Premier Somchai holds Asean Summit Hostage

The issue at hand is the status of the Asean summit - should it be postponed or continued as planned? When he returned from Lima, Peru on Wednesday, instead of coming to Bangkok, the seat of government, he opted to go to Chiang Mai, which he treated as if it were his fiefdom.

At the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, he did not even bother to discuss the upcoming Asean Summit even though all Asean and dialogue-partner countries were waiting anxiously for Thailand's official decision to postpone the summit. He appeared on TV later in the day to say that the emergency decree were imposed at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. Then, he reiterated with a deadpan face that the Asean Summit was on scheduled and called on the Thais to act as gracious hosts.

After the October 7 violence, the Bangkok-based diplomatic community has been spending sleepless nights following the unravelling of the political drama on a day-to-day basis. Intuitively, the Asean diplomats know that the 14 <+>th <+>Asean Summit would inevitably have to be delayed. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, out of jest, and not without a hint of his own agenda, was the first to express that concern, but it was later denied by his own foreign ministry.

Then in the middle of last week,  Laotian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith wrote a letter to Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan urging him to consult Thailand about rethinking the scheduled dates of December 14-18 for the summit. Leaders of the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore also echoed that concern.

On Wednesday, Surin claimed that he had conveyed his views to high figures including Foreign Minister Sompong Amornviwat and Olarn Chaipravat, deputy prime minister for economic affairs in the government, while expressing his own concern all along. They agreed that the best option was to postpone the summit for the time being and reschedule it in 45 or 60 days. But unfortunately, Sompong did not convey the outcome of their consultation to Somchai.

From the beginning, the Foreign Ministry has outlined three contingency plans for the summit, knowing full well the uncertainties of the ongoing Thai political drama. The first plan is the venue's change from Bangkok to other cities if the capital is paralysed by the continued seizure of Government House or blocked by street protests. The second option calls for a postponement in the event of a House dissolution or the prime minister's resignation. The first plan was carried out in mid-October and the second fall-back position will be announced when the Cabinet holds its weekly meeting tomorrow.

The last way out is the worst-case scenario if there is a coup. That would auto matically mean the suspension of Thailand's chairmanship as it would contravene the Asean Charter. If that occurs, it would be the biggest disgrace in Thailand's diplomatic history.

Indeed, Somchai could have announced the summit's postponement after the Thursday meeting in Chiang Mai but he deferred the decision on the summit. He was only concerned about his own survival to care about the possible hiccups caused by the scheduled conflicts that Asean and dialogue-partner countries would encounter.

The prime minister deliberately used the summit as part of his justification for imposing an emergency decree and clearing the airports, which could lead to  bloodbaths. Of course, the People's Alliance for Democracy's seizure of the air hubs must not be condoned. By Thursday night it was absolutely clear that the summit would not go ahead anyway. The private sector has already cancelled its summit meeting weeks earlier. Still, Somchai wanted to wait another four days before making an official announcement. In diplomatic practice that is uncalled for.

His government, which enjoys majority control of the House, could also have vetted and passed the 35 Asean documents in time to be signed at the summit, but he again opted not to do so. The opposition party leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, pledged close cooperation to ensure smooth deliberation. Truth be told, only four or five documents would need the House's approval and yet the government has capitalised on the issue. Other documents are simply non-binding bilateral agreements that the Foreign Ministry could handle without any legal implication.

There is an irony here. Somchai and Sompong tried to divert attention to foreign affairs and issues. They attended the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Peru. But they have displayed little genuine interest in the upcoming Asean summit. Enough circumstantial evidences suggested that they only give lip service to the summit and all foreign affairs issues but not in their substance. That explained why they have never made any comments on the crux of summit meetings. They are more focused on their day- to-day survival tactics. The Asean Summit is just conveniently THERE to be taken as a high-profile hostage. It is as if they are telling the Thais: "We have to stay in power as we have important duties to do in December, domestic and international". How sinister and devilish can they be!

At this point all the Thais are being hoodwinked into accepting the People Power Party's survival tactics in anticipation of the Constitutional Court's ruling on its party's resolution tomorrow. They are being duped into protecting "Thai national interests", while in reality they turn out to be the ruling party's own selfish conspiracy--the same thing they went through before during the ancien regime of Somchai's brother-in-law.

All in all, this summit is too important to be used for Somchai's self-interest. A delayed summit will not alter the substance and change agreements. After all, this is the summit that will propel the law-based Asean. As the host and Asean chairman, it is better to have a newly mandated government to handle it - whichever that might be. It also epitomised Asean as a unifying force of Asian countries in facing the global challenges. Afterall, the East Asian leaders in recent meetings unanimously agreed that Asean would continue to serve as a cohesive force for their future cooperation. Judging from the enthusiasm shown by leaders of the international financial institutions, they too shared similar supports.

Sad to say, Thailand has shot itself in the foot. What else is left for Thailand?

Somchai Wongsawat should have a clear head to decide whether the interest of his brother-in-law, Thaksin Shinawatra, should trump the national interest. The issue at hand is the status of the Asean summit - should it be postponed or continued as planned? When he returned from Lima, Peru on Wednesday, instead of coming to Bangkok, the seat of government, he opted to go to Chiang Mai, which he treated as if it were his fiefdom.

At the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he did not even bother to discuss the upcoming Asean Summit even though all Asean and dialogue-partner countries have been waiting anxiously for Thailand's decision to postpone the summit. He appeared on TV later in the day to say that the emergency decree would be imposed at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. Then, he reiterated with a deadpan face that Thailand is convening the Asean Summit and called on the Thais to act as gracious hosts.

After the October 7 violence, the Bangkok-based diplomatic community has been spending sleepless nights following the unravelling of the political drama on a day-to-day basis. Intuitively, the Asean diplomats know that the 14 th Asean Summit would inevitably have to be delayed. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, out of jest, and not without a hint of his own agenda, was the first to express that concern, but it was later denied by his own foreign ministry.

Then in the middle of last week, Laotian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith wrote a letter to Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan urging him to consult Thailand about rethinking the scheduled dates of December 14-18 for the summit. Leaders of the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore also echoed that concern.

On Wednesday, Surin claimed that he had conveyed his views to high figures including Foreign Minister Sompong Amornviwat and Olarn Chaipravat, deputy prime minister for economic affairs in the government, while expressing his own concern all along. They agreed that the best option was to postpone the summit for the time being and reschedule it in 45 or 60 days. But unfortunately, Sompong did not convey the consultation's outcome to Somchai. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Somchai then was carried out without Sompong.

From the beginning, the Foreign Ministry has outlined three contingency plans for the summit, knowing full well the uncertainties of the ongoing Thai political drama. The first plan is the venue's change from Bangkok to some other city if the capital is paralysed by the continued seizure of Government House or blocked by street protests. The second option called for a postponement in the event of a House dissolution or the prime minister's resignation. The first plan was carried out in mid-October and the second fall-back position will be announced when the Cabinet holds its weekly meeting tomorrow.

The last way out is the worst-case scenario if there is a coup. That would automatically mean the suspension of Thailand's chairmanship as it would contravene the Asean Charter. If that occurs, it would be the biggest disgrace in Thailand's diplomatic history.

Indeed, Somchai could have announced the summit's postponement after the meeting in Chiang Mai but he chose to hold the summit hostage. He was only concerned about his own survival to care about the possible hiccups caused by the scheduled conflict that Asean and dialogue-partner countries would encounter.

The prime minister deliberately used the summit as part of his justification for imposing an emergency decree and clearing the airports. Of course, the People's Alliance for Democracy's seizure of the air hubs must not be condoned. By Thursday night it was absolutely clear that the summit would not go ahead anyway. The private sector has already cancelled its summit meeting weeks early. Still, Somchai wanted to wait for four days before making an official announcement. In diplomatic practice that is uncalled for.

His government, which enjoys majority control of the House, could also have vetted and passed the 35 Asean documents in time to be signed at the summit, but he again chose not to do so. The opposition party leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, pledged close cooperation to ensure smooth deliberation. Truth be told, only four or five documents would need the House's approval and yet the government has capitalised on the issue. Others are simply non-binding bilateral agreements that the Foreign Ministry could handle without any legal implication.

There is an irony here. While Somchai and Sompong tried to divert attention to foreign affairs and foreign issues (Asem and Apec), they have shown little genuine interest in the upcoming Asean Summit. Enough circumstantial evidence helps us to conclude that they only give lip service to the summit and all foreign affairs issues, but have no interest in their substance. They are more focused on their day-to-day survival tactics. The Asean Summit is just conveniently THERE to be taken as a high-profile hostage. It's as if they are trying to tell the Thai people: "We have to stay in power because we have important duties to perform in December, domestic and international". How sinister and devilish can they be!

At this juncture all Thais are being hoodwinked into accepting the People's Power Party's survival tactics. All Thais are being duped into protecting "Thai national interests", while in reality they turn out to be the ruling party's own narrow and selfish conspiracy. We have gone through this before during the ancient regime of the brother-in-law.

In the final analysis, this summit is too important to be used for Somchai's narrow self-interest. A delayed summit will not alter the substance and change agreements. After all, this is the summit that will propel the law-based Asean. As the host and Asean chairman, it is better to have a newly mandated government to handle it - whichever that might be. It also epitomised Asean as a unifying force of Asian countries in facing the global challenges. In the sidelines meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting in October in Beijing, the Asean-plus-three leaders unanimously agreed that Asean would continue to serve as a cohesive force for the future of East Asia cooperation.

Judging from the enthusiasm shown by leaders of the international financial institutions, they too shared support for the reinvigorated cooperation. Sad to say, Thailand has shot itself in the foot. What else is left for Thailand now?