A House dissolution would be the best option to deter political violence amid protests against the blanket amnesty bill, a seminar was told yesterday.
While admitting that a dissolution would not resolve the political conflict, Thammasat University vice-rector Nakharin Mektrairat said such a move would spare the country unsavoury and damaging incidents.
He said a House dissolution would help create a channel for concerned parties to work things out and would best sustain the political system.
Mr Nakharin, also a political scientist, said the government should realise that its majority in the House does not give it the privilege to do as it pleases.
Speaking at the seminar on the amnesty bill, organised by the Thai Journalists Association, Mr Nakharin said the campaign against the bill is the civil sector's most active movement since the 1973 student uprising. Politicians, meanwhile, have shown a lapse in standards by passing the bill, he said.
Thawee Prachuaplarp, chief of Appeal Court Region 9, agreed that a House dissolution would deter any untoward incidents. "The only solution is to dissolve the House and return the mandate to the people. There would then be nothing to justify a protest," he said.
Guest speakers at the forum expressed their disappointment with the House of Representatives, which rushed to pass the bill, and with the government for failing to follow the suggestions of the now-defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Phayao Akkahad, the mother of a nurse killed at Wat Pathum Wanaram during the May, 2010, political violence, called on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Pheu Thai MPs to apologise to the public for forcing the amnesty draft through. She said the bill is an insult to the people and she is ready to take to the streets to protest against it.
Nicha Thuwatham, wife of Gen Romklao Thuwatham, who was killed on April 10, 2010, during the unrest, lashed out at the government for not trying to establish facts. She said Department of Special Investigation chief Tarit Pengdith should be removed from his post for supporting the amnesty bill.
Ms Nicha said the government might gain some credibility in its efforts to achieve national reconciliation if Mr Tarit was removed.
Both Ms Phayao and Ms Nicha voiced concerns about possible confrontations between the supporters and opponents of the bill and called on each side to take a step back.
Elected senator Rosana Tositrakul yesterday defended the Group of 40 Senators' decision to boycott Friday's Senate meeting to vote on the amnesty bill.
She said the government was passing the responsibility to the Senate amid public outrage and heaving the blame on to those who did not attend the meeting.
"The government and the Pheu Thai MPs who voted for the bill are trying to get away with the problem," she said.
"They have thrown the problem to the Senate, which was divided in the first place over the bill.
"Now those in favour of the bill are in a rush to kill it after the government sent a signal. The rush to consider the amnesty draft will mar the Senate's standing."