Thaksin shows no remorse for the drug-war dead. Maybe he’ll never need to. The new committee can only forward its findings to the police, who are as unlikely as ever to act, or to the Department of Special Investigation, an FBI-like department under the justice ministry with an abysmal crime-solving record.Thaksin vows he will return after a general election scheduled for December. Returning before then could spark a “confrontation” that might cause the junta to postpone the election, he says. “I want Thailand to return to democracy.” Then he will fight the corruption charges against him. Can he beat them? “Oh, easy,” he grins.
- Extracted from Andrew Marshall, “Thaksin Shinawatra, shooting to win“, The Sunday Times, December 2007. Marshall’s lengthy article - based on an interview with Thaksin and conversations with victims of the 2003 “War on Drugs” - is certainly worth the attention of New Mandala readers.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dickie Simpkins // Dec 11, 2007 at 6:19 am
Good article.
Thanks for pointing it out.
I liked the line by Thaksin, if you attack me, I will attack you back. He did exactly that to journos when he was PM.
And his passing the blame when asked about the war on drugs…
it seems he loves taking accountability for the good results. If he was really concerned about the high number of deaths, why didn’t he denounce the killing when PM and order an investigation into the trigger happy death squads?
what crap!
2 jonfernquest // Dec 11, 2007 at 2:13 pm
“Can he beat them? ‘Oh, easy,’ he grins.”
Truth as a function of a democratic vote?
The people will determine whether he broke the law?
This sounds like Roman politics circa the year zero A.D. (or B.C. ?)
Local officials make up lists of names.
All those names end up dead.
Then the claim that the government didn’t do it.
What is the implication here?
That some unofficial group aligned with government did it.
Perhaps policemen without uniforms.
Perhaps local mafia.
Of course, no one will probe into this matter.
Because they might end up dead too.
Truth = money + a gun, I guess.
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