Reconciliation committee wary of suggestion from Snoh

Chinnaworn Bunyakiat, the government whip chief and a member of the committee, said Snoh's proposal was just a discussion position and not the committee's decision.

The committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss how to resolve political conflicts and bring about reconciliation through political reform and constitutional amendment.

He said the committee had received many ideas but would make a resolution after sounding opinion from all sides and reporting on the progress of it work in the media.

Democrat Party MP Nipit Intarasombat, a committee member, denied allegations that the Democrat Party was not sincere in solving the political crisis, saying that otherwise it would not have appointed the committee to take opinion from every sector of society before amending the Constitution to achieve national reconciliation.

Chinnaworn said the committee was divided on whether to conduct public hearings or call a public referendum on its conclusions after 45 days.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party advisor Banyat Bantadtan opposed Snoh's proposal to replace the 2007 Constitution with the 1997 Constitution, saying that if the committee took up Snoh's proposal, society would be in a turmoil because it knew for whom Snoh made the proposal.

"The committee may not be convinced by Snoh, because many of them understand the problems of the country and will not listen to him. This committee plays a significant role. Whether or not the country reels under political crises depends on the committee,'' said Banyat, a former Democrat leader.

In a related development, Sirichai Maingam, a leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, said the PAD was ready to stage a protest if the committee whitewashed banned politicians or favoured former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra by dissolving independent agencies, interfering with courts of justice.

He said the PAD would first pressure the Democrat Party not to amend the Constitution on those issues and if the party backtracked on its stance the PAD would call a rally to oppose the move.