Thaksin and the law

The show of force by senior members of the police and military at the home of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday morning would have received wider media attention had it taken place on any other day. But Monday was the day Mr. Thaksin delivered his closing statement to the Constitutional Court -- and he stole the show, he made all other news secondary.

The side show put on by the police and military brass might have been eclipsed by the courtroom drama, but it was nevertheless quite significant. This was very different from past events organized by middle-ranking officers to give politicians "moral support", events which often earned them reprimands from their superiors. This show had the blessing of the most senior commanders of the three armed forces and the national police chief.

Many of the businessmen who pin their hopes on Mr. Thaksin share a desperation which was born of their bitter experience with the last, Democrat-led government, and to a belief that, for the next few years at least, there is no one more suitable and as able as Mr. Thaksin to keep afloat our troubled ship of state.

Whatever the outcome of the Constitutional Court trial, its verdict is final. And we must allow the court to reach its decision free of any pressure, coercion or intimidation. Mr. Thaksin may be today's hero. But what will he be tomorrow if he falls from grace? Prime ministers come and go with the shifts in political fortune. But the country remains. And keeping it intact and able to prosper as a civil society is the rule of law, not cults of personality -- and the law must be held up as paramount.

-- The Bangkok Post