Number 11

Today, Aom took Mark and me to the Courthouse to watch some hearings. We dressed up and were supposed to bring our passports. Nut had done whatever was needed to be done with my passport to get a visa for Vietnam so I didn't have it. We took a copy that I had and hoped for the best. When we got there I set off the screening machine with the camera I was carrying. I showed the guard the camera and that was enough for him. No one wanted our passports and we got visitor badges and walked in.

We found a hearing involving a case of fraud and sat down. Aom had a scratch pad and would write down what was happening and we would occasionally take the pen and pad from him and write a question. About 20 minutes into it, the Judge asked Aom what he was writing and when he told her he was translating she told him it wasn't allowed. He turned white and just about pissed his pants so I suggested we try another courtroom. Another oddity is that you're not allowed to cross your arms on your chest or cross your legs in court. Why? Who knows. But because it's not allowed, it's all I could think about. Mark and I both put our hands on our knees and tried not to think about it. There's no court reporter but the Judge has a dictation machine and a large microphone and either repeats what a witness says or adds color commentary. In the first courtroom, the clerk had a large Garfield fan on her desk and the lawyer for the first case was a woman who pulled a Scooby Doo pencil bag out of her briefcase when the case started. The lawyers wear robes when they are questioning witnesses. Before the fraud case there was a quick hearing and when the lawyer finished she stood up, took off her robe, neatly folded it and put in into a specially made pouch and then into her briefcase. Outside each courtroom is a bulletin board with a listing of the cases and in the corner a picture of the Judge. At least I thought it was a picture of the judge. It turns out it's a picture of the Judge's clerk which apparently signifies who has the real power. Anyway, after the first hearing, Mark wanted to see another one but I was bored so I told them to go in and watch something until 11:30 and I'd wander around.

The minute they went into the next courtroom I heard a familiar sound and turning to my left I saw a guard leading a group of about 10 men and women in shackles. After taking a picture, I followed them into a courtroom that was a lot more my style. Lawyers running around everywhere, people talking, prisoner's families and lawyers coming up and talking to them. Somebody brought a baby in for one of the women, someone else brought some money and handed it to another prisoner. The Judge was talking to a number of lawyers and talking into his dictation machine. It was the opposite of the first courtroom and I felt right at home. I watched for awhile and finally they were ready to start court. A woman went up to the podium and read off a piece of paper that was there. Turns out it was an oath to tell the truth. Then she sat down on a chair behind the podium and one of the lawyers started to question her. A couple minutes into it a cell phone went off. I expected the guard to get mad or try to find it but it became obvious that it was the Judge's phone. He answered it and talked to someone for at least 3-4 minutes including a couple of good laughs. It was time to go so I went and found the others and we went outside. Mark and I wanted to take a picture with the statue outside the courthouse that Aom insisted was his father-in-law. Turns out it is Thailand's Father Of Law. Still made for a nice picture. We headed home in the ubiquitous red truck and arrived just in time to change clothes and walk to lunch with Corn, Moon and one of the Lao professors.

When we got back from lunch, Bruce sat Mark and me down to tell us what happened last night with the telephone hearing involving his brother Cyril. Nothing definitive was resolved and the guards stay for now. Then Bruce told me that he had received an email from the Law Faculty in Vietnam. They expressed their pleasure with the drafts I had sent and with my willingness to come help but said they wouldn't be able to accommodate my visit until December 14th at the earliest. Something with the Dean of the University and the Government. Bruce's request was that I accompany the Chiang Mai group to the GAJE conference in the Philippines and help with both organizational issues (BABSEA is co-sponsoring the conference) and possibly sit in on a couple of panel discussions. If you Google GAJE you can see what the conference is all about. Then when I get back, I'd go to Vietnam for 10 days and do whatever I could do in that time. I'm fine with that and told him so. This afternoon I switched gears and began working on conference matters. Some of the Vietnam University people will be at the conference and the plan is for me to have a number of meetings with them to begin laying the groundwork for the Vietnam project while in the Philippines.

If there's one thing I've learned so far about this kind of work is that being flexible is truly a virtue. Bruce says that the "partners" do this kind of thing all the time and that generally it's not within their ability to control it.

Always something new in the saving the world business. And another good day in Chiang Mai.