House Panel To Hear From Anand, Prawase: Thailand

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RECONCILIATION

House panel to hear from Anand, Prawase

The Nation

The House committee on reconciliation is to convene by this week a hearing from three agencies and plans to invite two leading figures, Anand Panyarachun and Prawase Wasi, to testify on fence-mending measures.

The House committee on reconciliation is to convene by this week a hearing involving three agencies and plans to invite two leading figures, Anand Panyarachun and Prawase Wasi, to testify on fence-mending measures.

"The committee wants to solicit statements from Anand and Prawase on how to bring about reconciliation in a tangible manner," Democrat MP and committee spokesman Nakorn Machim said yesterday.

Former prime minister Anand is chairman of the National Reform Committee and social critic Prawase is chairman of the Reform Assembly.

Nakorn said representatives from the King Prajadhipok Institute, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) and the Royal Thai Police have been scheduled to testify in the hearing.

The institute has been tasked with making two key recommendations - on the root cause of the political turmoil and on how to rectify double standards in law enforcement, he said.

The TRCT is expected to further shed light on last year's political disturbances in addition to its reports compiled and presented to the government, he said.

* Full Report of TRCT *

The committee wants the TRCT to clarify its definition of political prisoners and how law enforcement is applied to them, he said.

The police would report on the progress in solving the deaths linked to the political mayhem, he added.

Bhum Jai Thai MP and committee member Supachai Jaisamut said the institute would have 120 days to draw up its recommendations, which form, in turn, the basis for the committee to proceed on fostering reconciliation.

"Pending the institute's recommendations, the committee will decide its next move: whether to amend the charter or the laws needed to heal the divisiveness," Supachai said.

In a related development, legal adviser Noppadon Pattama issued a statement defending former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from what he said was a plot to instigate a new round of political turmoil.

Noppadon said Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut tried but failed to portray Thaksin in a bad light.

"The usual ploy to fault Thaksin is the reason why the Democrats repeatedly lost the elections," he said.

He insisted Thaksin had never condoned political violence but was a true advocate of peace and justice.

He said the Pheu Thai-led government under PM Yingluck Shinawatra has been on track to implement its campaign pledges and restore happiness for citizens.

Yingluck assumed office in a dignified manner after winning a landslide victory, unlike Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who manipulated rules to secure his premiership in the last government, he said.

Noppadon said the Yingluck government would not abuse power to serve Thaksin.

The pardon decree had been issued without Thaksin as a beneficiary and the passport review for him was not activated as speculated, he added.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said he suspected the involvement of an old power clique in planting two homemade bombs on Rajdamnoen Avenue last week. The bombs were detected and defused.

Prompong said a retired general might be the mastermind.

He said his main coalition party will tomorrow convene a meeting to vet draft laws for the next House session, scheduled to commence on December 21.

A number of Pheu Thai MPs are pushing to amend the Defence Ministry Administration Act, seen as a coup-sponsored law to block the political supervision of military appointments, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-12-12