Making headlines this month is yet another scandal about the rich and powerful with their hands caught in a cookie jar. No, this is not the 26th watch — or would that be the 100th? — in Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon’s I-borrow-them-from-my-dead-friends saga. Nor is it the 300 million-baht loan to ex-police chief Somyot Poompunmuang. This time, a man has been caught with his fingerprints on a rifle, sitting in a forest next to protected wildlife carcasses.
Last week, construction magnate Premchai Karnasuta, the 63-year-old president of Italian-Thai Development, was arrested in the no-camping area by forest rangers of the World Heritage Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province. Skinned carcasses of a leopard, a Kalij pheasant and a barking deer were found among the hunting equipment belonging to the four-man party.
For illegally poaching wildlife, Premchai could face up to 28 years in prison. That is, if he and his peers are found guilty of the charges held against them, which have since included unauthorised hunting in a wildlife sanctuary, possession of protected wildlife carcasses, and more.
So far, the four men have denied the charges. Bail has been granted. And now, all eyes are on the country’s justice system, with the public concerned about two things.
First, the men in question could potentially walk free. In this patronage society with corruption lurking in every corner, many theorists claimed this case could be suffering from the same fate as previous ones, that eventually the men won’t end up paying for their crimes.
Second, the rangers who arrested the four men could get in serious trouble for stepping on the big man’s toes. Netizens have praised the team, led by ranger Wichien Chinnawong, head of the west side of the sanctuary, for arresting the men for destroying invaluable natural resources of the country and murdering innocent lives in protected areas. But along with the praise, people also fear for the safety of these brave souls. Many Facebook pages are calling for the public to help keep an eye out for Wichian and his team, as well as encouraging one another to not let this issue die down, or else the rangers’ effort will be in vain.
The fact that people have to fear for a good man’s life for catching a bad guy speaks volumes about the justice system of this country. And the public faith continues to deteriorate, with over 22,000 people signing an online petition on Change.org for the arrested men to be dealt with by the same standards as others, disregarding their social status and instead just focusing on their crimes.
How ironic is it that people have to call for the men of justice to be, well, just - for the law enforcer to enforce the law equally to everyone - with no money or unseen power affecting and diverting their ability to judge and punish the wrongdoers?
It is clear people are losing faith. And who could blame them when past cases suggest an end could already be written by an all-powerful hand that can tip the scale whichever way it wants?
We’ve seen the Red Bull heir living his life freely in a foreign land. Politicians— depending on which side they are on - are being dealt with differently, as if the law operates on a different standard, or as if they exist on a different universe altogether. Some have to make a run for their lives while others remain here, babbling periodically to remind people that they still exist and are roaming free.
What’s more, a solider in possession of pricey watches with lame explanations for their origin still blithely prances around, going back on his word after saying he would resign (with over 70,000 online signatures now supporting this decision). Not that we’re surprised by that.
Not surprising is seeing the men in green turning a blind eye to a scandal caused by one of their own. They could rectify the situation and restore public faith, of course, but what did they do instead? The junta asked everyone to just let it slide. Be quiet. Let it go. No mockery. And those students better seal their lips. Not that it worked, as we saw how everything turned out at the recent Chulalongkorn-Thammasat political parade.
Prison is for everyone but the rich and powerful, read an online comment. And it seems to ring true here more so than anywhere else - and now more so than ever. The bell has been ringing. Noisily. Persistently. Unashamedly. And the people? We listen in anger, and fear for the safety of those who dare to point a finger and bring the issues to light.
But the voices are still shouting. The flame - kindling and slow - refused to be extinguished, persisting through online expression, parade floats and graffiti. We make noises when our faith in justice is wavering, hoping to regain our trust under the failed system we’re living in.
And so we continue to pray that we still have our voices intact, that the hands of justice would wield honourably. The people’s faith in the system is at stake (if anyone still cares to reclaim it, that is). But, to be honest, we won’t be holding our breath for it to return.
Melalin Mahavongtrakul is a feature writer of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.