Anand's Reform Panel Steps Down :

[Lite Beer]

Anand's reform panel steps down, urges next govt to act on its findings

By The Nation on Sunday.

The head of the government-appointed National Reform Committee yesterday announced the resignation of all panel members, with effect from today.

Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, the committee's chairman, said although the panel was originally designed to last three years, all its members agreed they should resign en masse now that the government that appointed them had opted to dissolve the House of Representatives to make way for an early election.

"The National Reform Committee gathers all the proposals - or 'blueprints' - from the civil sector that can be used by political parties in their election campaigning. We suggest further study for the part of the job that we did not complete. I believe that whoever becomes the next government will be able to make use of the proposals," Anand said.

"All the committee members are ready to support the reform ideas in the future," he said.

He was speaking during a panel discussion on "There Must Be Reform after the Election" organised at the MCOT head office. The event was also attended by other key members of the panel, including Pongpayome Wasaputi, Somchai Ruchuphan and Phra Paisarn Wisalo.

The Anand panel was appointed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last year a few months after violent political unrest that led to the death of 91 people and injuries suffered by another 2,000 or so.

Anand said his committee's conclusion was that, to solve the country's problems, the government's powers must be decentra-lised and citizens must bestrengthened.

He called on political parties to adopt national reform as part of their key policy platforms.

"The political parties should have a policy about national reform. So far I have seen no political parties with a clear policy platform about this. I'd like to see the political parties carry on with the reform proposals made by the committee. The committee's work should not be wasted," he said.

Speaking to reporters at the side of yesterday's event, Anand said populist policies - particularly regarding education, healthcare and mass transit - could benefit people to an extent. However, excessive use of those policies would only weaken the people and discourage them from being self-reliant.

-- The Nation 2011-05-15