Thai political fallout from wording of EGAT verdict

From The Nation:

Apart from dealing a major blow to one of the Thaksin government's major economic schemes, the much-anticipated ruling dwelled on what critics believe are serious flaws of the administration - such as conflicts of interest, the tendency to ignore public voices in key national matters and alleged cronyism.

It was the grounds for the verdict, not the verdict itself, that sent the ruling party reeling. Thai Rak Thai insiders admitted the timing of the setback was particularly bad for the embattled prime minister, who is facing massive protests for alleged "policy corruption". The mention of Olarn Chaipravat in the court statement hammered home what the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the organisers of the sit-in demonstration at Government House, has been trying to tell the public.

...While the pre-verdict attention was centred on the pros and cons of the Egat privatisation, the court has sharpened the focus of the issue on the intriguing triangle of Olarn, Shin Corp and Egat.

Reaction from Thaksin, who said the government would need to go through the points that made the court suspicious of the scheme, sounded lame given the severe punches from the court.[ed. and, incidentally, this kind of reporting in a major newspaper sounds childish and unprofessional]

Olarn's connection with Shin Corp and his involvement in the legal preparation for Egat's privatisation, enhanced the PAD's claims that cronyism is a big part of the Thaksin government...

"The government has been insisting it did everything the right way. This is a big slap in its face," she said.

"Policy corruption": the use of the government itself as a vehicle of corruption and cronyism by passing laws to benefit the politically connected at the expense of the national interest. A very difficult thing to explain, especially given the limited attention span and cognitive grasp of average Thais. The government counted on this, as well as a corrupt and compliant judicial system to back them up. It worked for 5 years. I guess the real upshot of the Sondhi carnival is that it went on long enough (and involved just enough people) to enable an awakening of real political consciousness in the land of the som tam slumber. The worm has turned.