Reform forum gets off the ground at Government House today

Suphan Buri Senator Prasit Pothasuthon, who has agreed to join the forum, said he did not have any proposal to submit to the meeting but insisted that Thailand must eliminate its conflicts at any cost.

“We should look at South Africa. They [South African people] were divided since they were born, but how could they reconcile? We Thais were not divided in the past. We can’t stop the rifts because of prejudice,” he said. He added that he also had economic concerns that Thai grassroots people might have to suffer debts in the future. The country’s economy will be better off without political conflicts, he said.

About 50 people have agreed to join the forum. Besides politicians and academics, they included representatives from the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Bankers Association. However, appointed senators who were invited refused to join.

Government Spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi said  that PM’s Office Minister and Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Varathep Ratanakorn had said there would be no set format for the forum. The government, including Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, would listen to and aggregate the proposed ideas that would lead to political reform.

“The prime minister wants everybody to freely share ideas. The government is just the initiator and organiser of the forum. But if any issue is related to the government, it might clarify or give information about that. Initially, we haven’t prepared anything that says what the government wants. The only objective is that we want to see Thailand have complete democracy and pride. The people born in Thailand should be happy, everything just like in the past when we were a recognised country in the region and also stood proudly on the global stage,” Varathep said in the government’s weekly programme yesterday.

Varathep said he hoped the opposition Democrat Party and the People’s Alliance for Democracy, who had turned down invitations, would change their minds. 

Meanwhile, the government does not intend to withdraw the amnesty bill being considered in Parliament, which is the condition set by the Democrats to join in the forum.

Democrat MP Ongart Klampaiboon said the Democrats see the government as lacking sincerity in finding solutions for the country.

“When the prime minister calls for the use of Parliament as a platform for discussions, she doesn’t attend parliamentary meetings. It is like she only used Parliament as her tool to gain power and when she had got the power she doesn’t care to solve the country’s problems,” he said, adding live broadcast of today’s forum should be provided to let the people hear views, and for transparency.

Ongart said the government’s holding of the forum was just a way to distract people from the ongoing Constitution amendment and passing of the amnesty bill.