EDITORIAL
Unravel this tangled web
- Published: 20/10/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
The YouTube videos involving the Democrat Party and the Constitution Court raise serious issues and questions.
Politicians and the court obviously hope to get the issue behind them. The country, however, has the right to raise doubts over just what was occurring during the four conversations taped and posted for the world to see.
Many media, internet chat forums and blogs have raised highly pertinent questions, and it will not do for either the Democrat Party hierarchy or the members of the Constitution Court to try to wave them off.
Yet this is what they tried to do in the first couple of days after "ohmygod3009" posted a photo set and four videos to the popular video service.
Five of the court's judges held a press conference to announce that a Constitution Court secretary who appeared in one of the videos, has been dismissed.
But the important points do not revolve around who took the video or arranged the meetings. The videos appear to show judges and court officials discussing the Democrat Party case in ways that some might feel are inappropriate.
Are the conversations real, and if so, do they fairly portray the deliberations in a case where testimony was not even completed?
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, ironically on his way to testify personally in the case against his Democrat Party, attempted to laugh off the videos.
There is no reason for the Democrats to try to lobby the judges, he said. But that was not the question.
The fact is that a Democrat member of Parliament is seen in the video, apparently discussing the case with a Constitution Court official.
Assuming that the video was not doctored - no word on that, so far - why did such a meeting take place at all?
These half-hearted attempts at dismissing the YouTube videos will not do.
This five-video set at the website of the Google-owned company shows the Constitution Court in a bad light.
Judge Udomsak Nitimontri claimed that the dismissal of Pasit Sakdanarong as secretary to Court president Chat Cholaworn, shows that the judges have nothing to do with this controversy. Mr Udomsak is correct on one point: there is a controversy.
The dismissal of Mr Pasit, who apparently left Thailand for Hong Kong about the time the videos were being posted, is one side issue.
Of course no one has the right to harm the Constitution Court, and the president has the right to hire and fire his staff. But Mr Pasit's conversation with Democrat MP for Ranong Wirat Romyen is just one of a number of interesting revelations. His dismissal is only a sidelight to this extremely troubling controversy.
Another is what seems to be a discussion among judges in their chamber. Yet another discussion appears to be about the Puea Thai Party. There is another conversation about individual members of the Election Commission, specifically chairman Apichart Sukhagganond. He was identified by Mr Abhisit's testimony - only on Monday - as the registrar who approved the Democrats' accounting report in 2007.
Both the Court and the Democrats have been cast in a serious and negative light. YouTube has cast glaring publicity lights on behaviour that has startled most of the public. Only a full inquiry can bring the type of explanation that will answer the many serious questions, and try to erase the doubts raised.
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