The constitution cannot be bent

       The past fortnight has seen landmark rulings that cleaned up controversies involving politicians in a number of cases. I hope they will serve as a wake-up call for politicians in the future.Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found all defendants in the rubber sapling graft case not guilty. The court ruled the terms of reference for the project were valid and there were no irregularities in the spending of the funds allocated to the project.
       The case involves the Agriculture Department's plan to procure 90 million rubber saplings for distribution to rubber growers.
       The 44 defendants in the case were cabinet ministers and state officials during the Thaksin government.
       On Sept 28, the same court found former natural resources and environment minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat, one of former prime minister Thaksin Shin-awatra's right-hand men, guilty of filing a false declaration of assets, and banned him from politics for five years.
       Two days later, the same court handed down a two-year suspended jail term on three of the 46 defendants in the two- and three-digit lottery case.
       There are in fact 47 defendants in the case, including the former prime minister.Since Thaksin is now in self-imposed exile, the court decided to temporarily exclude him from the list of defendants,and make its judgement on him once he returns to the country.
       The court ruled that the Thaksin cabinet and the Government Lottery Office (GLO) board violated the GLO Act and section 157 of the Criminal Code by introducing the two- and three-digit lottery, and by exempting tax on income from the lottery operation and misappropriating funds.
       The National Anti-Corruption Commission also said on Sept 29 that former prime minister Samak Sundaravej and former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama were to be held responsible for a cabinet resolution on June 17 last year that allowed Mr Noppadon to sign a joint communique backing Cambodia's bid to register Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site without receiving prior approval from Parliament, as required by section 190 of the constitution. The communique was signed on June 18. The two were also found to have violated section 157 of the Criminal Code.
       Prior to this, politicians of the different incarnations of Thaksin's party were banned from politics on two different occasions.
       If one were to ask the convicted politicians, few would admit that they had done anything wrong. They would blame the laws, the constitution and the courts for their misfortunes.
       Famous cartoonist Chai Ratchavat summed up the picture of Thai politics today pretty well in two of his cartoons published in Thai Rath daily last week.In one, he depicted one the characters as saying:"England, Japan and the US are asking to study Thai politics." In the next frame, the character continued:"They are impressed that our politics have progressed beyond any other country on this planet."
       The other character asked:"In which areas are we so advanced?"
       The main character answered:"We have no bad politicians. Only the constitution is bad."
       Thailand changed its rule to a constitutional monarchy 77 years ago, and there have been 18 charters since. Yet our politicians are not happy, and they are seeking to amend the present one,especially the sections they find inconvenient or which could backfire on them,such as sections 190,237,265,266, etc.
       Mr Chai also made a mockery of politicians on Oct 1 in the Thai-language daily.
       Character 1:"Politicians in other countries are rich. But our politicians are filthy rich.
       "They are so rich they don't know how rich they are."
       Character 2:"What's your proof?"Character 1:"They regularly make mistakes in declaring their assets."
       Election law bans vote-buying and stipulates that political party executives must ensure there is no violation of this by their party. Yet votes were bought in recent elections and when the Election Commission prosecuted the wrongdoers and banned their parties, they cried foul,saying the law was unjust and should be amended.
       The charter stipulates that entering into a contract with another country which could result in changes to Thailand's territorial area must be approved by Parliament first. Yet some politicians violated this clause. When they were punished, they blamed it on the constitution and sought to amend it to suit themselves.
       Actually, the laws are simple and easy to comply with. What's so hard about abiding by them? Does the constitutional provision that:"A person has the duty to comply with the law" apply only to ordinary people?