'Thai Public Must Be Involved' To Reconcile

[webfact]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

'Public must be involved' to reconcile

By The Nation

Kanit: truth must come before amnesty

Thrust into the political spotlight once again due to the change of government, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Kanit na Nakorn, yesterday promised that he would pursue his job independently but insisted that national harmony was really up to the Thai people.

Kanit's role became the focus of attention after would-be prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said that how her party's "amnesty" scheme panned out depended largely on the work of his commission.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Kanit said his advice would be that the new government gets the Thai public involved as much as possible in order to achieve true national reconciliation. "Reconciliation is not the work of one committee. It has to come from the Thai people," he reiterated.

He also dismissed speculation that the new government would send its own representatives to his panel, which was set up by Abhisit Vejjajiva's government and has not been viewed with absolute trust by the red shirts.

"I don't think they will," Kanit said in response to whether he thought the new government would interfere with his panel's work or send government representatives to the commission.

He explained that his panel had earned trust because "public accountability" was always its working philosophy. "Thaksin has no influence over me," Kanit said, referring to concerns that his past role as the co-founder of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party would affect his current role as peacemaker.

"Since I left Thai Rak Thai, I have never met Thaksin, and people from Pheu Thai Party have never tried to approach me for any untoward agenda," he said. As far as recommendations from his commission are concerned, they have involved relatively minor aspects of the political crisis such as how prisoners should be treated. However, he and Kittipong Kittiyarak, the justice permanent secretary and member of the commission, were adamant yesterday that true justice often began with issues like how political prisoners are treated.

"Our performance may be one of the reasons why the Pheu Thai Party has trusted us to continue our work. We don't have much power, but have gained people's trust, and we are good listeners," Kanit said.

On the explosive issue of amnesty, Kanit said: "Truth must come first."

On the same topic, Kittipong said that to achieve true reconciliation, pragmatism was required.

"We must accept facts like sometimes the criminal law cannot solve every problem," Kittipong said. "For example, those violating the ban on a gathering of more than 10 people shouldn't all be prosecuted."

The permanent secretary said he had reservations about holding a referendum on whether or not and how much amnesty should be granted.

Asked if former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the prospect of his return were complicating the commission's work, Kanit said: "I'm not thinking too much about it, as our job [related to possible amnesty] is supposed to be for the Thai majority."

Meanwhile, Yingluck has said that she would have no objection if the commission did not include amnesty in its overall reconciliation proposal.

"I want to see the commission work with full independence," she said. "The government, of course, will support the commission in any way it can."

-- The Nation 2011-07-09