Whips Give Thai Amnesty The Cold Shoulder

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ANALYSIS
Whips give amnesty the cold shoulder
Attayuth Bootsripoom,
Jeerapong Prasertpolkraung,
Olan Lertrudtanadumrongkul
The Nation


'Red' MP Worachai threatens to use his right to move item to House agenda for urgent deliberation

BANGKOK: -- Coalition whips resolved yesterday to put an amnesty bill - seen as being pushed by the red shirts - on the back burner, with the government expected to drag its feet on the matter.

Pheu Thai MP Amnuay Klungpha, chairman of the coalition coordination committee on parliamentary affairs, said the whips decided not to put the bill, sponsored by red-shirt MP Worachai Hema and 41 other Pheu Thai lawmakers, on the House agenda.

Amnuay said the whips saw that there were several bills already on the House agenda that need to be assessed. He said Worachai's bill was submitted just last week, so it wasn't put on agenda yet.

Worachai has threatened to invoke his right as an MP to ask the House to put the bill on the agenda without waiting for the House Speaker to do so and thus have it bypass other drafts for deliberation.

Amnuay said Worachai had the right but he would need up to 250 votes of support from other MPs to put his bill on the agenda and move it to the top of the list.

Pheu Thai whip Piraphan Palusuk, a legal expert, said the majority of party MPs would not back Worachai's plan to have the House urgently consider his bill.

"Although the party agrees with the bill in principle, the timing is not right to push for its deliberation now," Piraphan said.

"More time will be needed to clear all the hurdles. If the bill is pushed for deliberation now, it won't sail through and it will lead to another round of turbulence."

Meanwhile, Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont's team asked social media users on Facebook from Thursday to Sunday whether they support with the amnesty law. The response showed 2,341 backed it and 7,455 opposed it.

Political observers said the government would not dare to push for the amnesty law and risk losing its stability, especially when it is pushing ahead with a Bt2-trillion investment programme. The ruling party's defeat in the Bangkok governor election is also seen as a sign that Bangkokians oppose the move for an amnesty law.

The whips' resolution was seen by observers as the government's latest effort to stall controversial amnesty moves after government opponents vowed to fight any amnesty law being enacted.

Government opponents sent a strong message of boycott against any amnesty law by not attending yesterday's "peace talks" moderated by Deputy Speaker Charoen Jankomol.

Pheu Thai had Charoen invite representatives from 11 sides to discuss enactment of an amnesty law, in a move seen as trying to show the increasingly restless red-shirts that it was serious in pushing the matter.

The 11 sides invited were: the coalition and Pheu Thai; the Democrat Party; the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship; the People's Alliance for Democracy; Nicha Thuwatham, to represent government officials killed during political turbulence; the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand; the Pitak Siam group; business operators affected by political violence; the military; the multicoloured-shirt group; Bhum Jai Thai Party.

But only representatives of groups on the government's side attended the meeting while the rest announced a boycott and vowed to campaign both inside and outside Parliament to oppose any such move.

The Democrats, the PAD and Pitak Siam, as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not attend the two-hour, closed-door meeting. Charoen said after he would invite the Democrats and the yellow-shirt groups to attend the next meeting.

Worse still for the government, Charoen's move provided a common cause for all-red shirt groups, plus the PAD, Pitak Siam and Democrat supporters, to reunite against efforts to enact an amnesty law.

With the latest pressure from Worachai's bill, the government is seen as being in a dilemma. If they push for the law, the yellow shirts will come out to protest - and they could face violent confrontations with the red shirts. And figures from the latest Bangkok governor election showed there are more than 1 million red-shirt people or Pheu Thai supporters in Bangkok.

The confrontations would not bode well for the government. Any violence could cause it to be ousted so top leaders want to avoid such a situation.

Charoen also appeared to lack determination to push for a solution. After the meeting, he told reporters he would invite Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to a discussion with coalition whips on the opposition leader's call for four "reconciliation" bills submitted to the House in the last parliamentary session to be withdrawn.

Charoen admitted there would be several more meetings to discuss reconciliation measures as those who attended yesterday agreed all sides should have a chance to air their opinions at future meetings.

He said the meeting supported the principle of forgiving and remorse but all sides must ponder how to enact measures in detail.

The deputy speaker said he expected to be able to hold talks with the PAD, although PAD spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said earlier the group would boycott the amnesty process.

Observers said it was expected the government would buy time by having the Council of State study three amnesty law drafts submitted earlier. This would show the red shirts the government had not abandoned them, and would buy the coalition more time.


-- The Nation 2013-03-12

[NongKhaiKid]

The Bangkok Post today ( Tue 12 March ) is carrying a story that Thaksin Skyped to instruct PTP to get an amnesty bill in place in order to please the red shirts. Will his sister continue to insist she is the Real PM while he is running the country and only for those and such as those ?

[chainarong]

I cannot see how politicians can over rule the head of state and introduce their own Amnesty, the head of state is not Yingluck, she's the head of state's Prime Minister, although some would disagree, If I was the Dems i'd be pushing that line, very firmly indeed.

[bigbamboo]

The amnesty bill is in trouble.

The people don't want it, the opposition don't want it, even the PT MPs don't want it.

Time to move on?

[Lite Beer]

Opponents of amnesty move urged to think again
By English News

BANGKOK, March 12 – House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont today urged opponents of the proposed legislation on amnesty to join the pro-government blocs what he called a ‘reconciliation dialogue.’

He said four bills relating to ‘national reconciliation’ are pending deliberation by the House of Representatives and that he was not empowered to withdraw the bills.

Mr Somsak said members of Parliament who think differently should sit down and talk as earlier initiated by Deputy House Speaker Charoen Chankomol.

Mr Charoen on Monday invited 10 political and civic groups to discuss the proposed amnesty bills to seek freedom for offenders in the past political upheavals and protests in Bangkok. Five groups including the opposition Democrat Party, the Bhumjaithai Party and the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD, the Yellow Shirt movement), refused to attend the meeting.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has reportedly insisted in a Skype conversation with the government’s Pheu Thai members that attempts for passage of the amnesty bills must proceed.

House Speaker Somsak, however, said the parliamentary maneuvering of the “reconciliation talk” was unrelated to Mr Thaksin’s Skype statement.

Mr Somsak added that he was unaware of a Parliament’s website having conducted an online survey on the amnesty bills but suspended the poll after the majority of respondents opposed the move.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the opposition party did not join the talks for it was neither part of the political conflict nor advocate of the amnesty bills.

“If the government is sincere in solving the problem, it should convince MPs who proposed the bills to withdraw all of them. Let’s leave the matter to the judiciary system,” said Mr Abhisit. “Mr Thaksin’s signal will aggravate the existing conflicts.” (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-03-12

[bigbamboo]

This changes things a bit. The ruling party's leader and de facto PM is now insisting that PT MPs do as they told or he will punish them in their pockets.

The heat is on..........

[Pimay1]

House Speaker Somsak, however, said the parliamentary maneuvering of the “reconciliation talk” was unrelated to Mr Thaksin’s Skype statement.

Of course not. Nothing they do is related to the fugitive and his demands.

Mr Somsak added that he was unaware of a Parliament’s website having conducted an online survey on the amnesty bills but suspended the poll after the majority of respondents opposed the move.

I know nothing