The perils of personalised Thai diplomacy

[webfact]

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The perils of personalised Thai diplomacy
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thai foreign policy in the past year has been dominated by the performance of Surapong Tovichakchaikul. The foreign minister has also doubled as deputy prime minister and, since early December, as chief of the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), dealing with the anti-government protests.

The many tasks Surapong has been given - despite the availability of more suitable candidates - speaks volumes for Thaksin Shinawatra's deep personal trust in the man. This is a blessing for Surapong, as it confirms him as a leading figure in Thaksin's inner circle. For the country, though, it's a curse.

His latest role as a security chief is the most intriguing, because it fits his character and behaviour. He was typically stern, with heavy-lidded eyes during his latest public statement on the situation in Bangkok, delivered at Royal Thai Police Headquarters. Rather than seeking to reassure his audience with constant eye contact, he grimly followed his prepared text. The image was mean and direct, especially when he accused largely peaceful protesters of breaking the law and using violence against security forces.

For the past year, Surapong has effectively personalised Thai diplomacy, facilitating Thaksin's life in exile by working both publicly and privately to ensure the former premier can travel unhindered. Thai ambassadors stationing in key capitals also provide diplomatic services to Thaksin. Last October, Surapong even asked the Japanese Foreign Ministry to issue Thaksin an entry visa to Japan while he was in Seoul. Tokyo was brave enough to say no.

In order to protect the Yingluck government, he also urged the Bangkok-based diplomatic community - very much to their bewilderment - to condemn the protesters and back the government's action against them as well as support the February 2 election plan.

During his first briefing as CAPO chief to the diplomatic corps and international organisations on December 2, Surapong sprang a surprise. He urged the international community to intervene in Thai politics to help boost the government's legitimacy. Furthermore, he had initially planned to ask the United Nations Security Council to take action against the street riots. It was a bit naive and far-fetched to flag the idea, but it demonstrated how far Surapong would go to serve Thaksin.

His actions drew strong and almost universal criticism within the Foreign Ministry. Several senior officials privately denounced his actions and accused him of putting personal ties ahead of his loyalty to the country. High officials have a duty to defend the nation, they said, but to defend Thaksin in the name of the country is an atrocious thing to do.

As the crisis deepened, Surapong directly urged the Bangkok-based diplomatic corps to back the Yingluck government. On December 8, he invited them for a briefing at the Foreign Ministry and then to tour Government House to observe crowd-control measures put in place by police. According to an ambassador attending the briefing, the scheduled tour was eventually aborted after lived TV showed protesters surrounding Government House. The diplomats did not like the idea of becoming human shields.

But Surapong did not stop there. A few days later, in anticipation of the Asean-Japan Summit in Tokyo, he requested the Asean chair, Brunei, to issue a joint statement on the situation in Thailand. A seven-paragraph statement was prepared by the Thai Foreign Ministry and circulated. After consultations on the sideline at the Asean-Japan Summit, it was reduced to three paragraphs, which was later issued by Brunei and sent to Asean members with a reference letter to the Thai request attached.

The joint statement called for all parties concerned to resolve the conflicts "through dialogue and consultations in a peaceful and democratic manner". The Asean leaders also reiterated that political stability in Thailand was essential to achieving a peaceful, stable and prosperous Asean.

It was an unprecedented action for Asean leaders to comment on an internal situation as serious as Thailand's. In the past, individual Asean countries have issued their own separate statements in response to political developments in neighbouring countries. Quite a few such statements have been issued over the last few years on Myanmar and its need for reforms.

It would be unfair to blame the whole of the Foreign Ministry for Surapong's missteps and personal ambition. A few good officials have sought, with the highest professionalism, to explain the Thai situation without distortions or public-relations spin. They continue to protect the country's interest and credibility in regional and global forums. That helps explain why Thailand's multilateral diplomacy remains very active even during such a stressful time.

The Saranrom Palace has been through this drill many times before. Officials there are used to living with and responding to the blunders made by the power-wielders of the day.


-- The Nation 2014-01-02

[pumpuiman]

This is not one sided at all.

"The Nation" is fantastic.

As a birdcage liner.

[Yunla]

Furthermore, he had initially planned to ask the United Nations Security Council to take action against the street riots

"And now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is a very real prospect of a new world order."

--George Bush

[MaiChai]

He will be remembered for personally delivering Taksins Thai passport to Dubai. One of PTs first achievements.

[MaiChai]

One can imagine a PT cabinet of three Shinawatra family members, each one having 5 or so ministry appointments. Doesn't sound so absurd?

[ratcatcher]

He will be remembered for personally delivering Taksins Thai passport to Dubai. One of PTs first achievements.

Comes to mind..............

[EricBerg]

Surapong will be an extra good motivation for the military to intervene. He sure helps digging PT's grave. The missunderstood fugitive will have lesser and lesser options. But he won't go down without bloodshed.

[Local Drunk]

He will be remembered for personally delivering Taksins Thai passport to Dubai. One of PTs first achievements.

Comes to mind..............bh.jpg29A__zps932211a9.jpg

Or this...

[Rob8891]

What next?..... Oak as Education Minister????

Maybe YL should take over Transport too, as she's had far more experience of travel than anyone else recently...

The family is rotten to the core.

[Prbkk]

Who owns The Nation?

[Local Drunk]

Who owns The Nation?

Dunno... but perhaps the owners see Brits as the largest English speaking expat community here and tailor their news gathering format and headlines on research into Britan's most popular daily reads.

http://www.thepaperb...-newspapers.cfm

[klauskunkel]

...he is also an extremely handsome man (in a greenish kind of way)...

[Pi Sek]

That's a very opinionated and subjective editorial. If it was written a little more objectively, it would have delivered the more pertinent message that it was trying to deliver: that this democratically elected government is extremely autocratic and its brash arrogance to assume their word is gospel is undermining the values that make democracy a fairer system than fascism.

[tingtongteesood]

This is not one sided at all.

"The Nation" is fantastic.

As a birdcage liner.

It is an article about one person, how can it not be one sided ?

OK mr. red, give us the other side, what has he done that is good that has benfitted the country in any way ? Please educate us oh wise one....

[Thait Spot]

This is not one sided at all.

"The Nation" is fantastic.

As a birdcage liner.

Just reporting the abuses of Thaksin's family

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bigbamboo]

One can imagine a PT cabinet of three Shinawatra family members, each one having 5 or so ministry appointments. Doesn't sound so absurd?

Not much chance of that now Waoyappa has been told to step down, even though her son will no doubt become a senior party figure in less time than it takes to say Shinawat. There's always Oak I suppose but Thailand doesn't have a Ministry of Facebook yet.

[Bpuumike]

He will be remembered for personally delivering Taksins Thai passport to Dubai. One of PTs first achievements.

Comes to mind..............bh.jpg29A__zps932211a9.jpg

Run out of my daily quota of 'likes'

"I am Yingluck's caddy". Does that mean he has the balls and she don't? Unlike Maggie Thatcher.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Bpuumike

[TPI]

This is not one sided at all.

"The Nation" is fantastic.

As a birdcage liner.

Careful! From what I "red" from your comment was an ever so slight lean to the "Dubai" side of the discussion??

[Bpuumike]

He will be remembered for personally delivering Taksins Thai passport to Dubai. One of PTs first achievements.

Comes to mind..............bh.jpg29A__zps932211a9.jpg

Or this...

his masters voice.jpg

Ha ha, good thinking, remember it well.

[TPI]

...he is also an extremely handsome man (in a greenish kind of way)...

Oh! You sad sad man...although he does look like a gay man's dreamboat??

[RubbaJohnny]

...he is also an extremely handsome man (in a greenish kind of way)...

I maybe Robert Amsterdammaged but this foto seems the first evidence for David Icke's hitherto incredible lizard theory

[Ricardo]

I think he's a shoo-in for a role as a villain, in the next 007/James-Bond movie, does he have his own white cat ?

Also interesting that there appears to be some internal opposition, from the professionals within his ministry, perhaps the 'Sir-Humphreys' felt their advice was over-ridden by a certain overseas thinker, and it's now time for revenge rather than a united-front ?

[Halion]

To kill a snake you must chop of the head.

[Scamper]

Has anybody noticed that during this period, the press is becoming bolder, more candid, and more free ? It is a breath of fresh air, as if somebody just opened a window. Indeed, the whole idea of Surapong in any capacity in this administration is utterly preposterous, as the actions he has taken over the years detailed in this article demonstrate abuses of power. If anyone would like to know what it would be like if Thaksin were here, they need look no further than his cousin Surapong. The people deserve better than this. And in fact are demanding it.

[SOTIRIOS]

An autocracy is a system of government in which a supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control

(....and of course..... in said person's absence....he will delegate...)

....isn't it just too obvious....while the 'Prime Minister' is in 'hiding' in the north somewhere.......

[Gerryasia]

An [/size]autocracy is a system of government in which a supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control[/size]

(....and of course..... in said person's absence....he will delegate...)[/size]

....isn't it just too obvious....while the 'Prime Minister' is in 'hiding' in the north somewhere.......[/size]

Yeah...screw this dangerous Bangkok shit...I gotta go where I'm "loved". What a freegin' joke she is! '_'

[belg]

they sure name their organisations right

CAPO = the helpers of the nazis in WW2

[retsdon]

A disappointing article altogether. When I saw the headline, I thought it was going to discuss the cult of personality in Thai politics - Suthep, Thaksin, etc, etc, and how this phenomenon which has been been part of the Thai psyche for a very long time is so destructive of rational and reasoned political debate. Instead the article is about Surapong, one of these uninspiring but trusted jack of all trades ministers in the mold of Jack Shultz, or even Jim Callaghan who held all four major offices of state. Yes, he's related to Thaksin, but even so.... No, disappointing.