Thai Government Backs Royal Pardon to Get Thaksin Home

[CrazyExpat]

Thailand’s government will submit a petition to King Bhumibol Adulyadej asking him to grant a royal pardon to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, risking renewed conflict a month after his sister became prime minister.

The government will revive a 2009 petition from Thaksin’s supporters as part of efforts to bring him back into the country, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said today in Bangkok. Thaksin, ousted in a coup five years ago, has lived overseas since fleeing a 2008 jail sentence for abuse of power.

“Without Thaksin, we wouldn’t win a landslide in the election,” Chalerm said in comments broadcast on TNN cable television network. “If we have an opportunity, we will try everything to return fairness to Mr. Thaksin and bring him back home.”

The petition could trigger protests, which erupted in 2008 when Thaksin’s opponents seized airports and government buildings to help oust his allies the last time they held power. The military cited a threat to the monarchy when toppling Thaksin in 2006.

“A strategy that involves a petition to the king is inevitably very provocative,” Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said by phone. “This will certainly enrage the enemies of the government.”

Thailand’s benchmark SET Index has gained 2.4 percent since Yingluck Shinawatra led her party to victory on July 3, the third-best performer in Asia after Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The baht has gained 2.4 percent against the dollar in that time, the best among Asia’s 10 most-traded currencies excluding the Japanese yen.

‘Normal Process’

Thaksin backers submitted a petition in August 2009 seeking a pardon from the king for the fugitive billionaire. Chalerm said former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva blocked the initiative.

The request “was shelved by the previous government,” Chalerm said. “What this government will do is just bring this petition back to the normal process.”

for the entire article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-08/thai-government-backs-royal-pardon-to-get-thaksin-home-correct-.html

[Guest Marshal]

If the government supports it, so do I. If the generals who launched a coup can have their crimes against the state absolved, why not Thaksin's alleged crime? If the previous government can authorise it's military backers to kill unarmed civilian demonstratiors, why not absolve Thaksin of a crime allegedly invented by his political opponents?