Committee to vet amnesty bill
THE NATION

35-MEMBER TEAM WILL HAVE 7 DAYS TO SCRUTINISE DRAFT AFTER 2ND READING

BANGKOK: -- PARLIAMENT has voted to appoint a 35-member committee to vet the amnesty bill on its second reading. The 35 members include Matubhum party-list MP General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who was recruited under the Cabinet quota, and outsiders such as Thai Spring leader Kaewsan Atibodhi, who is in the quota of the opposition Democrat Party.

The MPs were asked to submit within seven days the points they wanted to be scrutinised.

After 15 hours of debate, the amnesty bill proposed by Pheu Thai MP Worachai Hema yesterday passed its first reading, accepted in principle, with 300 MPs voting for the bill and 124 against.

On the second day of debate yesterday, breaks had to be taken twice after arguments erupted, because government MPs wanted the debate to end, while opposition MPs insisted they wanted to continue scrutinising the bill. Deputy House Speaker Charoen Jankomol lost his patience and called for a vote on whether to end the meeting after MPs took turns to debate and counterattack.

Opposition party whip chief Jurin Laksanawisit said yesterday the opposition had changed its mind about boycotting the debate and would join the vetting of the amnesty bill on its second reading to prevent a grand-scale whitewash.

Jurin said the opposition had earlier considered boycotting the vetting of the bill, but reconsidered its position, because a vetting committee that consisted only of government MPs, might result in amnesty being granted to all wrongdoers, which would not be good for the country in the long term.

Government whip chief Amnuay Klangpa said he was not certain if the amnesty bill proposed by Pheu Thai MP Worachai Hema would be passed in the first reading yesterday, because MPs took more than five hours on Wednesday before they started the debate.

Bhum Jai Thai's Nakhon Ratchasima MP Boonjong Wongtrairat protested against the bill, reasoning that it would destroy the country's sovereignty and rule of law as well as promote violence. He urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to withdraw the bill from Parliament's agenda and hold a public referendum on whether to keep it.

Article 3 of the bill, said Boonjong, stipulated that amnesty would be granted to leaders and this left room for personal interpretation as questionable political figures did not want to admit whether they fell in the category of "leader".

Pheu Thai's Chiang Rai MP Samart Kaewmeechai dismissed the opposition party's concerns that the bill would grant amnesty to all suspects charged under the lese majeste law. He insisted that during the vetting of the bill, government MPs would not include amnesty for those accused or convicted of lese majeste offences.

Pheu Thai party-list MP Nuttawut Saikuar argued that this amnesty bill was not the first of its kind as the country had previously passed 24 amnesty bills. He said the bill would be a tool to end political conflicts and lawmakers should not think only in terms of the rule of law but also in terms of what was best for society.

"A coup is the most serious violation of the rule of law because power to govern the country is consolidated under the thumb of one person while the Constitution is torn. Every time this happens, an amnesty law is passed to pardon the law offenders,'' he said.

Nuttawut, who was among red-shirt leaders in the 2010 rally protests, said the red-shirt leaders who took to the rally stage at the Ratchaprasong intersection had vowed not to accept pardons. He also insisted the bill would not include lese majeste offenders.


-- The Nation 2013-08-09

On Tuesday and Wednesday,Sorayut,on his early evening programme on Channel 3, talked to Nattawut from Pheua Thai and Nipit from the Democrats.

Nipit said the Democrats would accept Worachai's bill if it specifically named those excluded: Thaksin, red shirt leaders,Apisit and Suthep.

Sorayut asked Natawut if Pheua Thai would accept this. Nattawut said he didn't believe Nipit could speak on behalf of the Democrats.

In other words, no guarantee the bill will not cover the leaders.

Nuttawut, who was among red-shirt leaders in the 2010 rally protests, said the red-shirt leaders who took to the rally stage at the Ratchaprasong intersection had vowed not to accept pardons.

Put that "vow" in writing, or better yet, simply specificy the exact red shirt leaders that would be excluded in the amnesty bill.

Otherwise, his past actions and words preclude believing his current position and makes it ring hollow.

Edited August 9, 201312 yr by HuaHinHarold

I would like to know who the committee members are, what their political affiliations are and who chose them to sit on the committee. It should be fair and balanced. If they added to this bill 'This excludes Taksin' then things would be much easier - never going to happen !

The bill should rightfully be labelled "Thaksin Amnesty Bill", as it is certainly not a "Thai Amnesty". If the newspapers had the guts to use this term maybe the public would slowly wake up and smell the rat.

Suspect before this is over they wont be needing a Vet rather an Undertaker.

It must be very obvious to everyone that this bill cant lead to reconciliation, only to more trouble and conflict.

If we were to believe the Govt in what they say is the purpose of this bill then here is absolutely no need for it, as all it will do is release a few from jail who have committed criminal acts.

If this Govt was sincere it would address the situation of the few still in jail on a person by person basis and if there were any who were there that did not deserve to be then it could be arranged for their release.

That they will not do this points to a different reason as to why that they are pushing so hard to get this bill into law.

As has been pointed out again and again that reason can only be to whitewash their own members of the crimes they have committed, including the big boss.

On Tuesday and Wednesday,Sorayut,on his early evening programme on Channel 3, talked to Nattawut from Pheua Thai and Nipit from the Democrats.

Nipit said the Democrats would accept Worachai's bill if it specifically named those excluded: Thaksin, red shirt leaders,Apisit and Suthep.

Sorayut asked Natawut if Pheua Thai would accept this. Nattawut said he didn't believe Nipit could speak on behalf of the Democrats.

In other words, no guarantee the bill will not cover the leaders.

Of course Nattawut can't answer something like that. Everybody knows this is all about whitewashing one person's criminal conviction and the more serious outstanding criminal charges against that person. Everything else is simply coincidental camouflage and might benefit a few cronies.

Criminal convictions, outstanding criminal charges, all whitewashed in the name of political reconciliation and starting again with a clean sheet. It's an interesting and clever plan - and sadly seems to be progressing, albeit slowly.

I wonder if the law could be changed to grant amnesty for any future criminal acts to0? Now there's a thought. Maybe some people could be declared above the law and given life time immunity?

Suspect before this is over they wont be needing a Vet rather an Undertaker.

It must be very obvious to everyone that this bill cant lead to reconciliation, only to more trouble and conflict.

If we were to believe the Govt in what they say is the purpose of this bill then here is absolutely no need for it, as all it will do is release a few from jail who have committed criminal acts.

If this Govt was sincere it would address the situation of the few still in jail on a person by person basis and if there were any who were there that did not deserve to be then it could be arranged for their release.

That they will not do this points to a different reason as to why that they are pushing so hard to get this bill into law.

As has been pointed out again and again that reason can only be to whitewash their own members of the crimes they have committed, including the big boss.

It's not so much about getting those in jail out, but preventing those outside from being sent in and stopping investigations that could uncover some very inconvenient facts.

Besides the whitewashing of Thaksin, of course.

Edited August 9, 201312 yr by AleG

Just read that article. 5 hours of BS, followed by 15 hours of twaddle, followed by a second day of nonsense, no one knows clearly what the bill proposes, people want to make counter claims to change it, no one knows if the thing will pass a first reading.

I am still none the wiser after 17 years in the country, how they actualy manage to write any laws at all.

''Committee to vet amnesty bill''

I hope they mean neuter it!

The make up of the 'vetting committee' was mentioned a few days ago. I can't remember the exact numbers but it is heavily weighted with PT members.

My prediction is that the majority will add the necessary words to include you know who, the Dems & BJP will walk out and it will be on to a 2nd reading.