Thailand’s prime minister was to launch a national reconciliation plan yesterday aimed at mending political divisions and paving the way for elections after deadly clashes between troops and anti-government protesters.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy saw its latest bout of political convulsion from March to May when protesters occupied two parts of Bangkok including an affluent shopping district, calling for the government to call snap polls.
The rallies spiraled into violence and clashes between soldiers and shadowy gunmen when troops moved in to dislodge the protesters, most of them poor rural and urban supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In all, 89 people were killed and more than 1,800 wounded.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva floated the reconciliation plan early last month at the height of the crisis, but most protest leaders rejected it as inadequate.
Nevertheless, he was to spell out the plan yesterday.
“The prime minister will be inviting all Thais to join him because reconciliation cannot be achieved without them,” Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office Satit Wongnongtaey told reporters.
The five-point plan includes a “national reform” agenda to address social injustice and economic disparity, a media reform plan to ensure independence, assessments of ways to amend a military-backed Constitution, the establishment of a fact-finding commission into the violence and protection of the country’s most revered institution, the monarchy.
Last month, Abhisit proposed November polls, but he has backed off that, saying a peaceful vote was not possible in such a tense climate.
He said last week an election early next year was possible if reconciliation went well. His term ends in 2012.
The violence has dented economic growth, with tourism numbers in particular falling sharply.
However, consumer confidence was up last month after three months of falls, according to a survey taken after the violence, lifted by easing political tension and stronger-than-expected growth in the first quarter when the economy expanded 3.8 percent from the previous three months.
The opposition, however, dismissed Abhisit’s plan as little more than an election ploy by his ruling Democrat party, saying reconciliation without Thaksin would not bring lasting peace.
“What is needed is for all key players from across the political spectrum to talk. How could there be reconciliation without that?” said Noppadon Pattama, Thaksin’s legal adviser and an opposition member of parliament.
The government has accused Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and later convicted of graft, of “acts of terrorism” for funding the protests and inciting violence.
Thaksin, who has been in self-exile since 2008, denies the charges.
The last government that backed Thaksin was ousted in late 2008 by a court ruling, ending months of anti-Thaksin protests.
Analysts say the reconciliation bid looked worthy, but may not resolve a conflict that some see as pitting an old military and royalist-linked establishment against a new, economically powerful class represented by former telcom tycoon Thaksin.
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