Green light for House debate on reconciliation
The Tuesday's House-Senate session has given a green light for the House to debate reconciliation measures following an exchange of barbs from afternoon to midnight.
The Democrats walked out to boycott the vote which they saw as a push to rescue fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra instead of bringing about a genuine reconciliation.
Parliament approved the activation of reconciliation debate by the 346-to-17 vote. Seven abstained from voting.
As the current session is authorised to only enact laws, the House needs the parliamentary approval if it wants to debate a non-legislative issue like reconciliation.
The House is expected on April 4 to kick off the debate based on the report of the Sonthi Boonyaratglin committee on reconciliation.
The Sonthi report has cited a study done by the King Prajadhipok’s Institute to outline recommendations on fence-mending measures, including the controversial proposal to repeal the work of the Asset Examination Committee.
The AEC was the main agency set up in the wake of the 2006 coup to take charge of targetting Thaksin for graft proceedings.
The Nation
