The “14th floor” is not the last straw. It was among the first, actually. But it has generated ramifications that are persisting until today and many of them are threatening to make the government buckle under great stress.
The Medical Council’s decision to penalise three doctors involved in Thaksin Shinawatra’s “treatment” at the Police Hospital will further destabilize the highly-instable Thai politics. One big trouble after another is straining the government led by his daughter Paetongtarn just after a few months into her reign.
The protests against Entertainment Complex. The continued legal and constitutional troubles plaguing the Digital Wallet. The Yingluck uncertainty. The harsh, intense scrutiny facing Paetongtarn herself. A contentious past Thaksin interview. Reported conflicts that happen every other day between Pheu Thai and its reluctant coalition allies.
Now, the Medical Council.
How much longer the camel’s back is going to hold?
The whole Pheu Thai apparatus is getting besieged and assaulted. Inside, new developments in Thaksin’s and Paetongtarn’s cases force them to back-pedal every day. Outside, the People’s Party is ready to pounce and steal the fan base.
The council’s move is not a legal threat, at least an immediate one, but politically speaking, it is a dynamite. Whether or not Thaksin Shinawatra’s latest effort to go overseas has anything to do with it, the council’s action has confirmed public doubts about his medical “conditions” that kept him from an actual prison upon his return from exile.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin is now in a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. Approving the council’s action and opinion or vetoing them can both lead to disasters.
A future court inquiry into whether Thaksin had received proper legal punishment will take into account the council’s stand. A legal conclusion that contradicts this week’s development at the Medical Council is virtually impossible.
A professional opinion has been expressed at the highest level possible. Somsak, a politician, will find it very hard to argue against it. Judges will listen to it.
Make no mistake, one does not have to be a legal expert to know that the “14th floor” episode is fishy no matter what the police or the Corrections Department has said. But the Medical Council helps turn the gossips into a real legal statement.
In other words, everyone knew worms were in the can but nobody wanted to open it, because they did not want to deal with them, but the Medical Council finally has opened it.
The unwanted task has been done. But it’s not over yet.
\Worms are everywhere now. How much damage they can cause Pheu Thai remains to be seen. In a recent interview, PM’s Office Minister Chusak Sirinil said the Thaksin treatment was the Corrections Department’s full responsibility which was carried out through established procedures.
Chusak apparently believes that even if it was legally concluded that Thaksin was not actually imprisoned, meaning his court sentence was not fully enforced, political damage would not reach the prime minister and her entire Cabinet.
Chusak was speaking like a lawyer. His point is that there are two groups of people. One group thinks that the stay at the 14th floor of the Police Hospital is a form of detention which took place while an inmate was ill. The other group believes that the stay was an illegal privilege given to Thaksin.
That Chusak opinion was voiced before the Medical Council voiced its, of course. And the latter’s action is changing everything. It used to be said that a court inquiry into the14th floor controversy could be a clash between medical documents that the authorities would use to support the contentious treatment of Thaksin, and prevalent public feelings that while such evidence may look authentic, it was meant to help Thaksin evade real jail.
It was assumed that the inquiry would pit hard evidence against doubts, largely unsubstantiated, that something fishy was going on.
The Medical Council has solidified such doubts and weakened documentary evidence that could be used by the Thaksin defenders.
“Integrity of the medical profession needs to be protected,” a conservative news commentator said before the council announced its decision Thursday afternoon. He must have been pleased with the announcement, although a lot of public members considered it to be just a show that would not lead to any big change.
Whether you are doubters or believers, the can of worms has been opened, the camel’s back is really strained, and people are getting restlessly agitated everywhere
