Chalerm : No backing down on Thaksin Amnesty
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The pardon for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has not been put on the backburner and the government is just biding its time until the right occasion comes along, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said yesterday.
“The Pheu Thai Party has a clear policy on the amnesty issue,” he said.
The draft amnesty law was ready and he would not back down from bringing Thaksin home, he said.
The amnesty law would be pushed through at an opportune time, he said, declining to elaborate on his plans.
The pardon for Thaksin would be part of broader legislation for reconciliation, he said.
Thida Thawornseth, chairwoman of the red-shirt movement, said she expects the political struggle to heat up because the red shirts would push for a charter amendment after the House reconvenes on December 21.
“The red shirts will strive to cancel the 2007 Constitution and all unjust laws sponsored by the 2006 coup,” she said.
The ultimate goal was to promulgate a charter designed to end power seizures in any form, she said.
She said she wanted to see the rule of law prevail in Thailand where the judicial process could function without any interference from the “ammat” regime, a phrase referring to the extra-constitutional power.
The 73 red shirts held in remand should be released on bail pending trial or accommodated in a special detention facility, she said.
The work of the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand should be supported although the TRCT could be more proactive in uncovering factual evidence on last year’s political unrest, she said.
The TRCT has drawn the wrong conclusion by attributing the chaos to the Constitution Court verdict favouring Thaksin in his asset concealment case, she said.
“The root case for turmoil is not Thaksin but the refusal of the ammat regime to hand over power to the people,” she said.
That refusal is the reason why the transition from absolute monarchy to democracy has been rocky, she said.
The red-shirt movement will continue to work for the overhaul of the political system regardless of the stance of the Pheu Thai Party, she said, insisting the movement and the party are two separate entities.
The movement is scheduled to hold a mass rally on Saturday in Sakon Nakhon.
Pheu Thai MP Weng Tojirakarn said the red-shirt MPs from Pheu Thai would spearhead the drive to include the charter rewrite on the House agenda.
