No amnesty for Thai Rak Thai

Tribunal's ban of corrupt executives must stand as an example for those who would follow in Thaksin's path

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin last week broached the idea of granting amnesty to 111 executive members of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party just a few days after the Constitution Tribunal made its landmark ruling to dissolve the party and bar members of its executive committee from political activity for five years. The chairman of the Council for National Security (CNS) realised his mistake and retracted the pardon offer only after he came under a barrage of harsh criticism from all sides.

Earlier, he described the proposed amnesty as a goodwill gesture that could put the divided nation on the path toward reconciliation. According to Sonthi, many Thai Rak Thai executives may not have actively participated in or had knowledge of the electoral fraud committed by some of their colleagues and therefore they did not deserve the harsh punishment handed down by the Constitution Tribunal.

The head of the military junta later apologised to the Constitution Tribunal and took back his amnesty suggestion, at least for now. Sonthi then went on to admit that the proposal was aimed at preventing a potentially explosive situation in which Thai Rak Thai supporters might rise up against the CNS and the interim government, which would in turn make it much more difficult for them to get the new constitution approved in a referendum in order to pave the way for a free and fair election.

Generally speaking, a show of magnanimity toward the vanquished may not be such a bad idea given the right circumstances and timing, such as if the 111 executive members of Thai Rak Thai were to own up to their mistakes and offer a full and unequivocal apology to the Thai public. Not only do Thai Rak Thai executives remain unrepentant, but they have also vowed to carry on with their political activities in defiance of the Constitution Tribunal's ruling against them.

What's more it was also premature for Sonthi to mention the possibility of granting amnesty two short days after the Constitution Tribunal made its decision. Such a knee-jerk reaction is unbecoming of the leader of the CNS, which the whole country counts on to restore a full and sustainable democracy. It is the duty of the military junta to see to it that the Constitution Tribunal's ruling is strictly enforced.

The Constitution Tribunal found key Thai Rak Thai executives guilty of bribing two obscure political parties to field candidates knowing full well that they did not meet legal requirements as well as to induce them to falsify party records to make those candidates appear qualified when they were not. These acts of electoral fraud were deliberate and, had they not been intercepted, could have led to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai Party gaining political power through dishonest means - to the detriment of democracy.

Sonthi should have known that genuine reconciliation is not possible without justice. This is notwithstanding the fact that despite being demonised by the urban middle-class as a tyrannical leader bent on subverting the democratic foundations of this country in pursuit of his own selfish gain, Thaksin is believed to still be very popular among the rural masses.

The Constitution Tribunal's ruling is just in punishing all 111 Thai Rak Thai executives who allowed Thaksin and a handful of his close associates to run the party and the whole country as if it were their own private company. Despite being fully aware of the corrupt practices taking place, they never so much as made a single demand for sound governance and public accountability. If Thaksin and his henchmen succeeded and got away with electoral fraud, all other Thai Rak Thai executives would have benefited.

Corrupt politicians must be punished to the fullest extent of the law and made an example of so that other politicians might learn that it does not pay to cheat and bankroll their way into power and then abuse that power for personal gain. Or, if they have already managed to do all of that, they cannot be expected to escape the long arm of the law forever.

There is no other way for Thai society to make a clean break from the culture of deceit and corruption that Thaksin perpetrated.