Past committees set up to determine ways to deal with the problem, which has continued for over a decade, mostly came up with a suggestion to offer amnesty to those who violated the law due to political reasons.

Altogether seven such committees were established between 2009 and 2016 for the mission and they submitted separate reports with suggestions on how to achieve reconciliation. The proposals differed from one committee to another, but many of the study groups agreed that amnesty was needed to achieve national unity.

A National Reform Council committee charged with studying ways to achieve reconciliation, which was set up in 2015 and headed by independent scholar Anek Laothamatas, found that most political leaders involved in the conflict wanted amnesty to be granted. This finding was included in the panel’s report on suggestions for reconciliation.

Amnesty for select groups, particularly ordinary protesters and state officials performing their duties, was also proposed by other panels set up to study ways to reach reconciliation.

These include the Truth for National Reconciliation Committee headed by Kanit Na Nakorn that was set up in 2010 after deadly political unrest, the King Pokklao’s Institute, and the House Subcommittee on National Reconciliation that was set up in 2012 and headed by former coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

Suggestions on amnesty by the Sonthi panel were included in a bill for national reconciliation that covered law offences stemming from political conflicts between September 2006 and May 2011.

Shortly afterwards, in 2012, the then-ruling Pheu Thai Party proposed a separate draft law for national reconciliation that called for blanket amnesty for offenders of all crimes committed during the political conflicts. Critics said the proposed law would also benefit corrupt politicians facing legal action. They claimed Pheu Thai politicians had former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in mind when they proposed the amnesty bill.

The bill managed to sail through the House of Representatives, leading to a public outcry. Widespread dissatisfaction led to street protests that continued for several months before the military staged a coup in May 2014.

Even after the coup, the Constitu-tion Drafting Commis-sion’s subcommittee on reconciliation, set up in 2015 and headed by Bhumarat Taksadipong, also came up with a proposal for granting amnesty to people who had committed wrongdoings linked to the political conflicts, except for severe crimes and lese majeste.

However, in the latest effort to promote reconciliation, the post-coup government aims to get Thailand out of the years of conflict and achieve sustainable reconciliation, according to Ekkachai Srivilas, secretary of the National Reform Steering Assembly’s subcommittee charged with finding a way to end political conflicts and reach reconciliation.

He said his panel, which was set up recently and headed by academic Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, had to come up with means and methods to reach unity and reconciliation, as requested by the government.

The panel is studying suggestions presented by its seven predecessors in their separate reports. Its members include representatives from the four major conflicting parties – Pheu Thai, the Democrat Party, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, and People’s Democratic Reform Committee. Hopefully, the latest panel will be able to come up with practical suggestions that are acceptable to all sides. But their proposals are unlikely to be put into practice completely by this government. It will have to depend on the next administration, to be formed after the election, to push the measures further to reach the long-awaited reconciliation.