Thai PM asks opposition to study contents of reconciliation bills

BANGKOK, June 2 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged the opposition and protesters against draft reconciliation bills to thoroughly study their contents first, insisting that national reconciliation is one of her administration’s major policies as it enables the country to move forward. Yingluck suggested during her weekly broadcast today that all those opposing the four proposed reconciliation bills should not jump to the conclusion too early, but they should study the contents first. Her remarks were made following chaos inside the Thai Parliament earlier this week staged by main opposition Democrat Party MPs who charged that the four draft bills, if approved, would benefit exiled ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless coup on September 19, 2006. Thaksin, who is Premier Yingluck's elder brother, was sentenced to two years imprisonment in absentia for violating the 2010 Constitution by helping his now-ex wife, Khunying Pojaman Na Pombejra, purchase a prime plot of land in Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek area at an allegedly undercut price while he was in power. Yingluck said that protesters' rally against the draft bills are constitutional unless they violate the laws. (TNA)