Acknowledging the deep political division that for years has marred the Thai human rights community, prominent human rights lawyer Somchai Homlaor broke silence on Tuesday and said all Thai human rights activists have become politicised and partisan, one way or another.
"Right now, we will not be able to find people [for the committee] acceptable to everyone " said Somchai. "Such people no longer exist."
The remark, made in an exclusive interview with The Nation after months of silence, is predated by criticism of Somchai, condemned for his conspicuous silence in the weeks leading up to the military dispersal of red shirts, with its combined loss of 89 lives and nearly 2,000 injuries.
Some have abandoned all respect for Somchai, saying he's too yellow shirt, and allege his silence had tacitly condoned the government's use of brute force against largely unarmed protesters. Some even regarded Somchai as having lost most of his credibility among the international human rights community.
One human rights activist sympathetic to the red shirts, who asked not to be named, said Somchai was very pro-government and if appointed to the committee, they would oppose it.
"I can say outright that any committee set up by the government is not partial. The people's sector does not believe in the impartiality of this government," said the activist, urging foreign experts to investigate instead.
Somchai, who recently set up a centre for missing red-shirt people, said he wouldn't accept any role in a government committee. Instead, he would welcome any local and foreign groups who would conduct parallel investigations.
"It would help the government's committee to be more thorough in its work. It too might want to invite foreign experts."
Somchai said he kept silent for months due to his complicated feelings. He said a number of red-shirt leaders are old comrades, despite his disagreement here and there. "I'm in fact closer to the red-shirt leaders," said Somchai, who wrote a highly controversial e-mail prior to the 2006 coup urging friends who were critics of the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy not to be too hard on the movement.
Saying his political stance depended on whom you ask, Somchai said the emergency decree should now be lifted as some are afraid to come out to make complaints to police due to fear of being "targeted".
"We're seeing a climate of fear hampering the lodging of complaints. I demand the list of all those detained [under emergency decree] be revealed. What's happening is preventive detention. The decree should be lifted. Also, I cannot agree with the lese majeste law, which persecutes those with a different political ideology."
Somchai welcomed the appointment of Kanit na Nakorn as chair of the government's committee. Kanit, a retired former chief of the Office of the Attorney General, is regarded by red shirts as close to the Democrats, but Somchai said Kanit was "professional" enough.