customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Toh Han Shih

The Thai government appears to have exercised double standards in its recent treatment of two foreigners, namely Xavier Justo, a Swiss citizen, and Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a young Hong Kong activist.
Wong, 19, played a prominent role in the Occupy Central protests for democracy in Hong Kong in late 2014. Justo, who is 49 with a wife and young child, is a key witness in the scandal surrounding the Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. Justo was sentenced to three years in a Thai prison in June last year for blackmailing his former employer PetroSaudi International, a Saudi oil exploration and production company which was formerly a partner of 1MDB. Justo had leaked information on PetroSaudi and 1MBD to various media.
The Thai government has treated these two foreigners very differently.
Wong was denied entry to Thailand after he got off a plane at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport on October 4, detained for 12 hours, then sent back to Hong Kong the next day.
He had been invited to speak to students at Chulalongkorn University about the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

The Thai government was frank about its reasons for Wong’s deportation.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters: “Officials there [in China] have requested to take him back. It’s Chinese officials’ business. Don’t get involved too much. They are all Chinese people no matter Hong Kong or mainland China.”
Prayuth’s office said his government was “aware that Mr Wong had been active in resistance movements against other foreign governments, and that if such actions were taken within Thailand, they could eventually affect Thailand’s relations with other nations”.
$800 million misappropriated in Malaysia 1MDB 'Ponzi scheme', Swiss prosecutor says
Although the Thai government was only too happy to return Wong to Hong Kong, the Thai government refused to transfer Justo from a Thai prison to a Swiss one, despite the requests of the Swiss government.
In August, Justo was granted a royal pardon, which meant his prison sentence was reduced by one third, leaving him only nine months to serve at present. But later in September, the Thai government denied the Swiss government’s request to send Justo back to Switzerland.

If Justo returned to Switzerland, it is quite possible that he would make explosive new revelations about 1MDB from the safety of his home country. The Swiss attorney general has publicly alleged at least US$4.8 billion was embezzled from 1MDB and related companies. The US Department of Justice has publicly alleged US$3.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB, of which millions of dollars went into the accounts of someone called “Malaysian Official 1” by the DoJ. Based on the department’s description, that person can only be Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Thailand’s warning to Joshua Wong: video speech will be cut off if you criticise Beijing or reveal details of detention
On September 17, a Swiss newspaper, Le Temps, alleged Najib took the opportunity of his official visit to Thailand in early September to interfere in Justo’s case. Najib’s office denied the report, saying neither Najib nor any Malaysian official raised Justo when they attended the sixth Malaysia-Thailand Annual Consultation meeting, and insisted Malaysia adheres to a policy of non-interference in other countries’ domestic affairs.

The Thai justice minister, General Paiboon Koomchaya, told Bernama, a Malaysian news agency, on September 19 that the government’s decision to deny Justo his request to serve the remainder of his jail term in Switzerland was made in accordance with Thai law. He said that, under his country’s law, anyone requesting to transfer the remainder of a jail sentence must have not less than one year left in jail.
“How can another country interfere in our internal affairs?” asked Paiboon.
Ironically, if Justo hadn’t got that royal pardon, he would have been eligible to serve the rest of his term in Switzerland, going by Paiboon’s rationale. The justice minister’s claim that the Malaysian government could not have interfered in Thai internal affairs is a glaring contrast to Prayuth’s public admission that China was the reason for refusing Wong entry into Thailand.
Thailand considers Zika tests for all pregnant women
There can’t be one law for Wong and another for Justo. The law of any country must be seen to apply fairly and consistently to all, regardless of nationality or background. The blatant contradiction between the words of Paiboon and his boss shows the Thai military junta has a lot of work to do to convince the international community it is not practising double standards. In both the cases of Wong and Justo, Thailand’s reputation for transparency has already taken a dent.
Toh Han Shih is a senior correspondent at MLex, an international media organisation that provides news, analysis and commentary on business regulatory risk.


Nothing brings Hongkongers and mainland Chinese closer together than sports

Former Hong Kong politician ‘major backer’ of firearms purchase from US in ‘Dragon Slaying Brigade’ plot, court hears

Article 23 and the tragedy of Hong Kong

Hong Kong national security law: who are the 8 targeted with HK$1 million bounties? Calls for sanctions, links to 2019 protests among alleged offences

Occupy Central

Joshua Wong and the double standards of the Thai junta

Joshua Wong (centre) arrives at Hong Kong International after being denied entry into Thailand. Photo: Sam Tsang

Swiss Xavier Justo, center, escorted by Thai Corrections officers, leaves the Bangkok South Criminal Court after his trial in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Justo was put on trial after he confessed to blackmailing his former employer, a Saudi oil exploration company, by threatening to reveal documents with information about alleged financial wrongdoing linked to the Malaysian government. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

epa05450919 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Indonesian President Joko Widodo (unseen) at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, 01 August 2016. Najib is in Jakarta to tighten bilateral relationship between the two countries. EPA/MAST IRHAM

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha arrives at a weekly cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, February 2, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Hong Kong

Asia

Treatment of the Hong Kong activist contrasts sharply to that of a key witness in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal


Hong Kong localism and independence

Joshua Wong