Something bugs me about the ongoing battle of the video clips.
It’s not just that the Constitution Court President Chat Chalaworn has refused to resign. His now-dismissed secretary, Pasit Sak-danarong, was accused as the man behind the attempt to secretly tape certain meetings and conversations, most inappropriately, among judges in the chamber concerning the case that could lead to the dissolution of the Democrat Party.
It’s not that we haven’t seen or heard from the secretive Mr P, who has reportedly gone AWOL to Hong Kong and seems in no rush to book a ticket home.
It’s the complete absence of the need to find out what is the truth in the scandal that is most worrying to me.
Besides, we shouldn’t ignore the double irony that this embarrassing incident is occurring right at the heart of the institution that is supposed to ensure the sanctity of truth so that justice can prevail, for every citizen in the country.
As many people have remarked, it was not the bugging of the Democratic fund-raising office in Watergate that brought President Richard Nixon down, but his botched reaction to it, more specifically his attempt to cover it up.
In comparison, what I have heard so far from the Chaengwattana-gate indignity is something along the lines of: this incident is embarrassing to the judiciary and has upset many judges; it is a political ploy aimed at discrediting the court and the Democrat Party (or the Puea Thai Party, depending on which side got to spin it), and the Constitution Court will maintain its independence and integrity in the face of the woes.
How? Doesn’t the court need to know first what is the truth of the matter?
What is interesting is it’s not just the Constitution Court that is currently battling with a deluge of video clips (there is the assumption that more footage can be publicised as more meetings took place than those already seen), but other circles as well.
Did the other Mr P cheat on his wife? Audio clips featuring conversations between, well, basically every player in this family business, are available for people to check out.
Did superstar Shermal Ploy Boonyasak boo her boyfriend’s ex, Diana Jongjintanakarn? View the video clip of the event in question.
It looks as if the Video Clip has become the ultimate proof of every dispute and conflict in society.
Are these selective representations of an event or incident useful? Yes, and some of them are even entertaining. Will they shed any light on the truth of what truly happened?
I doubt it.
What bugs me most about the proliferation of secret tapes or spy clips is the question: Have we fully retreated into an underground society in which no one dares to speak up about, and investigate, any wrongdoings because of fear of retribution or fear of being branded as the “other side”?
If Karl Marx were alive, he probably would raise the question whether Thailand has fallen asleep (with changes occurring only at the superficial level such as a change in government, but no change at all in the structural level).
If Marx were alive, he would have also pointed out that the absence of public outrage at the fact that one of our highest courts has been publicly compromised through the release of video clips showing a meeting of judges and exchange of opinions among them about an important case waiting to be judged, points to a deficiency in spirit, a character that has given rise to the belief that it’s better to surrender a certain amount of individual freedom (and responsibilities) to support a superstructure that will take care of big issues, such as, of course, how to tackle the leaked clips that have compromised the Constitution Court.
But it is this lack of individual spirit that gave rise to Marx’s notion of Oriental despotism.
As Marx argued, Asia-style despotism was not born out of fear but consent. Let someone else take care of the hard business of finding out what happened at the Constitution Court and tell us about it. We will probably believe everything the authorities say.
After all, we still have so much footage to check out.
Atiya Achakulwisut is Deputy Editor, Bangkok Post.
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of the many video clips that i download, i always watch those that are very funny ;”‘