To say the classic bait and switch tactic was not expected with the amnesty Bill would be an out and out lie. It is a signature move of Thaksin Shinawatra, and anyone that is familiar with his tactics simply knew it was coming. After all, Thaksin would never endorse anything that did not benefit him in one way or another.
The fallout from this switch is huge to put it bluntly both on a domestic and international stage. With Thais being literally able to get away with murder is unfathomable. People in Thailand would simply feel zero protection from criminals. International investors who are already doing their best to avoid the “Give me” hand of corruption will now have simply much more to worry about, thus giving other countries a better chance at development.
With the vast majority of Thais opposed to the blanket Amnesty Per the Suan Dusit Poll, the poll speaks for itself.
Quoting the Bangkok Post:
Suan Dusit Poll reported that 57.6% of respondents said there should not be any amnesty related to political events of the last decade. Another 19.8% wanted an amnesty only for protesters, but not covering protest leaders and those who ordered a violent crackdown on protesters.
However, 11.3% of them said amnesty should be given to all sides without any condition, 6.8% supported amnesty for protesters and state officials who were performing their duty as ordered by their commanders, and 4.52% wanted amnesty for all but not covering financial matters, such as returning assets to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Needless to say it is clear this bill is created by Thaksin for Thaksin with the hopes that giving amnesty to everyone so he can sail it past with minimal conflict. That looks not to be the case based on the poll results. Even the Red Shirts are opposed to this bill but for different reasons. They don’t want to let former Prime Minister Abhisit off the hook, but by the looks of things, his actions were endorsed by the court so he looks to be absolved of any crimes seeing he also went the extra mile going past international standards to avoid bringing harm to people.
This brings us to the immediate future of what will happen in Thailand, and our predictions are as such. We predict the Thai government to invoke The Internal Security Act to stymie the anti Amnesty rally wherever they setup. We also predict some third parties to attempt to provoke the rally into violet behavior. We also expect Thailand to once again descend into full on political chaos as Thaksin does his best to push this through.
The bottom line, Thailand will be on the front page of most major news outlets like CNN for weeks to come as the entire country goes into what can be best called a political spasm all cause by Thaksin Shinawatra and his obsessive behavior to attempt to be above the law. This also could easily lead to the next Coup in Thailand. If you are outside of Thailand we suggest getting a bag of popcorn. If you are inside Thailand, we suggest stocking up on essentials as this looks to go south quickly.
