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Hermanolobo
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Thai politician's son acquitted
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3572395.stm
A Thai court has acquitted a high-profile politician's son of murdering a policeman who was shot during a nightclub brawl.
Duangchalerm Yoobamrung, who is the son of the former justice minister, Chalerm Yoobamrung, was cleared of all charges.
The court ruled that the prosecution had presented insufficient evidence and conflicting witness testimonies.
The case enthralled the nation and was seen as a test of whether the rich and powerful could evade justice.
Correspondents say the verdict is likely to cause public anger.
Manhunt
Four other co-defendants, including Duangchalerm's elder brother, Wanchalerm, were also acquitted of charges related to the shooting.
But the court sentenced Wanchalerm to a one-month suspended jail term and a 1,000 baht ($25) fine for assaulting a security official.
The shooting took place in the favourite haunt of the MP's three playboy sons and their friends, after one man trod on another's foot and a brawl ensued.
The defendant disappeared after the shooting, sparking one of Thailand's biggest manhunts in years.
Public scandal
Duangchalerm was charged in his absence, in 2001, with shooting police sergeant Suvichai Rodvimut in the head at point blank range while other men held him down.
He surrendered himself to the Thai embassy in Malaysia after six months in hiding.
The scandal surrounding the incident caused Duangchalerm's father, a veteran politician, to lose his job as the deputy leader of the New Aspiration Party, which is a member of the ruling coalition.
Chalerm Yoobamrung supported his son throughout the case and even launched a magazine, to counter what he called biased media coverage.
After the verdict he said: "I respect the court judgement and will have my son ordained to be a monk for two months."
Enrolling as a monk for a brief period of time is a common practice for men in Thailand.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:14 am on Mar. 29, 2004
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caronte
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Land of Smiles....someone smiles more than the others!
Land of the freemen.....someone is more freeman than the others!
Democracy??? Justice??? Words are not included in the dictionary of the poor (80% of the population) people....
In most of the Countries where Justice is a word that goes deep into the DNA & it's the driving factor of social evolution, the killing of a police officer would have gave Duangchalerm a free orange suite and a first class electric chair.....but this is Thailand where name&money are all......
So sad for the poor boy, son of the murdered policeman...
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 2:28 am on Mar. 29, 2004
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ringthebells
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I don't know, I wasn't there. If I was I would either be rich or missing.
rtb
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:30 am on Mar. 29, 2004
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hzink
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Quote: from caronte on 3:28 pm on Mar. 29, 2004
In most of the Countries where Justice is a word that goes deep into the DNA & it's the driving factor of social evolution...
Which countries are those? I'm not familiar with any of them where the rich aren't immune from justice...
Harry
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 3:01 am on Mar. 29, 2004
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Smegma
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One should only be aware of the how the legal system in thailand evolved to understand how and why things work the way the work here.
"In the 15th century, King Borommatrailokanat, one of King Bhumibol's ancestors, devised a new legal system. He assigned a certain number of points to every profession and rank in the country. An ordinary farmer, for example, scored 25, a minister 10,000, and the heir-apparent 100,000. The outcome of court cases depended on the number of points each of the parties to the dispute could muster. Even five or ten years ago, that system survived broadly unchanged. Decisions were handed down from on high; power was centralised; and the law was a tool of the mighty."
In such a system it doesn't matter what the truth may be, but just who has beter connections and gets "better" witnesses. And that was the legal way things worked until recently!!!
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 5:30 am on Mar. 29, 2004
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Smegma
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That system I mentioned above was called SAKDINA. The value and rights and duties depended on the socially assigned value of persons under the system. The hierarchical sakdina system assigned stratified ranks to all males according to an individual’s relationship by blood or service to the king, and determined each individual’s rights, wealth, political power, and responsibilities to the state and the rest of society. For more on this system, read below.
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"This system helps explain why status and deference are still strong and pervasive organizing principles in contemporary Thai social relationships, and also helps understand why Thais are prone to exercise absolute power if they can; to defer, obey, and submit to those in power; and to seek to belong to groups forming around a leader or patron with greater power or wealth. As a consequence in government, lower-ranking officials have difficulty standing up to higher-ranking officials, even those from another ministry, and special requests from higher-ups for “consideration” or “cooperation” are difficult to refuse even though they evidently hide ulterior motives.
The sakdina status system was legally abolished in the 20th century, and its legal impact diminished. However, the social impact of practices that lasted for centuries still remains -as we can see in everyday life in Thailand. The most visible effect is the lack of tradition of accountability and tremendous hostility with which all forms of criticism is regarded. The result being that relatively high degree violence is used against even milder form of social criticism coming from the "lower" status groups and this sometimes then later leads to violent reactions from the victims' side.
In the sakdina system the status of people were clearly
determined by the precise amount of sakdina which everybody held. The word sakdina literally means power (sakdi) of field (na). Phrai or commoner held sakdina of 25 rai (1 acre=2.5 rai), which legally means that each man was allowed to cultivate the land only as much as he and his family could cultivate, at most 25 rai. In return for being allowed to make their living from cultivating the land that they occupied, they were obliged to deliver a portion of their produce to their lord, and some of which he himself was obliged to deliver up to his superior lord or to the prince (nai).
The officials held sakdina which ranged from 400 to 10,000 rai. There appears to have been a strong correlation between the amount of sakdina one possessed and the number of people one had beneath his control. The sakdina enables one to tell the number of phrai under the control of nai. Since each of phrai was granted the sakdina of 25 rai, thus one nai of sakdina of 400 rai controlled 16 men (phrai). It means that the scale of sakdina was closely connected with the scale of manpower under the nai. But in that period of time, the land was plentiful in Thailand while the manpower was lacking. The nai scarcely gained enough manpower to fill their amount of sakdina.
By this practice, the Thai semi-feudalism or the control of manpower was the most important factor in social organization in Ayuthaya period. The control of land was the secondary importance which was much different from the European and Japanese feudalism."
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It is difficult to throw away centuries of traditions so fast. No wonder why you see so many people working in one place when you would have 1/4 the same in other countries. More people = more importance.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:27 am on Mar. 30, 2004
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