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Thai kangaroo courts set new low in standards of justice
Ugly Truth Thailand - August 27, 2017
The sentences given out by the lap-dogs of the dictatorship who hold positions as judges are ten times the average sentences for murder committed by ordinary citizens. The aim is purely political with the purpose of destroying politicians associated with the Thai Rak Thai or Pua Thai parties. It has nothing to do with justice or the eradication of corruption.
While the likes of Generalissimo Prayut and former military appointed Prime Minister Abhisit smirk about Yingluck leaving the country to avoid jail, the real criminals who have avoided justice are the coupsters and mass murderers like Prayut and Abhisit. These two disgusting specimens, along with their mates in the military junta and the Democrat Party, ordered the deliberate killing of nearly a hundred unarmed protesters back in 2010. Together these anti-democrats have pushed Thailand back to the dark ages and destroyed any prospects of freedom and democracy for years to come.
So in Thailand, the hired judges of the military lock people away for 30-40 years for being involved in the rice scheme while mass murderers and coupsters enjoy impunity with some running the country. Those who are brave enough to criticise the political situation are either locked up for decades or have been forced to seek exile and asylum outside the country.
Critics of the rice scheme claim that the government "wasted" millions of public money but they remain quiet as the junta massively increases military spending on weapons, tanks, aeroplanes and submarines. Some of this wasted military spending is also going to be used to kill Thai citizens when they dare to fight for their rights.
But the rice scheme was not a waste of money or a "loss" to state coffers. It was state spending intended to help poor rice farmers. Rather than being a "loss" it was an investment in people. Yes, there may well have been corruption involved at local level, but the recent court case was nothing to do with this and the military and their cronies enjoy impunity for their own rampant corruption today.
The ridiculous sentences handed out have a second purpose other than to destroy politicians belonging to Taksin's party. The second aim is to make it clear that government spending in the future must not be used to eradicate poverty or help ordinary working people. This is the nasty neo-liberal agenda of the junta and its supporters in the Democrat Party and the middle classes.
Some Thais have expressed disappointment that Yingluck left the country rather than stay and fight by going to jail. Others have expressed hopes that she will lead a struggle from abroad. The fact of the matter is that Taksin and his allies have deliberately dismantled the red shirt movement and turned their back on any struggle against the military. Yingluck may well have been allowed to leave the country by the junta in order to lessen the potential anger among millions of her supporters.
All this means that any future struggle to topple the junta and rip up its authoritarian constitution which will restrict any future civilian governments, will have to be led by an independent mass social movement built from below. Those who understand this will have to work very hard to persuade the majority of activists of the need to build such a movement.
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