Snapshots from the reception line

[rooster59]

Snapshots from the reception line

By The Nation Weekend

 

Aung San Suu Kyi is greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. Photo courtesy of Foreign Ministry

 

Leaders of other Southeast Asian countries are arriving in Bangkok one after another to attend the 34th Asean Summit this weekend. 

 

Malaysain Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad meets other Asean leaders. Photo courtesy of Foreign Ministry

 

The parade of power

 

Leaders of other Southeast Asian countries are arriving in Bangkok one after another to attend the 34th Asean Summit this weekend. 

 

On Thursday Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his wife were the first to arrive, greeted by Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda.

 

Myanmar’s State Counsellor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi followed on Friday, received by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon. 

 

The other seven leaders were expected to reach Bangkok on Friday night or Saturday morning, with the summit set to formally begin on Saturday evening.

 

They’ll skip the funky shirts

 

Summit organisers, no doubt to the relief of the visiting leaders, have decided to forego the Asean custom of having them all dress in matching garments that reflect the traditional costume of the host country. 

 

Officially, there’ll be no costumed photo-op because this is only a “half-year summit”. A more formal Asean gathering later this year will indeed see the leaders in festive “team jerseys” trying not to smirk.

 

 

Silver souvenirs

 

Among the souvenirs Asean leaders and their spouses will receive in Bangkok are garlands of silver flowers, meant to symbolise Asean unity, impervious to withering. 

 

The design is by Naruemon Tonchai, recognised in 2014 by the Support Arts and Crafts International Centre of Thailand as an outstanding art teacher and an expert silversmith. 

 

The garland is much like those made of actual flowers and commonly shared among Thai Buddhists.

 

What we do best

 

The menu for hungry Asean leaders this weekend is mainly intended to represent “Thainess” – our best-known dishes, in other words. They’ll get tom yum kung, pad thai and massaman curry (beef or chicken), and no doubt some grilled river prawns with chilli sauce, with mango and sweet sticky rice to finish off.

 

More of a surprise will be samples of venerable dishes from the distant past such as ma hor (galloping horse) and tung tong (golden bag). 

 

A day at the barges

 

On Sunday, spouses of the leaders will be given a guided tour of the National Museum of Royal Barges. The aim is to impress the visitors with the amazingly intricate craftsmanship that has gone into the vessels for hundreds of years. 

 

The spouses will view an exhibition of photos of glorious Royal Barge Processions – including the Suphannahong, Anantanakkharat and Narai Song Suban vessels – while seeing first-hand two of the “stars” of those historic events. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30371535

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-06-22

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[Matzzon]

9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Leaders of other Southeast Asian countries are arriving in Bangkok

Didn´t they say leaders of the world? What is Aung San Suu Kyi doing there then? If they mean democratic leaders of the world, they got an even bigger problem.

[colinneil]

First photo shows 2 BS merchants, make me want to puke.????

[TVGerry]

7 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Didn´t they say leaders of the world? What is Aung San Suu Kyi doing there then? If they mean democratic leaders of the world, they got an even bigger problem.

This is ASEAN. Almost every leader of the member countries are either strongmen or don't really give two shits about democracy.

You may not like Aung San Suu Kyi but she's in good company.

[Reigntax]

Pretend leaders of SE asia all meet to swap ideas on how to supress the majority and siphon the troughs dry.

[Matzzon]

1 hour ago, TVGerry said:

This is ASEAN.

Really? Not shit!

1 hour ago, TVGerry said:

Almost every leader of the member countries are either strongmen or don't really give two shits about democracy.

That´s what I wrote, but in a different way.

1 hour ago, TVGerry said:

You may not like Aung San Suu Kyi but she's in good company.

Never said i didn´t like her. Just that she is not in control of her country.

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, Reigntax said:

Pretend leaders of SE asia all meet to swap ideas on how to supress the majority and siphon the troughs dry.

Already dry for most Thai people... 

[Artisi]

8 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Really? Not shit!

That´s what I wrote, but in a different way.

Never said i didn´t like her. Just that she is not in control of her country.

Not that much different than Thailand, the military can assume control any time it suits them to do so. 

[Alan Michael]

Aung San Suu Kyi hasn't got much power to do anything in Burma. She's not allowed to and she has very little control. She is just the poster girl for the military government's democratic tokenism.

The military government are the ones that are in control.

I would imagine that she has to walk a very fine line.

Perhaps there is a dislike of the Bangladeshi immigrants in Burma, because of their religious separatism and how Muslims generally regard non Muslims  ( or infidel as we are called )

[Basil B]

Understandable that they will not be using Pattaya again...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/11/thailand-economics