Thai PM promises to accept Senate's decision on amnesty bill

BANGKOK, November 5 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has promised that her government will accept the Senate's decision on the controversial amnesty bill, no matter whether it will stop or revise it. Yingluck told a press conference in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon, after the Thai Cabinet's weekly meeting, that she would not use the majority vote in the House of Representatives to push for the amnesty bill against people's feelings and if the Senate later voted to stop or to revise the draft bill, she would accept the Upper House's decision. Yingluck noted that the amnesty bill has been forwarded to the Senate for further debate, after the House constitutionally approved it in a majority vote last week. As the matter has caused ongoing political strife among the public, institutions, political parties and even internal differences in political parties, with feared violence subsequently, the prime minister insisted that she will let the Senate make its decision on the amnesty bill independently. The prime minister said, however, that the amnesty bill should not be used as a political tool to overthrow her government and the democratic rule of the nation. The prime minister stressed that the Thai Senate is independent and should base its decision on the amnesty bill on national reconciliation and mercy for the people who have been in trouble due to past political turbulence for a long time and should, thus, deserve justice. The Thai premier dismissed an allegation that the amnesty bill would embrace corruption, explaining that the amnesty bill would pardon both those affected by Thailand's past political incidents and those involving in a coup d'etat on September 19, 2006, which violated the rule of law. Meanwhile, a mass protesting rally against the government-backed amnesty bill, led by Thailand's main opposition Democrat Party, at the Democracy Monument on Rajadamnoen Avenue in the heart of Bangkok has continued peacefully so far. The protesters have demanded that the controversial amnesty bill be withdrawn from parliamentary processes. Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanatabutr, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC), assessed that it remains unnecessary to issue any regulation or ban on the political protest, as people have been exercising their right in line with the Constitution and no one has complained against any impact of the demonstration, while the government has brought the protest under control. Metropolitan Police Chief Police Lieutenant General Kamronwit acknowledged, nonetheless, that a number of people have expressed their concerns the street protest, coupled with the reopening of schools, should have serious traffic impacts on commuters travelling to the Bowonniwet Vihara Temple to pay their last respects to His Holiness late Supreme Patriarch, who passed away on October 24, 2013. Economists cautioned that the ongoing domestic political strife would limit Thailand's economic growth rate at 3.5-4 per cent this year and next year, as it would affect the Thai tourism, investment and the overall economy. (TNA)