Fighting for Virtue

Duncan McCargo

Description

Fighting for Virtue investigates how Thailand's judges were tasked by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 2006 with helping to solve the country's intractable political problems-and what happened next. Across the last decade of Rama IX's rule, Duncan McCargo examines the world of Thai judges: how they were recruited, trained, and promoted, and how they were socialized into a conservative world view that emphasized the proximity between the judiciary and the monarchy.McCargo delves into three pivotal freedom of expression cases that illuminate Thai legal and cultural understandings of sedition and treason, before examining the ways in which accusations of disloyalty made against controversial former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to occupy a central place in the political life of a deeply polarized nation. The author navigates the highly contentious role of the Constitutional Court as a key player in overseeing and regulating Thailand's political order before concluding with reflections on the significance of the Bhumibol era of "judicialization" in Thailand. In the end, posits McCargo, under a new king, who appears far less reluctant to assert his own power and authority, the Thai courts may now assume somewhat less significance as a tool of the monarchical network.

Sujets

• Tailandia
• Local government law
• Thailand
• Thaïlande

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501709586
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

FIGHTINGFORVIRTUE

Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

TheStudiesoftheWeatherheadEastAsianInstituteofColumbiaUniversity were inaugurated in 1962 to bring to a wider public the results of significant new research on modern and contemporary East Asia.

FIGHTINGFOR VIRTUE JusticeandPoliticsinThailand

DuncanMcCargo

CORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESSOANNDLAOCNADITH

Cornell University Press expresses its appreciation to the Schoff Fund at the University Seminars at Columbia University for their help in publication. The ideas presented in this book have benefited from discussions in the University Seminar on Southeast Asia in World Affairs.

Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2019 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: McCargo, Duncan, author. Title: Fighting for virtue : justice and politics in Thailand / Duncan McCargo. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Series: Studies of the  Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University | Includes bibliographical  references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019017309 (print) | LCCN 2019018382 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501709586 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501712227 (epub/mobi) |  ISBN 9780801449994 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Political questions and judicial power—Thailand. | Judicial  power—Thailand. | Judges—Thailand. | Thailand—Politics and government—  21st century. Classification: LCC KPT2613 (ebook) | LCC KPT2613 .M33 2019 (print) |  DDC 347.593/013—dc23 LC record available athttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019017309

Jacket image: Thai police outside the constitutional court, n.d. Photograph by Duncan McCargo.

Contents

Preface

Introduction:LegalismandRevivalofTreason 1. Privileged Caste? 2. Bench and Throne 3. Challenges to the Judiciary 4. Against the Crown? 5. Computer Compassings 6. Against the State 7. Crimes of Thaksin 8. Courting Constitutionalism Conclusion:TheTroubleIsPolitics

Notes Index

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Burleigh

No—shecannotstayalive—shecannotlive [Be]cause every day she does, the danger grows: alive,shebreedsrebellionfromthiscell andthat’sthecagethiscasehaslockedtheQueenin, wheneverymoveavailableiswrong. Andsometimesyoucanseeshewantstoact– but—no—thewordscan’tpassherlips. She’swaitingforsomeonetotakethehint. Hopingsomeonesavesherfromthischoice of“mercifulbutweak”or“brutaltyrant” —Mary Stuart,Act 1 Friedrich Schiller, adapted by Robert Icke

Therearepeoplewhomaycomealongandsaythatme,RamaIX, I do what I feel like doing. I have never done what I felt like doing. —King Bhumibol, speech to Supreme Court judges, April 25, 2006

Preface

SanamLuang,December22,2012.DarknesswasfallingasIstrodeacrosstheroyal grounds in the historic heart of Bangkok’s Rattanakosin area. Behind me was the campus of Thammasat University, a traditional bastion of liberalism, home to the country’s most prestigious law faculty, and the alma mater of many prominent judges. Before me lay the majestic Supreme Court building, constructed dur ing the Second World War under the Phibun government. To my right were the gleaming gold chedis of the Grand Palace, catching the last rays of the sunset. On my left was Rajadamneon Avenue, the royal thoroughfare linking the old capital of Thonburi with the bustling centers of the modern capital, Bangkok. By Southeast Asian standards, the weather was mild, and all seemed right in the world. Therealitywasalittledifferent.Ihadjustcomefromalongandfascinating interview with one of Thailand’s most distinguished legal scholars, Thammasat’s Worajet Pakeerat. In January that year I had observed a disturbing rally on the university campus, at which academics and alumni of the journalism faculty had called for Worajet to be expelled from Thammasat University, and indeed from Thailand itself. His meticulously argued criticisms of the lèsemajestélaw and his calls for greater public scrutiny of the judiciary had made him an outcast among many of his own colleagues. The rally against him was held in front of a statue of Pridi Banomyong, the founder of the university and the intellectual leader of the movement that had ended Siam’s absolute monarchy in June 1932. WhenAmericanpresidentBarackObamahadpaidacallonKingBhumi bol Adulyadej of Thailand just a month earlier, their meeting took place not at the glittering Grand Palace—where the King met President George W. Bush in 2003—but in Thonburi’s Siriraj Hospital, on the opposite bank of the river. From his sixteenth floor windows overlooking the Chao Phraya River, the ail ing King could in theory have watched the January 2012 Thammasat University antiWorajet protest through a pair of powerful binoculars. The King’s lengthy absence from Bangkok’s historic center was a source of growing national anxiety: how much longer could the ageing monarch remain on the throne? Sixyearsearlier,inApril2006,KingBhumibolhadmadeoneofthemost important speeches of his reign, addressing the judges of the Supreme Court and calling on them to help resolve the country’s intractable political problems. At the core of those problems was Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a former police officer turned telecommunications magnate who had proved himself electorally

vii

viiiPREFACE

invincible, but had alienated the monarchy and the country’s traditional elite. The final decade of Bhumibol’s remarkable seventyyear reign would be over shadowed by political infighting between pro and antiThaksin factions, played out in four general elections, seven prime ministers, several rounds of massive street protests, two military coups, revolving door constitutions—and numerous judicial interventions in politics. Outwardly,theSupremeCourtcompoundlookedasimposingandenduring as ever. But as I grew closer I realized that the structure was now a hollow shell: just weeks earlier, the judges had moved to temporary quarters in the Govern ment Complex in Chaeng Wattana, miles from the middle of the capital. Plans to replace the old Supreme Court building with a much larger one, potentially violating city zoning laws, were mired in deep controversy. Publiclifeduringmyyearoffieldworkin2012hadbeenpunctuatedbyimpor tant cases in both the Criminal and Constitutional Courts, but on the surface all was orderly: no mass street protests, no change of government, no military coup. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appeared to have achieved a modus vivendi with the palace and the traditional elite. Yet, in fact, nothing around the Sanam Luang was quite what it seemed. The revered King was not in his palace, but in a hospital bed. At Thammasat University, Thailand’s most progressive campus, critical professors were being harassed by their own colleagues and alumni. The Supreme Court and the judiciary were now the focus of excessive expectations and intense popular scrutiny. Theuneasycalmwasnottolast.In2013,massprotestsforcedYingluckto dissolve parliament; the following year she was removed from office by the Con stitutional Court—the Supreme Court later sentenced her to jail—and her gov ernment was overthrown in a May 2014 military coup. In October 2016, King Bhumibol would pass away, cremated the following year in a magnificent funeral edifice erected on the Sanam Luang itself. After his funeral, the Sanam Luang would be fenced off: public space became a royal enclave. Fornow,however,IwasleavingBangkok.AftercrossingtheSanamLuang, dodging exuberant kids flying kites, I hailed a taxi from in front of the Supreme Court. Dusk was descending, and I was heading home that night, to start working on a book about politics and justice in Thailand.

NoonewoulddaretosendthosewhoinsulttheKingtojailbecausethe King will be troubled, since people will claim that the King is not a good person, or at least is oversensitive—sending them to jail for minor insults. Actually, the King has never told anyone to send them to jail. Underpreviouskings,evenrebelswerenotsenttojailorpunished. King Rama VI did not punish rebels. During the time of King Rama IX,

PREFACE ix

who were the rebels? There have never been any genuine rebels. I also followed the same approach: do not send them to jail, but let them go. If they are already in jail, release them. If they are not in custody, I will not press charges as the offended party. The person who is insulted is the one in trouble. People who insult the King and are punished are not in 1 trouble, rather the King himself is in trouble. This is a strange business.

KingBhumibol(RamaIX)’s2005birthdayspeechwasunderstoodatthetime primarily as criticizing then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was suing some of his critics for defamation, for his excessive sensitivity. Thaksin dropped a number of lawsuits against his adversaries immediately following the royal speech. But other important messages of the 2005 speech were that the King did not consider himself above criticism; and he did not believe in punishing those who questioned or challenged his authority. The implication was that harsh pun ishments for “rebels”—jailing lèsemajestéoffenders, for example—would prove counterproductive, undermining the legitimacy of the monarchy. The King insisted he did not believe there were any real rebels during his reign. AsMichaelConnorshasnoted,theseviewswerenothingnew:KingBhumibol had said something very similar in his birthday remarks of 2003:

[If] they criticize correctly then thank them, if they criticize wrongly tell them, very discreetly, but the trouble, the person who is greatly troubled by this, is the king, he is troubled because no one can reproach him. … We did not tell those who wrote the constitution that no one can criticize or contradict the king. Why this was written, I do not know. If I cannot 2 be contradicted, how can I know if I am right or wrong?

WhilesomeofthenuancesofKingBhumibol’sbirthdayspeechesmightdeli cately be termed “lost in translation,” the main point was pretty clear. Those who resisted or criticized royal authority should not face criminal charges, and cer tainly not jail terms. Draconian laws should not be enforced in his name. Even kings could be contradicted. In2006,theKingcalledonThailand’sjudgestofindsolutionsforthecoun try’s political problems. As in his 2003 and 2005 birthday speeches, a major theme was “don’t drag me into this”: the King reprimanded those who wanted him to appoint a new prime minister to avert the crisis caused by Thaksin’s mis steps and the agitations of the 2006 antiThaksin movement. King Bhumibol was well aware of the dangers of openly picking sides during times of intense political polarization. Like Queen Elizabeth I as depicted in Schiller’s playMary Stuart, he feared both showing weakness and appearing tyrannical, and apparently kept hoping that someone would take the hint and deal with Thaksin for him. This