Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jun 2007
Source: Nation, The (Thailand)
Copyright: 2007 Nation Multimedia Group
Contact:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963
Author:    Tulsathit Taptim
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

INJUSTICE FOR THAKSIN? THE DRUG-WAR DEAD MUST WEEP

Dear former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra: This is not a letter 
from hell. However, it doesn't matter where I live, or to be exact, 
where I'm drifting.

Just wanna say "Hi", although you surely don't even know me. We have 
something in common despite the big difference between us: I'm dead, 
literally, and you're still alive.

I have been a wandering ghost since police gunned me down in 2003, 
and I guess you, too, now know how it feels to be a drifter. Again, 
having to float from one spirit house to another in search of boiled 
eggs is a far cry from dining and lunching at Harrods or having the 
world's best roasted duck every other day. But I just want to give 
you my sympathy all the same.

Yes, the asset freeze is so unfair. What laws did they use to do that 
to you? Where's the evidence of corruption? Do the rights of suspects 
mean nothing to them? I mean, they haven't even formally charged you, 
for crying out loud.

The same happened to me - well, more or less. Just as you were 
targeted because you were rich, I was picked on by the police because 
I was poor. I matched their drug-peddler stereotype - aggressive 
behaviour, a long record of petty crime and possibly having been seen 
a couple of times with well-known dealers - and the rest is history.

That I was innocent is not the most important point. Should they have 
done that to me even if I had been selling amphetamines? It could 
have been an honest mistake on my part, you know. I have come across 
a few restless spirits like myself who were killed simply because of 
their past drug records. We deserved formal charges and thus the 
opportunity to defend ourselves in court, just like you did in 2001 
when they tried to "dig up" your past mistakes.

At least you have great lawyers, and I wish you all the best. I 
didn't stand a chance back in 2003 - not after the most powerful man 
at the time gave the police a virtual green light. I still remember 
what he said: "Because drug traders are ruthless to our children, so 
being ruthless back to them is not a bad thing ... It may be 
necessary to have casualties ... If there are deaths among traders, 
it's normal."

I'm not sure which is worse: what happened to you under a military 
junta or what they did to me under a democratic government. But then 
again, I was a small, ordinary citizen. If the rulers deemed my death 
acceptable collateral damage in a noble campaign, what can I say? I'm 
just a nameless and faceless bit in human-rights reports, and the 
likes of me are worth mentioning in Western-media editorials only 
when we drop like flies.

So much self-pity from me, but you've got to understand I didn't have 
an opportunity to say a word before I died. Some columnists and 
newspaper editorials did mention the plight of people like me, but 
the journalists didn't fare much better when that man was in power. I 
remember authorities initiated a secret probe into many senior 
journalists' bank accounts and defended the action by citing an 
anonymous tip-off letter. Do you think that's democratic or "fair" to them?

Well, I'm here to express my sympathy and thus don't want to heap too 
much upon you. I haven't heard you say sorry about the slain drug 
suspects even once, but I always assume that's because you're busy. 
Before I drift away, I offer my heartfelt support. This isn't 
supposed to happen to anyone. Everybody - big or small, rich or poor, 
powerful or powerless - should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

But deep down, I believe you will be fine. Even the "unfair" process 
they apply against you involves subcommittees, committees, lawyers, 
prosecutors and soon the courts, not to mention the watchful eyes of 
the local and foreign media. My fate was determined by a blacklist 
and police on a shooting spree.

Your worst-case scenario is a longer European vacation, a missed 
chance to own a British football club and a loss of appetite for 
Peking duck. I'm still having to raid spirit houses every day and cry 
every night for my rudderless family members.

Yes, the world is so unjust. I wish you the best of luck in telling 
everyone about the injustice befalling you. And no need to spare a 
thought for me, because I was as worthless as dead both before and 
after I died.

Tulsathit Taptim
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