Govt will act on any 'useful' TRCT ideas, PM says

As with previous TRCT reports, the final one will be forwarded for scrutiny by a follow-up panel headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit.

“The report will be examined in detail and the government is ready to implement any recommendations deemed useful and conducive to peace,” Yingluck said.

She side-stepped a direct question whether her brother Thaksin would exit politics – as suggested by TRCT chairman Kanit na Nakorn, saying she believed he would agree to any ideas to bring about political normalcy.

She said relevant agencies would be responsible for implementing moves designed for reconciliation after the Yongyuth panel vets them.

Reacting to the report, Deputy Agriculture Minister Natthawut Saikua said he was disappointed the TRCT had failed to come up with “in-depth” findings on the 2010 political strife.

For example, the TRCT did not identify the “men-in-black” – rogue gunmen who fired on Army troops from April 10 on. But it made a general observation on the issue that fitted information previously supplied by a certain political party.

He claimed the men-in-black had no links to the red shirts and said the TRCT should have unmasked them.

He said the TRCT failed to get to the bottom of crowd control operations and that it omitted to shed light on how and why people were killed.

“I don’t think the TRCT’s final report provides the key to overcome the political conflict,” he said.

In regard to TRCT chairman’s call for Thaksin to quit politics, he said Kanit should reconsider, as Thaksin just wanted to see justice restored to himself. 

He believed Thaksin did not to strive to be like Pridi Banomyong, the Thai statesman who died in exile in Paris.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said the report was not a legally binding document, unlike a judicial verdict about the political strife.

Thaksin’s lawyer Noppadon Pattama said he had anticipated the findings in the report. The military, as well as the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, seemed to have confidence in Kanit to work on varying tasks.

Noppadon said Kanit made a number of conclusions based on perceptions rather than facts. Kanit wrongly blamed Thaksin for the killing of thousands of people during the ‘War on drugs’, when the Office of Narcotics Control Board uncovered only 57 deaths.

He said Kanit was also wrong to single out Thaksin as the catalyst for the political divide, because the true cause was the 2006 coup.

Green Politics coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said he saw no possibility of Thaksin sacrificing himself and living in exile for the rest of his life. “Thaksin has never shown remorse, nor accepted any judicial decisions on his cases. [He] remains addicted to power and wealth, hence he can never attain the status of statesman,” he said.

In regard to the judicial inquest on those killed in connection with the political strife, he said the DSI had fallen prey to attempts by the red shirts to pass the blame to the Abhisit government. 

DSI director-general Tarit Pengdith had gone overboard by using one inquest verdict to pin the blame on then prime minister Abhisit and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban for all 36 cases . Tarit appeared to be playing the political game by skewing the facts to fault Abhisit and Suthep, he said.

Each case had different circumstances and the DSI had yet to shed light on the men-in-black, who were responsible for killing 12 soldiers and policemen, including Col Romklao Thuwatham, he said.