Thailand's National Reconciliation Commission: a flawed response to the Southern Conflict

Abstract

This article examines the work of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) (2005–06), an independent body established by the government of Thailand to address a violent conflict in the country's southern border provinces. From the outset, the 50-member NRC chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun was too large and unwieldy to function effectively. At the most basic level, there was a lack of trust and openness among the Commission's members which curtailed frank discussions. Because the political dimensions of the conflict were seen as off-limits, for a variety of cultural and historical reasons, the NRC produced a report that emphasized issues of justice, but failed to engage with the core questions underpinning the violence. Locating the NRC within an emerging global landscape of comparable ‘truth commissions’, the article argues that however well-intentioned, the Thai commission lacked clear goals, and was rather disappointing in its achievements.