A Bangkok Democrat MP has urged police to press charges against Thaksin Shinawatra for hiring Robert Amsterdam to publish the ‘White Paper’, which he says is offensive to the monarchy and the courts.

On 17 Nov, Watchara Petthong, a Democrat MP for Bangkok, told reporters at Parliament House that he had received complaints from the public about the book entitled ‘The Bangkok Massacres: A Call for Accountability’ which was written by Thaksin’s lawyer Robert Amsterdam. 

He said that the book, whose Thai version is available at major bookstores, contained passages accusing the courts, including the Courts of Justice, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, of being dominated and giving arbitrary rulings, and attacking the throne in regards to, for example, the court-ordered seizure of Thaksin’s assets, the massacres in 1976 and 2010 and numerous arrests under the lèse majesté law. 

The book was published by Amsterdam & Peroff law firm which is owned by Thaksin’s lawyer and lobbyist Robert Amsterdam, and the foreword was written by Thaksin himself, the MP said.

He noted that Thaksin undersigned the foreword as ‘Dr Thaksin’, without the title ‘Pol Lt Col’ which was a royally granted rank. 

Watchara said that he had already filed a complaint with House Speaker Chai Chidchob to look into the matter and forward the case to the National Police Chief Pol Gen Wichean Potephosree for legal action.

Matichon reports that the book [Thai version] does not bear the name of the author, only giving Amsterdam & Peroff as the publisher and Kled Thai Co as the distributor.  In its first edition, 5,000 copies were printed, each sold at 100 baht.

And after the MP’s statement appeared in the news, it is reported that a major bookstore withdrew the book from its shelves.