Reform panels are finally ready but face multiple challenges - from winning public acceptance to non-cooperation by sceptical anti-government red shirts
On one hand, to take a big step into the much-scrutinised reconciliation plan on a day when red leaders paraded in prison uniform before news cameramen is, to say the least, ironic. But on the other hand, the 46 "reformers" nominated to help Anand Panyarachun and Prawase Wasi find a way out for Thailand had better be under no illusion whatsoever about what's in store for them.Natthawut Saikua, in shackles, and the other prominent red inmates looking grim and feeble served as a heavy-hearted backdrop for the setting up of the reform "committee" led by Anand, and reform "assembly" led by Prawase.
The reconciliation mechanism that took shape yesterday faces two key challenges - the red shirts' refusal to cooperate and how to earn public acceptance for its supposed "neutrality".
The red shirts' cynicism means the nominations were the best Anand and Prawase could come up with. Admittedly, the reform committee and reform assembly featured some figures known to be anti-red, but overall the composition suggested it would be quite different from the time the present Constitution was written following the 2006 coup.
Anand and Prawase managed to forge a mixture of officials, academics, activists, grass-root representatives and business people to join the quest for a new political formula. It is obvious from the lists that they were left to rely on many old allies, but that is largely because most pro-red figures have been shying away from this whole process.
"We want a good diversity of expertise," Anand said. But a pre-requisite, he suggested, is something very simple: The nominees must have free time so they can devote themselves as much as possible to the tasks. That will explain the presence of many retirees or people who have no regular jobs in the two groups.
The most controversial name in the Anand committee is probably Ratchanee Thongchai, wife of Pipob Thongchai who is a key yellow-shirt leader. But also in the panel are Assembly of the Poor activists, thinker Seksan Prasertkul, social critic Niti Eawsriwong as well as activist monk Paisal Wisalo.
Prawase's nominations also provoked a fair amount of scepticism, as he had to reach into his own network fostered under the Thai Health Promotion Foundation that has close political links with the government.
Red leader Jatuporn Promphan is among those not impressed, insisting that many nominees in the Prawase assembly were plucked from his foundation allies. And, like the Anand committee, the Prawase assembly boasted a controversial figure in Nawarat Pongpaibul, a well-known artist who has written numerous political poems for the People's Alliance for Democracy.
Anand vowed to balance idealism with pragmatism, saying his committee and the Prawase assembly will work "as Siamese twins".
"We will do different things for the same issues," said Anand. "We will work with our feet on the ground and our final product will be an action plan, something that is not abstract, something that can be implemented right away."
The Anand committee and the Prawase assembly were set up under Prime Minister's Office's regulations, which give them a life span of three years. The "reformers" will keep working after this government finishes its term, although Anand admitted that a new government could end the process by simply cancelling the regulations.
Prawase said he would rather name the whole process a "reform" and not reconciliation. "The term reconciliation invokes notions about history, about accusers and about accused. To reform is to move forward, not solve past problems. To reform is to do something new for the country," he said.
With red leaders peering out from behind bars, it is hard to imagine how the current process can detach itself from a reality that has so much to do with the past, with traded accusations, and with problems that may have more to do with human flaws than system failures. Whether it's "reconciliation" or "reform", the road from now is an uphill one.
The Nation
Comments