ISA May Be Imposed For Hua Hin Meeting : Mekong Summit

[webfact]

MEKONG SUMMIT

ISA may be imposed for Hua Hin meeting

By The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The government is considering invoking the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Hua Hin during the summit of the Mekong River Commission early next month, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said yesterday.

Leaders of four lower Mekong countries - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand - are scheduled to meet on April 4-5 for their first summit, to discuss the environment and development in the lower Mekong basin.

With fears that the meeting might be disrupted either by the red shirts or a group that opposes Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the authorities might need a harsh legal instrument for security during the meeting, Suthep said.

The Cabinet on Tuesday will discuss a proposal to enforce the ISA in Hua Hin and the extension of law enforcement in Bangkok, he added.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday inspected the venue for the Mekong summit and said he would propose that the Cabinet consider enforcement of the ISA in the area.

The prime minister stayed overnight in Hua Hin and is due to attend a Democrat Party meeting there today.

The party decided to move the meeting from its original location at a Bangkok hotel to Hua Hin to avoid the red-shirt protesters, said Nattaphon Tepasuwan, the party's director.

The party meeting is to hear from its policy committee and the panel on the selection of electoral candidates.

-- The Nation 2010-03-27

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[brahmburgers]

I believe there will be Chinese delegates there also. Though they're not officially members of the commission, their presence will be like a 900 lb. gorilla in the room. Let's hope the meeting is not too civil, and that delegates from the four member countries won't be too immersed in politeness (or too cowed by China's might) to ask tough questions which relate to the Chinese dams - and other issues (blasting passages in the riverbed) which need addressing.

Just a reminder, there have been 3 dams which just came on line in recent years, and a fourth (2nd tallest in the world) which came on line in recent months. Yet there are still four more dams planned for the near term - and all of those are in the Mekong watershed, just inside the Chinese border. We all agree we've had a drier than normal year, but that alone can not fully explain the extreme/historical lows for water flow. And remember, only half the proposed Chinese dams have been built.

I also wonder whether the issue of near universal rice growing in Mekong region will be addressed. To an objective observer, it's a no-brainer that less-water-guzzling crops should be grown. Are delegates looking at such options? Doubtful. More likely the delegates will doing all they can to be as polite as possible, and adhere to the Asian tradition of not talking straight about real issues. Similar to ASEAN, the delegates will get their nice food, nice hotel rooms, golf rounds, handsome blazers, and perhaps a few visits to some racy karaoke bars - but don't expect any meaningful dialogue dealing with tough issues. We'd hate for anyone to lose any face.

[shawndoc]

Or how when Chinese barges got stuck the river level magically rose 1.5 meters over a weekend without any rain.

[rreddin]

I believe there will be Chinese delegates there also. Though they're not officially members of the commission, their presence will be like a 900 lb. gorilla in the room. Let's hope the meeting is not too civil, and that delegates from the four member countries won't be too immersed in politeness (or too cowed by China's might) to ask tough questions which relate to the Chinese dams - and other issues (blasting passages in the riverbed) which need addressing.

Just a reminder, there have been 3 dams which just came on line in recent years, and a fourth (2nd tallest in the world) which came on line in recent months. Yet there are still four more dams planned for the near term - and all of those are in the Mekong watershed, just inside the Chinese border. We all agree we've had a drier than normal year, but that alone can not fully explain the extreme/historical lows for water flow. And remember, only half the proposed Chinese dams have been built.

I also wonder whether the issue of near universal rice growing in Mekong region will be addressed. To an objective observer, it's a no-brainer that less-water-guzzling crops should be grown. Are delegates looking at such options? Doubtful. More likely the delegates will doing all they can to be as polite as possible, and adhere to the Asian tradition of not talking straight about real issues. Similar to ASEAN, the delegates will get their nice food, nice hotel rooms, golf rounds, handsome blazers, and perhaps a few visits to some racy karaoke bars - but don't expect any meaningful dialogue dealing with tough issues. We'd hate for anyone to lose any face.

These are good points. So too is the comment in another post about the myserious and sudden rise in the level of the Mekong river. However, it is the imposition of emergency powers yet again that is significant.

The government is worried that the red shirts and or opponents of the Cambodian government will stage protests. No matter what your views are about the red shirt movement, action such has been proposed by Khun Abhisit only strengthen their arguement that his government is not democratic and hands a propaganda coup to them, which no amount of government spin will be able to counter.

[anotherpeter]

I believe there will be Chinese delegates there also. Though they're not officially members of the commission, their presence will be like a 900 lb. gorilla in the room. Let's hope the meeting is not too civil, and that delegates from the four member countries won't be too immersed in politeness (or too cowed by China's might) to ask tough questions which relate to the Chinese dams - and other issues (blasting passages in the riverbed) which need addressing.

Just a reminder, there have been 3 dams which just came on line in recent years, and a fourth (2nd tallest in the world) which came on line in recent months. Yet there are still four more dams planned for the near term - and all of those are in the Mekong watershed, just inside the Chinese border. We all agree we've had a drier than normal year, but that alone can not fully explain the extreme/historical lows for water flow. And remember, only half the proposed Chinese dams have been built.

I also wonder whether the issue of near universal rice growing in Mekong region will be addressed. To an objective observer, it's a no-brainer that less-water-guzzling crops should be grown. Are delegates looking at such options? Doubtful. More likely the delegates will doing all they can to be as polite as possible, and adhere to the Asian tradition of not talking straight about real issues. Similar to ASEAN, the delegates will get their nice food, nice hotel rooms, golf rounds, handsome blazers, and perhaps a few visits to some racy karaoke bars - but don't expect any meaningful dialogue dealing with tough issues. We'd hate for anyone to lose any face.

These are good points. So too is the comment in another post about the myserious and sudden rise in the level of the Mekong river. However, it is the imposition of emergency powers yet again that is significant.

The government is worried that the red shirts and or opponents of the Cambodian government will stage protests. No matter what your views are about the red shirt movement, action such has been proposed by Khun Abhisit only strengthen their arguement that his government is not democratic and hands a propaganda coup to them, which no amount of government spin will be able to counter.

How is being prepared for protests undemocratic? Doesn't the government need to be at least prepared to protect foreign dignitaries?

Where exactly is the propaganda coming from? The red side it seems.

Edited March 27, 2010 by anotherpeter

[khunjamespittman]

ISA seems to be the solution de jour.

Maybe we need ISA on Saturday nights at the local pub. Someone might consume the wrong kind of beverage.

[webfact]

MEKONG SUMMIT

Govt ensures safety of MRC leaders

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

HUA HIN: -- The government will provide highlevel security for leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma and China who are scheduled to attend the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Hua Hin early next month.

More than 5,000 soldiers and police officers will be deployed to ensure the safety of all participants and leaders attending the meeting, which runs from April 2 to 5, director general of the Department of Water Resources Kasemsan Jinnawaso said at a press conference yesterday.

Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Lao PM Bouasone Bouphavanh, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung, China's Foreign Minister Song Tao, Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win and PM Abhisit Vejjajiva have all confirmed they will attend despite the political turmoil, Pimuk Simaroj, an assistant to the natural resources and the environment minister, said.

The leaders and participants will be put up at several different hotels.

Pimuk said the government had set up a committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, to oversee security for the summit.

"The committee will evaluate the situation day by day," he said, adding that as an additional measure, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan put the plan in operation yesterday.

Great expectations

"At the end of the summit, we expect each member country to achieve a deal and take a mutually beneficial standpoint over the Mekong River development," Pimuk said.

The MRC's mission is to promote and coordinate sustainable management as well as develop water and related resources for all countries' mutual benefit and their people's wellbeing.

The 4,350kilometre Mekong, one of the world's major rivers, starts in the Tibetan Plateau and runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. However, in recent years, downriver countries have complained that dams constructed by China on the river's upper reaches have caused abnormal changes to water levels.

Thais living along the river have been saying that water levels often increase and decrease drastically in the space of a day.

Leaders at the fourday long summit will also discuss food and energy security for the river basin, adaptation and mitigation from the impact of climate change, infrastructure for sustainable development by the private sector and the challenge of organising an international river basin.

Meanwhile, Kasemsan said Thailand would add two new topics to the agenda - haze and drought in the region.

He said China had also asked the Thai Foreign Ministry to hold an unofficial bilateral meeting to discuss management of the Mekong River. This unofficial meeting will be held on April 4.

-- The Nation 2010-03-30

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[Thai at Heart]

I believe there will be Chinese delegates there also. Though they're not officially members of the commission, their presence will be like a 900 lb. gorilla in the room. Let's hope the meeting is not too civil, and that delegates from the four member countries won't be too immersed in politeness (or too cowed by China's might) to ask tough questions which relate to the Chinese dams - and other issues (blasting passages in the riverbed) which need addressing.

Just a reminder, there have been 3 dams which just came on line in recent years, and a fourth (2nd tallest in the world) which came on line in recent months. Yet there are still four more dams planned for the near term - and all of those are in the Mekong watershed, just inside the Chinese border. We all agree we've had a drier than normal year, but that alone can not fully explain the extreme/historical lows for water flow. And remember, only half the proposed Chinese dams have been built.

I also wonder whether the issue of near universal rice growing in Mekong region will be addressed. To an objective observer, it's a no-brainer that less-water-guzzling crops should be grown. Are delegates looking at such options? Doubtful. More likely the delegates will doing all they can to be as polite as possible, and adhere to the Asian tradition of not talking straight about real issues. Similar to ASEAN, the delegates will get their nice food, nice hotel rooms, golf rounds, handsome blazers, and perhaps a few visits to some racy karaoke bars - but don't expect any meaningful dialogue dealing with tough issues. We'd hate for anyone to lose any face.

These are good points. So too is the comment in another post about the myserious and sudden rise in the level of the Mekong river. However, it is the imposition of emergency powers yet again that is significant.

The government is worried that the red shirts and or opponents of the Cambodian government will stage protests. No matter what your views are about the red shirt movement, action such has been proposed by Khun Abhisit only strengthen their arguement that his government is not democratic and hands a propaganda coup to them, which no amount of government spin will be able to counter.

Getting ready for protests is a normal thing. After the Pattaya mess, what can you realistically expect. I was in Seoul when the US was negotiating about beef imports. You would have thought the North were about to invade.

As for crops that guzzle a little less water, I can't see that anyone is even thinking about that as a plan. It is such a point of national pride or shame as to whom is the largest exporter/producer/importer of rice irrespective of the market being distorted by boom and bust and the huge consumption of water that it entails, that no one is going to even talk about it.

[webfact]

ISA Approved for MRC Meetings in Hua Hin

BANGKOK: -- Cabinet approves the implementation of the Internal Security Act in Hua Hin district between April 2nd to 6th for the Mekong River Commission (MRC) meetings.

Officials are not sure whether protesters will disrupt the discussions.

-- Tan Network 2010-03-30

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Hope we don't have to get new window stickers for our vehicles to show we belong there. Seems like the ones used last time should work.