Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date: 19-07-2009
Thailand as the host and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should not allow any domestic controversies to dilute the substance of the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phuket next week. Foreign ministers of Asean and their dialogue partners will have a series of discussions on the transformation of the group into a real legal-based regional community and many other important issues such as the deadly virus type-A (H1N1) pandemic and the ongoing global economic crisis.
Asean is in the process of becoming a community. Its charter came into force in December last year, and its economic, political-security and social communities are being established. The group aims to be a caring organisation, and terms of reference for the human-rights body are to be adopted by the foreign ministers during the Phuket meeting. The establishment of the mechanism will be officially announced at the 15th summit in October in Thailand.
The Asean Ministerial Meeting and Post Ministerial Conference in Phuket this week is also important for a high-profile dialogue partner like the United States, since Washington will sign in the Instruments of the Accession and Extension to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, a founding document of Asean, to foster the US role in the region.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will call a sideline meeting with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on Mekong-basin development and cross-border issues, suggesting a significant move by the US in the sub-region under the Asean footprint. Clinton will also take the opportunity to address US concern over political developments in Burma, notably the ongoing trial of opposition leader Aung San SuuKyi.
Every move during the Phuket meeting is significant and important for the future of Asean and its members. Nothing should overshadow the meeting.
Thailand took the position of rotating chairman of the group last year, and officials at the Foreign Ministry are already aiming high for many remarkable turning points in Asean. The group was born in Bangkok in 1967 as an ad-hoc grouping, and Thailand hoped that it would turn into a legal-based international organisation in its native Bangkok last year.
The Asean charter really came into force with Thailand's chairmanship, but unfortunately the announcement could not be made in the Kingdom due to political difficulty after the airport closure by the protesting People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), of which the current foreign minister Kasit Piromya is an active member and the Democrat Party a major supporter. The charter's announcement was scheduled for the 14th Asean summit due in Chiang Mai in December but was made at Asean headquarters in Jakarta instead.
Thailand's domestic political problems have hurt Asean again since then. The PAD's enemy red-shirt movement took revenge on the Democrat-led government by disrupting a major Asean summit with partners from Asia and the Pacific in Pattaya in April, storming into the meeting venue.
Internal political conflict is not over yet. The government has not given up its attempts to hunt down its foe former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Thaksin's supporters are not giving up either. The red shirts keep up anti-government protest.
They say they will not stage any protest in Phuket to disrupt the Asean meeting, but nobody believes them since Thaksin has called on them to take action against the meeting to discredit the government.
The military has stepped up restrictions and security measures to control the whole of Phuket island during the Asean meeting. Security is so tight as to disturb local people and tourists. The military has set up a lot of checkpoints on the island and will keep all unregistered vehicles off the island. The atmosphere in Phuket is almost like that in the restive South, where troops pop up everywhere hunting for insurgents.
The red shirts have not moved yet, but the opposition has begun to use the Asean event to campaign against the government. Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit on Tuesday petitioned Clinton via the US Embassy accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of having no legitimacy to administer the country.
The government will not sit still and will take the opportunity of the Asean meeting to move against Thaksin, with Kasit in the chair informing his Asean counterparts of his government's stance on Thaksin and asking them to block Thaksin's movements.
The foreign minister used the forum of the Non-Allied Movement in Egypt to move against Thaksin, meeting his counterparts from Malaysia and Montenegro to verify recent reports of the presence of the deposed premier in those countries. Thaksin claims he holds a Montenegrin passport and has stopped over in Kuala Lumpur with the protection of the Malaysian special branch.
Kasit may repeat his performance during the Asean meeting and thus provoke Thaksin's supporters to retaliate. If both sides spoil the Asean forum for their own political gain, the meeting will be overshadowed by a domestic issue. If the retaliation is strong, it could turn into violence and disrupt the meeting.
The best way is for the government to concentrate on the substance of Asean and not try to bring Thaksin or anything related to Thaksin to Phuket.
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date: 19-07-2009
Thailand as the host and chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should not allow any domestic controversies to dilute the substance of the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phuket next week. Foreign ministers of Asean and their dialogue partners will have a series of discussions on the transformation of the group into a real legal-based regional community and many other important issues such as the deadly virus type-A (H1N1) pandemic and the ongoing global economic crisis.
Asean is in the process of becoming a community. Its charter came into force in December last year, and its economic, political-security and social communities are being established. The group aims to be a caring organisation, and terms of reference for the human-rights body are to be adopted by the foreign ministers during the Phuket meeting. The establishment of the mechanism will be officially announced at the 15th summit in October in Thailand.
The Asean Ministerial Meeting and Post Ministerial Conference in Phuket this week is also important for a high-profile dialogue partner like the United States, since Washington will sign in the Instruments of the Accession and Extension to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, a founding document of Asean, to foster the US role in the region.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will call a sideline meeting with Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on Mekong-basin development and cross-border issues, suggesting a significant move by the US in the sub-region under the Asean footprint. Clinton will also take the opportunity to address US concern over political developments in Burma, notably the ongoing trial of opposition leader Aung San SuuKyi.
Every move during the Phuket meeting is significant and important for the future of Asean and its members. Nothing should overshadow the meeting.
Thailand took the position of rotating chairman of the group last year, and officials at the Foreign Ministry are already aiming high for many remarkable turning points in Asean. The group was born in Bangkok in 1967 as an ad-hoc grouping, and Thailand hoped that it would turn into a legal-based international organisation in its native Bangkok last year.
The Asean charter really came into force with Thailand's chairmanship, but unfortunately the announcement could not be made in the Kingdom due to political difficulty after the airport closure by the protesting People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), of which the current foreign minister Kasit Piromya is an active member and the Democrat Party a major supporter. The charter's announcement was scheduled for the 14th Asean summit due in Chiang Mai in December but was made at Asean headquarters in Jakarta instead.
Thailand's domestic political problems have hurt Asean again since then. The PAD's enemy red-shirt movement took revenge on the Democrat-led government by disrupting a major Asean summit with partners from Asia and the Pacific in Pattaya in April, storming into the meeting venue.
Internal political conflict is not over yet. The government has not given up its attempts to hunt down its foe former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Thaksin's supporters are not giving up either. The red shirts keep up anti-government protest.
They say they will not stage any protest in Phuket to disrupt the Asean meeting, but nobody believes them since Thaksin has called on them to take action against the meeting to discredit the government.
The military has stepped up restrictions and security measures to control the whole of Phuket island during the Asean meeting. Security is so tight as to disturb local people and tourists. The military has set up a lot of checkpoints on the island and will keep all unregistered vehicles off the island. The atmosphere in Phuket is almost like that in the restive South, where troops pop up everywhere hunting for insurgents.
The red shirts have not moved yet, but the opposition has begun to use the Asean event to campaign against the government. Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit on Tuesday petitioned Clinton via the US Embassy accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of having no legitimacy to administer the country.
The government will not sit still and will take the opportunity of the Asean meeting to move against Thaksin, with Kasit in the chair informing his Asean counterparts of his government's stance on Thaksin and asking them to block Thaksin's movements.
The foreign minister used the forum of the Non-Allied Movement in Egypt to move against Thaksin, meeting his counterparts from Malaysia and Montenegro to verify recent reports of the presence of the deposed premier in those countries. Thaksin claims he holds a Montenegrin passport and has stopped over in Kuala Lumpur with the protection of the Malaysian special branch.
Kasit may repeat his performance during the Asean meeting and thus provoke Thaksin's supporters to retaliate. If both sides spoil the Asean forum for their own political gain, the meeting will be overshadowed by a domestic issue. If the retaliation is strong, it could turn into violence and disrupt the meeting.
The best way is for the government to concentrate on the substance of Asean and not try to bring Thaksin or anything related to Thaksin to Phuket.
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