Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday his government had no plan to propose early amnesties for ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his party leaders after they were banned from politics.
Surayud's remarks, made on a TV program scheduled to be aired late yesterday, were in contrast with coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin who said he supported the idea of giving amnesties to the exiled leader and his supporters.
"The government will try to find the best solution, but I would like to say that we will not do it at this time," the army-appointed prime minister said.
Army Commander General Sonthi Boonyaratglin -- who led the coup against Thaksin last September -- had originally made the suggestion on Friday, just two days after the Constitutional Tribunal delivered its stunning ruling in which it also ordered the Thai Rak Thai party dissolved.
"I can approve of it because I think about national reconciliation," Sonthi told Channel 11, a government-owned television station.
"Most of these 111 people weren't involved with what happened," he said, referring to the Thai Rak Thai executives who were barred.
The Constitutional Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that Thai Rak Thai had violated election law in April last year. Fresh elections are tentatively planned for December, although Sonthi indicated they may come earlier.
The country's second biggest party, the Democrat Party, also faced electoral law charges but was exonerated.
Speaking on the same TV program, state Election Commission member Sodsri Satayatham said the verdict could not be reversed by the courts.
However, she said the ban could be lifted by a Cabinet decree that is also approved by the National Legislative Assembly -- the interim Parliament installed after last year's coup.
Sonthi heads the Council for National Security, which comprises the top military leadership who staged the coup. Although the coup-makers appointed an interim civilian government and legislature, they retain ultimate authority over the country's administration, with veto power over many matters.
Thai Rak Thai remains popular among Thailand's rural majority, who delivered the party huge electoral victories and concerns have been raised that Wednesday's ruling could prompt unrest.
Chaturon Chaisaeng, who took over as Thai Rak Thai party leader when Thaksin stepped down after the coup, said he was not surprised by Sonthi's proposition.
"What happened was heavily criticized by academics ... next Wednesday, when they show what the minority judges said and why they disagreed with the ruling, there will be even more dissent," he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese