Parties to meet military on unity plans

Chaicharn says ‘final check’ meetings vital

Political parties, businessmen and civic groups will meet military-led panels next Wednesday to put the final touches on their national reconciliation proposals.

The participation of these groups is part of steps to draft and publicise a longawaited plan to foster unity in a society divided by conflicts between pro- and antiThaksin groups that led to the 2006 coup.

Since February, politicians, business persons and people’s representatives have aired their views on national reconciliation. Their opinions have been gathered by a panel chaired by Gen Chaicharn Changmongkol, permanent secretary for defence.

There are a lot of opinions and “we need a final check to ensure we have understood them correctly”, said Gen Chaicharn, stressing the April 26 meetings have to take place before authorities can proceed with the next steps.

Gen Chaicharn’s panel is a sub-committee under the committee for national reconciliation headed by deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwon.

Gen Prawit, also the defence minister, will meet with Gen Chaicharn’s panel as well as members of three other sub-committees tomorrow to discuss their progress, Gen Chaicharn said.

The second sub-committee, led by Supreme Commander Gen Surapong Suwanna-at, is assigned to integrate the opinions forwarded by the Chaicharn panel.

Next week, political parties, businessmen and civic groups will check whether their views have been correctly compiled. If there is any need for corrections, they must be made before the third sub-committee begins its job.

The third sub-committee, l ed by army chief Gen Chalermchai Sitthisat, is assigned to drafting the reconciliation process while the fourth sub-committee will oversee public relations affairs.

In a related development, the Committee for National Administration under the Framework of National Reform, Strategy, and Reconciliation, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, is currently working to ensure the national reform plans are in line with a 20-year national strategy to be drafted as stipulated by Section 65 of the new constitution. The law also specifies the need for public participation.

A national reform panel, t asked with overseeing national reform issues, under the Prayut committee recently set up three sub-committees to work on national reform and its correlation to national strategy.

While the national reform efforts aim to “fix the country”, currently plagued by inequality among people, the national strategy will set the path toward the kind of future the country wants to have, said Bantoon Setthasirote, who works with Gen Prayut’s committee.

The three new sub-panels will oversee national reform preparations in 10 areas, ranging from politics and legislation to the environment, and support public participation in reform, he said.

The first sub-committee, chaired by Borwornsak Uwanno, will look into ways to improve laws to support national reform. The second, headed by Liaphon Buasai who is adept at research methodology, will be responsible for reform for social development. The last sub-committee, led by Mr Bantoon, will help drive what he called “systematic and structural reform”.