Once again an amnesty bill is being proposed by the bad boy politicians. And once again the general public is angered by it if in anyway the convicted fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra can benefit from it.
In what looks to be a real political problem for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the survival instincts of bad boy politicians who are blended in with others in Parliament is once again rising to the top of pile.
Quoting the Nation;
A group of 199 MPs from four parties on Wednesday endorsed the draft bill on national reconciliation seeking to grant amnesty for those involved in the turmoil.
They lodged the bill with the office of the House speaker requesting it be put for deliberation.
The draft provisions prescribe for pardon for individuals involved in activities between September 19, 2006, the date of the coup, and May 5, 2009.
The pardon will cover the coup and activities, such as street protests, relating to the turmoil which happened before and after the seizure of power.
As the general situation is explained as seen by Connecting the Dots, the bad boy politicians did not suddenly become good, they just took their best option for the moment. When the power shifted in December 2008, many just simply showed their loyalty to nobody but themselves. It is that same loyalty to themselves that is a threat to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Because Thaksin has and is continuing to take things so far, the wound he is causing in Thailand continues to deepen. Right now that wound is down to the bone and starting to saw away at that too. So the bad boy politicians that have chosen to dance with the devil are starting to discover the dance is still going on even that they thought they walked away in December.
Where the political problem will come from is Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wants the courts to sort out each case. After all the high courts are showing a high standard of fairness after the King had a little chat with the judges. However step down the line a bit and the courts can still be bought. It is this showing of a high standard and fairness that has the bad boy politicians worried. They know they are going down when it comes their turn to stand before the judges.
So what is likely to happen is classic politics, there will be some negotiations or the party line voting that is part of Thai politics will become more of a vote for what is best for me vote. In actuality that type of voting is closer to a true democracy than a party line vote. This could undermine Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva when he looks to pass other things through Parliament.
On Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva side is public outrage, and most certainly this proposed amnesty bill has the potential to bring the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) out of hibernation. For now Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva can say it is still way too soon for such a bill, and that will buy him more time. The howling public’s outrage from the wings will reenforce this statement.
There is plenty more that can be said on this topic, and we will save that for another day.
