Thammasat comes out against Thai amnesty bill

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Thammasat comes out against amnesty bill
Budsarakham Sinlapalavan
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- More than 600 Thammasat lecturers, officials and students have officially declared their opposition to the amnesty bill and called on the Senate to reject it.

In just one day - Sunday - 682 lecturers and staff signed their names to reaffirm the university's stand against the bill. Many students also signed.

University rector Somkit Lertpaithoon said the bill should benefit only people who gathered in the political rallies in 2010, and should not cover other unrelated acts such as rallies against corruption cases.

The bill was unconstitutional, he said, because of its excessive scope, covering all illegal acts of politicians.

The amnesty would not bring peace to the country, so 636 Thammasat lecturers and 46 employees had signed their names to show their responsibility to society as an educational institution.

He said university alumni would gather at the statue of Thammasat founder Pridi Banomyong on Thursday and file a petition to the president of the Senate.

Somkit said the university might hold an event to discuss the amnesty bill.

Chalisa Thammawong, chair of the Thammasat students' body, said they could see the importance of an amnesty bill, but added it should only apply to ordinary people and not politicians, government staff, protest leaders or those accused by the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) or other bodies set up after the coup.

She said: "This bill is illegal because the committee altered its core content during the second reading."

She said students and the student council had called instead for the original version of the bill to be considered, as the amnesty should apply only to people who gathered in political rallies.


-- The Nation 2013-11-05

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She said: "This bill is illegal because the committee altered its core content during the second reading."

Technically, and laws should be technically written and followed, there was no first reading of the current bill, and therefore, no first debate on the current bill. It is so typical of this government to cut corners to get things done in a hurry (to avoid scrutiny?). It's the same with the Bt. 350 billion flood plan. They didn't do Environmental Impact studies, Human Impact studies, nor have forums for input from the public. When they got caught, the courts made them go back and do those things. The only thing that exceeds Puea Thai's corruption and greed, is its incompetence. I have to think they get so excited at the prospect of the benefits of their schemes that they fail to properly plan ahead or even do much planning at all. It's like some genius gets a bright idea and they implement it without seeing where the idea will logically lead. If the future of 65 million lives weren't at stake, this would be extremely comical.

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We all know from history that Thammasart Uni students don't do things in halves. It is a statement made by citizens like this that may tip the pendulum.