Abhisit urges govt to mull all unity advice

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva is urging the government to consider recommendations complied by various reconciliation panels, saying those findings are equally important, although he acknowledged the wide popularity of the findings by the Kanit Na Nakorn panel.

In an interview with the Bangkok Post, Mr Abhisit said the proposals of those committees deserve to be studied for use in forging national unity even though the findings by the Truth for Reconciliation Commission (TRC) are widely deemed by political groups as acceptable.

The Democrat-led government created a number of committees on reforms and reconciliation during 2008-2011. Among them was the TRC chaired by former attorney-general Kanit Na Nakorn.

Mr Abhisit said the Kanit panel’s recommendations were welcomed because the committee investigated and established facts and its work was carried out in an independent and transparent fashion.

“The Kanit panel has received the most attention because it went out to look for facts. It worked independently and was never interfered with by the government.

However, the findings by other committees led by former prime minister Anand Panyarachun and scholar Prawase Wasi should also be studied. Every committee focused on reforms which are fundamental to resolving the conflicts and fostering unity,” he said.

The Democrat leader, however, warned about a study by the King Prajadhipok’s Institute, which recommended that a political amnesty be granted, saying the findings were controversial.

The study proposed an amnesty for political offences committed since the 2006 coup as one reconciliation option.

Critics at the time feared the government would subsequently use its majority to selectively cite only parts of the report to justify issuing a blanket amnesty for all political offenders.

Mr Abhisit denied the Kanit panel recommendations had been shelved. It was a matter of the findings having been completed after his government left office, he said.

“If the government decides to make use of those proposals, I believe they will be useful to reconciliation efforts,” the former prime minister said.

Mr Kanit said he would not join the government-appointed reconciliation panel because he has done all he possibly could for the cause already. He has not been invited to join a specialist panel looking into reconciliation.

His panel’s findings took two years to put together and have been compiled into a book.

He said he had been called in to help find a solution to problems which were tough nuts to crack, particularly at a time when the country was in crisis.

It was unfortunate, he said, that his panel’s findings were not implemented, which might have made a difference to the country.

National Legislative Assembly member Somchai Sawangkarn said the Kanit panel came up with an ideal model for building national reconciliation.