Reconciliation a responsibility of all Thais: PM

PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said all Thai citizens have to take responsibility if the reconciliation plan fails. 
In response to key red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan calling for the junta to take responsibility for any failure in the reconciliation plan, Prayut said he alone could not force everyone to reconcile with others. “We are just a facilitator. Reconciliation requires the cooperation of all stakeholders, factions, politicians and political groups. I think they agreed well [with the aspects],” Prayut said at his weekly press briefing . 
The military-organised social contract draft is going through the last nationwide forum this week and is expected to be publicised and accepted by political figures and civil sectors soon.
The forum in Bangkok on Monday was shunned by key politicians as well as the People’s Democratic Reform Foundation, the Democrat-spin-off group led by Suthep Thaugsuban.
Only red-shirt head Jatuporn was present at the meeting.
The agreement is said to contain 10 aspects related to national development from politics, inequality, the law and justice process, and the economy, to the junta-hyped reform and strategies.
Among the aspects, Prayut stressed unlawful demonstration as the most important point in the plan.
He urged that no “unlawful” demonstration should ever occur again once reconciliation bears fruit. “The future government will have to stop protests from happening anymore,” Prayut said. “The charter, the assembly bill, they all have been in place. Can people violate them?”
The junta is also known to enforce its order prohibiting political assembly of five people or more. Having been in effect since the 2014 coup, the order has not only barred political parties from holding meetings but it has also been used against civilians whose movement was deemed to question the junta’s action.
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said that his party would cooperate with principles raised in the agreement but it should be worked on further to make it more practical.
The Democrat Party was represented by its ex-MP Thana Cheerawanit during a public forum session. Abhisit had gone to provide opinions on the agreement.
Abhisit said he had yet to see additional comments from Prayut on the agreement, as he had not received the agreement draft yet.
Deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said that the agreement would still have to go through further amendments and reviews. “But overall feedback is good,” he said. In a related development, Prayut revealed that 527,956 people have so far submitted their answers to his “four questions” on the election and the next government.
Provinces with the highest submission were Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima and Ubon Ratchathani. The lowest totals came from Samut Sakhon, Phetchaburi and Phrae. Launched in early June, the campaign has been run countrywide at Dhamrongthamma complaint centres. 
The Interior Ministry collects all the answers every 10 days, categorising them and forwards them to the PM’s Office.