BANGKOK — Three top leaders of the Redshirt movement met individually with army officers today after being invited to share their opinions on the junta’s national reform efforts.

The politicians were personally welcomed by Lt.Gen. Boontham Oris, the deputy director of the junta’s Center for Reconciliation and Reform, which has organized several state-sanctioned forums for prominent political leaders, academics, and activists.

Independently-organized discussions on politics remain banned by the junta, which seized power from the Redshirt-backed government in May 2014.

The political figures who met with army officers today included Chaturon Chaisaeng, a former Pheu Thai Party politician, and Jatuporn Prompan and Nattawut Saikua, two leaders of the Redshirts’ United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). Reporters were not allowed to observe the discussions.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting, Chaturon said he and the officers discussed the junta’s economic policies, new constitution, reconciliation efforts, and restrictions on freedom of expression.

Chaturon, a former MP and Cabinet Minister, said he told the officers that the upcoming referendum on the new charter, which is being drafted by junta-appointed councils, will be a "waste of money" if the military does not lift its ban on political debates. 

"If the referendum is not a free one, it will be a waste of money," Chaturon said. "Let me repeat: don't hold a referendum that binds people's hands and only allows people to express their agreement with the charter, because that will only result in undemocratic rules and unsustainable peace. In the end, conflict will return to the country."

Thailand’s previous constitution, which was dissolved by the military shortly after the coup, was put to a referendum in 2007 but only gave voters the option to accept or reject the document, without specifying an alternative. Critics believe many Thais reluctantly approved the charter – which was also written by a junta-appointed council – out of fear of prolonged military rule.

Chaturon also criticized the junta’s reconciliation efforts, citing the need for free debate in order to address the root causes of Thailand’s protracted political conflict. For much of the past decade, Thailand has been rocked by a power struggle between the mostly-rural and pro-democracy Redshirts, and a network of conservative middle and upper class Bangkokians, bureaucrats, and traditional elites.

Several leaders of the latter movement, commonly referred to as the Yellowshirts, are scheduled to meet with army officers to share their views on the junta's reform campaign tomorrow. 

"Throughout all this time, the [junta's] reforms have not addressed the root causes of conflict in this country: that laws were not respected, and the [former] government was unable to enforce the laws," Chaturon said. "So, [the junta leaders] need to ask themselves, do they want peace? If they want sustainable peace, there has to be a widespread exchange of opinions." 

Thailand's ruling junta has come under steady criticism from rights groups and foreign democratic governments for its clampdown on freedom of expression over the past year. Under the leadership of former army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta has maintained a ban on all political protests, pressured the media into self-censorship, and interfered with at least 73 forums on sensitive political topics.

The junta has also repeatedly postponed the date for national elections. At present, authorities say an election will take place in September 2016, given that the charter is approved and the political climate is deemed stable. 

After emerging from his meeting with officers today, UDD chairman Jatuporn said he stressed the need for a "transparent" referendum.

"They need to explain the referendum to foreigners, not only to Thai people," Jatuporn said. "If it is done in a transparent, efficient, and unblemished way, no matter what the result is, the country will be able to move forward. I am not personally afraid that [the junta’s use of] state power will interfere with the referendum, because the more power they use, the more resistance there will be." 

He added, "The people who assume the roles as referees must also perform their duties straightforwardly. Don't act like referees in [professional] wrestling, because all of them are unfair." 

NARATHIWAT — Thai officials say they have repealed the arrest warrants of 22 former suspected members of the separatist movement in southern Thailand in an effort to promote reconciliation during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Chamnan Muendam, the deputy governor of Narathiwat, said the 22 men were wanted by authorities for their suspected connections to local insurgent groups that have been waging a violent campaign to secede the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani and form a breakaway Islamic state.

The former fugitives surrendered to authorities and have abandoned their armed struggle in favor of a peaceful solution to the conflict, he said.

"[We] are proceeding with the government's policy of opening opportunities for those who think differently from the state or those who took up violent methods, and allowing them to return and solve the problems with peaceful methods," Chamnan said. 

Yesterday Thai army officials explained that suspected insurgents charged with crimes under the Emergency Decree, which has been in place in the region for a decade and grants security officers sweeping powers to detain and arrest suspects, will have their warrants revoked if they can prove their innocence.

Speaking today, Chamnan explained that members of the insurgent movement may also be granted legal amnesty if they prove their "innocent intention" by disavowing the violent campaign.

Thai authorities say the program is an effort to promote reconciliation during Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims that began today.

The deputy governor also handed over certificates to the 22 former suspects, confirming that their previous arrest warrants issued under the Emergency Decree have been formally revoked, and they are now free to return to their normal lives. 

The secessionist campaign in Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani – a region known as the Deep South – has claimed the lives of more than 6,200 people since the most recent waves of violence broke out in January 2004, according to data compiled by rights groups.

Thai authorities have responded to the insurgency by deploying at least 60,000 security officers in the Deep South, and maintaining martial law and the Emergency Decree for more than nine years.

BANGKOK (DPA) — When Myanmar began a gradual reintegration into the international community in 2011, after decades of isolation under a military regime, some saw it as a reward for the patience of the regional grouping called ASEAN.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations has a long-established, unspoken agreement not to interfere in members' internal affairs, which observers said allowed it to keep Myanmar on board through years of criticism and pressure from other parts of the world.

The military regime was isolated by Western sanctions, "but as an ASEAN member, it was part of the economic cooperation process," said South-East Asia diplomatic expert Chayut Setboonsarng.

"This regional environment of non-interference and acceptance created an atmosphere of comfort" that encouraged Myanmar to move forward with its reforms, said Chayut, a consultant at government affairs advisory firm APCO Worldwide.

The bloc did take some measures, including barring Myanmar from the rotating chairmanship, but stopped short of threatening expulsion, or commenting openly on its internal politics.

Myanmar's leaders were therefore able to "make credible commitments about their intentions in relation to liberalization and democratization," Catherine Renshaw wrote in the Journal of Southeast Asian Affairs.

Four years on, as ASEAN contemplates ever-closer integration, that non-interference principle has been put to the test by a crisis which many see as having originated in Myanmar itself.

Thousands of Rohingya migrants from Myanmar made global headlines in June, stranded on fishing boats operated by human smugglers, trying to migrate to Malaysia and Indonesia through Thailand, and sometimes abandoned at sea.

Human rights groups say the Rohingya face "desperate" conditions in Myanmar, which does not recognize them as one of its ethnicities and considers them Bengali immigrants opening them up to institutional discrimination.

Indonesia and Malaysia agreed at a conference near Kuala Lumpur last month to temporarily shelter the migrants, but observers said that any durable solution requires the problem to be addressed at its Myanmar source.

Attempts to solve it "without seriously pressing Myanmar to deal with the Rohingya" would be "useless," a member of the Thai delegation to a subsequent regional conference in Bangkok said, on condition of anonymity.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first voices to speak out on the record have been from outside ASEAN, in particular Western NGOs and the United Nations, with the bloc's members themselves carefully avoiding the term "Rohingya" during their meeting.

"Citizenship must be the ultimate goal" for the Rohingya, said Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner of the UN refugee agency, adding that Myanmar must accept "full responsibility."

Richard Bennett, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director, slammed Myanmar for its "denial that the Rohingya even exist. This cannot be the basis on which to proceed."

Former ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said after the conference that there had to be some change in the status quo.

"The idea of non-interference should have its limitations, or the Rohingya problem will turn out worse for all of us," Surin said.

The problems of the Muslim Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are "probably internal, but no country in this world has the right to treat people like Myanmar does," said Surin, a Muslim himself.

"ASEAN leaders need to recognize that it's time for the regional grouping to evolve by doing away with its archaic non-interference rules that are not compatible with today's challenges," said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch's Asia deputy director.

"Myanmar's systematic rights abuses against the Rohingya and their absurd denial of those abuses are the rock that ASEAN's so-called 'non-interference' principle may ultimately break on."

Within ASEAN, some have started calling for some revision of the principle.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad went as far as calling for the expulsion of Myanmar from ASEAN.

"Countries like these only give [ASEAN] a bad name," he said.

"If you want to commit genocide, leave ASEAN," he said at an international conference in Oslo in May.

"The fate of the people there needs to be defended from the outside."

(Reporting by Cod Satrusayang)