EDITORIAL
The court has proved that it can be done - a quick investigation to establish the truth and the guts to punish the law-breakers without fear or favour.
With judicial integrity at stake, the Supreme Court set up an investigation team immediately after the two-million-baht pastry box bribery scandal broke. In less than two weeks, the truth was out. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court not only told the public who the culprits were: the lawyers of ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Khunying Potjaman. The court also swiftly handed down a sentence without letting the law-breakers buy time through bail or appeal.
Other lawyers of Mr Thaksin initially laughed it off when fingers were being pointed at their legal team, dismissing the scandal as a joke while insisting that "only insane people" would have the nerve to do such a thing.
The Supreme Court verdict specified those insane people as lawyer Pichit Chuenban, legal assistant Supasri Srisawat and Thana Tansiri, co-ordinator of the legal team. They each received a six-month jail sentence for contempt of court and could face additional charges.
Certainly, the two-million-baht bribery money did not come out of the three lawyers' pockets. The question in people's minds right now is: who gave them the bribery money, and how to send the real criminals to jail, not just the messengers?
Now that the judicial authorities have proved that a speedy court case is possible, people are asking if this can be done as well for ordinary people who have to endure the very long and costly judicial processes.
Delayed and expensive justice is often tantamount to a lack of justice itself for the majority poor, who lack money, time and the necessary legal advice to see justice done. Without a judicial reform to speed up court cases, the lengthy and costly legal process ends up punishing ordinary citizens for having the nerve to demand fairness.
The problem is so perennial, pervasive and painful for ordinary people that it has given rise to a Thai saying, kin kee mah dee gwa khaa kwam, meaning it would be easier to eat dog poop than get involved in a court case. That is how bad things are.
One big problem in ordinary citizens' efforts to seek legal justice starts at the police stations, where bribery is rife and the basis of a legal case can be manipulated in favour of those who pay up.
At present, the judges have no role in deciding what crucial information is needed and whether correct and accurate legal grounds have been used to prosecute criminal suspects. Much depends on the police, public attorneys and the lawyers. The Supreme Court's decision to seek out the truth itself in the pastry box bribery scandal shows how an active role by the judges can speed up the legal process and ensure timely justice.
The long and costly court process undermines the faith in the legal system itself. When it involves a politically explosive issue, such as the abuse of state power in the restive South, people need to see justice done quickly.
At present, politically sensitive cases such as the one concerning the Tak Bai crackdown, are proceeding at a snail's pace, thus deepening distrust among the ethnic Malay Muslims towards state legal mechanisms. Subsequently, the inability to deliver truth and justice in time ends up hampering peace in the deep South.
Speed is important, as the court itself found out in the pastry box bribery scandal. If the court can work quickly for its own institution, it must be able to do the same for us taxpayers.
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