Debate widens rift

The acrimonious two-day censure debate ended last night with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva making a desperate call for reconciliation.

There were traditional rumours last night about the Puea Pandin Party being reluctant to give the censured government leaders its vote of confidence, but Abhisit and four targeted ministers were expected to survive the parliamentary grilling. More difficult, though, will be how Abhisit can put into effect his reconciliation roadmap now that the televised censure debate has deepened the great national divide.

"Emotions flared over the past two days," Abhisit admitted in his closing speech. But he added that he did not want people to lose hope in the parliamentary system as the main mechanism to resolve a national crisis.

He vowed to pursue his roadmap, which was rejected by the red shirts just before their political showdown with the government became the bloodiest political confrontation in modern history.

The reconciliatory tone of the PM followed one of the bitterest parliamentary face-offs. It was Abhisit versus key red-shirt leader and Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan, with both sides trading words and starkly different versions of what transpired during the crackdown on red-shirt protesters in April and May.

Jatuporn and other opposition Pheu Thai MPs said Abhisit and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban were covering up the brutal use of excessive force by blaming everything on the so-called armed "men in black" and "terrorists".

In a long response to charges levelled at him in the morning, Abhisit pounced on the red-shirt leaders' softest spot - their repeated use of a doctored voice clip to spawn hatred against him.

"If I was a villager and made to listen to that tape, I would have come to Bangkok myself," he said about the use of the audio clip of him calling for staged trouble to give the government justification to take harsh action against the red shirts.

Abhisit also insisted that there would have been no fatalities but for the men in black and the manipulative red-shirt leaders.

"Without those men in black I am confident there would have been no fatalities," Abhisit told the lower House yesterday, adding that there existed a systematic attempt to distort information and create hatred by red-shirt leaders.

Red-shirt supporters were misled by claims that the government did not care for people's lives and safety.

The premier said fugitive red-shirt leader Arisman Pongruengrong talked openly about armed groups, while the Red Siam faction of the movement boasted about having a different and radical political ideology.

"There were no [armed] guard systems during the May [1992] and October [1973]" uprisings, said Abhisit, trying to draw a distinction between this red-shirt protest and its well-organised guards and that of other historic demonstrations.

When pressed on issues like the six deaths at Wat Pathum Wanaram - following wide circulation of pictures of soldiers stationed on a BTS rail-track aiming guns at the temple compound - the premier became less certain, despite the government's earlier insistence that the men in black were behind the six deaths on the eve of May 19.

"The government must continue to search for the truth … Do not think the committee that will be set up by the government will be biased o-n the side of the government. We won't do that."

Facing serious allegations that he is directly responsible for ordering the killing of dozens of mostly unarmed protesters, Abhisit flatly denied them and said if they were true "I should no longer remain in power".

The most-watched censure debate grilling of the government came from no less than Pheu Thai MP and key red-shirt leader Jatuporn, who will soon be detained by police after his parliamentary immunity expires today and Parliament is off session.

Very late on Monday night and in the early minutes of Tuesday, Jatuporn used his gifted oratory skill, so familiar to red-shirt followers, once again.

He accused the government of being behind the burning of CentralWorld, the killing of protesters, including the six at Wat Pathum Wanaram, in order to justify terrorism charges and blame red-shirt leaders.

"Do we really have to reconcile with cruel murderers who are responsible for 89 deaths? ... How long can you hold guns and keep other people's heads down? ... You talk about reconciliation but your heart is like [a knife] slitting others' throats ... If we had lots of weapons, why did 88 people [mostly civilians] die? ... For one loss of innocent life many would join the movement ... If people are hired [to fight] would they rather not flee after the first death? ... The most shameful media is [state-controlled] Channel 11. It lies to the people … now the red-shirt media have been shut so people can be fed with one-sided information," Jatuporn said.

Suthep earlier told the House that most of the people killed had criminal records.

Jatuporn replied that even if that was true, they did not deserve to be shot to death and urged the government to see those on the opposite political camp "as human beings".

Jatuporn, one of the three most charismatic leaders of the red-shirt movement, faces multiple charges, including terrorism.

He knows his days of freedom are numbered and he'll probably be arrested later today.

But, he said, the length of his "remaining freedom is not important". He wanted to "seek justice for those who have been killed".