Chaikasem: Amnesty should cover all, protesters and leaders

"The political situation has been mired by differences and conflicting interests among rival camps," he said.

Chaikasem said amnesty, if granted, would usher in an improved political landscape.

He said he agreed with the legislative proposal for granting amnesty to political overseers in charge of ordering the crowd control operations.

Under the original draft, amnesty has been designed to cover only protesters. The rally leaders and state officials who enforced the emergency measures would be excluded.

The minister said he viewed the absolution of all those involved in the political mayhem as a solution to overcome the persisting animosity.

"Without amnesty, the political conflict could not be solved, therefore I agreed to allow relevant parties a fresh start," he said.

He said he did not anticipate a total reconciliation to happen, although he believed amnesty would improve the situation to a certain extent.

In defending the legislative process to enlarge the amnesty coverage, he said lawmakers had the mandate to enact laws.

He reminded opponents of amnesty that politics would not improve if they kept on fighting through street protests.

He said amnesty had no bearing on the asset seizure involving former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Issues related to returning or not returning Thaksin’s assets had to be litigated under separate laws, he said.

Former senator Suchon Chaleekrua said the House committee in charge of vetting the amnesty bill should step up the awareness campaign designed to explain the draft provisions.

House committee member Wisit Wisitsora-at said the absolution clause had not been designed to return Bt46 billion in seized assets to Thaksin.

In the past, the country had enforced some 20 to 30 laws granting amnesty under myriad circumstances, he said.

Department of Special Investigation director-general Tarit Pengdith said he was involved in both the prosecution and the defence in some 2,066 cases related to the mayhem.

Tarit said "I want amnesty in order to have a clean slate. I would die before justice could run its course."

Ongoing litigation related to the mayhem could be traced back to the 2006 coup, seen as the poisonous tree, with amnesty as the antidote, he said.