Reconciliation Report Faces Political Apathy: Thailand

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Reconciliation report faces political apathy

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The TRCT's account of the 2010 red-shirt violence should be welcomed by the public as something to build upon, but politicians and hardcore elements will attempt to bury it

Highly anticipated by the public, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand's (TRCT's) report has been released in the hope that it might pave the way to reconciliation after the 2010 crackdown on red-shirt protesters, which claimed 92 lives and injured more than 2,000. Thailand's political reality, however, may make the "truth" presented by the TRCT hard to accept.

The original idea was that, after the official version of the truth came out, the nation would be able to move on and put the events of April and May 2010 behind it. But the TRCT report is unlikely to please anybody, and it is now in serious danger of being put on the backburner.

Neutral observers may naturally regard the report as the most reliable account to date of those tragic events. Its narrative tries to capture the causes and the results of the various incidents, including what went wrong when the Army moved in on the protesters, the government's decision-making, the role of the mysterious "men in black" and the death of the late Major-General Khattiya "Seh Daeng" Sawasdipol.

Of course, some political leaders will react negatively to the report. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, obviously disturbed by the confirmed existence of the "men in black", has taunted the commission for "not being an investigator", while red-shirt leader and Cabinet member Nuttawut Saikua said the panel "sounds like the Democrats".

The "truth" will satisfy no one, but the nation should at least try to make sense of the report. In spite of its flaws and its limitations, the report has more or less brought some clarity to the dark events of 2010, which deeply affected Thais on both sides of the political divide.

The report of more than 300 pages is designed to lead to solutions and enable Thais to move ahead despite that divide. With the government unenthusiastic about the findings, and the opposition as well as the Army fingered in the report, the document's future looks bleak.

Against the background of highly polarised society, people with different political affiliations will naturally react differently to the report, which suggests that both sides were responsible for the actions that led to one of Thailand's greatest political tragedies.

There has been an attempt to question the integrity of the commissioners in the observation that the commission was set up under former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. This is despite the fact that the commission's chairman, Kanit na Nakhon, a well-regarded lawyer, was one of the founders of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party. Somchai Homla-or, another member, is also widely known for his work on human rights.

Thai society might need time to make sense of the commission's conclusions, even if they were apparently reached in the most neutral manner possible. TRCT members held hearings and conducted research and interviews to pinpoint the perpetrators of rights violations. There seems to be little if any political bias in the report.

The report might contain some flaws, but it could be the best the nation can hope for right now. Lingering questions and issues can be further addressed by the TRCT, the public and other agencies, who are encouraged to pursue the truth to its end.

Modelled after South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the TRCT marks a step forward for the nation. The report has drawn so much attention because of the trust that the public has placed in the TRCT. Politically speaking, though, the report may be something that no one wants to touch.

There are, of course, some issues and questions that have to be further addressed and answered. The TRCT, however, is fading into oblivion for the obvious reason that it was set up under the previous government and the current government doesn't seem too pleased with its findings. The TRCT may have made its first and last report, but Thailand's political situation cries out for a mechanism like this to carry on its work. In the end, the public may have to carry the TRCT torch. After all, the effort to reconcile a divided nation cannot rely on the work of one commission alone. We are all in this together.

-- The Nation 2012-09-19

[webfact]

RT @tulsathit: Khao Sod: Seh Daeng's tearful daughter: They blame my dad

RT @tulsathit: Thai Post: Red shirts tear apart Truth panel's report

RT @tulsathit: ASTV: Shrieking red shirts find truth commission's report unacceptable

RT @tulsathit: Matichon: Seh Daeng's daughter slams TRCT for making dad take blame

RT @tulsathit: Thai Rath: Pheu Thai, red shirts join hands in attacking truth panel

[webfact]

STOPPAGE TIME

Oblivion may be where the truth belongs

Tulsathit Taptim

The most comprehensive report on the political violence of 2010 can do anything but speak volumes.

BANGKOK: -- It will most likely turn out to be the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand's (TRCT) swan song. Nobody can actually benefit from the detailed chronology of events, the added and well-researched witness accounts, the intriguing information picked up by the social media, as well as how the conventional media saw the unfolding violence. The country's political divide has been romanticised and idealised, so much so that as the TRCT tries to tell the story as it happened, the panel will not be making any friends.

The "men in black" existed, the panel has concluded, and there is strong evidence that they were linked to at least some red-shirt leaders. The men in black played a crucial role in the Kok Wua Intersection bloodbath on April 10, 2010, as heavy fire rained down on troops deployed to push back red-shirt protesters from prohibited zones. After the Kok Wua incident, the men in black re-emerged several times and were involved in incidents leading up to the infamous May 19 crackdown, according to the TRCT report.

As for the Abhisit government and the command centre set up to deal with the protesters, the TRCT also pulls no punches. Soldiers shouldn't have been tasked with restoring order in that kind of political situation, the panel says. There were cases of misjudgement or stereotyping, leading to blanket negativity toward the red-shirt protesters and their eventual suppression. The commission calls for "restorative justice", or total leniency toward protesters who may have broken national security laws during the political confrontation. It also denounces the 2006 coup in no uncertain terms, and gives the Thai judiciary a strong caution that its role can either be a solution to the problem or help prolong the political suffering.

The Yingluck administration is not spared either. In what arguably is the most significant message in its report, the TRCT expresses its absolute disapproval of the move to rush through what it suggests are conspicuous amnesty programmes. Reconciliation can't be forced upon a nation by the party that controls the majority in Parliament, the commission says. Meaningful steps toward peace need time and consensus, and unilateral moves carry the danger of generating the opposite results - in other words, deeper divide and greater hostility, it says.

The TRCT lectures the media on how not to add fuel to volatile political situations, and reminds all protesters of the need to differentiate between exercising democratic liberty and provoking the authorities through armed activities and the violation of other people's rights. The military must stay away from politics no matter what, and Article 112, or the "lese majeste law", must be neither taunted nor abused. Thailand needs to address the evolution of the monarchy with the utmost sincerity, and with only one united agenda, which is to protect the institution to the country's best interests.

The commission will fade away after this, as the Yingluck government isn't much interested in a fact-finding mechanism created by the previous government. The panel, however, has been true to a "balance of perspectives" format up to the last minute. In a previous report, the panel gave both the armed forces and Thaksin Shinawatra a strong rebuke. As the commissioners see it, if the 2006 coup sent Thailand down a slippery slope, there is no doubt about who brought it to the precipice.

The truth, they say, often upsets people. The commission, chaired by Kanit na Nakorn, has presented possibilities on how historians should tackle the past decade of Thailand politically. The red shirts have their own version, so do the yellow shirts, the Pheu Thai Party, the Democrat Party, the Army and so on. Different from their versions is the commission's obvious attempt to see the Thai political world as grey, not black or white.

And that's probably how the truth is supposed to be told. Most tragedies result from a juxtaposition of factors, and sometimes they lead to greater tragedies because all those involved do is deflect blame to others. The commission's ultimate message is that everybody played a part, big or small, in bringing Thailand to this sad impasse, and that reconciliation can never happen unless this is realised by all.

The TRCT's swan song blends realism and idealism. The panel tried to be realistic in presenting accounts of events without political bias, in analysing everyone's motives and actions. It is idealistic in assuming that everyone will accept, or at least understand, the report and its calls for reason.

-- The Nation 2012-09-19

[Nickymaster]

RT @tulsathit: Khao Sod: Seh Daeng's tearful daughter: They blame my dad

RT @tulsathit: Thai Post: Red shirts tear apart Truth panel's report

RT @tulsathit: ASTV: Shrieking red shirts find truth commission's report unacceptable

RT @tulsathit: Matichon: Seh Daeng's daughter slams TRCT for making dad take blame

RT @tulsathit: Thai Rath: Pheu Thai, red shirts join hands in attacking truth panel

RT @tulsathit: Thai Post: Red shirts tear apart Truth panel's report

Don't think that such an action would help Thaksin, and Thaksin knows that.

But hey, you have created a monster when you needed one, now try to tame it.

[KireB]

RT @tulsathit: Khao Sod: Seh Daeng's tearful daughter: They blame my dad

RT @tulsathit: Thai Post: Red shirts tear apart Truth panel's report

RT @tulsathit: ASTV: Shrieking red shirts find truth commission's report unacceptable

RT @tulsathit: Matichon: Seh Daeng's daughter slams TRCT for making dad take blame

RT @tulsathit: Thai Rath: Pheu Thai, red shirts join hands in attacking truth panel

Not really a surprise! Hooray for Red democracy: our truth or the high way!

[billd766]

No party or shirt colour or persons involved in it from the Democrats, TRT, Red Shirts, yellow shirts, Army, poice or even the soi dogs will like or accept the report.

Predictably the TRT/Red Shirts holwed the longest and loudest but everybody whined and whined about it.

That means the TRCT got it mostly right.

Now ALL sides should sit down in a quiet room and one side at a time should say what they think while ALL the others keep quiet, open their ears, hearts and minds and listen. Then it can be another sides turn to speak etc.

The first thing they MUST do when the enter the room is throw away all their existing thoughts and predjudices and start by accepting responsibility for what their side has done.

Only after that point can any meaningful discussion start and reconciliation begin.

If they cannot even reach or talk about that point there is no point in going any further and the whole country will suffer for it.

[OzMick]

We dun nuffink rong

[asiawatcher]

The TRCT needs to be retired without pay! An ineffectual document costing gazillions that leaves everything as a stalemate. Well done guys. You resolved nothing and took the cowardly middle ground.

[GentlemanJim]

The TRCT needs to be retired without pay! An ineffectual document costing gazillions that leaves everything as a stalemate. Well done guys. You resolved nothing and took the cowardly middle ground.

????

Have you considered that reporting the truth may not be as juicy and apportion blame on one side of the other firmly or not. The truth is simply the truth. Did you want an exercise in apportion of blame or a report that was trying to establish a truthful representation of what occurred?

[KireB]

The TRCT needs to be retired without pay! An ineffectual document costing gazillions that leaves everything as a stalemate. Well done guys. You resolved nothing and took the cowardly middle ground.

Isn't that the real path to reconciliation rather than whitewashing a criminal on the run his sin's?

[tominbkk]

Seh Dang was a monster. Som nam na to him and tell his daughter to dry her tears and smell the coffee.

[WhizBang]

RT @tulsathit: ASTV: Shrieking red shirts find truth commission's report unacceptable

Pretty much says it all, really. We want our truth, not the real truth.

It would be nice to see an investigation of the role of the police in this mess. After it was all over, I seem to recall cries for reforming the police. Wonder what happened there?

Edited September 19, 2012 by WhizBang

[asiawatcher]

The TRCT needs to be retired without pay! An ineffectual document costing gazillions that leaves everything as a stalemate. Well done guys. You resolved nothing and took the cowardly middle ground.

????

Have you considered that reporting the truth may not be as juicy and apportion blame on one side of the other firmly or not. The truth is simply the truth. Did you want an exercise in apportion of blame or a report that was trying to establish a truthful representation of what occurred?

Neither in fact has been answered. Apportionment of blame is a misnomer here as the catalyst to the deaths was the seizure by the Reds. The response was calculated, deserved or otherwise. Deaths by being in the wrong place as a soldier was sad. Being a Red? They have no excuse and if stupid enough not to disperse how can they hold anyone but themselves accountable for their fate in my opinion. The whole scenario is less than acceptable but the result was minor to what it could well have been. And that is the truth about what did occur as not reported in the TRCT document. To try to persecute anyone is ridiculous - again - in my opinion.

[whybother]

Neither in fact has been answered. Apportionment of blame is a misnomer here as the catalyst to the deaths was the seizure by the Reds. The response was calculated, deserved or otherwise. Deaths by being in the wrong place as a soldier was sad. Being a Red? They have no excuse and if stupid enough not to disperse how can they hold anyone but themselves accountable for their fate in my opinion. The whole scenario is less than acceptable but the result was minor to what it could well have been. And that is the truth about what did occur as not reported in the TRCT document. To try to persecute anyone is ridiculous - again - in my opinion.

"And that is the truth about what did occur as not reported in the TRCT document."

Have you read the TRCT document?

[SICHONSTEVE]

The TRCT needs to be retired without pay! An ineffectual document costing gazillions that leaves everything as a stalemate. Well done guys. You resolved nothing and took the cowardly middle ground.

????

Have you considered that reporting the truth may not be as juicy and apportion blame on one side of the other firmly or not. The truth is simply the truth. Did you want an exercise in apportion of blame or a report that was trying to establish a truthful representation of what occurred?

He wanted an outcome that fits his own personal political bias on the matter - I wonder what his favourite colour is (the colour of a strawberry by any chance)!!!!