Noppadol: Peace proposal was my idea
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Noppadol Pattama, the legal adviser to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday defended his six-point proposal for national reconciliation, saying it has nothing to do with his client.
Noppadol, a former foreign minister, said the measures, including amending the constitution, were all his personal idea.
The recipe for reconciliation was designed to restore justice, lead to “sustainable democracy” and bring about national harmony, but he was not surprised by the Democrat Party's criticisms, he said.
Democrat Party spokesman Chavanont Intarakomalsut lashed out at Noppadol and offered a six-point counterproposal, including a call for Thaksin, who has fled abroad to escape a criminal conviction here, to stop meddling in politics and accept the judicial process without question.
The attempt to seek a pardon for Thaksin is putting society on a collision course, he said.
The red shirts should “wake up” and realise that their political struggle over the past two years was not for democracy, he said.
Noppadol’s proposal made no mention of class conflicts and the struggle does not make the poor – called “phrai” by the red shirts – themselves, any richer, while the only person benefiting from the struggle is Thaksin, he added.
Democrat Party MP Buranachai Samutarak said if any reconciliation proposal was aimed at helping Thaksin to retrieve his “ill-gotten” wealth and return to power, then the Democrats may not join the national reconciliation process.
That kind of proposal would only kindle a new round of political conflagration, he said.
Appointed Senator Surachai Liangboonlertchai, a member of the now defunct junta-appointed constitution drafting assembly, defended the 2007 charter framed by the assembly.
The public should not be concerned about how the charter came about but should focus on the content instead, he said.
The charter, as the supreme law of the land, should not be amended so often. Those in a position to benefit or lose from it are not qualified to propose any revisions, he said.
Article 237, which has come under pressure for allowing a political party to be dissolved if its executives are found guilty of election fraud, was meant to ensure that elections were free and fair.
Some “weaknesses” could be found in the charter, he admitted, but would not elaborate.
On Thaksin’s return, he questioned what would happen if the ex-premier was granted a pardon but that did not foster national reconciliation.
Kwanchai Praipana, a red-shirt leader in Udon Thani, said he would arrange for the ordination of 999 red shirts at Sanam Luang this month in honour of His Majesty the King and in the hope that Thaksin will be granted a royal pardon.
He condemned the government for becoming attached to amending the charter instead of facilitating Thaksin’s homecoming.
“We can’t wait any longer,” he said.
