On the 17^th anniversary of the May 1992 events, Thaipost tabloid talked to Adul Kiewboribul, leader of the group of relatives of those who were killed or went missing during the bloody clashes with the army on the streets of Bangkok.

After the incident, Adul, who lost his son, and others set up the Committee of the Relatives of the May ’92 Martyrs.  They made three demands to subsequent governments: find the culprits for punishment; take care of the affected persons and families; and build a memorial to the May incident to remind the powers that be, including the military in particular, not to use violence to crush the people and to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

According to Adul, in 1993, the Democrat-led government of Chuan Leekpai approved a Cabinet resolution ordering the Treasury Department to set aside a plot of land called Suan Santiporn near the Government Lottery Office on Ratchadamnern Road as the site of the memorial.  The budget was, however, under negotiation.

The next government of Banharn Silpa-acha did nothing on the issue.  Not until 1997, when Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyuth was Prime Minister, was there any attempt to find the missing persons.  Chavalit tried to let the relatives search inside military bases, but that yielded no results.

During the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, a committee chaired by Jaturon Chaisang was set up to conduct investigations, compensate those affected and find the missing. 

But after 6-7 months of work, Adul heard that they stumbled over something and could not carry on, and there was some attempt to intimidate them.  The Committee of the Relatives of the May ’92 Martyrs felt that this was going nowhere, so it pushed for a new independent panel to be set up, which should be strong, neutral and capable of doing the job.

He said democracy organizations had to have several meetings, and finally decided to invite public figures like Ananda Panyarachun, who was appointed Prime Minister twice, after the coup in 1991 and after the bloody May incident in 1992, and ‘senior citizen’ Dr Prawase Wasi and some other retired top bureaucrats to sit on the panel.

The Thaksin government appointed this panel in July 2002, giving it the authority to investigate all state agencies including the military, and consider compensation for damages.  Over a year later, the panel presented its proposals to the government, which, on Dec 30, 2003, agreed to 11 out of the 14 recommendations.  

The government agreed, for example, to recognize May 17 each year as a memorial day, but not a public holiday, and sponsor and co-host annual commemorative events with the May Foundation.  The May Foundation was assigned to take charge of building the memorial with a budget provided by the government.  Compensation for damages was agreed in principle, but the figures were not yet discussed.  To prevent a repeat of military violence in future, the military would have to get prior approval from the government before mobilizing its troops.  Riot-control personnel would have to be specifically trained, and police would be the main force in riot control.  Riot-control measures should start from light to heavy, and live ammunition would be forbidden. 

‘Among the three points that were rejected, I remember one was a big issue.  We called on the government to ratify international laws on genocide and the International Criminal Court (the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – Prachatai). The government said it could not do this, claiming that might violate certain authorities,’ said Adul.

Regarding missing persons, Adul said that the relatives took a year to search places allowed by the military, although they knew that nothing would be found there, all the clues having already been erased.  But they have kept watch over any new information or clues to emerge.  So last week they wrote to urge the government to look into the case of containers found abandoned on the seabed in Chonburi.

‘I once met Gen Suchinda [Kraprayoon] (1991 coup leader whose Premiership in 1992 was opposed by demonstrators – Prachatai).  He said he was sorry and gave his apology to all the relatives.  But he would never apologize to the people.  He said although he had no violent intentions and he never ordered violence, as Prime Minister and a military man he would not deny responsibility.  And he said if the relatives needed any help, we could meet and talk.  But I told him that it was not his duty or the duty of the other coup leaders.  It was the government’s duty,’ said Adul.

Adul told Suchinda that if in future the latter wished to ask for formal exoneration from the relatives, he could arrange it.  And he asked Suchinda to try to make public the confidential findings of a panel headed by now Privy Councillor Gen Pichitr Kullavanijaya, which was set up many years ago to investigate the May incident.  He also asked Suchinda to try to retrieve the bodies of the missing persons.

Adul received some information that the bodies were in containers under the sea, but was not told where.  He and the other relatives tried and failed to get the information from rescue foundations which helped take care of bodies in the incident.  He has received bits and pieces of information which led nowhere.

‘Sometimes I received calls from a mobile phone, but when I called back, the number had been cancelled.  One man told me he was a retired navy officer.’

When there were news reports on containers believed to contain human skulls and bones, the relatives had a dim hope as they were familiar with this kind of information.

Currently, the officially recognized number of missing persons is 38, but Adul said the real figure was higher than that.

‘This figure is the number of persons who were proved 100% to be missing, which the government cannot refuse.  But there are over 300 persons who are very likely to be missing.  We have asked the government to prove this, so that that can be announced, but the government refused to do it.  And 500 more cases of missing persons have been filed,’ said Adul.

However, he has lost contact with the relatives of those 300 cases since 7-8 years after the incident.

Adul had a chance to talk with two of the three commanders who were on duty during the incident.  Lt Gen Sampao Chusri and Lt Gen Chainarong Noonpakdee responded to him in the same way as Suchinda: as military men, they would never deny responsibility.  The other commander he has never had a chance to talk to is former Prime Minister and now Privy Councillor Gen Surayud Chulanont.