On The Brink: Ten Point Summary Of Constitutional Court Mess

[Flashermac]

The red shirts when they took over the city were not a unified force. There was an academic group that genuinely wanted real democracy without military interference. There was a large group of mostly rural Thais who believe that Thaksin is the messiah and will do wonderful thing for them if only he returns. There was also another sizeable group consisting of political "godfathers" hoping to ride to power and position on Thaksin's coat tails. Finally, there was a small very leftist group that is probably anti-monarchy and eventually got pushed out on orders of Thaksin, since they were damaging his image with the other groups.

 

It has always been wrong to speak only of colours. The yellow shirts have changed with time too. 

[Gadfly]

The red shirts when they took over the city were not a unified force. There was an academic group that genuinely wanted real democracy without military interference. There was a large group of mostly rural Thais who believe that Thaksin is the messiah and will do wonderful thing for them if only he returns. There was also another sizeable group consisting of political "godfathers" hoping to ride to power and position on Thaksin's coat tails. Finally, there was a small very leftist group that is probably anti-monarchy and eventually got pushed out on orders of Thaksin, since they were damaging his image with the other groups.

 

It has always been wrong to speak only of colours. The yellow shirts have changed with time too. 

 

Agree that it is overt simplistic to depict this as one monolithic group against another. But as for the Constitutional Court, it says it is not, and it is, in fact, not, supposed to base its decisions on these political factors. It is supposed to above all of this. It is supposed to simply apply the law in a non-partisan manner. When you look at how this playing out, do you think that position is credible?

 

Its independence and legitimacy is important for several political reasons. The obvious one is that a further lose of legitimacy on the court's part adds credibility to the Red Shirts claim that the governments they elect keep getting removed in judicial coups. That makes violent protests and even civil war more likely.

 

It also makes it easier for Mr. T and his allies to ignore supposedly independent institutions such as the Constitutional Court. They were supposed to act as credible checks to prevent an abuse of power. But if they lack credibility, they can no longer serve that function. And the longer this drama with the Constitutional Court drama drags out, the less credibility it has.

 

That is the long game, and my hunch is that Mr. T is playing it.