The National Reform Council (NRC) subcommittee for reconciliation chaired by Anek Laothamatas will propose for inclusion in the new constitution a provision granting amnesty to people who took part in political unrest between 2005-2014, according to an informed source.
An amnesty is proposed for people took part in political unrest between 2005-2014, which would include this protest group that occupied the inbound lanes on the Taksin Bridge across the Chao Phraya River in November 2013. (Bangkok Post photo)
The proposal has two options.
Under the first option, all of the people who took part in political activities between 2005-2014 would be granted amnesty, except those who committed serious criminal offences which caused death and those who committed lese majeste under Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
The second option is to grant blanket amnesty to all without exception.
The source said the Anek panel had also proposed that while the new constitution is still in the drafting process the cabinet should issue an executive decree on amnesty, as allowed by Section 21 of the 2014 interim constitution.
Another way of doing this is for the chairman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to issue an order granting amnesty as empowered by Section 44 of the 2014 interim constitution.
The panel was of the opinion that it would be too slow to wait for the new charter to be completed and put the amnesty into effect.
The panel suggested that before enforcing the amnesty law there should be forums for the public to give opinions on this matter, to promote better understanding and to win acceptance from all concerned.
According to the source, the panel would also propose that the committee for national unity set up in 2007 be dissolved and replaced by a committee for national reconciliation.
The committee for national reconciliation would be a juristic entity under the parliament - similar to the King Prajadhipok's Institute. It would have a life of five to 10 years and would comprise representatives of two conflicting parties and a third party comprising resourceful persons accepted by the first two parties. The committee would have 15 members - five from each of the three parties.
The committee would be empowered to study and explore ways of reducing and ending political conflict.
The source said the Anek panel came up with this proposal after agreeing the violent political confrontations since 2005 were caused by conflict between political parties which sought to take political power for their own self-interest.
With different policies and amid fierce competition, those conflicting parties were unable to reach a compromise or find a common ground to share power and interests, leading to mobilisation of supporters and prolonged political unrest aimed at discrediting and overthrowing one another.
The resulting serious conflict led to violence, human rights violations and casualties and affected a large number of people, both members of the public and government officials.