Thailand’s ongoing disputes

Thaksin has been in the news again. This time with his interview with the Times newspaper.
The contents of the interview can be found in the Times website of course, but I am going to talk about that later. What I am now interested in, is the statement made by Thaksin from Phnom Penh that the Times distorted his interview. 

There might be some merits in his claim, the Times may have shuffled some of the words to make the headline looked exciting, however when one looks at the full transcript, the contents of the interview are the answer. In addition to this, The Times said that the person who did the script was from Thaksin’s side.

The Times wrote about the less-majeste law the following day. It said that Thailand should not have this law anymore as it prevents the Thai people from exercising their full civil rights. It seems to me that the Times was trying to impose Western values on society which may be different from them. For the majority of the Thai people, the King and the monarchy are sacred and should not be subject to criticisms. We regard them as the living Gods. We all know that individual’s beliefs and one’s religion should be highly respected and should not be a subject to political manipulation. This should also be applied to Thai people and their highly revered monarch.

The appointment of Thaksin as Cambodian economic adviser should not be left unspoken about. Many people feel that Thai government’s order to bring the ambassador home was too harsh and would damage long established Thai-Cambodian relations. I hold a rather different view. At the ASEAN Summit last month, the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen told a group of reporters that he was planning to appoint Mr.Thaksin as his economic adviser. The Thai government then warned Cambodia that it should put the country’s interests before personal friendship. When the appointment actually happened, it was appropriate to respond by bringing Thai ambassador home.

 Yet many people wonder why Thailand was so worried and whether there was a double standard in responding to Cambodia but not other countries where Thaksin had been staying in the last couples of months.  It is not hard though to find the answer. Firstly, Cambodia is the neighbouring country to Thailand. It is normal for neighbouring countries to have conflicts of interests especially in terms of defence and national stability. Even though Thaksin has good intentions, it could not stop him being a subject of suspicions and criticisms. Secondly, Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia stressed the importance of his friendship with Thaksin. This could be seen as putting personal matters before country’s interests. Thirdly, Thaksin is a person who has been found guilty in the court. It is inappropriate for Cambodian government to appoint such a person as economic adviser especially where his home country is next door.

The claim that Thailand’s current Prime Minister, Mr.Abhisit Vejjajiva is undemocratic because he was not elected from his people is rather misleading. Mr.Abhisit was elected by the people to the House of Representatives. When Mr.Samak and Mr.Somchai, his predecessors were found guilty in the court, the other coalition parties decided to elect Mr.Abhisit as the new Prime Minister. Mr.Abhisit is therefore a Prime Minister from a democratic election and a democratic Parliament.
“These views are entirely personal and subject to change without prior notice ^ ^”

A tribute to my father

This blog is created in the name of my father who passed away unexpectedly
on 10 August 2009

My father had given me much more than I can possibly say. He introduced me to the world of politics and history, which later became my main interests. He was the one who gave tremendous motivation and support as I pursued my interests in this field. 

This blog is intended to publicise my personal opinions on various contemporary issues on the grounds of politics, economics and other current interesting debates. The contents are entirely personal.

Once again, this blog is a tribute to my beloved father.
24.10.09