Thai government insists on moving reconciliation through parliament process

BANGKOK, March 30 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit insisted on Friday that his Puea Thai Party-led coalition government has remained firm on building national reconciliation through the parliament process, despite the opposition's objection. Yongyuth, who is also Interior Minister, told journalists several concerned parties have shared a similar idea that a report recently issued by a House committee on national reconciliation, chaired by the Matubhum Party's leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who is also a former Thai army chief and a former coup leader in September 2006, is to be moved forward to achieve the national reconciliation, acknowledging that the opposition cannot stop the parliament process. According to the Thai deputy premier, a proposal recently aired by Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda to hold talks with exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in the 2006 coup, to create a conducive atmosphere for national reconciliation is considered positive. (TNA)