Meeting at Chulalongkorn University, the academics urged the public to stop “misguided” thinking about who would replace him.
“The [tax-free] sale of Shin Corp was the clearest [example], but it was just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, both [Thaksin] and the system [under him] is facing a malignant legitimacy problem,” Veera Somboon, a political scientist, said at the forum organised by the Network of Chulalongkorn University Lecturers.
The group said in a statement that yesterday’s forum was the first of a series on Thaksin’s leadership crisis.
Veera accused Thaksin of gaining business benefits by using his political influence to change laws and avoid tax. “I don’t think we need any evidence [to understand] that the law was laid down [by Thaksin] to benefit his business and increase his stock values . . . It’s clear that the system now lacks legitimacy and conflicts of interest are taking place. So how can we expect such things not to continue. It’s impossible!”
Veera urged the public to stop asking misguided question such as if people won’t accept Thaksin as their leader, then who can replace him. “When someone is not good and lacks legitimacy, the question we must ask is what will happen if we let him stay on?” he said, adding that anyone who is not behaving like Thaksin is fit to rule.
He said the 19 million votes Thaksin so often claims as his basis of legitimacy is not a blank cheque and does not give the premier the right to abuse his power.
Suphamit Techamontrikul of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy said the Shin Corp sale to Singapore had set a bad precedent. “The prime minister should close legal loopholes [for tax evasion] but he chose to be a businessman so he [avoided paying tax]. I feel pressured to teach my students [in the future] that when it comes to tax, we must find a loophole to avoid payment.”
Calling Thaksin “sly”, lecturer in international relations Thitinan Pongsuthirak said the Shin Corp deal was the last straw for people who have been oppressed for the past five years. “The social division [on Thaksin] is clear and it’s deepening,” he said, adding it would be better if Thaksin dissolved the House and resigned instead of risking an uprising.
He criticised Temasek, the investment arm of the Singaporean government, saying the purchase of Shin Corp, which enjoys many benefits and concessions from the Thai government, was a shady deal.
Ubonrat Siriyuwasak, a lecturer in mass communications, accused Thaksin of manipulating the media. “We have never seen the low state of press freedom as we have witnessed over the past five years. It now ranks lower than newly independent countries like East Timor or countries in Latin America and Africa,” she said, adding state propaganda was akin to a “tranquilliser” to political awareness.
Thitiphan Chuaboonchai, a law lecturer at Chulalongkorn, said the legality of the tax-free Shin Corp-Temasek transaction was dubious at best and called on Thaksin to initiate a legal probe.
He said the system was twisted and the Revenue Department had recently stated it would not conduct any studies of ways to close down legal loopholes that allow tax avoidance.
“There’s really a problem now,” he said, adding while the PM’s family did not have to pay tax, many people in the past had been sued for failing to pay insignificant amounts of a few hundred baht.
Thitiphan said many small -business owners had decided to stop paying taxes, and when asked why by the Revenue Department, they say: “Why don’t you collect taxes from the top man first?”
In a separate panel discussion held at Chulalongkorn yesterday, a group called the United Front for the Poor’s Agendas called on Thaksin to resign and let representatives from civic and academic groups establish a temporary government.
Thaksin cannot be counted on to oversee the charter amendment process, the group said.
However, the group disagreed with the movement of media firebrand Sondhi Limthongkul, which it viewed as provocative and said could lead to violence like the October 1973 and May 1992 incidents. The group was taking part in a forum at Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Political Science.
The forum, with political lecturer Jai Ungphakorn as the moderator, heard reasons why the country needs political reform. These included the failure of independent organisations, the Constitution, the media and political parties to participate in the parliamentary checks-and-balances system. It also found evidence of social domination by foreign and Thai capitalists, and accused the government of causing religious rifts through discriminatory conduct.
Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation