'Reconciliation a priority next year'
Play
The Pheu Thai Party is expected to designate national reconciliation as a top legislative priority next year, red-shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana said yesterday, arguing that all parties involved in the political turmoil would benefit.
“The legislation on reconciliation will apply to all sides, unlike a pardon or the amnesty law,” he said in reference to criticism that it appeared former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra would be the sole beneficiary of a pardon, if granted.
Kwanchai said Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung would spearhead the reconciliation, which would cover all parties and individuals, including Democrats Abhisit Vejjajiva and Suthep Thaugsuban for their “involvement” in the 2010 bloodshed.
He said the Pheu Thai-sponsored legislation would be based on a report by the House Committee on Reconciliation, led by Matubhum MP Sonthi Boonyaratglin.
Commenting on a possible Cabinet reshuffle, he said it was high time ministerial changes took place.
Kwanchai said he had heard Thaksin complaining about the incompetence of certain ministers.
He claimed to have received overwhelming support for his campaign on the royalist red movement, the Daeng Rak Chao Group.
He said he did not understand why certain red shirts would oppose his campaign after the Pheu Thai-led government had professed its royalist stand.
Kwanchai also said he was puzzled why the government and the red shirts could not bring Thaksin home after coming to power.
The red shirts in Udon Thani would provide a safe haven for Thaksin, he said.
He voiced defiance against any attempt to enforce the former prime minister’s two-year jail term.
