Significant progress has been made in different aspects of the Government’s reconciliation plan. On 8 July 2010, former prime minister Anand Panyarachun and Dr. Prawes Wasi, who have been appointed Chairmen of the National Reform Committee and the National Reform Assembly, respectively, spoke at a press conference on their Committees’ work.

Mr. Anand, Chairman of the National Reform Committee, said that the Committee comprises 19 members, five of whom are women. They come from different backgrounds with diverse expertise and would be working full-time. The Committee’s mandate would be to formulate strategies, measures and processes as well as recommendations for reform which would be proposed to the general public and the Government for implementation so as to achieve tangible results. The Committee would work closely with the Reform Assembly in gathering information and views regarding reform from the public. It would also support, monitor and expedite efforts made to reform targeted areas with cooperation from all sectors – be they the general public, local communities, private sector, academia or the Government. The objective would be to reduce social disparities and strengthen capacities so as to ensure peace, dignity, fairness, reconciliation, security and prosperity.

Mr. Anand added that, ultimately, the success of his Committee’s work would depend on support from the people as the plans of action to be proposed would aim at changing society itself. He also reiterated that the Government would not be intervening in this process.

With regard to the National Reform Assembly, according to its Chairman, Dr. Prawes Wasi, the Assembly comprises 27 members and would promote and support participation of all sectors of society in the reform process. Provincial assemblies would be established all over the countries. Issue-based assemblies would also be set up to tackle specific problems raised by civil society. All these assemblies would gather information, listen to people’s views and then analyze and synthesise them into concrete policies. These would subsequently be forwarded to the National Reform Committee. During the process, the Committee and the Assembly would cooperate closely with society in order to develop a sense of ownership in the proposed plans. Forward looking, the Assembly aims to address social problems related to injustice and disparities in society.

Assembly members are individually named, except for six appointed ex-officio comprising of the Chief Executive of the Sub-district Administrative Organization, the Chairman of the Council of University Presidents of Thailand, the Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand, the Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, the Chairman of the Thai Banker’s Association, and the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.

Following its meeting on 14 July 2010, the National Reform Committee agreed that in order for social disparities to be reduced, five issues would have to be addressed, namely, the income gap must be narrowed, basic rights upheld, opportunities widened, power abuses curbed and dignity recognised. The Committee would devise a framework to address these five issues. Short-, medium- and long-term problems that need to be tackled would also be identified.

On its part, the National Reform Assembly agreed to map out reform plans on nine issues, namely, the justice system, educational reform, income distribution, social welfare, farmer’s standard of living, moral values, resource management, public scrutiny of government, and creating a balanced power structure. The Assembly also discussed methods of bridging social inequality by using tax measures and land reform to prevent domination by a central authority. Bureaucratic and educational reform would also contribute to solving social crises.

During his press conference on 14 July 2010, Dr. Prawes noted that recent political violence had highlighted long-standing problems such as inequality and injustice. Demands voiced by farmers and red shirt groups had led to divisiveness as their grievances were not resolved in the past and the Government would need a clear framework to address them. However, success in resolving structural problems would depend on social forces rather than the Government. In this regard, universities, labour groups and community networks should participate in the process by compiling proposals for the Assembly. Proposals made would be examined by the National Reform Committee. The Assembly would also work with local administrative bodies across the country over a period of two weeks to brainstorm ideas about how to resolve the country’s structural problems. It is expected that specific measures to address urgent problems would be proposed within six months. Other issues that have to be addressed via legislation may require a longer timeframe of three years to yield concrete results.

On his part, Prime Minister Abhisit expressed hope that by the end of 2010, some concrete progress would have been achieved. In particular, it should become clear what action should be taken on which areas.

With regard to media reform, on 1 July 2010, Dr. Yubol Benjarongkij – coordinator of a working group on media reform whose members include lecturers and academics in related fields from various universities – said during a press interview that the working group had visited media organisations to gather information. During the course of their work, they would be collecting opinions from five groups – media professionals, media organisations, academics in the field of journalism and mass communications, agencies such as the National Telecommunications Commission, and consumers including online social networks and netizens. Surveys would be conducted to gather the public’s views about problems regarding the media and suggestions for improvement. Dr. Yubol noted that all kinds of media, both in the past and present, had faced direct and indirect interference. It was therefore necessary to create a structure to ensure that state and private media would be immune from outside pressure and interference.

In addition, on 1 July 2010, four independent media organisations, namely, the Press Council of Thailand, Council of Radio and Television News Reporters, Thai Journalists Association and Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, jointly established a committee to promote rights, freedom and accountability of the media to support the Government’s media reform efforts. To this end, on 6 July 2010, the said committee set up five working groups to address different aspects of media reform, including the development of professional self-regulation standards, professional development, amendment of laws on media freedom, amendment of laws on radio and television broadcast, and development of a mechanism to monitor the operation of mass medias.

On 9 July 2010, on the occasion of the 22nd year anniversary of the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT/Channel 11), Prime Minister Abhisit gave a keynote address on “Media Reform for Thailand Reform.” In his speech, the Prime Minister said that if the public received different sets of information, started to support one side and selected only certain information, the social gap would widen. For this reason, media reform was inevitable and had become an important element in the reconciliation plan so as to create an environment whereby the media could enjoy both liberties and creativity, while adhering to accountability.

Prime Minister Abhisit added that one concern regarding the implementation of the plan was the risk that if the Government were to take a leading role, it might be accused of interference and its good intentions distorted. Carrying out this reform was thus especially difficult and would require cooperation from all sides.

To date, the Government had held consultations with various media organisations and had started to meet and discuss with media professionals and other people involved in order to come up with the best solution acceptable to all sides. Views about problems in carrying out their work under the present circumstances, especially while there had been protests and during the enforcement of the Emergency Decree, would also be solicited. The talks would also cover other issues and extend to other forms of media including on the internet.

The Prime Minister further said that reform would contribute to the stability of the country and lasting peace, while ensuring that media outlets would be used to report truth and provide knowledge and greater opportunities for social justice and equality. NBT itself must undergo a revamp and space would be opened up to allow for greater diversity.

Regarding progress on constitutional reform, the Chairman of the Constitutional Reform Committee, Dr. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, chaired the Committee’s meeting on 14 July 2010, which agreed in principle to amend Section 190 of the Constitution, which requires that certain international agreements be approved by Parliament. It was agreed that clarification should be made in the form of a proposed bill on types of treaties, frameworks, and procedures for those types of treaties which would require parliamentary endorsement.

The Committee also agreed to improve the mechanisms related to the justice system, such as the structure of the police force, the prosecutors and the judiciary, as well as increased public participation in the justice process. Further work would also be done on formulating recommendations for reform of the political structure.

As for public participation in amending the constitution, four working groups would be set up to coordinate efforts in soliciting views on constitution amendments through various channels, networks and organisations. Once the proposals on constitutional amendments and political reform were prepared, the public would be asked for their views through websites, the mail and telephone. This process is expected to commence by late August 2010.

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17 July 2010