On 6 July 2010, the Thai Cabinet decided to revoke the use of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation B.E. 2548 (2005) in five of the 24 provinces in which the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) had recommended the Decree remain in effect. These five provinces are Si Sa Ket, Nan, Kalasin, Nakhon Pathom and Nakhon Swan. The use of the Emergency Decree has thus been extended for another three months in Bangkok and 18 other provinces, as it is deemed necessary – based on assessments of the situation on the ground – to enable the state officials to maintain peace and order.* Be that as it may, it should be noted that the use of the Emergency Decree has not affected the ordinary people and their daily life or businesses.

     In addition, the Cabinet noted the composition of the independent fact-finding commission for reconciliation presented by the commission chairman, Professor Dr. Kanit Na Nakorn. The eight commission members to join Dr. Kanit include Mr. Kittipong Kittiyarak, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice; Associate Professor Dr. Jutharat Ua-amnoey, lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University; Associate Professor Dr. Decha Rangkhawan, Director of the Center for Research and Development in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Thammasat University; Mr. Pairote Polaphet, Secretary-General of the Union for Civil Liberty; Mr. Manich Sooksomchitra, Senior Editor of Thairath Newspaper; Professor Dr. Ronnachai Kongsakon, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Deputy Director of Ramathibodi Hospital; Mr. Somchai Homlaor, Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Lawyers Council of Thailand; and Associate Professor Dr. Surasak Likasitwatanakul, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University.

    The nine-member commission will be working on establishing facts of what actually transpired during the two-month protests by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) – a key component of the Government’s reconciliation plan.

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