Published on August 17, 2005

Says people will one day remember what he did to bring peace to Thailand, Asia. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra revealed yesterday his biggest dream was to emulate historic statesmen like Pridi Banomyong as well as the Seri Thai movement and bring peace to Thailand and Asia.

But former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, chairman of the National Reconciliation Commission, said peace only came when leaders had peace inside and governments were “peace-minded”.

Both men shared the stage yesterday at a gathering at Thammasat University to mark the 60th anniversary of Thai Peace Day.

“Peace needs justice. Not just justice on paper or written in law, but fair justice,’’ Anand said.

“Be careful about the implementation of the law. Fairness cannot be taught even after 1,000 years of learning. It depends how one grows up.”

But Thaksin had his own thoughts on history.

“When people think about Ajarn Pridi and Seri Thai [Free Thai Movement], they think about the great sacrifice they made for the country. I want people to remember me and my government in the same way,” Thaksin said.

“In 60 years time, people will gather to remember what my government and I did today to bring peace not only to Thailand, but also to the Asian region.”

During a 25-minute speech, Thaksin spoke about the importance of his policy to end violence in the South and his Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) plans to bring peace to Thailand and Asia.

“The problem of violence in the South is getting better. More people have already agreed to surrender,” he said.

In Asia, he said, the ACD policy had shown promising signs of bringing peace to the region.

“In the past, we put too much priority on correcting historical conflicts between us. What I do is try to convince everyone to put conflict aside for the sake of a prosperous Asia,” he said.

“Peace and prosperity needs one another. Prosperity cannot happen without peace, and likewise, peace cannot happen without prosperity,” he said.

The ACD will lead Asia to prosperity and bring about a peaceful Asia, he said.

“Asia is the only continent not to successfully bring about a regional community such as the European Community,” he said.

Thaksin declared his plans to bring peace and prosperity to Thailand and the region were the same as running a business.

“While the goal of politics is democracy, the goal of business is capitalism. Politics resides in government and business resides in companies. Politics needs groups to gain power and business needs mergers,” he said.

But Anand made it clear that he sees peace differently.

“Peace is something much more than the physical absence of conflict. It should mean santisuk [peace and happiness],” he said.

“Human nature is not conducive to permanent peace as is evident in Thailand and around the world.

“But history also proves that wars can end with negotiations, as in Aceh, Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka. Santisuk can happen only when four factors are met - freedom from fear, freedom from hunger, freedom of expression

and freedom of assembly.”

Therefore, he said, santisuk in the South would only happen when people had the right to disagree with the government and the right to protest in non-violent ways.

Anand warned the government to be careful when implementing laws and policies related to the deep South.

Kamol Sukin, Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation

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