Critics blast amnesty bill

PAD plans to raise legal challenge to red-shirt bid

Opposition critics and academics are sceptical that a new amnesty bill, supported by 42 red-shirt MPs, will ever be passed into law.

Worachai Hema, Pheu Thai Party MP for Samut Prakan and leader of the red-shirt MPs supporting the bill, presented the bill to House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont at parliament Thursday.

He insisted the proposed amnesty would not cover ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra or protest leaders.

The bill is one of eight seeking to grant an amnesty to political offenders.

Mr Worachai said it aims to absolve "innocent people across the political divide, military personnel and authorities" who are facing legal charges or are in prison as a result of political violence since the Sept 19, 2006, coup until May 10, 2011.

Mr Worachai said the bill has nothing to do with the Pheu Thai Party.

"Since it will not help Thaksin return home as a free man, [the opposition] Democrat Party should not stand in the way of aiding people in distress," he said.

"It's pointless keeping our red-shirt folks in jail now that the country is peaceful and calm."

Karom Polpornklang, a red-shirt lawyer, has said the Worachai bill is different from other bills in terms of how many people are to be granted an amnesty and who they are.

Section 3 of the bill, drafted by red-shirt lawyers, provides an amnesty to people who were prosecuted for acts or statements that were construed as contributing to the political conflicts.

More than 1,000 offenders are expected to be covered by the bill if it is passed into law.

However, the lawyer said the bill's drafters are open to suggestions and its coverage could be extended to Pitak Siam rally participants as well.

The speaker said yesterday the bill will be checked for any legal flaws before deciding whether it should be slated in parliament's agenda alongside four other amnesty bills waiting to be voted on at the first reading.

Parliament will also decide if the five bills are too similar in content and should be merged at the first reading vote.

Mr Somsak dismissed demands by the Democrat Party that the four bills already pending be withdrawn.

Deputy House Speaker Charoen Chankomol has been sounding out parties affected by the violence on the design of an amnesty. He says it should be the product of an inclusive process to ease social conflicts. If and when all parties can build a consensus around the issue, an amnesty bill will be drafted, he said.

Mr Charoen has invited the PAD, the red-shirt UDD, Pheu Thai and the Democrat Party for talks on the matter, but the Democrats have refused to join unless the pending bills are withdrawn.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the withdrawal of the four bills would prove the government is not pushing the bills to exonerate Thaksin.

Pheu Thai MP for Chiang Rai Samart Kaewmeechai said society remains split over the amnesty issue. The chances of passing an amnesty bill without consulting all affected parties are slim.

People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said the PAD rejects the new bill.

He says it contravenes the constitution by offering a selective amnesty that mainly caters to red shirts.

The alliance plans to lodge a petition against the constitutionality of the bill.

Kittisak Prokati, of the faculty of law at Thammasat University, said the Worachai bill introduces a blanket amnesty that will not teach society to differentiate right from wrong.

The bill should include aspects all sides can agree on, such as granting an amnesty only to those who violated the emergency decrees imposed during the political violence, he said.

He said the rights of victims must also be taken into account.

Trakul Meechai, a political scientist of Chulalongkorn University, said the latest bill seems to be designed to win favour from Thaksin despite Mr Worachai's insistence it will not benefit the ousted premier. "The bill will have no chance of passing," he said.

"It will only whip up resistance from within and outside parliament. It will deepen cracks in society even more."

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/339349/critics-blast-amnesty-bill