Reconciliation in Thailand remains elusive and could be meaningless, an academic forum was told yesterday.
Suchit Bunbongkarn, professor emeritus and former dean of Chulalongkorn University's political science faculty, said the history of Thai democracy _ with 18 constitutions and 17 coups _ proved that legislation in and of itself solved nothing.
Speaking at the forum _ entitled "Reconciliation and Charter Change: Underpinnings and Scenarios" and held at Chulalongkorn University yesterday _ Mr Suchit said reconciliation could not be achieved through legislation without first creating a favourable political environment.
Even if a proposed reconciliation bill was passed, conflict and divisions would not go away, he said.
The root causes of conflict, Mr Suchit said, included ideological differences as well as divisions between pro- and anti-Thaksin camps.
A new constitution will not solve anything either, he said, unless it really comes about with the participation of the public as it did in 1997.
Duncan McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds, said that while Thailand's problems were getting more sophisticated, the country remained caught in a circle of violence that would be difficult to escape from.
"The reconciliation process in Thailand is verging on the meaningless. I sense it's getting harder and harder to achieve and becoming too politicised," he said.
Mr McCargo said the Truth for Reconciliation Commission, which is completing a two-year tenure, has plenty to deal with, but pointed out it does not have the power to compel witnesses.
He compared it to the now-defunct National Reconciliation Commission which was set up to address problems in the deep South several years ago.
"Grand ideas, huge endeavour, 50 commissioners, lots of researchers, but the report pleased almost no one," Mr McCargo said of that commission's report on the South.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, associate professor of Chulalongkorn University's faculty of political science, said former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had showed that by manipulating the masses and legislation, powerful people could change the rules of democracy for personal gains.
This was at the heart of Thailand's problems, he said.
Mr Panitan, a former spokesman for Abhisit Vejjajiva's government, said political uncertainties worried ordinary people, while hate speech by politicians was being broadcast and the Thai leadership failed to show any ability to handle the short term crisis.
"So no one knows what could come round," Mr Panitan said.
He said a meaningful national reconciliation process could not be manipulated by any particular group.
Mr Panitan said it was not right if the charter amendment resulted in an amnesty for certain individuals, and the Constitutional Court was an avenue for people trying to prevent such a possibility.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of Chulalongkorn University's Institute for Security and International Studies, warned about the boomerang effects of pushing legislation claiming to promote national reconciliation.
Mr Thitinan said the proposed reconciliation bills were flawed and the mutual concessions needed for reconciliation to take place were not at hand.
He said that despite different views on the judiciary becoming involved in political problems, the politicising of the judiciary would only produce more problems for the monarchy and the establishment.
Mr Thitinan painted a picture of a potential scenario where things get much worse due to judicial intervention and the return of street violence, suggesting that then "a cleansing process" in society might begin.