Although Thai Rak
Thai party candidates, running unopposed, swept the elections, some candidates did not win the required 20% of the vote in
their constituencies to claim a seat in the lower house. Thus, the House of Representatives did not have the 500 members needed
to convene.
When Thaksin returned
from abroad, he assumed the position of "caretaker prime minister" himself and remained in control of the government.
Many foreign governments
announced that they were suspending some of their dealings with Thailand
until a legitimate government was installed. The political impasse impeded the conduct of government and business.
The leader of many
popular mass rallies against Thaksin, local newspaper magnate, Sondhi Limthongkul, petitioned the King to appoint a new prime
minister. The King refused to do so. However, the King acknowledged that the recent elections, with one party running virtually
unopposed, could not produce a democratic legislature.
The King summoned
the heads of the country's top three courts - Supreme Court, Constitution Court and Supreme Administrative Court
- and admonished them to resolve the political problem through legal
means or to resign from their posts.
The opposition parties
then announced that they would not boycott the next election.
The courts nullified
the results of the April elections and called for new elections. (The courts decided that there had not been enough time,
as required by the constitution, between the date the elections were called by Thaksin and the date they were held.)
Eventually, in August,
new elections were scheduled for October 15.
Despite the growing
resentment of Thaksin across the country, Tai Rak Tai appeared to be headed for another victory at the polls.
In an opinion poll
conducted in Bangkok by Assumption
College, Thaksin was the preferred choice of respondents for prime minister,
polling more than 40%, far more so than all other possible rivals. The leading opposition politician polled only a tiny fraction
of support.
(Bangkok has a large
Chinese middle class, whose opinions are usually a year or two ahead of inhabitants of the provinces, where Thaksin had his
greatest support.)
Regardless, Thaksin's
days appeared numbered.
Sondhi's People's
Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and opposition parties sought
to dismantle the Thaksin political machine completely.
Above all other matters,
the long-simmering age-old conflict in the South, between the native Jawi-speaking Muslim Malay inhabitants and the governing
Buddhist Thais from Bangkok, which flared up in 2004 and had
since claimed some 2000 lives, had to be settled. But Thaksin appeared to have little or no real interest in the matter.
In late 2005, following
the advice of his closest aides, Thaksin appointed Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Gen.
Sonthi, a capable general, was the first Muslim to hold the most powerful military post in the country. It was hoped that
Gen. Sonthi would be able to end the growing separatist insurgency in the South.
Thaksin also wanted
the active support of the army in suppressing his political opponents. But Gen. Sonthi refused to let the army be drawn into
the conflict. He gave repeated assurances that the army would not intervene. This was crucial to the success of the massive
democracy drive against Thaksin.
This irked Thaksin.
Nonetheless, at Thaksin's
request, Gen. Sonthi and the leaders of the army and navy accused Sondhi of lese majeste.
The police arrested
Sondhi, charged him with lese majeste and released him on bail.
Denied the backing
of the army in the streets, Thaksin sent mobs of his supporters, led by professional thugs and undercover policemen, to attack
and break up PAD rallies. Sondhi and PAD leaders complained to the police about the attacks. The police refused to act against
the mob leaders.
An ignorant and irresponsible
local press played up the possibility of a coup d'etat by the army - and appeared to encourage one.
Thaksin sought to
replace Gen. Sonthi with someone who would back him in a coup d’etat so he could assume emergency dictatorial powers.
There were reports that Thaksin intended to transfer key supporters to top army posts in the annual military reshuffle in
the coming October. There were reports also that Thaksin intended to replace Gen. Sonthi by kicking him upstairs to the ceremonial
post of Supreme Commander of the armed forces.
But Thaksin’s
advisors, concerned about the South, urged Thaksin to retain Gen. Sonthi as commander-in-chief for another year.
An apparent assassination
attempt by army officers in Bangkok, nipped in the bud, might
have been a boggled attempt to kill Thaksin, or it could have been staged by Thaksin to give him an excuse to declare an emergency
and assume dictatorial powers.
Gen. Sonthi transferred
key officers loyal to Thaksin.
At this point it appeared
that Thaksin had lost the upper hand in a power struggle.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=5946&z=104
http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=5972&z=154
The last coup d’etat
in Thailand had been 15 years earlier,
in 1991, when Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon, head of the armed forces, toppled the government of Gen. Chatchai Choonhaven, the
prime minister.
There was brief talk
of a coup d’etat during the dramatic collapse of the Thai currency in 1997, when several Thai business leaders blamed
the prime minister, General Chavalit Youngchaiyudh, and lobbied the military to oust him.
Still, it appeared
that as long as Gen. Sonthi headed the army there would be no coup d'etat.
Elections were scheduled
for October 15, but going into the third week of September no one appeared to campaigning seriously or very hard. There were
calls from all sides to postpone the election date to allow parties more time to prepare and the concerned election officials
were considering setting a later date.
On September 19, 2006,
as the PAD prepared to stage another mass protest rally in Bangkok,
and many forest rangers, armed by Thaksin and brought to the capital, prepared to confront them, Gen. Sonthi staged a coup
d'etat, overthrowing the Thaksin government, suspending the constitution, both houses of parliament and the Constitution Court. He arrested some of Thaksin's men.
Thaksin, on a two-week
trip abroad, was in New York, preparing to address the United
Nations. He was due to return to Thailand
in two days.
There were hints that
Thaksin had anticipated a coup d’etat, possibly two to four weeks earlier. (He packed 54 suitcases onto a second plane
that joined him abroad later.)
Crucial to the success
of Gen. Sonthi’s coup d’etat was the backing of the 86-year-old chairman of the Privy Council, Prem Tinsulanonda, and the King.
Gen. Sonthi announced
that the new government, initially called the Council for Democratic Reform under the Monarchy (CDRM), would remain in power
for one year, when new nation-wide elections would be held.
A new constitution
was to be drafted during the year.
Thai Rak Thai and
Thaksin cronies were to be purged completely from power.
Gen. Chamlong Srimuang,
popular leader of pro-democracy protests against the Suchinda regime in 1992, expressed the feelings of most people that Gen.
Sonthi’s coup d’etat was the only way to avert a major crisis. He expressed faith in the heads of the armed forces
to set the country back on course.
To ensure success,
Gen. Sonthi had to appoint, on October 1, a privy councilor, Surayud Chulanont, retired army general and former armed forces
Supreme Commander, as the new “interim” prime minister.
Gen. Sonthi also had
to ensure that cronies of the Privy Council chairman, Gen. Prem, dominated the 242-member one-house National Legislative Assembly
that was to select a 1000-member assembly that would draft a new constitution.
Gen. Sonthi handpicked
the members of the National Legislative Assembly. Predictably, there were 60 military men in the assembly, including 35 in
active service, making up one-quarter of the assembly. Together with policemen, the military occupied one-third of the assembly's
seats.
The assembly was to
oversee the drafting of the country's new constitution.
The King approved
the new 242-member National Legislative Assembly on October 11.
According to a long-standing
tradition the King presides over the opening session of parliament. He was to have presided over the opening session of the
National Legislative Assembly, scheduled for the throne hall on October 20, but the Crown Prince presided over the session
instead. The exact significance of the change was not explained but it was believed that the King, was recovering from a fall
last June and forced him to miss the event.
As commander-in-chief,
Gen. Sonthi retained authority over the prime minister, the cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly, which would not
have real power. Again, he had the backing of the King and Prem.
With Thaksin and his
crony, Surakiart Sathirathai, out of office, there appeared to be a change in the air in Thailand’s relations with Burmese ethnic groups and exiles on the border.
Thaksin and Surakiart were staunch supporters of the Burmese military junta and often derided the democratic and human rights
forces in Burma. According to Robert Htwe,
a Karen Baptist pastor in Mae Sod, the “interim” Thai prime minister, Surayud, an ethnic Mon from Nonthaburi,
“is a friend of the Karen”.
(There were reports
that the Burmese head of state, Than Shwe, had relinquished the top military post to a much younger army man, Shwe Man, who
is a Karen.)
With Thaksin in exile,
there appeared also to be a real chance of reconciliation with the South.
Many believe that
Thaksin and other prominent Thais, like Anand Panyarachun, wanted to provoke the Malay Muslims in the South into escalating
the insurgency, thus providing an excuse to conduct “ethnic cleansing” with the Thai army, if possible with American
forces, by killing and exiling most of the Malay Muslim population and replacing it with Chinese Buddhists from Thailand and
exploiting the region for commercial gain with Chinese interests from Thailand and China.
Gen. Sonthi favored
conducting negotiations with the leaders of the separatist insurgency in the South and offering amnesty to the insurgents.
Thaksin had opposed negotiations. Negotiations were opened with the leaders of popular insurgent groups but the latter maintained
that the insurgency was actually led by a new generation of younger and unknown leaders they did not control.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060920/ap_on_re_as/thailand
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/20/headlines/headlines_30014103.php
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/20/headlines/headlines_30014102.php
The
Nation, Friday, October 13, 2006
NEW
PARLIAMENT
NLA
'doesn't represent' all of the people
Critics
call assembly chamber of generals that is made up of 'Prem's sons'
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/13/headlines/headlines_30016076.php
ANALYSIS
Assembly
will not play a major role
Members
of the National Legislative Assembly selected to form parliament yesterday have only one clear mandate: to become a rubber
stamp for establishing legal instruments for the junta-installed government to run the kingdom for the next 12 months.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/13/headlines/headlines_30016078.php
The
National Legislative Assembly
The
full list of 242 members of the National Legislative Assembly:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/12/headlines/headlines_30016017.php
-----------
Bangkok Post, Friday, October 13, 2006
National
Assembly installed
Seen
as dominated by generals loyal to Prem
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/13Oct2006_news01.php
Members
of the National Legislative Assembly
http://www.bangkokpost.com/legislativeassembly.php
------------------------------------
Initially, the Thai
middle class and ruling elite appeared to be behind Gen. Sonthi. But soon there was growing general unease about plans to
retain a military-controlled rubber-stamp government, overloaded with persons generally considered less suitable than those
in the Thaksin government, for a year.
The coup did not appear
to have been a Muslim coup, as some believed. Only one cabinet member, the Minister of Interior, was a Muslim. (This post
was held by a Muslim politician several years ago.) There were only 13 Muslims appointed to the 242-member National Legislative
Assembly.
Rather, the coup could
be called a royal coup. The King was informed of plans to stage the coup beforehand and gave his approval. After staging the
coup, the six leaders of the armed forces presented themselves as the Council for Democratic Reform under the Monarchy (CDRM),
with Gen. Sonthi as the leader. The major immediate beneficiaries of the coup were clearly Prem and his cronies. The name
of the junta was changed several days later, by dropping the phrase “under the Monarchy”, to Council for Democratic
Reform (CDR), after grumbling from the public about the intentions of the junta to remain in power for a year. Eventually,
on October 1, the CDR renamed itself the Council of National Security (CNS).
Many among the public
complained that Thaksin cronies had not been purged and held key positions, such as, for instance, Prem's closest aide.
A growing number of
people suspected that the coup was staged with the connivance of Thaksin and Prem to let Thaksin off the hook over his financial
dealings. Earlier this year, Thaksin sold 49% of his Shin Corporation to a company, Temasek, in Singapore without paying the required taxes. Subsequently, numerous small companies
in Thailand, discovered to be nominee
companies of Temasek, bought the rest of Shin. Thaksin wanted to halt the growing scandal about the sale of Shin and to avoid
prosecution, jail, and paying huge taxes and fines.
In late October, there
were rumors that Thaksin, who met Tai Rak Tai leaders in Singapore, was
returning to Thailand. Thaksin’s
wife then met privately with Prem to request permission for Thaksin to return. This triggered a public outrage against Prem.
A growing number of
Thais believed that the time to abolish (or suspend) the Privy Council was approaching.
Meanwhile, Gen. Sonthi,
in a show of strength, ordered 2000 troops to the capital. The order was later cancelled, and one battalion, half-way to Bangkok, returned to its camp.
There have been complaints
that members of CNS, the cabinet, advisory panels, National Legislative Assembly and the Crown Prince (or top aides to the
Crown Prince) are in league with Thaksin. There have been complaints also about conflicts of interests, interlocking directorships
and padding of expenses.
At the end of October,
one of the six (later increased to eight) CNS members, General Vinai Paetayakul, permanent secretary for defense and CNS secretary-general,
was alleged to be secretly plotting for a future political career with a top Thaksin crony.
According to the press,
in late October, Gen. Vinai was the "brain" behind the coup d'etat (he engineered it) and Gen. Sonthi carried out his plans.
Gen. Vinai is the
son-in-law of an admiral who led the coup d'etat that toppled the government of Kukrit Pramoj after violent demonstrations
and protests in Bangkok in 1976.
According to Gen.
Sonthi, in a press interview at the end of October, all the legal officials for the advisory panels and the National Legislative
Assembly, including the president of the assembly, were handpicked by Gen. Vinai.
On October 30, the
CNS revealed that it had evidence tying a top Thaksin aide to the disappearance of a leading human rights lawyer, a Muslim,
in February 2004. The lawyer is thought to have been murdered by top police officials over his defense of Malay Muslims in
the South who were accused of raiding a police arms depot two months earlier.
The local press shows
increasing signs daily that it has been bought and corrupted by Prem and his cronies.
On New Year’s
Eve eight bombs exploded in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The bombs
were said to have been identical to the homemade bombs used by insurgents in the South. But
it was widely believed that the bombers hoped that the public would blame insurgents in the South.
Two more bombs exploded
a day or two later.
Two people were killed
by the bombs and 15 or more, including foreigners, were injured.
One of the bombs was
thrown at the Chinese mosque in Chiang Mai and the Burmese caretaker was seriously injured.
Thaksin supporters
and other politicians were suspected of conducting the bombings.
The junta was also
suspected of conducting the bombing, to point out the necessity of the September 19 coup.
There was talk also
of a power struggle within the junta, army and government.
----------------------------
A look inside the power politics of the Thai armed forces
|
The Nation, Bangkok, November 8, 2006
BURNING ISSUE:
How army is linked to return of democracy
 Sonthi's ability to keep control, especially of his successor,
is vital to future |
-------------------------------
Bangkok
Post, November 22, 2006
CNS to
list abuses of ousted govt
White paper
seen as bid to deflate critics
The
Nation, Bangkok, November 22, 2006
CNS
makes its case for the coup
White paper explains motives for the toppling of the Thaksin govt
-------
Thai Military Politics
A Power Struggle within the Junta?
Welcome to avudh ‘s Blog
The Nation, Bangkok
Top Boot Politics Nov 27, 2006
Top Boot Politics
Sequel I Dec 04, 2006
Top Boot Politics Sequel II Jan 05, 2007
Top Boot Politics
Sequel III Jan 12, 2007
-----------------
Ten key players for the
Year of Reform
The Nation, Bangkok, January 30, 2007
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/01/30/politics/politics_30025449.php
Citigroup has
named 10 people it believes will play influential roles in shaping future politics.
In its report released
last Friday Citigroup identified:
1.Noranit Setabutr (age
65)
2.General Saprang Kalayanamitr (59)
3.General Winai Phattiyakul
(58)
4.Rosana Tositrakul
(52)
5.Chaturon Chaisaeng
(50)
6.Abhisit Vejjajiva
(43)
7.Banharn Silapa-archa
(75)
8.Kowit Wattana (59)
9.General Anupong Paochinda
(57)
10.Prasong Soonsiri
(80)
A growing
number of Thais realize that General Sonthi is the only person who can handle the situation in the South. It appears likely
that he will be asked to stay on as the country's leader beyond his retirment next September.
Initially, members of the new cabinet, advisory panels, and the National Legislative
Assembly were said to have been handpicked by Gen. Sonthi. However, Gen. Sonthi said that they were actually chosen by General
Vinai Paetayakul, who was brought into the junta as secretary-general, for his legal expertise.
Shortly afterward, the press exposed conspicuous connections and meetings between Gen. Vinai and Thaksin's # 1 man,
Somkid Jatusripitak, who had left Tai Rak Tai and started his own party. It appeared that Gen. Vinai was
preparing for a career in politics following his retirement from the military and that he expected Somkid to pave the
way for him.
In February 2007, the interim government of Surayud appointed Somkid its economic envoy
but Somkid quickly resigned when ex-newspaper publisher, Sondhi Limthongkul, and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protested.
In mid-March 2007, there were large public protests and demonstrations in Bangkok against Gen. Prem, believed to be the instigator and mastermind
of the coup and the ruling junta.
The junta has promised elections next October and to stay out of
politics. But there are signs that some junta members would like to retain power as civilian politicians.
Many people in Bangkok
believe that there will be a repeat of Black May 1992 next December, with protests by pro-democracy forces, a confrontation
with the army and bloodshed in the streets.
--------------------
Gen. Sonthi purges Thaksin's men from
leading ranks of the army, replacing them with with his own
Army Chief of Staff General Montri Sangkhasap
and his classmates are the men to watch
The
Nation, Bangkok
BURNING ISSUE
Comment
& Analysis
March 22, 2007
Sonthi
looks to the future
Army reshuffle puts trusted aides in key
places to help ensure things stay on course after he retires later this year
Yesterday's announcement of the mid-year military rotations
was a watershed event in the line of succession - for those who will take power when Army chief and junta leader General Sonthi
Boonyaratglin retires in September.
The armed forces reshuffle will take effect on April
1.
The new line-up of 456 officers shows two important trends:
the rise of the Pre-Cadet Class 9 clique as the dominating force in the Army, and Sonthi's rearguard tactic to leave trusted
aides as vanguards for the future.
Sonthi may be uncertain on what the future holds for
him after the next general election but at least he has the loyalty of his top brass to catapult him into power - or ensure
a golden retirement.
Under Sonthi's intervention, Lt General Sujit Sithiprapa
is set to become commander of the Second Army Region, while Maj General Sunai Sampattawanit will take charge of the Special
Warfare Command.
Sujit is an inner-circle aide of the junta leader and
seen as close to the Class 9 clique, although he is a Class 8 graduate. His appointment comes at a crucial juncture, as the
Northeast is slated to be a decisive battleground for the next coalition government.
Sunai is from Pre-Cadet Class 11 and known for his staunch
loyalty to Sonthi as the two share the kindred spirit of the Special Warfare Corps. Sonthi's choice of Sunai is seen as his
trump card to safeguard his future.
With the promotion of Maj General Jittipong Suwanseth
as commander of the Anti Aircraft Artillery Command, the Pre-Cadet Class 9 clique now has complete control over all the major
combat forces.
Army Chief of Staff General Montri Sangkhasap is the
de facto leader of the clique and his influence in naming Sonthi's successor is expected to increase along with the clout
of his fellow officers.
In contrast to the ascent of Montri's clique, Pre-Cadet
Class 10 officers are now seen as quickly moving into obscurity because of their past ties with ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Class 10 officers like General Pornchai Kranlert and
Air Chief Marshal Sukamphol Suwanthat have been moved twice in six months from key positions to lesser jobs and inactive assignments.
Pornchai has descended from assistant Army chief to deputy
joint chief of staff to be a special adviser in the Defence Ministry.
Sukamphol will also become a "senior expert" - a fall
from his heyday when he looked to be the heir apparent at the Air Force.
Lt General Chatchai Thawornbutr, Thaksin's former military
aide, will lose his coveted position as deputy Army chief of staff and move to an inactive post in the Defence Ministry.
But the Class 10 graduates are far from being in the
dustbin of history.
Assistant Army chief General Anupong Paochinda remains
a top contender to succeed Sonthi and Lt General Sanit Phrommas is slated for reassignment. He will be elevated to a four-star
general.
Sanit, the former commander of the Second Cavalry Division,
was promoted upstairs following the September 19 coup.
Amid the horse trading among the top brass, Prime Minister
Surayud Chulanont managed to promote his military aide Lt General Ninnart Beaokaimook to a four-star general.
Ninnart will continue to serve in Government House although
his new position is the Army's senior expert.
Key rotations include the promotion of outgoing Second
Army Region commander Lt General Sujet Watanasuk to a four-star general in the Defence Ministry. Sujet is due to retire in
September.
Lt General Woradej Phumijitr, Sonthi's fellow graduate
from Pre-Cadet Class 6, will be promoted as chief staff officer for the Army chief, a four-star position.
The Political Desk
The Nation
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