Banharn ready to join reform council
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Former prime minister Banharn Silapa-archa yesterday agreed to become part of a political reform council to be set up by the government as part of an effort to achieve national reconciliation.
Banharn, who is chief adviser to the coalition Chat Thai Pattana Party, accepted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s invitation delivered to him by Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana and PM’s Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn, as well as other senior figures from the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
He said that he believed efforts for reform and reconciliation would succeed if the conflicting parties buried the hatchet and forgot about the past.
“I want the opposition and the government to sit down and talk together. They should forget about their dispute,” Banharn said. The prime minister, on Friday night announced a plan in a televised statement that the government would this coming week invite representatives from all such groups to discuss and exchange views on how to undertake political reform.
In her weekly address broadcast yesterday morning, Yingluck said the political conflict still existed despite efforts for reconciliation, and therefore there was a need for political reform.
She said about 50 to 100 people would be invited to join the forum.
“Political parties need to think about the future for the sake of the people and the country. There may be only a one per cent chance of success but we have to try. It’s better than leaving the conflict to our children and grandchildren,” she said.
However, the House debate on an amnesty bill proposed by government MPs would continue as planned. The prime minister said she would attend the House debate on Wednesday.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday called on the prime minister to have the bill withdrawn. He said the draft law, which would grant amnesty to criminal offenders during the unrest of 2010, was the cause for a new round of confrontation.
The Democrat Party leader described the prime minister’s plan for political reform as an image-building move. He said the government had failed to prevent its supporters from intimidating its political enemies and the courts after certain verdicts.
A group of 40 senators yesterday also questioned the government’s sincerity in reforming the political system in a bid to achieve reconciliation. “If the government really wants all the parties to sit down and talk, she should first show sincerity by withdrawing the amnesty bill and then tell government supporters not to intimidate others,” Senator Prasarn Marukapitak said.
Election Commission member Sodsri Satayathum yesterday expressed her support for the plan to set up a political reform council. She said talks between the conflicting sides were a good beginning to settle differences between them.
