Sonthi will study KPI report further
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Chairman of the parliamentary committee on reconciliation, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, has agreed to give further study to the report presented by King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI) before determining whether his panel will make any changes to it.
Sonthi said yesterday that he would replace a section showing the results of the committee’s vote on the report’s suggestions with a section showing each committee member’s comments.
The members engaged in a heated discussion of the report, but could not agree on them, so they took a vote. But the vote was later opposed on grounds that it was not for the panel to decide one way or the other.
Sonthi said collecting the opinions of relatives of those affected by political conflicts, as requested by Nicha Thuwatham, whose husband Colonel Romklao died during the crackdown on April 10, 2010, was not his committee’s duty.
Nicha said at the report’s presentation on Wednesday that no relatives of military or government officials who died during the political turmoil had been interviewed.
Sonthi’s statement followed the harsh reaction to a report his committee had assigned KPI to compile on ways to achieve national reconciliation. On Wednesday, he said his committee could not oppose or modify the report, as his panel and the institute worked separately.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shina-watra said she would leave it up to the panel to decide the issue on its own.
Meanwhile, Pheu Thai Party has stepped forward to shield former coup leader Sonthi from having to answer three embarrassing questions designed to uncover the real mastermind behind the 2006 power seizure.
“The past should be put behind us,” Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said yesterday.
Sonthi, now a Matubhum MP and chairman of the reconciliation committee, refused to answer questions on the topic posed by Chart Thai Pattana MP Sanan Kachornprasart.
Sanan said he framed his questions to debunk the mistaken belief that chief royal adviser General Prem Tinsulanonda had backed the military intervention in 2006.
Prompong said he saw no merit in trying to relive the past because Sonthi had already said he would take the secrets of the coup to his grave.
All sides should rally behind Sonthi, who is trying to rectify the wrong he did in staging the coup, Prompong said. He also criticised Abhisit Vejjajiva for trying to demand that Sonthi justify his coup.
He said the Democrat Party leader should have asked Sonthi that question when Abhisit formed his government inside the military barracks in 2008.
Abhisit said he viewed as a good sign the reconciliation committee’s extension of the deadline to complete its work by 30 days. The extra time will allow all sides to exchange views on the wrap-up of the reconciliation report, he said.
If the reconciliation recommendations as per the KPI report factor in differing views on the issue, and the committee is to feature the positions of all sides in its final report, then a climate of reconciliation will likely prevail, he said.
He said he did not want to accuse KPI of drawing lopsided conclusions as a pretext to rescue fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, because the report was compiled by research staff.
He said the reconciliation measures must not be about one man, Thaksin. If the country makes a hasty move to appease one side, it might fuel a larger conflict, he said, adding that he disagreed with bowing to political violence and whitewashing graft violations.
In regard to Sonthi’s refusal to shed light on the coup, he said that as reconciliation chairman, Sonthi should cooperate in uncovering the truth pertaining to the political conflict. Reconciliation cannot be sustained by partial truths, he said.
