Reconciliation report faces political apathy

Highly anticipated by the public, the Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand’s (TRCT’s) report has been released in the hope that it might pave the way to reconciliation after the 2010 crackdown on red-shirt protesters, which claimed 92 lives and injured more than 2,000. Thailand’s political reality, however, may make the “truth” presented by the TRCT hard to accept.

The original idea was that, after the official version of the truth came out, the nation would be able to move on and put the events of April and May 2010 behind it. But the TRCT report is unlikely to please anybody, and it is now in serious danger of being put on the backburner.

Neutral observers may naturally regard the report as the most reliable account to date of those tragic events. Its narrative tries to capture the causes and the results of the various incidents, including what went wrong when the Army moved in on the protesters, the government’s decision-making, the role of the mysterious “men in black” and the death of the late Major-General Khattiya “Seh Daeng” Sawasdipol.

Of course, some political leaders will react negatively to the report. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, obviously disturbed by the confirmed existence of the “men in black”, has taunted the commission for “not being an investigator”, while red-shirt leader and Cabinet member Nuttawut Saikua said the panel “sounds like the Democrats”.

The “truth” will satisfy no one, but the nation should at least try to make sense of the report. In spite of its flaws and its limitations, the report has more or less brought some clarity to the dark events of 2010, which deeply affected Thais on both sides of the political divide. 

The report of more than 300 pages is designed to lead to solutions and enable Thais to move ahead despite that divide. With the government unenthusiastic about the findings, and the opposition as well as the Army fingered in the report, the document’s future looks bleak.

Against the background of highly polarised society, people with different political affiliations will naturally react differently to the report, which suggests that both sides were responsible for the actions that led to one of Thailand’s greatest political tragedies. 

There has been an attempt to question the integrity of the commissioners in the observation that the commission was set up under former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. This is despite the fact that the commission’s chairman, Kanit na Nakhon, a well-regarded lawyer, was one of the founders of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party. Somchai Homla-or, another member, is also widely known for his work on human rights.

Thai society might need time to make sense of the commission’s conclusions, even if they were apparently reached in the most neutral manner possible. TRCT members held hearings and conducted research and interviews to pinpoint the perpetrators of rights violations. There seems to be little if any political bias in the report.

The report might contain some flaws, but it could be the best the nation can hope for right now. Lingering questions and issues can be further addressed by the TRCT, the public and other agencies, who are encouraged to pursue the truth to its end.

Modelled after South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the TRCT marks a step forward for the nation. The report has drawn so much attention because of the trust that the public has placed in the TRCT. Politically speaking, though, the report may be something that no one wants to touch.

There are, of course, some issues and questions that have to be further addressed and answered. The TRCT, however, is fading into oblivion for the obvious reason that it was set up under the previous government and the current government doesn’t seem too pleased with its findings. The TRCT may have made its first and last report, but Thailand’s political situation cries out for a mechanism like this to carry on its work. In the end, the public may have to carry the TRCT torch. After all, the effort to reconcile a divided nation cannot rely on the work of one commission alone. We are all in this together.