Peace advocate Gothom Arya has come up with a four-point proposal on how the government and the red shirts can put aside their hostility and negotiate for harmony
Gothom Arya, director of Mahidol University's Research Centre on Peace Building, hopes no more blood gets shed during the ongoing red-shirt protest.
"Fortunately, what the red-shirts did [earlier this week] was symbolic. The pouring of some protesters' blood on the gates of Government House and other places [including the premier's residence] as part of their bid to oust the government was rather bloody, but the act did not involve violence.
"Their aim was to draw public attention to their demands in the hope that the government would stop and listen to them. In fact, there are many other non-violent tactics such as hunger strike that people like Maj-General Chamlong Srimuang and Chalad Worachat had used.
"Gathering to light candles is another gesture of peace. In fact, our non-violence network has been vigorously campaigning for peace since the anti-government movement started last week via mass media, websites, Facebook, and Twitter to reach a wide range of supporters.
"Our primary objective is to help prevent violence and bloodshed, and end the confrontation in a peaceful manner. Therefore, we have proposed that the government and red-shirt protesters suspend their hostilities and negotiate," said Gothom, a former election commissioner.
In a four-point proposal, Gothom said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva should first appoint Korbsak Sabhavasu, the PM's secretary-general, as the official negotiator to hold talks with Weng Tojirakarn, who has the red-shirt protesters' mandate to negotiate.
Second, the negotiations should focus on addressing concerns and legitimate objectives of both sides.
For example, there should be a free and fair general election after the dissolution of House of Representatives within a time frame acceptable to both the incumbent government and protesters.
Third, both sides should formulate a roadmap with key milestones so that they could reach a consensus without being bogged down by details of some of the issues, which are complex and difficult to agree upon at this stage.
Fourth, the mass media should open up a more public space for the exchange of opinions from both supporters and opponents of the anti-government movement.
Gothom said both the government and the red shirts also have to stop using their respective mass-media outlets for propaganda.
"I hope the wounds resulting from both yellow and red shirts' movements over the past three or four years will not deepen. We have already seen two incidents of bloodshed. One took place in October 2008 when the yellow shirts tried to oust the Somchai Wongsawat government. Two were killed.
"Then, we had the bloody Songkran in 2009 when another one or two persons were killed.
"Looking back [over the past years], we could say that there have been divergent political cultures among Thais.
"Many southerners and Bangkok's middle-class may dislike [former Prime Minister] Thaksin [Shinawatra] because he did not respect the traditionalists' view of our core national institutions and he appeared to have abused his power and was corrupt. Yet, many other Thais, especially those in rural areas [in the Northeast, North and other regions] could not understand all these reasons for disliking Thaksin.
"They appeared to be more preoccupied with Thaksin's previous popular policies [which benefited them directly] and many still hold the view that the former premier was unfairly accused of wrongdoings.
"Then, some urban folk [who are against Thaksin] look down upon their rural counterparts and wonder why all these upcountry guys just can't understand that Thaksin was actually corrupt.
"Academically, this is an issue in which there is a gap in the people's perceptions of what is ethical and what is not.
"For example, the French wouldn't mix politics with religion, while the Americans appear to be somewhat different. However, French voters don't vote in the US and Americans don't vote in France so there isn't an issue," he said.
Regarding Thailand, the political rifts over the past few years could be seen as a conflict between two divergent political cultures, if not two ethical standards.
