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Although the government was confident that it would be able to organise the meeting, which was supposed to be in Phuket, the governments of some other countries said they were not available.

Matichon wrote that although the Abhisit government had said it was ready to host the meeting, dialogue partners such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India,might not be available to come to Thailand during that time. It was not their fault that they could not come. The problem was caused by ourselves. We could not organise the meeting according to the original schedule.

We cannot deny that the abrupt cancellation of the Asean+3 and the Asean+6 meetings during the Songkran festival was a lost opportunity for Thailand. It is clear now that a meeting in June is not possible, and it is not certain whether the government will be able to hold the meeting in October in accordance with the tentative schedule.

This exposes Thailand's capacity to chair Asean. We cannot blame anyone else but ourselves for causing this problem. The failure to fix our political problem has spilled over into a national and international issue. It has not only resulted in a loss of opportunity for Thailand, but also the other Asean countries and our dialogue partners.

Thai Rath, meanwhile, ran an editorial urging Parliament to perform its duty to solve the political problem. Abhisit urged both houses to act as a forum to kick-start the reconciliation process.

The contentious issue is whether and how to amend the Constitution. In fact, this is the first time that Parliament will be directly responsible for constitutional amendment. In the past, outsiders were responsible for the content of amended charters.

But now, the main parties have different views about the process of reconciliation. The Pheu Thai Party wants to see the formation of a national government, with Pheu Thai as part of that administration. But the Democrat Party thinks otherwise.

Thai Rath summed things up by saying that the politicians would have to prove to the public that Parliament can indeed be a forum for solving the issue. They should act in the interests of the public. Otherwise, the public would think politicians are the ones who harm the country, the editorial said.