Govt should bring banned politicians back to the fold
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THE NATIONAL Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)'s recent proposal to amend the interim charter strongly suggests that the government is likely to stay in power for another two years as the National Reform Council (NRC) is expected to reject the draft of t
The interim constitution stipulates that the NRC will be dissolved if it rejects the charter draft, but stay on if it approves the charter, though an amendment proposal states that the NRC would be dissolved regardless.
This move will obviously decrease the NRC’s motive to approve the charter.
And by looking at the charter amendment proposals that were put forward by the Cabinet, the NRC and National Legislative Assembly (NLA), the charter drafters are facing a mission impossible to please everyone.
The charter drafters and the NRC disagree on the most fundamental questions regarding political reform such as do we want a strong and stable government with a strong checks-and-balance system or do we want a coalition government consisting of medium-sized parties to avoid a de-facto leader of the government?
So what exactly is the government planning to do in the next two years?
Its most challenging and vital task is to dissolve the colour-coded political rivalry.
One of their most plausible moves in response to this challenge would |be to amend the interim charter to pave the way for the return of the 111 and 109 formerly banned politicians to the official political arena under the name of the National Reform Assembly.
They were the core groups of politicians during the Thai Rak Thai and People’s Party administration between 2001-2006 and 2007-2008 respectively.
The government and the country have much to gain from such a move.
First, it would provide an opportunity for members of the rival political factions to work together and hopefully forge harmony and friendship.
Furthermore, some of these politicians are still very influential in their respective constituencies and could help the government to control and monitor security affairs, especially in red shirt dominated areas.
Secondly, the politicians would be offered an alternative political future – an opportunity to distance themselves from the Shinawatra family. This would be another strategy to dissolve the Shinawatra’s influence in politics.
Thirdly, many of these former politicians, including Somkid Jatusripitak, Pinit Jarusombat and Surakiart Sathirathai, were the “A-team” of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party in its glory days.
These are highly capable individuals who are experts in their fields and have great managerial and political experience. Their accumulated capabilities can significantly contribute to the recovery and growth of the economy.
Electoral results over the past decade suggest that the only way to win the hearts and minds of rural Thais, who mostly live in the Northeast and North, is to improve their living standards through, for example, increased income, welfare and populist schemes.
This is the key challenge facing the government if it stays in power for the next two years. The economy and living standards have been deteriorating under Prayut’s watch.
Therefore, the government should not only bring together rival politicians to promote reconciliation at a high level, the expected contribution these politicians would make would promote reconciliation at the grassroots level as well.
