Bird Flu Knocks Thai Pm's Standing At Home, Abroad

[george]

Bird flu knocks Thai PM's standing at home, abroad

BANGKOK - Accusations the Thai government tried to cover up a bird-flu outbreak is the latest in a series of issues to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra abroad, but the first to hit his popularity at home.

Diplomats say it will take a long time for the multi-millionaire former telecoms tycoon to recover a reputation he has nurtured with a growing leadership role in Southeast Asia and an economy expected to grow more than eight percent this year.

At the heart of the problem was a routine official visit to Thailand last week by European Union Health Commissioner David Byrne, which turned awkward when media reports quoted unidentified officials as saying the country had bird flu.

Byrne told reporters he was satisfied Thailand was free of the disease after meetings with senior agriculture officials who told him thousands of chicken deaths had been caused by fowl cholera, which cannot be passed to humans.

Just days later, the government confirmed bird flu in two boys, who later died, and the EU immediately banned poultry imports from the world's fourth-biggest chicken exporter.

"Food is very sensitive and based on trust, and this was a breach of trust," said a Bangkok-based foreign diplomat.

"It's as bad as can be, a big disappointment. The loss of credibility is huge. But many people say it's deja vu."

Critics say Thaksin has a track record of back-tracking.

Last year, he insisted Thailand was free of Muslim militants when reports suggested members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah group had met on Thai soil to plan the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Thai police and U.S. agents later caught Hambali, the group's suspected operations chief, just north of Bangkok.

Last month, Thaksin said an attack on an army camp in the predominantly Muslim south was the work of gun-running bandits reeling from a government crackdown on weapons.

Once troops launched a man-hunt, the government said Muslim separatist groups were in fact operating in the area.

"OUTRAGED"

But until now, Thaksin's most uncomfortable moment on the international stage was an anti-drugs crackdown last year in which more than 2,500 people were killed.

Foreign diplomats expressed concern and human rights groups accused the government of extra-judicial killings. The government attributed the killings largely to inter-gang warfare.

Thaksin brushed off the criticism in the knowledge the great majority of Thais supported his no-nonsense approach to drugs and governing in general.

But chicken is a different matter.

An opinion poll this week showed 71 percent of professed "chicken lovers" were avoiding the meat and many farmers are furious with the government.

"I am outraged," said Sumet Srisiriwat, owner of an 18,000-chicken farm. "The prime minister had to have known about the bird flu. My neighbours, everyone is angry."

Even Bangkok's middle class are questioning Thaksin. "I feel 50-50 about him," said 28-year-old secretary Meow, a former Thaksin fan. "After the chicken thing, I trust him less."

Analysts say his popularity has been shaken, but there is no question Thaksin will win a general election in 2005. They say he has delivered on pledges to give debt relief to poor farmers, give cheap loans to villagers and spend to revive the economy.

"His popularity has fallen but not so far that people don't want him anymore," said Sukhum Nualskul, a lecturer at Bangkok's Ramkamhaeng University. "People like his populist policies and they don't know who could replace him."

The crisis provoked a rare moment of contrition from Thaksin, known for a "CEO style" involving setting targets and threatening to sack officials who do not meet them.

At a meeting of Asian countries to stem bird flu and prevent a potentially catastrophic human variant forming, Thaksin denied a cover-up but said the government made "mistakes and human errors". His spokesman said "some agencies screwed up".

But the admission is not inspiring confidence.

"Importing countries will have to use their own experts to verify information, which is not favourable to Thai exports," said the diplomat. "It will certainly take a long time now for credibility to be restored."

--Reuters 2004-01-29

[mrentoul]

Great piece, thank you George.

He'll never read it, but we can enjoy it anyway.

``What is happening here is not bird flu.'' - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on January 17.

Here's something tasty from AFP:

Notable quotes during Thailand's bird flu crisis

BANGKOK, Jan 29 (AFP) - Thailand's government is facing its biggest crisis as it battles accusations from chicken farmers, critics and consumers that it woefully mishandled the epidemic whose existence it denied for weeks.

``What is happening here is not bird flu.'' - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on January 17.

``Please put fantasy and imagination to rest. Whatever we say will be heard all over the world and that won't be worth the damage to the country, particularly farmers, because exports will be affected.''

``I can offer reassurances that there is no outbreak of bird flu in Thailand. There is only bronchitis and fowl cholera, not the bird flu.'' Deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, the government's pointman on a chicken disease that felled millions of birds since late last year, on January 16.

``Let's blame it on bad luck. The government is finding a solution to help you. We must cooperate.'' Thaksin to poultry farmers the day after bird flu was announced on January 23.

``To contain a fast-spreading virus, countries need to respond promptly, act with transparency.'' Thaksin at international crisis talks in Bangkok on January 28.

``The most appropriate word is a 'screw up'. Some agencies screwed up in Thailand.'' Government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair to reporters at the talks.

``As the Thai saying goes, a dead elephant cannot be covered up with a single lotus leaf.'' An opinion piece in the Bangkok Post on January 29.

``It will be hard to avoid political casualties from this saga.'' Editorial in The Nation newspaper on January 28.

``No government official came forward to take care of us.'' The father of one of the two little boys who died from bird flu quoted in The Nation newspaper on January 27.

``I pray for the chickens every night. But when I wake up the next morning, I have to do the same job again. It's no different from being an executioner.'' One of the government teams carrying out the poultry cull quoted in The Nation on January 28.

``I love them like sons and I will take them away if the authorities try to cull them.'' A producer of the highly-prized fighting cocks that are famous in Thailand, on January 29.

AFP

[mrentoul]

Pity the poor farmer...

Thais angry as government admits it ``screwed up'' bird flu crisis

SUPHAN BURI, Thailand, Jan 29 (AFP) - Thais living in rural provinces hit by the bird flu epidemic railed at the government Thursday for failing to come clean about the deadly disease and tell them how to protect themselves.

The embattled administration, under fire for allegedly suppressing news of the outbreak in a bid to protect its lucrative poultry export industry, admitted Wednesday it had ``screwed up'' in handling the crisis.

But it denied the cover-up that furious farmers, opposition MPs and activists have insisted occurred, saying the fault lay with inefficient government agencies and that heads would roll as a result.

As the debate raged, farmers in this western province, the worst-hit by the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza detected here officially last Friday, despaired over their destroyed livelihoods after their chickens were among millions to be culled.

``If the government had told us earlier, we would not have been bankrupted. I owe millions of baht (tens of thousands of dollars) to the bank,'' fumed Ma Sukboon at his now eerily hushed farm.

Ma said he had told authorities in December about a strange illness that was killing his 12,000 chickens at a rate of around 100 per day.

``I informed the authorities because this was irregular... then they came and killed the other half. They did not tell me about the bird flu. They just said it was cholera,'' he told AFP.

``If I had known earlier, I would have sold the chickens before the others in the farm died. At least we could have earned some money back.''

Hundreds of government workers and troops have swept through this province since Friday, shoving chickens into bags and burying them alive in giant pits in a bid to contain the disease, which has killed two children in Thailand.

Serving up bowls of steaming noodles at a street stall in the midst of deserted chicken farms here, Sa Baungphol said she had had spent thousands of baht buying medicine to try to treat her ailing chickens before the truth emerged and her 20,000 chickens were culled.

``I don't know yet when I can raise chickens again,'' she said, adding that she had turned to selling noodles to scrape together a living. ``I'm not sure whether I even want to raise them or not because the cost is so high.''

The government is paying 40 baht (one dollar) for each chicken killed in the effort to contain the disease, but farmers have complained that this does not cover their losses.

Villagers stung by the government's about-face say they are now unsure who to trust.

``We don't know if it's really true that the disease won't transmit from cooked chickens to humans. I don't know what is true and what is not true,'' said one man in his mid-30s as he bought noodles at a street-stall.

A nearby vendor hawking Thailand's famed Som Tam, a spicy salad of green papaya, tomatoes, dried prawns and peanuts served with grilled chicken, said she had switched to pork instead in a bid to keep customers from deserting.

``I used to sell about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) per day but I cannot sell anything anymore because people aren't buying,'' she said.

Many of Thailand's small-scale poultry concerns are open-air farms which authorities say hastened the spread of the virus by allowing contact with infected wild birds, while the large operators -- the backbone of the 1.2-billion-dollar export industry -- use sealed farms.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation has said that the current crisis could spell the end for Thailand's 3.17 million poultry farms, most of which are small, traditional operations that raise less than 1,000 chickens each.

Editorials in the Thai press were stern Thursday, saying the government had lost all credibility by trying to hide the disease which has claimed the lives of two six-year-old boys. Six suspected victims have also died.

``As the Thai saying goes, a dead elephant cannot be covered up with a single lotus leaf,'' said an opinion piece in the Bangkok Post.

AFP

[Guest IT Manager]

My huge joy was to see Thai Rath opening up all guns on his god-like-ness about lying to the electorate. About time. It's all very well to strain hard to be like the developed world, but when you aim to be technologically superior, you have to put up wwith the side issues.

It would be mind altering to see the Bangkok Proust saying the same in English, but "I don't speak English too well so I don't want to talk to Foreign Media", put paid to that faint hope.

A note, Khun Taksin. Too late dear. Hoist on your own petard, pet. LOL. Good luck when local press also translates Thai Rath into Khon Muang.

[plachon]

It would be mind altering to see the Bangkok Proust saying the same in English, but "I don't speak English too well so I don't want to talk to Foreign Media", put paid to that faint hope.

Getting a slight dose of Banharnitis methinks. On the subject of Thaksin's English (or lack of it), I have seen 2 different reports giving different Universities that Tox attended. One was in Texas, the other in Kentucky, I think. somebody please put me right about where he picked up such great pasaa angrit?

[Dove]

Report from Star online:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...201193&sec=asia

Thursday January 29, 2004

Thais told to stop feeding sparrows and pigeons

BANGKOK: The Thai government urged people yesterday not to harm migrating birds and to avoid contact with common birds like pigeons and sparrows amid rising concern about the spread of bird flu.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, permanent secretary for natural resources and the environment, was quoted by the Thai News Agency as saying the public should not be overly concerned about the possibility of contracting avian flu from migrating birds.

However, he said that as a precaution the public should refrain from feeding wild birds, including sparrows and pigeons.

Officials here said that although the city had been added to the list of provinces where bird flu had been detected, there was no evidence to back rumours that pigeons in central Bangkok were dropping dead from bird flu.

“Pigeons have a short life cycle. That 10 birds died in a day is not uncommon. Still, a lab test will be conducted on the bird carcasses,” the Bangkok Post quoted Bangkok Deputy Governor Prapan Kittisin as saying.

On Tuesday, the government ordered the bird sections of all state-run zoos to be closed to prevent the possible transmission of bird flu.

The Zoological Park Organization also ordered nets to be put up to protect captive birds from contact with birds on the outside. – dpa

[Dove]

From: ABC News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1034349.htm

Last Update: Thursday, January 29, 2004. 6:19pm (AEDT)

Thai chilli farmers suffer from bird flu

Thailand's fiery and renowned chillies have become the latest casualty of the bird flu outbreak as farmers run out of natural fertiliser.

Hundreds of chilli farmers in north-eastern Ubon Ratchathani province are in crisis due to a lack of chicken manure to nurture their crops.

Farmers say they cannot use chemical nor other organic fertilisers, it must be bird manure.

--AFP

[Dove]

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...199430&sec=asia

From: The Star Online > News > Asia

Thursday January 29, 2004

Possible Thai impeachment

BANGKOK: Thailand's upper house is considering impeachment proceedings against government ministers if they find proof of a cover-up over the bird flu outbreak that has killed two here, an official said yesterday.

Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the senate's foreign affairs committee and a fiery critic of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government, said an investigation was under way into the handling of the crisis.

“There's been a meeting of seven committee chairmen and they're planning to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate how real is the cover-up alleged by practically all the newspapers,” he said.

“If it's proved to be a cover-up, then there's reason to launch legal procedures for impeachment,” he said, without specifying which ministers could be targeted.

“It should not take very long (to decide) because the facts are coming in quite readily now.”

Thaksin is under fire from farmers, opposition MPs and victims' families for allegedly refusing to admit that the government was aware of the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza as early as November.

The committee will examine whether Thaksin “knew about all this or covered it up himself by publicly eating chicken”, Kraisak said, referring to a lunch that Thaksin and his cabinet sat down to just three days before the virus was announced here last Friday.

Thaksin has already conceded that the government suspected the virus emerged weeks ago but did not want to provoke panic by making its fears public.

Senator Nirand Pitakwatchara told the Bangkok Post yesterday that the government had sacrificed people's lives in a bid to protect its image and the economy.

“Politicians should realise that people's lives are more important than a good political and economic image,” he was quoted as saying.

Under Thailand's 1997 Constitution, impeachment proceedings against people in public office accused of malfeasance can be launched by a resolution supported by one quarter of Thailand's 200 senators.

Thailand is one of several Asian governments accused of deliberately covering up outbreaks of bird flu, aggravating a regional health crisis which experts warn could yet become a global influenza timebomb. – AFP

[Dove]

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...200914&sec=asia

From: The Star Online > News > Asia

Thursday January 29, 2004

Herculean task to clean up Asia’s family farms

NONG CHOK (Thailand): For thousands, possibly millions, of farmers across East and Southeast Asia, raising a few chickens and ducks is not just a job. It is a way of life little changed for centuries, if not millennia.

But as bird flu breaks out across the region, agriculture officials are calling for fences, nets and rubber gloves to keep the deadly virus away from poultry and people – in short, a complete overhaul of traditional farms.

A rustic, sleepy way of life is in for a rude awakening but it cannot change overnight. The task of the reformers and modernisers is huge, costly and maybe impossible.

“I think the problem might have started with ducks because they're just wandering freely in the fields,” said chicken farmer Karim Rodprem, 59.

“Everyone has their own chickens in their garden but now they're all dead. I've never seen anything like this,” said Rodprem, who had moved from raising chickens purely for his own dinner table to selling to supermarket suppliers.

He had tried to close off his open-air shed to keep the chickens apart from wild birds which might carry diseases such as the avian flu. But the wire and blue plastic sheeting he could afford to put up a year ago were clearly not enough.

“I've completely closed the sheds. Birds often come and perch on the roof, but they can't get in. I've no idea how my chickens could have caught the disease. If it travels through the air, how can you protect them?” he said.

In wealthy, modern and tightly regulated Singapore, concrete chicken sheds, temperature-controlled and fully sealed and with acres of bird netting might be a viable option.

But in impoverished or war-torn nations such as Laos, Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Cambodia, where cases of bird flu have been found, such measures are a distant pipe dream.

Despite this, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is adamant that no matter how big the task ahead, money must be found and age-old farming practices brought into line.

“We are calling for a fundamental change in attitudes. This is not just an animal husbandry issue. It is going to be in the interests of survival,” said Anton Rychener, the FAO's representative in Vietnam.

“Chickens will have to be cooped up and fenced in. Governments will have to be very strict in enforcing regulation and start public education campaigns. The international community will have to contribute funds,” he said.

The Asian Development Bank is willing to help poorer nations with technical expertise, protective clothing and disease surveillance, but problems are already cropping up.

Indonesia announced on Tuesday it would vaccinate chickens rather than cull.

Regulation – or the lack of it – is also a major issue. Jakarta Post said yesterday only 50 of the capital's 1,000 bird slaughterhouses were legal. – Reuters