The senseless and destructive gang battles of Bangkok have been one of the city's worst afflictions for many decades. Feuds and rivalries among vocational schools have resulted in many pointless deaths, and needlessly ruined thousands of lives of violent young men, their rivals and families. Far too often, the violence involves innocent bystanders. Far too often, authorities have promised tough action against violent youths, only to back away at the last moment.
As with most crimes, showing compassion to criminals and ignoring the root causes of the student violence have made matters worse. While the government must be pushed to deliver long-term solutions by improving the quality of vocational education and providing the students with job security, the student gangsters also must be punished for their crimes.
Last week, a student gang once again attacked a young man. Once again, the attackers were doubly wrong, assaulting a youth who had no connection to the gangs or the schools involved.
The barbaric violation of the 16-year-old victim was unprecedented in its savagery. The gang members were not content with beating up someone they wrongly thought was a student from a rival vocational college. The 12 young thugs of the Bangkok Institute of Technology (BIT) mutilated the boy, harming him physically and mentally for life.
Citizens deserve to know what they did to the teenager in the name of "school rivalry". They attacked him with knives and cutters _ not to kill but to wound, harm and inflict pain and torture. The knives slashed the victim's body and cut the tendons deep within his left shoulder, disabling that arm. Then they held down his hands and cut off six fingers.
Police arrested three of the assailants shortly after the attack. Detectives said there were attempts to shield or perhaps abet the escape of the nine other suspects. The savagery of this attack seems to illustrate that three severe, immediate changes should come immediately.
First, the full weight of the law must be applied. Where possible, prosecutors should try the suspects under adult laws, and the legal case should receive maximum attention from police and the courts. A successful prosecution, resulting in heavy sentences, can send a message to other schools and gangs that there will be no more leniency. The same treatment must apply to school officials and any parents found to be helping the fugitive suspects.
This recent attack on an innocent victim was just the latest in a long series of senseless attacks committed by student gangsters at this vocational school. Its administrators have apparently failed their duties. If ever a case cried out for a school to be shut permanently, this is it.
However, no court or punishment can bring actual justice to this tragedy _ particularly to this young victim. Surgeons have tried to re-attach four of his six severed fingers.
At the very best, the teenager will undergo many painful operations to regain partial use of a body that just a week ago was perfectly healthy.
Late last week, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department awarded 103,000 baht to the disabled teenager under its victims compensation programme.
The life expectancy for a Thai male is 71 years. That makes his payoff a pathetic 1,873 baht a year for the rest of his life. Real justice would require the gang members to work to make up for the lost opportunities of their victim.