Abhisit's Meeting With Thai Red Shirts May Mark A Breakthrough

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE

Meeting with red shirts may mark a breakthrough

By Piyanart Srivalo

In a surprise move last Friday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with two red shirts at Government House after they were freed on bail.

The move came after three red shirts were released after spending six months in jail for violating the emergency decree. Abhisit earlier assigned agencies to provide all necessary assistance to the detained red shirts who could not obtain legal representation.

Friday’s meeting was reportedly held amid a comfortable atmosphere as the prime minister talked and expressed concern for their health and asked the justice minister to help find work for them. He also inquired about conditions in prison.

In his weekly address on Sunday, Abhisit also pledged to continue filing bail applications for about 40 to 50 individuals unwittingly involved in the red-shirt riots.

“Although everyone is equal under the law, some underprivileged people could not get legal counsel,” he said.

Abhisit said a National Human Rights Commission report had informed him that some 50 individuals out of about 180 people detained after the unruly protests had no access to legal assistance.

He said he had instructed the Justice Ministry to make legal assistance available to these people.

Despite showing a good sign for reconciliation, his sincerity was doubted by the opposition Pheu Thai Party and his rival, fugitive ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin issued a statement calling on the government to release “political prisoners”, likening the jailing of red shirts in Thailand to the situation in Burma, where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed on Saturday.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the main opposition party doubted the government was sincere in its efforts to bring about reconciliation.

However, the move gave Abhisit a more or less positive image, especially since he was the one who initiated the help for the red shirts.

In fact, it reflected the real intention of the government to effect its national reconciliation plan compared with what it had done in the past. The government set up five committees to enhance reconciliation but none of them seemed to give people any hope that reconciliation would take place soon. The exception was the panel for charter amendments, which finally proposed to change some points of the Constitution.

The other panels are the national reform committee, the inquiry into the deaths during the red-shirt rallies, the one on media reform, and a panel to establish a Thailand Reform Assembly and conduct a national forum on national reform.

The reconciliation plan seemed to crystallise more after Kanit na Nakhon, head of the panel searching for truth and reconciliation, suggested the government should offer mental rehabilitation for the detained red shirts too.

So the granting of bail for the red shirts could be the beginning of the national reconciliation plan launched by the government. And it could be one of the most outstanding performances of Abhisit during his premiership.

It remains to be seen whether bail will be granted for the 11 core leaders of the red shirts who are still in custody, as a report has suggested that their release would result in the process taking shape effectively and genuinely.

-- The Nation 2010-11-17

[givenall]

We will see what impact it really has during the next Red Shirt gathering. If is very orderly, and peaceful but if it is the same shit then all bets are off

[Piengrudee]

Election is coming next year. Mark needs every vote, may it be Black, Yellow, Blur or RED.

[animatic]

We will see what impact it really has during the next Red Shirt gathering. If is very orderly, and peaceful but if it is the same shit then all bets are off

Well I think the numbers AND order/disorder, will tell the tale.

[bushwacker]

<"Friday’s meeting was reportedly held amid a comfortable atmosphere as the prime minister talked and expressed concern for their health and asked the justice minister to help find work for them. He also inquired about conditions in prison.">

I can hear the conversation now .... "thanks for coming to visit me in my office ... pretty nice hey! Say, you do not look very well, actually you look like you are about to die. Would you like a job? We can pay you to be a confidential informant for us. Good salary and health benefits .... are you interested? Say tell me how was prison? Did you like your little visit there?"

:jap:

[gemini81]

After what they did to cause so much hel_l, why do they even deserve a meeting or the time of day. Gotta hand it to Abhisit, he is more forgiving than most would be in his position. The ultimate is when these blood shirts get together and play dead on the ground for Thai Rat images.

Maybe Abhisit does this to display he tries to show humility to all (even after the carnage and burning of bangkok)

[asiawatcher]

At least Abhisit has the intelligence to enter negotiations which is far more than the reds have been prepared to do. But they will most likely read into that a sign of weakness by the Govt and then the scrapping and political garbage will start again.

Edited November 17, 2010 by asiawatcher

[rreddin]

Election is coming next year. Mark needs every vote, may it be Black, Yellow, Blur or RED.

What you are saying is that he is buying votes?

[nong38]

Lets just hope that some good might come from this meeting. Things have to start somewhere, lets try and be positive, I welcome his move.