Thai political divisions may be hard to heal

Anand says rifts will be hard to heal

Former PM: There is just too much mistrust

POST REPORTERS

The political crisis pitting the government against protesters may be beyond compromise, former prime minister Anand Panyarachun said yesterday.

In a speech at the Navy auditorium on the role of the media, Mr Anand admitted he was worried that political divisions which have opened lately may be hard to heal.

In principle, society should respect differences of opinion and a solution should be reached through negotiations rather than the use of force, he said.

But the present impasse was hard to overcome because of the level of mistrust between the two camps.

Parliament had failed to function properly as a venue for resolving differences, which forced conflicts on to the streets.

''At present I do not think the parliamentary mechanism can do anything. One party is against amending the constitution. Although the motion has been withdrawn, it can be still resubmitted.''

Mr Anand disagreed with a plan to spend two billion baht on a referendum to ask voters if the 2007 constitution should be scrapped.

Spending the money on such a simple question would be pointless. He suggested the referendum specify which chapters should be amended.

The draft on the referendum was forwarded to parliament on Tuesday by the Election Commission.

Mr Anand was one of the four people mentioned by social critic Prawase Wasi on Saturday when he suggested former government leaders hold talks to solve the impasse, as the government looks for a way to end protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The others were Banharn Silpa-archa, Chuan Leekpai and Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.

PAD members vowed to keep up their protests until cabinet members resign, and say Samak Sundaravej is a nominee prime minister for ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Anand was cool on Dr Prawase's idea, saying mediators should be proposed by the two sides. Mediators could not always bring about successful results, he said.

The other three former government leaders have not responded.

Mr Samak rejected the idea that former government leaders should meet, as he was confident the government could handle the situation.

The government was in control, and it was its job to solve the problems, he said on his weekly programme on NBT, formerly Channel 11.

''What can I do with the opinions of the four former prime ministers? In the present circumstances this prime minister is in charge,'' he said.

The PAD and pro-government supporters stood face-to-face at the NBT headquarters yesterday as the PAD tried to lay a wreath. They were mocking the prime minister, who went to the station for his weekly programme.

PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said the anti-government demonstrators would stick to acts of ''civil disobedience'' in their protests, as the government lacked legitimacy to rule.

The PAD uses Ratchadamnoen Nok avenue as its base for the protest and will today lead a small group to give moral support to the Assets Scrutiny Committee.


Bangkokpost,Monday June 09, 2008