Speakers' Corner: Occasional contributions from readers, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Sarawak Report but may be published at the discretion of the site.

You Can Buy The Thais, Bragged PetroSaudi

One for sure; others possibly. Have taken bribes from mega thief Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, to block the release of falsely accused and falsely convicted Swiss national, Xavier Justo under an inter-governmental agreement between Thailand and Switzerland regarding the return to the country of origin of nationals convicted in the other jurisdiction to serve the remainder their sentences.

This criminal action is not just criminal; it is stupid. There is a massive tourist trade between European countries and Thailand. Europeans who learn that they may be falsely accused in Thailand and flung into Thai jails are unlikely to want to go there. All that is needed is to publicise this danger and the tourist trade and its revenues for Thailand will take a massive dive.

And publicity is exactly what is coming. The Swiss government, on learning of the rigged case against M. Justo, pressed the Thai government to return him to Switzerland for the balance of his sentence. That was agreed to and the process to bring it about set in motion.

Then, suddenly, and immediately after a visit to Bangkok by criminal PM Najib, everything changed. Now the Thais say that not only will they not honour their agreement with the Swiss but that M. Justo will have to serve the rest of his sentence in Bangkok.

Such a major breach of an inter-governmental agreement cannot be overlooked by the Swiss. At the very least they should block ALL travel to Thailand by Swiss nationals until this matter is sorted out. Landing rights in Switzerland for Thai airlines could also be suspended and visa applications to visit Switzerland by Thai nationals put on hold.

The most effective sanction of all lies in Swiss hands. They could freeze all bank accounts in Switzerland held by Thai nationals. That would hit those concerned in Bangkok where it really hurts. In their pockets.

Switzerland could go further. As a country linked by trade and other agreements with the EU it could press for reciprocal banning action by Brussels: so hitting Thailand in the pockets of all Thais, not just those who would be affected by a ban on tourist travel.

No doubt wiser heads in the Thai military government will prevail.

Want to get alerts for new articles ? see our Subscribe page

Your views are valuable to us, but Sarawak Report kindly requests that comments be deposited in suitable language and do not support racism or violence or we will be forced to withdraw them from the site.

Comments

comments