LAST WEEK, some smiles could be seen on the faces of people in Bangkok as the political tension, which has lasted nearly two months, seemed to ease after Prime Minister Abhisit's announcement of a national reconciliation plan along with a new election date of November 14.
The red protesters appeared positive the following day. This has brought hope that the political conflict will ease up and that the protesters will return home soon.
On the evening of May 5, the government launched a grand ceremony at the Royal Plaza to celebrate the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's coronation.
The Royal Plaza and Rajdamnoen Avenue were crowded with people happily participating in the event.
I was overwhelmed watching the TV broadcast of the grand opening of the festival. The parade of beauties and flowers was gorgeous.
The dragon dance and the other |performances made me feel relaxed and happy. The parade of elephants was impressive. The elephants had been trained to march to the rhythm of the rousing music.
The cutest was the one that danced swaying his hips to the music. It was incredible and so admirable that one can train an elephant to do that.
One of the parades effectively showed Thai ways of life that normally are peaceful as well as full of fun and united spirits.
I do not have any idea whether this event was covered by CNN or BBC. If it was, it would have amazed all who watched it, because after all the violence and fatal protests, Thais gathered and were reunited on this festive occasion, all for their love of His Majesty the King. The faith and love for His Majesty made it possible.
In the morning of May 6, my heart was brimming again with joy in seeing the mild, smiling face of His Majesty on the front page of every newspaper.
I would like to convince us all that it is our duty, the duty of every Thai citizen, to do what each of us can to ensure that the national reconciliation plan gets implemented effectively so that there will be no more street protests and Thai smiling faces will remain evident as ever.
My present concern is this: How much hope do we have that all the five points of the reconciliation plan can be effectively implemented in time, given such a short timeframe of four to five months that we now have before the election date of November 14?
Let's look at the points one by one.
Regarding the setting up of an independent tribunal to investigate the serious criminal charges of terrorism and violence against soldiers and protestors, I believe the probe can be completed within the given timeframe.
However, whether the conclusions will be acceptable depend on whether these people will be fairly judged compared to the cases of the yellow shirts not long ago.
Those who have been accused of attacking the monarchy by any effort - whether written articles, spoken words or any activities - must be treated without prejudice no matter which group they belong to.
The authorities must proceed to sue in the cases where the evidence is quite clear.
Those who wrote articles or papers obviously attacking the monarchy - including those who publicly spoke negatively against the royal institution - must not be let free.
But in the same vein, the persecution of anyone without evidence must be called off.
We should be aware that such accusations without grounds might force these innocent people to turn against the monarchy.
Concerning solutions for political conflicts involving constitutional amendments and an amnesty for banned politicians in the case of party dissolution, I tend to believe that all political parties would cooperate positively and successfully.
The forthcoming court decision on the future of the Democrats could be one of the factors bringing about agreement among them, as every party will benefit in the end.
The reform of rules and regulations for mass media, in which the representatives of all kinds of media would be allowed to participate, might not come out perfectly. But it could be acceptable to a certain degree and thus could be put into tentative use as such within the given timeframe.
My biggest concern lies in the solutions to the problem of so-called social inequality. It has been reported that the Thailand Reform Assembly, comprising representatives from all sectors, would be formed to work on the issue of social equality.
To me, social equality is too complicated and too big an issue to be completed in such a short period of time.
Attempts to arrive at effective implementation plans within four to five months appear futile. However, if the issue is, for the time being, limited to aiming at only identifying which inequalities need to be tackled, then it looks more promising that it will get done before the new election date.
I have more to talk about on this issue of social inequalities.
Until next Monday.