Amnesty Opponents To Rally Nationwide

[Flashermac]

Anti-amnesty protests spread

 

 

As the Democrat-led rallies against amnesty gained more strength in Bangkok on Monday, more protest centres sprang up in other parts of the country.

 

In Nakhon Si Thammarat in the middle South, a network of civic groups gathered at the provincial hall and marched through a central business district to express opposition to the blanket amnesty. The crowd encouraged onlookers to join.

 

Students of Ubon Ratchathani University in the Northeast issued a statement calling on members of the public and students nationwide to join the anti-amnesty movement. They said they will travel to Bangkok to join the rallies if the bill is passed into law.

 

In Khon Kaen, police called reinforcements to face a rally at the provincial hall, where protesters announced in the afternoon they intended to move from the City Pillar Shrine to rally at the governor's office Monday night.

 

Opponents of the bill in Nakhon Ratchasima, gateway to the Northeast, gathered at the Thao Suranari Monument, while security agencies held talks with Governor Winai Buapradit. The security meeting agreed to set up a centre for the administration of peace and order to handle a rally expected to attract a large crowd. Security officials called in more riot police officers and defence volunteers to boost the security contingent guarding the provincial hall to 200.

 

In Trang, on the Andaman seacoast in the South, authorities declared an emergency under the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act around the provincial hall, even though no rally had been staged.

 

Many people, including amnesty dissidents, complained the Trang security measure was too early and excessive. It meant they had difficulty doing normal business at the provincial hall, as visitors were not allowed to drive onto the premises. They were directed to park their vehicles at a limited parking space and enter only via the rear door.

 

In Songkhla, almost 1,000 students gathered at Thaksin University and formed a convoy of motorcycles to ride around the municipality. They urged residents to attend a rally against the amnesty bill to be held every evening, beginning Monday, at Phraphuttasi Songklanakarin intersection.

 

The students were from Songkhla Rajabhat University, Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya and Thaksin University.

 

Residents in Tamot district of next-door Phatthalung province also held a protest rally. The protesters said some of them had gone to attend demonstrations in Bangkok.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpo...protests-spread

[Flashermac]

Amnesty bill would kill 25,355 graft cases: NACC

 

 

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday issued a statement opposing the amnesty bill on grounds that it would absolve thousands of graft violations, including hundreds against top politicians.

 

"The bill's Article 3 will impact on the fight against corruption, good governance, promotion of honesty and international obligations for anti-corruption," NACC member Vicha Mahakhun said.

 

The NACC would submit its report on the bill for the Senate to factor in during next week's amnesty debate, Vicha said.

 

Highlights of the report included the legal implications of graft cases. The bill, if enacted, would derail 24 cases initiated by the Assets Examination Committee and 25,331 cases launched by the NACC. Of the total graft cases being investigated, some 400 cases involved high-level politicians and another 666 cases were already at the indictment stage.

 

Should the amnesty come into effect, these graft investigations would be nullified. As Thailand is a member of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the absolution for graft violations would go against the convention's provisions.

 

Presently the country is undergoing a review on compliance with the UNCAC. The NACC had planned to notify the UN it would renounce the graft amnesty, if enacted, in order to shore up the country's reputation in the international community.

 

NACC member Pakdee Pothisiri said the NACC, empowered to root out corruption, was obliged to notify the international community because the graft amnesty would breach the UNCAC.

 

NACC assistant secretary-general Thammanoon Ruengdit said cases to be nullified by the amnesty bill included five convictions. The five include the 'unusual wealth' involving former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, the Ratchadaphisek land deal involving Thaksin's ex-wife Khunying Pojaman na Pombejra and tax evasion involving Pojaman and her brother Bhanapot Damapong.

 

The remaining two cases are the firetruck purchase, and the rubber-sampling procurement.

 

Cases under judicial review, such as the two- and three-digit lottery, the Exim Bank loans, the conversion of telecom concession and the Krung Thai loans, would collapse.

 

Eight cases being investigated by the NACC would be closed.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Amnesty-bill-would-kill-25355-graft-cases-NACC-30218832.html

[Flashermac]

Red shirts feel betrayed

 

 

FOUR RED-SHIRT Pheu Thai MPs, including Weng Tojirakarn, abstained from voting for the controversial amnesty bill yesterday.

 

Red-shirt MP Korkaew Pikulthong, however, did vote in support of the bill. He later posted a message on his Facebook account saying he had voted as a Pheu Thai MP and not as a red-shirt co-leader.

 

"Out of respect for the voice of the majority, I have never opposed the opinion of the majority as a red-shirt co-leader whenever there's a resolution, even if I may personally disagree … To red-shirt brothers and sisters who are upset with me, you can criticise or curse me as much as you like and I accept it and would like to apologise for having a different opinion on the matter. But this is my frank confession."

 

A highly placed source said former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra might decide it is time to break with the so-called progressive red shirts who oppose the lese majeste law as they have become a liability in the reconciliation process with the traditional elite.

 

The source also said Thaksin felt the relatives of those killed in 2010 had already received Bt7.5 million each and some red-shirt co-leaders had become MPs or been appointed to other government positions.

 

In a special session of the House of Representatives, lawmakers voted 310:0 to pass the third reading of the bill early yesterday. Four Pheu Thai MPs - Nuttawut Saikuar, Weng Tojirakarn, Worachai Hema and Khattiya Sawasdipol - abstained from the vote.

 

Seven Pheu Thai MPs who are also red-shirt leaders voted in support of the amnesty bill. They are Korkaew Pikulthong, Cherdchai Tontisirin, Apiwan Wiriyachai, Wiphuthalang Phattanaphumthai, Phayap Punket, Shinawatra Haboonpad and Prasit Chaisisa.

 

All of them are party-list MPs, except Prasit, who is a Surin MP.

 

Meanwhile 29 of 33 opposition Bhum Jai Thai Party MPs voted in support of the amnesty bill. They included Chai Chidchob, Jakrawal Chaiwiratkul, and Sopon Saram. The four other MPs abstained.

 

In a related development, relatives of those killed in the April-May 2010 crackdown and the so-called progressive wing of the red shirts reacted with a sense of betrayal and deep anger against the party and ousted and convicted former prime minister Thaksin.

 

Phayaw Akkahad, mother of slain nurse Kamolkaed Akkahad, said she felt betrayed by Thaksin but vowed to fight on until those responsible are brought to justice.

 

"What Thaksin did today was an act of betrayal against the people. Thaksin became ungrateful to the 15 million people who voted for him," said Phayaw, sounding noticeably upset. She said she and other relatives of those killed in 2010 would soon call a press conference, and insisted that she would not give up calling for the end to the immunity even if she had to fight alone.

 

A group of 20 red-shirt university students led by Panitan Prueksakasemsuk, son of lese majeste convict Somyos Prueksakasemsuk and a senior law student at Thammasat University, staged a protest in front of the Pheu Thai Party headquarters. Organising a play mocking Thaksin under the title "Stepping on Dead Bodies to Return Home", Panitan told The Nation that his feelings towards Thaksin had changed and the development demonstrated that most politicians cannot be trusted.

 

The red-shirt movement, said Panitan, is now divided over the issue, but the blame must be placed squarely on Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party and not on those who oppose the blanket amnesty, he stressed.

 

Sombat Boonngam-anong, Red Sunday group leader, said he would try to muster 10,000 red shirts on November 10 to demonstrate against the bill. Sombat acknowledged that there was nothing opponents of the bill could do to stop the parliamentary process but added that the red-shirt movement must reform itself.

 

Sombat said that perhaps Thaksin knew something that the public at large did not. Some red shirts have speculated that a deal had already been struck by the elite on both sides of the political divide to ensure immunity and exoneration for all key figures.

 

 

http://www.nationmul...d-30218535.html

[Flashermac]

Govt 'ready to retreat'

 

 

 

The Pheu Thai government appears to be retreating from its stance on backing the controversial amnesty bill, which is facing growing public opposition, while the Senate also seems to be ready to reject the bill.

 

Though Pheu Thai secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai repeated Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's remark that the bill's future was in the hands of the Senate, he refused to say whether or not the House of Representatives would reaffirm the bill a 180 days later if it is rejected by the Senate.

 

However, Phumtham mentioned the earlier amnesty bill put forward by MP Worachai Hema, which did not cover protest leaders, those in authority or corruption cases. Worachai's version was replaced by that of Prayuth Siripanich, which would provide amnesty to everybody facing charges for illegal political activities from 2004 to 2013 as well as cases investigated by the junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee (AEC).

 

"If the public accepts the other draft [Worachai's] later, it would be wonderful when people in prison are freed," he said, referring to the red-shirt supporters currently being detained in relation to the 2010 protests.

 

Meanwhile, Democrat MPs said last night that the rally at Democracy Monument would continue until the government withdraws the bill.

 

Yingluck's speech yesterday afternoon was ambiguous and further enraged protesters. Later, Wim Rungwattanajinda, a PM's Office Ministry spokesman, said she was making a gesture of compromise and her remark that the ball was in the Senate's court was in no way meant to burden the Upper House.

 

"We insist we're not stubbornly pushing forward the bill, or rushing it into a law. Also, we insist that there is no lobbying of the Senate to approve it," Wim said.

 

Yingluck, in her statement on state-owned TV, said the government would accept the Senate's decision on the draft amnesty law. "Whatever is done by the Senate, I truly believe that the House of Representatives will accept it, based on what is in the nation's best interest," she said.

 

She added that the bill should be considered as per the constitutional process. The Senate should be able to thoroughly deliberate the law. [Read full speech 2A]

 

Wim added the prime minister could not interfere in any of the Senate's affairs, as it may lead to her dismissal from office. All that she says is that she respects the Senate's decision, whatever it is, and the government will accept it, Wim said.

 

Wim's explanation came several hours after Yingluck's statement, made at a Government House press conference, further frustrated the public over her stance about the much-criticised bill, which grants amnesty to her fugitive brother Thaksin, while further enraging demonstrators at a large rally at Democracy Monument.

 

Senate Speaker Nikom Waiyaratpanit, speaking at a press conference after the PM's statement, said: "The Senate will vote to find a way out for the country and to unlock the current political situation." The Senate issued a statement to confirm this decision today.

 

Nikom also dismissed unconfirmed reports that the bill would be passed by the Senate in all three hearings in quick succession.

 

Elected senator Derek Thuengfang said Nikom cannot declare the Senate's stance, though more senators are gradually agreeing that the bill should not be passed.

 

Senator Paiboon Nititawan, a leader of those appointed, said all 37 elected - mostly based in the South - and all 67 appointed senators would vote against the bill. He accused the government of trying to lobby the elected senators to vote for the bill, at least in the first reading.

 

Elected Senator Singchai Thungthong, of Uthai Thani said he and several fellow elected senators had not decided yet to vote for or against the bill. He attacked the appointed senators, saying their announcement of their stance against the bill was meant to ride on the anti-bill wave.

 

Opposition chief whip and Democrat MP Jurin Laksanavisith said Yingluck's statement signified her further support for the bill, and there was no guarantee that the Pheu Thai-led government would not reaffirm this bill after 180 days even if the Senate decided to kill it.

 

Suriyasai Katasila, coordinator of Green Politics Group, said Yingluck's speech has worsened the situation.

 

"There is no sign of any retreat or review [of the bill]. Even worse, she throws the hot potato into the Senate. I think the government would eventually lobby the Senate to pass the bill," he said.

 

The question is how can society trust such a dishonest government, which always has a hidden agenda, to rule the country, Suriyasai asked.

 

After her statement, Yingluck reportedly was very shocked to know that the public was angered by her statement. She then reportedly asked her staff to explain to the media, that she and her government would not push through the bill.

 

Chat Thai Pattana Party chief adviser Banharn Silapa-archa said yesterday the speech by Yingluck should calm down the situation, and that he supported her stance that the Senate would eventually decide on the controversial amnesty bill.

 

The anti-amnesty rally is growing in large numbers by the hour, and numerous groups of people, from both the private and public sectors, including civil servants and government doctors, are vowing to protest against the bill.

 

Student and People Network for Thailand's Reform (STR) leader Uthai Yodmanee said the group did not care about what Yingluck said but wanted political reform.

 

He also said the group would step up its rally tomorrow and march to important places, but refused to say where.

 

The group's representative yesterday asked the national police chief to provide protection for protesters as they feared there might be "men in black" who would attack them.

 

Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of Dharma Army, who formerly joined the STR protest at the Urupong intersection, yesterday marched and rallied at Phan Fah Bridge on Rajdamnoen Road.

 

 

http://www.nationmul...t-30218842.html

[waerth]

Went to Silom again today. One side of Silom full from Rama IV intersection till close to Chong Nonsi. Went with a Dutch cameraman. We filmed a lot. He estimates at least 15,000 people were there. Bangkok Post says only 600 people showed up (I do not know what they were smoking). Tomorrow Asoke intersection on Sukhumvit.

 

On twitter reports and photos of many other protests in bangkok. Many people came out in many places in their lunch breaks and blew whistles against the amnesty bill. Fortune 3000, many universities were the students came out. Photos from other protest sites in the rest of the country also on twitter.

 

We hope to put the footage on the demonstrations on youtube as soon as possible.

 

If you want to join as a foreigner, no problems. Just blow a whistle, do not chant slogans along and when the national anthem is played either sing along, or stand still and shut up

[Flashermac]

I have seen figures as high as 200,000 people turning out. You may have noticed that Thaksin is already saying he had nothing to do with the bill. He only wants the country to be peaceful and happy.

 

I feel like I am back in October 1973 again, when the students rose up against the Gang of Three.

 

[waerth]

Lots of photos of student marches on twitter! This didn't happen with the yellow and red shirt protests ..... but now even the students seem to get involved and dropped their Ipads. It is a good thing that people are getting more politically aware, no matter what their opinions are. I always hate it when people proudly tell me ..... I am not interested in politics.

[Flashermac]

Maybe Thaksin is discovering the country is not for sale after all.

 

 

I had been here just six months when the protests against the Gang of Three began. Thanom and Prapas had staged a coup against their own government, abolished the constitution and were ruling by decree. Students everywhere led the protests demanding a constitutional government. The students from my university, the teacher's college across the river, both secondary schools (boys and girls), the vocational school and even some primary students joined in the march on the salaklang jangwat. The same thing happened in Bangkok. Good memories with a happy ending. I hope this will too.

 

HM ended that one. It is up to the people of Thailand themselves this time. I hope they are up to it.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5175c7pHaGc

[Flashermac]

Govt officials protest amnesty bill

 

 

About 1,000 public servants working at the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road, Laksi, on Wednesday held a peaceful demonstration outside their offices to show their opposition to the blanket amnesty bill.

 

The group comprised officials from the many state agencies housed in Building B, including the Department of Lands, Immigration Division 1 and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry.

 

They gathered outside the eastern entry of the building at lunchtime and marched to an area in front of the government complex on Chaeng Wattana road. The protesters blew whistles and shouted out their opposition to a blanket amnesty.

 

A group’s representative read out a statement saying the legislation was a clear violation of the rule of law and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

 

The bill would cause considerable loss to the country’s economy, society and politics, and would not bring about national reconciliation, as claimed by the government, the statement said.

 

They collected signatures of people opposed to the bill and said they would help gather one million signatures and submit them to parliament.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpo...st-amnesty-bill

[Flashermac]

UDD plans pro-amnesty bill action

 

 

Members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) from Udon Thani are planning pro-amnesty bill rallies across every province in the Northeast, UDD co-leader Kwanchai Praiphana said on Wednesday.

 

Mr Kwanchai said he will on Thursday lead a group of red-shirts from Udon Thani province to Bangkok to attend a gathering at Thephasadin Stadium on Friday in which Pheu Thai MPs plan to give the general public an explanation of the aims of the blanket amnesty bill.

 

Mr Kwanchai said he also plans to organise rallies in every province of the northeastern region to show that a large number of people back the blanket amnesty legislation.

 

Asked if his planned rallies could lead to violent confrontation with anti-amnesty protesters and political unrest, Mr Kwanchai said the red-shirts simply want to make known that not all Thai people oppose the bill, and that many actually support it.

 

Anti-amnesty bill rallies are currently taking place across Bangkok.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/378482/united-front-for-democracy-against-dictatorship-plan-pro-amnesty-protest