With time running out for the Tak Bai lawsuit, it's almost certain that the government, the ruling Pheu Thai party in particular, is failing in its duty to bring justice to the families of the victims who died at the hands of state authorities during a protest in 2004.
The 20-year statute of limitations for the case is set to expire in less than a week. Yet, all seven defendants with arrest warrants, including Gen Pisal Wattanawongkiri, who was commander of the Fourth Army Region when the protest was dispersed, a former list MP of Pheu Thai, are still at large.
Gen Pisal, after taking sick leave from parliament, had disappeared together with the remaining suspects by the time the Narathiwat provincial court accepted the case. If the authorities cannot bring any of them to court by midnight on Oct 25, they all will be free men.
If this case expires without any trial it would be tantamount to reenacting the Tak Bai atrocity all over again. Needless to say, the government's failure to ensure justice would simply open up old wounds for the bereaved families.
After all, the accused in the Tak Bai saga are not ordinary people. Some have political connections. Gen Pisal, in particular, had been a list MP of the Pheu Thai Party until recently.
His disappearance citing sickness at the time when the court called him to acknowledge the charge was too much of coincidence. Previously, he said he underwent treatment in a foreign country and would return to parliament on Oct 30, five days after the case expires.
But his absence and the attempt by Pheu Thai to distance itself from the controversy caused a stir. Escalating public anger prompted the party to subsequently change its stance on Gen Pisal's MP status, albeit too late.
Eventually, the party claimed Gen Pisal had resigned from the party. Under what circumstances was the resignation letter submitted remains a key question.
The Tak Bai violence erupted on Oct 25, 2004, when 1,500 raucous local protesters gathered in front of a police station in Narathiwat's Tak Bai district to demand the release of defence volunteers who had been detained for allegedly handing firearms to insurgents, while reporting it to the authorities as weapon theft.
As the number of demonstrators increased, security authorities decided to disperse the crowds, resulting in seven deaths at the spot and 78 more when over 1,300 protesters were stacked on military trucks bound for Ingkhayutthaborihan Military Camp in Nong Chik district in Pattani, some 150 kilometres away. Suffocation was given as the cause of the many deaths.
The Tak Bai case happened during then-PM Thaksin Shinawatra's tenure, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, as army chief, badly stained Thailand's human rights record. The government at that time chose to play defensive measures instead of negotiate to deal with violence in the restive deep South. Such heavy-handedness only triggered confrontation with intensified violence in the past decades.
Fast forward to this year, Thaksin's daughter Paetongtarn is running the country. It's unfortunate, however, that the government missed the opportunity to fix this old wound as Pheu Thai adamantly insisted that the case was Gen Pisal's "personal matter" and had nothing to do with the party. Ms Paetongtarn appeared "shocked" when journalists asked her about Gen Pisal's resignation. That does not help in bringing justice to the case.
Pheu Thai's sluggishness may have something to do with the close connection between Gen Pisal and Thaksin. The former was a student of the Military Cadet School's Class 9, while Thaksin was from Class 10. Both are alumni of the Chiang Mai-based Mongford School.
Some say that Gen Pisal's list-MP status in Pheu Thai is a reward for being Thaksin's friend. At one point, he was a candidate for defence minister. Another Tak Bai suspect who is in Thaksin's circle is Pol Lt Gen Wongkot Maneerin, who has also gone into hiding. He was Thaksin's classmate while studying at Police Cadet Academy. His wife, Sirikorn, was deputy education minister in the Thaksin cabinet. He served as director of the operations centre of the Royal Thai Police's front office when the Tak Bai massacre occurred.
With such close connections, it's not unusual that the authorities have acted so slowly in tracking them down. The "search" at the suspects' houses by the authorities were perceived was seen as a show, not a real operation.
This is in sharp contrast to the infamous iCon Group scam involving a group of people in the showbiz industry as all the suspects were rounded up rapidly.
Indeed, the public expects a strong commitment from the prime minister in upholding justice. The culprits must face trial, not stay at large.
Besides, now that the country has been named a UNHCR member from 2025-2027, there is the expectation the government will seriously address the issue.
Meanwhile, the Prachachat Party is a coalition party with a strong base in the South. House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, now its core leader, must answer to the victims' families for not pressing the government enough, unlike MPs from the People's Party, about Gen Pisal's disappearance.
The security situation in this region may worsen if justice is delayed or denied, and it would be difficult for the Paetongtarn government to pursue peace in the deep South. In that case, locals may experience hard times as sustainable peace remains elusive.