Senators and civic groups yesterday denounced the Cabinet's decision to extend the emergency decree in Bangkok and 19 other provinces for another three months, saying this would jeopardise the government's national reconciliation plans.
Without the emergency law in place, the red shirts could return and cause more chaos, Suthep told the Cabinet.
Suthep had initially proposed the emergency be extended to cover 24 provinces, but this was opposed by PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, who said provinces like Nan, Si Sa Ket, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Prathom and Kalasin were calm enough for the decree to be lifted. The deputy prime minister was speaking in his capacity as chief of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation.
"I'm a bit concerned that we might get addicted to the emergency decree. In fact, this law will not help solve the problem. Look at the deep South, the law has been enforced for five years now, but the violence is still the same," Abhisit was quoted as telling the Cabinet.
Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Wiratpanich said the emergency law would not stop terrorists from assassinating government leaders because the job could be done anywhere and at any time.
In addition, the law would bring negative reactions to the national reconciliation plan, because people could say that the government enforced the law to suppress opponents, he said.
Senator Jittipot Wiriyawiroj from Si Sa Ket, who leads the Senate committee to monitor the political situation, said things in the country were not serious enough to need emergency law.
The emergency decree empowers the prime minister to mobilise resources from all government agencies and exercise his power without clear accountability, because the law's article 17 grants impunity to officials, Jittipot said.
President of the Law Society, Sak Khosangruang, said the government was putting the 19 provinces on par with those in the deep South, where violence takes place on a daily basis. "If the state of emergency remains, it means violence exists, but in fact the situation is not as tense and people can lead their lives as per normal," he said. "The state of emergency is affecting the tourism industry and investment, because foreigners think we're in a difficult situation."
Vice president of the Udon Thani Chamber of Commerce, Sithirat Jaruchaikul, said the emergency law was badly affecting tourism in the province. Saengthong Sithong-on, a street vendor in Udon Thani, said emergency should be lifted in the province because life was back to normal.
However, the governors in some provinces where the emergency decree is still in place, said the law was not affecting daily life. For instance, Ubon Ratchathani was able to hold its annual candle festival on the eve of Buddhist Lent last this month and tourists could visit the province as usual, acting Governor Wichit Chatpaisit said.
Red-shirt protesters set fire to the city halls in Ubon Ratchathani and Udon Thani on the day that the military cracked down on the rally in Bangkok.
The Cabinet yesterday also agreed in principle to grant amnesty to those who had taken military weapons off soldiers provided they returned them to the authorities. Abhisit, meanwhile, will propose the amnesty bill to the Parliament soon.