Tolerance: a mark of true strength

When the King speaks, everybody listens.

The Palace has displayed considerable discomfort at ongoing attempts by media maverick Sondhi Limthongkul and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to involve the monarchy in their political squabble. The Palace has displayed considerable discomfort at ongoing attempts by media maverick Sondhi Limthongkul and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to involve the monarchy in their political squabble.

Both sides have on numerous occasions referred to the monarchy for their own political advantage and opened the door to accusations of lese majeste.
As one political observer pointed out, lese majeste cannot be conveniently used in practice to destroy political rivals. The courts recently made the right decision when they threw out a police request to have both Sondhi and his talk-show co-host Sarocha Pornudomsak arrested for allegedly committing lese majeste.

"The law makes it difficult for someone to go after others by relying on lese majeste charges," an observer said. "Lese majeste must be a very special case to warrant legal proceedings."
The Constitution gives full protection to the monarchy, which must not be violated. Section 8 of the Constitution reads: "The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action."
On the eve of his birthday on Sunday, His Majesty the King made a comment about this point. He said he is not infallible and is open to criticism. He pointed out that King Rama VI never punished rebels and King Rama IX never punished anybody for allegedly criticising him or violating him during his reign.
"If they get sent to prison, I pardon them. If they don't go to prison, I won't sue them because those who violate the King and are punished are not the ones who are in trouble. It is the King who would be in trouble. It is strange, but the lawyers like to send people to prison [for allegedly violating the King]," he said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra must have squirmed in his seat upon listening to the King's remarks. During his tenure, the prime minister has shown remarkable intolerance with criticism against him and his government. His government has also been going after the local media and trying to suppress their independent voices.

Shin Corp has sued Suphinya Klangnarong for Bt400 million over the activist's comment that the telecom company benefited financially from the government's policies. Thaksin also locked horns with Sondhi over the media mogul's anti-government stance. He attacked Sondhi and his associates with six lawsuits seeking combined damages of Bt2 billion.
But Thaksin softened his stance the day after the King's speech and signalled that he would withdraw the suits. He appears to have heeded the King's advice and instructed his lawyer to drop all the suits against Sondhi and his associates.
For now, Thaksin is in full defensive mode and is lying low.
Now the ball is in Sondhi's court.

Even though the prime minister has made a giant U-turn, it is not clear if Sondhi will continue to give Thaksin a hard time during his weekly talk show. Sondhi must have considered how to end his fight with Thaksin because his talk show cannot continue forever. In the meantime, he has pledged to go ahead with his planned rally at Lumpini Park on Friday despite Thaksin's bid to drop the lawsuits.
This is an awkward time for both Thaksin and Sondhi because now they must find a way out of a mess that is largely of their own doing.