TRC grappling with revealing names related to April-May crackdown

The Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC) said yesterday that it has yet to decide whether or not it will eventually reveal the names of people responsible for the April-May 2010 clashes.

"The difficulty TRC faces is how we reveal the truth," Kittipong Kittayarak, chief of TRC's Subcommittee on Reconciliation Strategy, said yesterday. "Whether we reveal the names or not is something TRC needs to consider."

However, critics have expressed concern that the real truth may not be uncovered and might even be sacrificed for the sake of an unsustainable reconciliation, thus encouraging more impunity in the future.

Another TRC member said that despite the intention to dig out the real truth, Thais would need real courage to speak about and face the reality of what happened last year. TRC member Decha Sangkawan, who is also dean of Thammasat University's Faculty of Social Work, said that even though a year had passed since the April-May crackdown, which led to at least 92 deaths, some people were still reluctant to recount their experiences to the commission.

"It's difficult to directly ask Thais for the truth," he said at a TRC symposium yesterday.

"We still don't have the truth in some parts of Bangkok," he said, adding that the process will take a long while yet.

Kittipong added that foreign statesmen would be invited to get involved in TRC's work in the future, while people like former deputy PM Surakiat Sathirathai and peace expert Chaiwat Satha-anand have already been appointed as advisers.

The Nation asked how the "truth" can be told when Thais are limited by the lese majeste law to speak openly about the events in 2010 and the years preceding the 2006 military coup, which saw the monarchy being dragged by various groups into politics.

Priscilla Hayner, an expert on transitional justice and a consultant to the TRC, said the commission and the Thai society should possess a true political will to "exercise the telling of truth". She added that there was no correct answer as to whether or not TRC should name the perpetrators. Hayner also warned that it was not enough to just report about what happened, but the report should also explain why some events took place and where the country should go. "The question is: why is it that things went off balance?"

Hayner said a public apology from key actors and heads of government can go a long way in healing the wounds. She also recommended that a community-level reconciliation process be set up and urged TRC to initiate dialogues between opposing groups.

TRC chairman Kanit na Nakorn said the commission was also looking into ways to prevent another military coup, adding that they were also researching the option of setting up a military ombudsman.

"We shall inform the public on what should be the right relationship between the public and the military," he said, adding that coups d'etat should become a thing of the past, as they have in Japan and South Korea.