Protests at IDC event Cow 2.0 event
Smartbrain went to the IDC Asia/Pacific’s Business Optimisation, BI, BPM and SOA conference 2007 today despite not receiving any invitation from IDC.
The interesting thing was that nobody, in the hallways at least, was talking about BI, BPM or SOA, but rather attention during coffee breaks was focused on politics. One anti-charter and pro-Thaksin protester sat in, red shirt proclaming her loyalties, which meant that those in the know were talking about her, and the visitors from Singapore were asking Smartbrain about the political situation.
The arrest warrants for Thickskin Shinybutt, sorry, Thaksin Shinawatra, and his wife are a hot topic. On Tuesday, 14th August, he and his wife failed to show up at an initial hearing on a corruption case regarding the purchase of a piece of land.
The accusations and irregularties aside (the Land Department opened on a weekend to push the deal through before a conveyance tax rise came into force the next working day and the land value shot up as the then pro-Thaksin Bangkok governor repealed a low-building only law almost immediately afterwards not to mention the main accusation that the bid was stitched up and not legal – politicians and wives of politicians cannot do deals with the government), the reason the arrest warrant was issued was simple. He did not show up at a court hearing.
The hearing would have been simple enough. Is this your name? Are you the accused? Do you plead guilty or not guilty? Say no the last question and he would be on his way back home to Manchester City.
But no. Thaksin is above the law. He had to challenge the courts by saying it was not safe to return. His lawyers also claimed that Thaksin didn’t get the court summons as it was not delivered to his real address.
The courts had little choice. Allowing for either excuse would have set up a dangerous precedent so now Thaksin is a fugitive. His crime? Not showing up at a court hearing.
Sometimes it is the simple things in life that matter. No, the 2,500 extra judicial killings, the Tak Bai and Krue Se massacres, the abduction and disappearance of anti-government activists, the rampant corruption and nepotism, none of that got him in trouble (yet). His crime is skipping an arraignment hearing (in which he would have been granted bail automatically), but it is a crime nonetheless.
Tomorrow on Friday, the pair may get another pair of arrest warrants for now showing up at another arraignment hearing, this one on asset concealment for one of his many companies. Politicians have to declare their assets.
A few years back, Thaksin famously forgot to declare some assets held by his cook and gardener and the courts back then ruled him “unintentionally non-compliant”, an ruling that has set a dangerous legal precedent. Tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how the courts rule now that his reign has ended.
Most of the media seem to agree that asking for extradition on this no-show would be a tad difficult, but most also concur that the government needs to get the 2,500 extra judicial killings into account to get the UK government to act.
