Govt Mum On Sultan Staying In Thaksin's Home, During The Asean Summit

[Thai at Heart]

Geriatrickid: Thanks, I was being facetious about Ghadafi. I know how the visa stuff works with the UN and I followed the tent antics with amusement. Seems the neighbors weren't too pleased at the Trump estate.

ASEAN doesn't seem to do much, that's a statement I have to agree with, but in the past it has pesented a good show. Lots of photo ops etc. The endless postponements, etc. have had their effect and the countries have extracted their revenge--they weren't there for the important stuff, like the opening.

The stuff about the members being afraid of the red shirts is extremely dubious. I very much doubt that Hun Sen was living in fear of them. The military presence alone was enough to insure no major incidents.

World wide Thailand has lost a tremendous amount of credibility. I recently returned from overseas and the press and opinions of people is largely negative. The Songkhran riots don't loom large in their memories, but the take over the airport sure does.

But back on topic: Where did the Sultan stay? Why is the gov't mum--maybe they don't know?

Your last statement is the most worrying of all. They didn't know? In which case, maybe he never left? Next possibility is he never arrived as an excuse.

You are right in that Thailand has lost an enormous amount of credibility. In Asean countries the April riots are still talked about a lot at least by colleagues of mine around the region. The airport closure made bigger headlines around europe at least because it inconvenienced so many from that part of the world. I don't know about the opinions of people from the US that much other than American colleagues not wanting to come here for regional get-togethers after people seeing the guns waved around under the expressway very close to them having a meeting in a nearby office block.

[Publicus]

Ok let's get some info clear here -

All HOS (Head Of State) accommodations were decided or shall i say assigned by the host country, in which this case is Thailand. If the host country assigned a place, the embassy of the respective country will inspect and plan the whole logistic together with their own country security advisors (special task force). If the accommodation assigned is not suitable for some reasons (as the whole govt team will need to be close to the HOS as this is an official visit) then the host country will require to find a suitable replacement to the country's request. So in this case, the host country will have to be blamed if the accommodation assigned to the respective HOS has been criticized by the media in anyway.

The question on why some of the ASEAN leaders missing during the opening? The last thing an ASEAN country wants to do is to have diplomatic problem within it's association. This would definitely lose the point of their bilateral meetings that has always been the important point during this type of summit.

To my knowledge, Malaysia PM were excused from the opening as the Malaysian 2010 budget were just released. He was required to attend the parliament debate, this would be his first time presenting the national budget as a PM of Malaysia.

The Philippines President were excused, well i believed all of us read the news on the tropical storm that hit the Philippines Islands. She is well engaged in attending the huge task of the country's recovery.

The Indonesia President, he was re-elected again as the Indonesia President just before the summit and to my understanding there was a ceremony that will require him to attend if he wants to go to the summit as the Indonesia President (inauguration).

As for Cambodian HOS, he was attending to another official visit of a minister from another country.

So, hopes that clears the air a bit here.

Explorer

"Head" of State in this instance is used as a reference to the visiting foreign dignitary or the host dignitary. We know Abhisit is not the Head of State of the Kingdom of Thailand, nor is virtually any other prime minister excepting Singapore and a handful of other states.

"Visiting Dignitary" is the term I'm accustomed to as the reference to such persons in the US whether it be the Queen of England (UK) or the prime minister of Australia which is not a sovereign nation state but rather a Commonwealth state of the UK (as are Canada and NZ among others). The PM's of Australia, Canada and NZ are not heads of state (their Queen of the UK is head of state of each).

In the case of the Phillipines, the president is the head of state, the same is true of Indonesia. The sultan is head of his state. In Asean prime ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia are not heads of state. Rather each is leader/head of the government as constitutionally provided.

Regardless, I'm sure the foreign dignitaries attending the recently concluded Asean meeting arrived and slept in LOS nervously, or at the least with uncertainty. They know firsthand from Pattaya that the Reds mean only to bust up people, places and things because the Reds are the agents of one person directly.

[somluck]

Ok let's get some info clear here -

All HOS (Head Of State) accommodations were decided or shall i say assigned by the host country, in which this case is Thailand. If the host country assigned a place, the embassy of the respective country will inspect and plan the whole logistic together with their own country security advisors (special task force). If the accommodation assigned is not suitable for some reasons (as the whole govt team will need to be close to the HOS as this is an official visit) then the host country will require to find a suitable replacement to the country's request. So in this case, the host country will have to be blamed if the accommodation assigned to the respective HOS has been criticized by the media in anyway.

The question on why some of the ASEAN leaders missing during the opening? The last thing an ASEAN country wants to do is to have diplomatic problem within it's association. This would definitely lose the point of their bilateral meetings that has always been the important point during this type of summit.

To my knowledge, Malaysia PM were excused from the opening as the Malaysian 2010 budget were just released. He was required to attend the parliament debate, this would be his first time presenting the national budget as a PM of Malaysia.

The Philippines President were excused, well i believed all of us read the news on the tropical storm that hit the Philippines Islands. She is well engaged in attending the huge task of the country's recovery.

The Indonesia President, he was re-elected again as the Indonesia President just before the summit and to my understanding there was a ceremony that will require him to attend if he wants to go to the summit as the Indonesia President (inauguration).

As for Cambodian HOS, he was attending to another official visit of a minister from another country.

So, hopes that clears the air a bit here.

Explorer

"Head" of State in this instance is used as a reference to the visiting foreign dignitary or the host dignitary. We know Abhisit is not the Head of State of the Kingdom of Thailand, nor is virtually any other prime minister excepting Singapore and a handful of other states.

"Visiting Dignitary" is the term I'm accustomed to as the reference to such persons in the US whether it be the Queen of England (UK) or the prime minister of Australia which is not a sovereign nation state but rather a Commonwealth state of the UK (as are Canada and NZ among others). The PM's of Australia, Canada and NZ are not heads of state (their Queen of the UK is head of state of each).

In the case of the Phillipines, the president is the head of state, the same is true of Indonesia. The sultan is head of his state. In Asean prime ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia are not heads of state. Rather each is leader/head of the government as constitutionally provided.

Regardless, I'm sure the foreign dignitaries attending the recently concluded Asean meeting arrived and slept in LOS nervously, or at the least with uncertainty. They know firsthand from Pattaya that the Reds mean only to bust up people, places and things because the Reds are the agents of one person directly.

Good points highlighted. Would like to add on that Singapore's prime minister is not a HOS either, Singapore's head of state is its Executive President

[Asa]

I like sentimental Thai comments, and farang's expression of matter of fact view points. So, the Sultan wasn't at TS' house. He and some other leaders didn't attend the opening ceremony. Are these things affect ASEAN summit progress? Heard that many leaders were so bored by the host's bragging. Was it so?