Reconciliation report a time bomb: Democrats

Committee chairman Sonthi Boonyaratglin has approved a draft report that blames the state for triggering political violence.
But the Democrats on the committee oppose the report on grounds that such a conclusion is a time bomb that would create deeper cracks in society.
“I fear the committee report will widen the political divide instead of bringing about reconciliation,” Democrat MP Nakorn Machim said yesterday.
Nakorn called for Sonthi to heed Democrat calls and revise the draft report before forwarding it for House deliberation.
He said the committee should look again at two key issues – the cause of political violence and reconciliation measures, as per the recommendations of a report by the King Prajadhipok Institute.
Several reconciliation measures, such as the compensation package for victims of anti-riot operations and the repeal of punishment by party dissolution and corruption cases initiated by the Asset Examination Committee (AEC), should be reviewed, he said.
Lecturer Thawee Suraritikul of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University said the recommendation that AEC-initiated cases undergo the normal judicial process was meant to mend fences.
Thawee said the cases involved former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his colleagues, and argued that the access to due process would be a gesture of reconciliation, which should not be mixed up with the issue of amnesty.
In the past, the country granted leniency for coup-makers, therefore those ousted from power should enjoy similar treatment, he argued.
The redirection of AEC-initiated cases has no link to the question of whether to grant amnesty, he said, pointing out that the ongoing cases would merely be moved from fast-track AEC jurisdiction to the normal process handled by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.