The pure fantasy of rewinding the clock

Seven law lecturers from Thammasat University have come up with the wild idea that they can legally turn back the clock to the good old days before the 2006 coup and, therefore, put the country on the right track to national reconciliation.

Back to the past!

That is exactly what the lecturers, led by Vorajate Pakeerat, want to achieve with their controversial idea to declare null and void the September 19 coup five years ago, and all the laws and decisions made by the military junta then.

This idea was floated in a statement issued by these academics last week.

The "Magnificient Seven", who called themselves "Khana Nitirass", want to rewind the clock, to return to the pre-coup era. In other words, they want us to believe that no coup took place on September 19, 2006, and the coup had no legal binding whatsoever.

Photo AFP

That there was no Assets Scrutiny Committee, which was set up by the coup makers to investigate alleged corruption or alleged abuse of authority by then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his cronies; all the verdicts of the Constitution Court and the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Positions, especially those cases investigated by the ASC, never happened; and that all the cases investigated by the ASC that are still incomplete, with the prosecutors or before the court should just disappear. As if they never happened.

On top of that, the group wants the existing constitution to be scrapped, so a new one can be crafted.

What is the real motive behind this controversial idea? The Democrats and opponents of Thaksin are quick to accuse the lecturers of being Thaksin’s cronies, because their dream scenario would certainly benefit the fugitive former prime minister the most. The Pheu Thai Party and Thaksin’s supporters, however, hail the idea as a means for national reconciliation.

Legally speaking, it is possible to invalidate the coup and all the laws or decisions made by the coup makers. But to deny that the coup ever took place is totally unrealistic, pure fantasy.

Imagine what would happen if we have to accept this unrealistic script as fact, that there was no coup in 2006. As far as Thaksin is concerned, he would not only walk free from all the cases against him – whether they are concluded or still pending – but he may be able to reclaim the premiership stolen from him by the military junta.

His disbanded the Thai Rak Thai Party would be automatically resurrected and all those "House No 111" party executives banished into the political wilderness could come back into politics and reclaim their positions in the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. So where would we put Ms Yingluck, our elected prime minister?

And what about the MPs who were recently elected to the parliament, because the July 3 general election is also a consequence of the coup. Without it Thaksin might still be the government leader.

How messy such a situation would be is beyond even the wildest imagination.

My humble advice to the "Magnificient Seven" is they should not try to mess with time; they should instead initiate something much more simple, like: "Welcome home Mr Thaksin. Come home now to face justice like a real man!"

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