Civic groups join up for total reform

Civic groups will join forces to launch a council for reform, which will work in parallel with the government’s national reform forum, Suriyasai Katasila, coordinator of the Green Group, said yesterday.

He said dozens of civic groups had agreed to join up and were scheduled to launch the council on September 15. 

This project will be a long-term one and will cover all sorts of issues, not just political ones. 

Therefore, he said, it would be different from the government’s national reform initiative as well as the Democrat Party’s reform schemes. 

“The government is only focusing on political reform. We don’t quite trust it, as we think it is plagued with a political agenda. Otherwise, the government would have removed several controversial factors, such as the amnesty bill,” he said. “However, if the government is sincere and political reform succeeds, then it is good for the Thai people.” 

Suriyasai added that the civic council’s work would be different from the anti-amnesty bill moves his group was discussing with the Democrats, as the bid to fight the amnesty bill was only a short-term project compared with the reform council’s work. 

“Civic reform will continue no matter who takes over the government,” he said. 

When asked if this project was just a reincarnation of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, as many PAD leaders and supporters had joined up, he said no because the council would cover issues that go beyond politics and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. 

Suriyasai said 12 civic agencies would meet with the Democrat Party again this week to discuss its plans in relation to the amnesty bill. 

The second and third readings of the bill will take at least a month to complete. 

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said his party had yet to discuss whether it was going to join the civic reform initiative. 

The Democrats themselves have the Thailand Blueprint project, which is currently being promoted by the party’s executives. 

He said they had to study the possibilities of joining with other groups and to what extent the civic groups would want political parties to join. 

 

Government ‘tied down’

The Democrat leader also said it would be far too difficult for the Pheu Thai-led government to apply former British prime minister Tony Blair’s advice. 

“This government cannot move forward to seek a way out because its role is restricted by Thaksin and his red-shirt supporters,” he said. 

On Monday, Blair outlined some principles for reconciliation he said could be appropriate to the situation in Thailand as the country seeks ways to end its long and deep national divide. 

Blair was invited by the government to be a keynote speaker at the “Uniting for the Future: Learning from Each Other’s Experiences” forum.

Abhisit said he did not know what the government’s expectation was of the political reform council initiated by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, because it refused to look deeply into the different conflicts in the country. 

He also denied a claim from the government’s side that Blair would help Yingluck talk the Democrats into joining her political reform initiative. 

“The British ambassador [Mark Kent] confirmed that there was no such discussion [between him and Blair]. Blair did not speak of this at our luncheon either,” he said, adding that the former UK leader was aware of the Democrat Party’s stance. 

Blair lunched with Abhisit and deputy party leader Korn Chatikavanij on Monday at the residence of the British ambassador.