Democrats attack Samak in Jakrapob case

In reaction to the Democrats' criticism of his attempt to protect his subordinate, Samak referred to his family's serving the Royal family for generations and insisted he is loyal to the monarchy. He did not ignore the case but asked police to consider it. When police said Jakrapob could be guilty as accused, Jakrapob  resigned and waited for the legal process.

Democrat MP Nipit Intarasombat said in the noconfidence debate this morning that Samak did nothing as a prime minister while his Cabinet member Jakrapob was accused of having dangerous attitudes and committing lese majeste. Samak's ignorance also led to rifts and protests in society.

Samak did not reshuffle the Cabinet lineup but left the problem to the judicial process, Nipit said. However, the police appeared to have worked slowly in Jakrapob's case, especially compared to a nonminister also accused of lese majeste. This person, who illegally claimed loyalty to the Royal family and raised money to produce Buddha image amulets, has been in jail for some time although his case came later than Jakrapob's, Nipit said.

According to Nipit, Jakrapob said he resigned to protect his superior, not because of the police's indictment.

Democrat Party and Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Democrats did not doubt Samak's loyalty to the monarchy, but Samak had shown little of it. When Samak ordered the police to take action, he should have reacted or spoken about his letter calling for action in the case.

Samak said the speech for which Jakrapob had been accused had been delivered for eight months ago but the plaintiff had left it too long before a filing complaint. It could be that Jakrapob disturbed that person in some way, so he attacked Jakrapob.

The person who kept the case for that long deserved punishment, Samak said.

The debate this morning began late and contained many objections by MPs.

Some government MPs questioned the credibility of the Democrats' documents shown in the debate yesterday. Nipit replied that Samak was legendary as the first to show false documents in the Parliament.

Samak said he showed false documents as he was scrutinising a politician who used false documents. The Democrat's accusation came from a lack of historical knowledge.