Next Step Towards Reconciliation: Six-Party Peace Talks?: Thai Talk

[webfact]

THAI TALK

Next step towards reconciliation: Six-party peace talks?

Suthichai Yoon

The Nation

What's the next step in the much-hyped but elusive national reconciliation? If one of the new advisers named to the national commission on patching up old wounds and moving the country forward has his way, some serious behind-the-scenes talks among parties to the prolonged conflict may be part of the extended process.

Surakiart Sathirathai, recently appointed as an adviser to the Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC), doesn't believe that even if Thaksin Shinawatra and General Prem Tinsulanonda sit down and work out a compromise, Thailand’s long-standing conflict can be brought to an end. It isn't as simple as that.

"The problem has gone much beyond that. Besides, that kind of a forum can't be organised because a privy councillor can't get involved in politics in the first place," the former deputy premier told Matichon in an interview published last week.

Surakiart believes though that a series of "unpublicised negotiations" could be held whereby five to six parties are represented: the yellow shirts, the red shirts, the Pheu Thai Party, the Democrats, and the security leadership.

But then, the "secret talks" concept may be more complicated than how it's being portrayed. For one thing, who determines the identities of the representatives of each "faction"? The red-shirt movement, for example, comprises several groups of people who don't necessarily agree with one another on basic notions of what constitutes "real democracy". There is also the question of who the yellow shirts represent under the new political scenario. Also, some "liberal" elements could pose a very valid question: Why would the "security circle" be considered a factor in this equation?

The other controversial question is: What about the "invisible hands"? Surakiart says, if one talks about "invisible hands", they could be from many sides. "In fact, each party to the conflict has its own invisible hands as well."

Yes, they would have to be included in the process, he said, stressing that some of the discussions may have to be off the record.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some unofficial sounding-out through informal channels has already been made without any publicity.

Surakiart believes privy councillors shouldn't, however, be dragged into the proposed formula. They aren't supposed to be involved in politics. And that's the way it should remain.

There is even the question about who he himself represents in this new peace-making role.

Surakiart reacted promptly and forcefully to this: "This kind of question shouldn't be raised anymore. People should stop following that line of thinking. I am not a new face in politics, and I have a long record of academic work," he said.

Although his wife is related to the royal family, Surakiart says, "We never discuss politics. We in the family discuss everything else except politics. And I have no special connections to speak of."

Surakiart has obviously assumed a new role. He was once close to Thaksin. He also was seen to be close to the Abhisit government when he was made chairman of the advisory board of the Pheu Pandin Party. Today, he wears a new hat - as an adviser to the national reconciliation body. Of course, there is little doubt that he is extremely well connected. And that probably is why he is testing the water by proposing a new formula to make peace, to perhaps enhance the TRC's role.

On the other hand, because of the highly sensitive and complicated nature of the proposed "unofficial peace negotiations", the idea could boomerang and undermine the commission's less controversial and more effective mission to pursue "transitional justice" for all who have claimed to have suffered from the abuses of the "other side".

He realises of course that the challenge is enormous. "The problem over the past five to six years has been that we haven't had a referee trusted by all the parties concerned. Everyone who has proposed a way out has been given a label. He or she has been inevitably branded as siding with one side or the other. Now, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission appears to be the most trusted body. That's why I feel more optimistic," Surakiart said.

TRC Chairman Kanit na Nakhon has so far not discussed in public any possibility for this formula for "six-party talks". Obviously, any action along that line would have to be very well thought out and handled with thorough care and discretion. The line between the role of an "honest broker" and "truth-seeking reconciliator" is very thin indeed.

-- The Nation 2011-10-13

[scorecard]

"We haven't had a referee over the last 5 or 6 years...".

Wrong Mr. Surakiart, the referee was there all the time, it's called the law, but you (yes you) and many others had no respect for the law and now we have the mess.

You say 'secret talks'. Again, totally wrong and totally inappropiate. You. Mr Surakiart, have strong Thais to thaksin, thaksin now claims he's the champion of democracy, eaual justice and no double standrads, and his red gangs claim to be his disciples.

Let's have a quick analysis of this:

- Thaksin and his his red shirt gangs, are demanding that they want quality democracy. That means freedom of speech, the right to involvement of all citizens in discussion, and total transparency. Secret talks is just the opposite.

- Thaksin and his red shirt gangs are demanding equal justice. But again and again they ask for special treatment outside of equal justice for all Thais.

- Thaksin had said many times "I have done nothing wrong", He knows this is totally untrue and is blatant lies. Hardly a bastion of truth and morals.

Mr. Surakiart, your approach is totally inappropriate and in fact smacks of elitism which thaksin claims he is fighting.

Get back to strict observance of the law, be a champion of upholding the law Mr Surakiart, then you might have a valid platform.

[backtonormal]

"We haven't had a referee over the last 5 or 6 years...".

Wrong Mr. Surakiart, the referee was there all the time, it's called the law, but you (yes you) and many others had no respect for the law and now we have the mess.

You say 'secret talks'. Again, totally wrong and totally inappropiate. You. Mr Surakiart, have strong Thais to thaksin, thaksin now claims he's the champion of democracy, eaual justice and no double standrads, and his red gangs claim to be his disciples.

Let's have a quick analysis of this:

- Thaksin and his his red shirt gangs, are demanding that they want quality democracy. That means freedom of speech, the right to involvement of all citizens in discussion, and total transparency. Secret talks is just the opposite.

- Thaksin and his red shirt gangs are demanding equal justice. But again and again they ask for special treatment outside of equal justice for all Thais.

- Thaksin had said many times "I have done nothing wrong", He knows this is totally untrue and is blatant lies. Hardly a bastion of truth and morals.

Mr. Surakiart, your approach is totally inappropriate and in fact smacks of elitism which thaksin claims he is fighting.

Get back to strict observance of the law, be a champion of upholding the law Mr Surakiart, then you might have a valid platform.

Demonising Mr Thaksin again. I am sure you are aware that 20,000,000 should be included in the red gangs and many of them will be professional people form the big cities. Nice to see a statement that puts the two major players in Thailands conflict in the same sentence. On the one hand Prem who has been putting his invisible hand into the army the judiciary and the Democrat party for as long as any can remember. General Prem is without doubt the conductor of the orchestra and requests can be made ( eg.. 2005 "hey Prem get the troops out that Thakky chappy is way to popular and is a serious threat to our continuing control). On the other hand the new boy on the block who fancys running the game himself. Its going to get messy

[hellodolly]

"We haven't had a referee over the last 5 or 6 years...".

Wrong Mr. Surakiart, the referee was there all the time, it's called the law, but you (yes you) and many others had no respect for the law and now we have the mess.

You say 'secret talks'. Again, totally wrong and totally inappropiate. You. Mr Surakiart, have strong Thais to thaksin, thaksin now claims he's the champion of democracy, eaual justice and no double standrads, and his red gangs claim to be his disciples.

Let's have a quick analysis of this:

- Thaksin and his his red shirt gangs, are demanding that they want quality democracy. That means freedom of speech, the right to involvement of all citizens in discussion, and total transparency. Secret talks is just the opposite.

- Thaksin and his red shirt gangs are demanding equal justice. But again and again they ask for special treatment outside of equal justice for all Thais.

- Thaksin had said many times "I have done nothing wrong", He knows this is totally untrue and is blatant lies. Hardly a bastion of truth and morals.

Mr. Surakiart, your approach is totally inappropriate and in fact smacks of elitism which thaksin claims he is fighting.

Get back to strict observance of the law, be a champion of upholding the law Mr Surakiart, then you might have a valid platform.

Demonising Mr Thaksin again. I am sure you are aware that 20,000,000 should be included in the red gangs and many of them will be professional people form the big cities. Nice to see a statement that puts the two major players in Thailands conflict in the same sentence. On the one hand Prem who has been putting his invisible hand into the army the judiciary and the Democrat party for as long as any can remember. General Prem is without doubt the conductor of the orchestra and requests can be made ( eg.. 2005 "hey Prem get the troops out that Thakky chappy is way to popular and is a serious threat to our continuing control). On the other hand the new boy on the block who fancys running the game himself. Its going to get messy

It is all Bull Sh-t

The secret talks will not work and the stick to the letter of the law will not work.

As the article said there is hidden hands. Get all of them to talk and we might have a chance.

[Roadman]

"We haven't had a referee over the last 5 or 6 years...".

Wrong Mr. Surakiart, the referee was there all the time, it's called the law, but you (yes you) and many others had no respect for the law and now we have the mess.

You say 'secret talks'. Again, totally wrong and totally inappropiate. You. Mr Surakiart, have strong Thais to thaksin, thaksin now claims he's the champion of democracy, eaual justice and no double standrads, and his red gangs claim to be his disciples.

Let's have a quick analysis of this:

- Thaksin and his his red shirt gangs, are demanding that they want quality democracy. That means freedom of speech, the right to involvement of all citizens in discussion, and total transparency. Secret talks is just the opposite.

- Thaksin and his red shirt gangs are demanding equal justice. But again and again they ask for special treatment outside of equal justice for all Thais.

- Thaksin had said many times "I have done nothing wrong", He knows this is totally untrue and is blatant lies. Hardly a bastion of truth and morals.

Mr. Surakiart, your approach is totally inappropriate and in fact smacks of elitism which thaksin claims he is fighting.

Get back to strict observance of the law, be a champion of upholding the law Mr Surakiart, then you might have a valid platform.

Demonising Mr Thaksin again. I am sure you are aware that 20,000,000 should be included in the red gangs and many of them will be professional people form the big cities. Nice to see a statement that puts the two major players in Thailands conflict in the same sentence. On the one hand Prem who has been putting his invisible hand into the army the judiciary and the Democrat party for as long as any can remember. General Prem is without doubt the conductor of the orchestra and requests can be made ( eg.. 2005 "hey Prem get the troops out that Thakky chappy is way to popular and is a serious threat to our continuing control). On the other hand the new boy on the block who fancys running the game himself. Its going to get messy

"that Thakky chappy is way to popular and is a serious threat to our continuing control". Ahhhh!!!!

Oh yeah thats right. The Army took control back and for the last 5 years Thailand has been under Army control with no elections. The fables on this site are amazing.

And being PM isn't a popularity contest. A court with some balls finally convicted the criminal of some of the crimes that he should have been convicted of in 2001.

[hammered]

Will they be able to carve out a deal that keeps all of them up top happy and give enough to the people too? That isnt going to be easy and putting genies back into bottles is way past. It is now debatable whether Thaksin can actually control where what he has unleashed will go and no other politician even has a hope of doing so. The future of Thailand is going to be based around the recognition of the people of the power of their mass votes backed by their willingness to protect what they have voted for from any manouver. The tragedy is that little panels like this just represent an attempt to reset the management of demcoracy based around a common unity while the real field of settling difference is at the polls and likely future of Thailand for good or bad is a lack of unity and a lack of unity has usually been the driving force of democratisation. It will be interesting to see how this pans out

Still it is interesting to see someone abandoned by all and who has made a number of ill timed side changes try to resurrect himself

[longtom]

Who represents the Thais that have no vested interests, no agenda, who don't wear yellow/read/uniform?

[gregb]

Demonising Mr Thaksin again.

Scorecard doesn't haven't to demonize anyone. Thaksin is pure evil and has done more than enough to earn that label. The 20 million people who love Thaksin believe he cares about them. Those 20 million people are wrong. Thaksin cares only about Thaksin, but I for one don't hate Thailand enough to force everyone to learn that the hard way through years of tyranny.

If a solution is possible, it requires first and foremost a solution to the problem of Thaksin. If he can't be sidelined and kept from terrorizing the half of the country who despises him then it doesn't matter what happens to the rest of the factions involved.

Say what else you want, but this conflict always has been and still is primarily about one, hideous, evil man. Until he is somehow dealt with, I don't see any hope for reconciliation.

[renaissanc]

Reconciliation will be impossible with the people involved.They are all stubborn and think Win-Lose. The best solution is for Thaksin never to come back.

If Thaksin returns and goes to prison, then reconciliation may well be possible. If he comes back a free man, forget reconciliation. There will be street demos and confrontations with the Red Shirt mobs ad infinitum.. If he goes to prison, then he's not qualified for political office for 5 years, isn't he? The Red Shirts won't concede to this, i.e to the Law.

The Red Shirts need to stop making their Red Shirt Federation for reconciliation to be possible. They won't.. Etc. Too many hard heads with their own agenda are involved for it to work.

Just enforce the Law, then reconciliation can happen. But Thaksin feels he is above the Law. The situation is almost hopeless with these people involved.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Reconciliation will be impossible with the people involved.They are all stubborn and think Win-Lose. The best solution is for Thaksin never to come back.

If Thaksin returns and goes to prison, then reconciliation may well be possible. If he comes back a free man, forget reconciliation. There will be street demos and confrontations with the Red Shirt mobs ad infinitum.. If he goes to prison, then he's not qualified for political office for 5 years, isn't he? The Red Shirts won't concede to this, i.e to the Law.

The Red Shirts need to stop making their Red Shirt Federation for reconciliation to be possible. They won't.. Etc. Too many hard heads with their own agenda are involved for it to work.

Just enforce the Law, then reconciliation can happen. But Thaksin feels he is above the Law. The situation is almost hopeless with these people involved.

I quite agree!!!! Thaksin simply cares only about Thaksin and Thaksin related projects that will gorge his over flowing coffers further.

He doesn't care about the Thai people no matter how much they fool themselves into believing otherwise!!!!

He and his policies were a disaster for Thailand for one obvious reason ie: he was thinking about how he can enrich himself in his capacity as prime minister of Thailand. All of his populist policies were aimed at keeping the people happy and on board so that he could rape Thailand of it's wealth - hoping people wouldn't notice or care.

Yingluck the novice, unfortunately, looks like she is an impending disaster waiting to happen. Anyone who thinks that she is doing a good job should take their blinkers off and see the real world as it really is and stop deluding themselves on this. Just how can one person being placed above the whole of the nation be right???? I bet Thaksin thinks that these floods are simply a nuisance that is slowing the cogs of the machinery that is operating in the background designed to pave his way for his return to Thailand.

Oh I could go on.....but it just makes me sick and extremely sad to see how the Thai's are being manipulated by this "evil excuse of a man".

Who say's that "turkey's don't vote for christmas" - in Thailand they do!!!.

Edited October 14, 2011 by SICHONSTEVE