Why I refused to meet with the prime minister of Thailand

My wife and I attended the Eleventh United Nations Congress on Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention which was held in Bangkok, Thailand April 18th-25th, 2005. It was there that I addressed the Congress on my codicil on my bill of rights for young offenders and on procedures for managing explosives so that terrorists don't get access to them.

While we were there, I accepted an invitation (along with others) to visit the prison system in Bangkok. The two prisons we visited were, the Bangkwang Central Prison, the most maximum security prison in the country which houses only male prisoners and the Female Central Prison, both in the city of Bangkok.

However, what we were shown with respect to the Bangkwang Central Prison, was that part that was very modern. The special inmates in those parts of the prisons were given training in furniture making and computer training. They even had a Thai inmate orchastra and I was invited the play a piece on the piano since one of the visitors knew I played the piano. We were not shown any part of the rest of the prison. I was more interested in visiting the other part of the prison but was told that wasn’t possible. Let me tell you what I had heard about the other part of the Bangkwang Central Prison.

The prisoners (8,000 of them) live in open rooms with no beds or furniture of any kind. They aren't even given any bedding. Sheets can be bought and some people stuff these with old clothes in order to make pillows. Each cell is about four metres by seven metres. On each side, people are lying side by side with their feet facing the middle. Then, down the center of the cell, there are two rows of other prisoners. There are on average at least 50 prisoners in each cell. There isn't enough room for all of them to lie on their backs. They are packed in so tightly that they cannot turn over. If they have any money, they can bribe the cell boss to let them lie on their backs. However, there isn't enough room for all of them to do that.

The prisoners have already eaten and showered after work by 3.30 p.m. so they are then taken to their cells. There are only two fans so you can imagine with so many people in the cell that it heats up quickly and the smell from sweaty bodies becomes overpowering. The squat toilet (that is a hole in the floor) is at the far end of the cell. This has a low wall about two feet high. Imagine what it would be like if you needed to answer the call of nature during the night and had to clamber over all these bodies. At least the lights are kept on all the time. But then, that is a curse because it makes it difficult to sleep. The prisoners are locked in the large cells for 14 hours per day. Meals of what the Thais call “dog rice” (low grade rice that smells) fish gruel and contaminated water is the only food they get unless they can pay for food to be brought in from outside. Many inmates work long hours at a prison shop to pay for their minimal necessities of life ( ie : tooth brush and soap) . These basic necessities can be bought for about $20 a month. The vast majority of prisoners don’t have money to buy basic necessities however. In any case, they are not allowed to bring any food up to the cells. If you have enough money, you can bribe the cell boss and prison guards to allow you to be transferred to another cell, but, they are all the same. As there are 50 people in a cell, diseases spread fast. Worse yet, doctors only visit them once a week. The raping of young inmates is not unheard of in these cells.

Due to the overcrowding, potentially innocent people are mixed in with hardened criminals. The courts are also crowded, so prisoners who cannot afford the bail may have to wait up to a year in prison awaiting trial and then after they have been sentenced to prison, they might have to wait another year for their appeal to be heard. A great many of the prisoners are serving life sentences so it is easy to appreciate why some of them would have preferred a death sentence rather than spend the rest of their lives in Bangkwang.

Everyone attending the Congress was invited to attend a government sponsored garden party during one of the evenings. It was to be held at the naval headquarters which borders the western shore of the wide winding river that runs through the city. After we walked over a small arched bridge which ran over a creek, we saw many beautiful Thai women in their sarongs lining the pathway on the river side of the path and on the other side of the path were many naval officers in their whites. The women bowed to us with with their palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. The officers saluted us as we passed them. As for myself, I felt like royalty as I walked along the path with my wife.

Later that evening, we were all invited to meet Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s prime minister personally after the performances on stage were completed. At first, I wanted to meet him because I knew that he too studied criminology and he obtained his degree in criminology at a university in Texas. But then, I realized that if I met him, I would be forced to ask him why his prisoners in Bangkwang didn’t fare as well as the prisoners in the institutions I had previously been invited to visit. At the woman’s prison, we were wined and dined there and I felt sort of guilty considering what the prisoners were eating in Bangkwang. In any case, I decided to pass on the invitation.

When I returned to Canada, I wrote him a letter as one criminologist to another and asked him what was going to be done to improve the conditions of the Bangkang prisoners. He sent no reply. Let me tell you something of this man.

Thaksin Shinawatra established the Shin Corporation and Advanced Info Service, the largest mobile phone operator in Thailand. He later became one of the richest people in Thailand prior to entering politics. Thaksin entered politics by joining the Phalang Dharma Party in 1994 and later founded the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party in 1998. After a landslide election victory in 2001, he became Prime Minister of Thailand. At the time, the 2001 election was regarded by observers as the most open, corruption -free election in Thai history. Thaksin was the prime minister of Thailand from February 9, 2001 to September 19, 2006. Independent bodies, including Amnesty International, however all expressed concern at Thaksin's human rights record. Human Rights Watch described Thaksin as "a human rights abuser of the worst kind, alleging that he participated in media suppression and presided over extrajudicial killings.

On the 19th of September 2006, a military junta known as the Council for National Security (CNS) overthrew his government in a bloodless coup while he was attending a UN meeting in New York. His diplomatic passport was revoked after the CNS accused him of engaging in political activities and Thai embassies were ordered not to facilitate his travels. All pro-Thaksin websites were also blocked or shut down.

A junta-appointed panel dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party and banned Thaksin and the TRT's executive team of 111 politicians from engaging in politics for 5 years. The junta also appointed an Assets Examination Committee that froze his bank accounts, claiming that he had become unusually wealthy during his term in government and demanded that he return to Thailand to face charges of corruption. After his removal by the army in 2006, mainly on the pretext of ‘rampant corruption’, Thaksin spent much of his time in London, as well as in Hong Kong and Beijing. The army-appointed interim government looked into trying to extradite him under a bilateral criminal treaty signed with Britain in 1911 but never lodged a formal request.

The deposed Thai Prime Minister returned to Thailand after 17 months of exile abroad on February 28, 2008 to fight corruption charges. He skipped bail on August 11, 2008 and went into exile, accusing his political enemies who removed him in a 2006 coup of meddling in the courts to ‘finish off’ him and his family. In a hand-written statement faxed to news outlets from his refuge in London, the 59-year-old telecommunications billionaire apologized to the Supreme Court for failing to appear in a corruption case involving him and his wife, Potjaman. "I must apologize again for deciding to come to live in England. If I am fortunate enough, I will return and die on Thai soil, just like other Thais," he said. His decision to flee rather than fight a slew of graft charges lodged since the coup helped lift the stock market 1.8 percent on hopes political temperatures might cool after three years of turmoil. Thaksin's former political proteges in the People Power Party (PPP), which only won December's election thanks to his huge rural popularity, quickly distanced themselves from what now appears to be an irreparably damaged former leader. Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said, "The party is independent. Thaksin's presence or absence doesn't have any sway on its direction." Before the coup, Surapong was Thaksin's spokesman and one of his most trusted aides. Despite this, analysts saw little let-up for the government from the round-the-clock street protests of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the motley group of royalists, businessmen and Bangkok middle classes united by their hatred of Thaksin, Parnthep Pourpongpan told Reuters. "His exile is another victory for us, but our ultimate goal is to finish off the Thaksin regime by kicking out his puppet government."

Thaksin said his decision to leave Thailand less than six months after returning from post-coup exile had been forced on him because his foes were meddling in the judicial system "to finish off myself and my family.These are my political enemies. They don't care about the rule of law, facts or internationally recognized due process," he said. The Thaksin camp has consistently accused the royalist military elite of orchestrating the coup. Potjaman (Thaksin's wife) was sentenced to three years in jail for tax fraud but was freed on bail pending an appeal. The couple's departure for China with a large amount of luggage immediately after the verdict sparked rumours they were going into exile. Analysts say it was probably the prospect of his wife doing jail time that forced Thaksin to leave the country. His parting swipe at the judicial system in defiance of rigidly enforced contempt-of-court laws means he will not be able to return for a long time, analysts said. "He has defamed the court, and so he's gone for good." Thaksin biographer and political analyst Chris Baker said. The court responded by issuing arrest warrants for the couple and seizing 13 million baht ($385,000) in bail bonds, suggesting Thaksin and Potjaman may find it harder to recover more than $2 billion frozen in Thai banks since the coup.

Thaksin had been due to return to Bangkok from the Olympic Games with his wife on the evening of August 10th, 2008 but quietly took a plane to London instead the previous day, an aide said. He owns a British football club in Manchester City and has a large home in a outh west London district. Further, one of his adult children is studying in London.

I don’t regret having refused to meet with Thaksin Shinawatra. Shaking hands with and talking to a man such as him would have held no sense of glory for me but rather I would forever remember the shame of doing so.