MFP proposes amnesty for those with contrarian political views

MFP proposes amnesty for those with contrarian political views

Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat
Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat

The opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) on Saturday proposed an amnesty for political cases, to return justice to those who hold different political views as the party unveiled a platform on politics to kick-start the election campaign.

The proposed amnesty, particularly for political offenders facing legal actions since the 2014 coup, is the highlight of its proposed legislative reforms.

Billed as "progressive politics", the party's platform on politics focuses on the military, judice system, equality and a charter rewrite.

Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat said politics is one of nine areas the party will roll out for the general election.

The others include economy, bureaucracy, education, social welfare and environment.

"We chose to kick off with issues pertaining to politics because if politics is bad, it is hard to solve economic and social problems.

"Politics is about the allocation of power and resources -- how the tax is spent and which direction the country is going. If we don't get good politics, the country won't go far," he said.

Addressing legislative reforms, MFP MP and spokesman Rangsiman Rome said laws that infringe on people's civil liberties such as Section 112 and Section 116 of the Criminal Code and the computer crime law should be amended.

Section 112 is better known as the lese majeste law, while Section 116 deals with sedition. Both are controversial areas of the law where a parliamentary mandate for reform may be hard to secure.

He said proposed amendments to these laws were submitted to the House of Representatives but the bill relating to Section 112 was not included on the House agenda.

The MP said the party would push ahead with the proposed amendment if it gained power and stressed that revising Section 112 was not unconstitutional because it did not undermine the status of the king as head of the state.

Mr Rangsiman said the party would push for ratification of the International Criminal Court statute to bring state officials who commit crimes against people to justice, such as those involved in the Tak Bai massacre and the 2010 violence against red-shirt demonstrators.

On military reforms, deputy leader Picharn Chaopattanwong said the party would push for regulations to ban military officers from serving in the cabinet within seven years of retirement in a bid to curb nepotism.

The party would also seek to dissolve the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) and revoke the special security law imposed in the deep South. Isoc has strong power and interferes in civilian affairs and the special law leads to abuse of authority and rights violations, said Mr Picharn.

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