Bank of Thailand gets new boss but state of emergency remains – Financial Times
July 6th, 2010
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
Congratulations were the first order of the day after getting through to the Kasikorn Bank HQ this afternoon. President Dr Prasarn Trairatvorakul was earlier named the next governor of the Bank of Thailand during a Thai cabinet meeting, and with a number of key policy decisions looming on interest rates and forex, his thoughts on these matters will be keenly-awaited.
However, for now, he’s likely to keep his views to himself. According to his spokesperson, the new BoT governor cannot discuss his new role with the media until King Bhumibol Adulyadej formally approves the appointment. But some hints may be in the offing when Dr Prasarn speaks at a conference tomorrow morning, at the Queens Park Hotel in downtown Bangkok. (more…)
Gas revenues fund Burma nuke programme – The Irrawaddy
July 5th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18876
Billions of dollars in gas revenues have been siphoned away by the Burmese military junta and are helping fund a clandestine nuclear weapons program, according to a new report released on Monday in Paris by international environmental group, EarthRights International (ERI).
Titled “Energy Insecurity: How Total, Chevron, and PTTEP Contribute to Human Rights Violations, Financial Secrecy, and Nuclear Proliferation in Burma (Myanmar),” the report comes hot on the heels of an exposé by exiled Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)—based on material from Burmese army defectors—which added credence to allegations that the military rulers of Burma are seeking nuclear weapons technology and are in breach of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
ERI says that this activity is likely to be funded by revenues from the Yadana Gas field in the Bay of Bengal. Former International Atomic Energy Agency director Robert Kelley described the nuclear activity taking place in Burma as “useful only for weapons.” (more…)
Forex policy at fore in Thai central bank governor’s race – Financial Times
July 5th, 2010
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
Tarisa Watanagase has been a steady hand at the Thai central bank even while political tumult has seen four changes of prime minister in Thailand since her term began in 2006.
With her term however set to end on September 30, four strong putative successors have surfaced: Bandid Nijathaworn, a deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand; Prasarn Trairatvorakul, president of Kasikornbank; Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Pisit Leeahtam, dean of economics at Chiang Mai University.
Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikanvanij, who has confirmed the short-listed candidates, is expected to throw his backing behind one at a cabinet meeting tomorrow or next week. (more…)
Thai officials condemn planned Chinese dams – Financial Times
July 2nd, 2010
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2dd0b486-850b-11df-adfa-00144feabdc0.html
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok
Thai officials have spoken out against the Chinese government’s plan to build 12 hydropower dams on the Mekong river, on the grounds that the development will cause further environmental damage to the waterway.
At the Mekong River Commission gathering on Thursday in Ho Chi Minh City, Prasarn Maruekpithak, Thai representative, said, “China’s four dams on the upper part of the Mekong River have already destroyed the river’s ecosystem. Now this giant nation plans to build 12 dams more on the lower part.”
Drought-like conditions have contributed to low water levels on the Mekong, an agricultural and economic lifeline for MRC members Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Thai groups have blamed dam construction by China, which acts an observer to the MRC, for the low water levels, and have put pressure on Bangkok to take a firm stance on the issue. (more…)
Lifting the mask – The Irrawaddy
July 1st, 2010
The author of a new biography, “Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant,” talks about the reclusive military leader of Burma with Irrawaddy correspondent Simon Roughneen.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18849
Cover of Unmasking Than Shwe
Mysterious, reclusive, brutal, misunderstood, superstitious, power-mad. These are words used to describe Burma’s ruling strongman, Sen-Gen Than Shwe. Less is know about this man than almost any other head of government, perhaps even less than Kim Jong Il, the apparently ailing ruler of North Korea and Than Shwe’s alleged nuclear collaborator.
Benedict Rogers’ new biography, “Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant,” is the first detailed study of the man who rules Burma with an iron fist.
Question. Your book is being published as Burma gears up for what opposition and exiled Burmese are calling sham elections or military elections. Some voices in the international community, perhaps describing themselves as foreign policy “realists,” have are more positive on the process, saying that it could potentially lead to some sort of democratization sometime in the future. Does this square with Than Shwe’s way of seeing the world, and his vision for Burma in the future?
Answer. Than Shwe’s intentions are to safeguard his legacy and protect himself, his family and cronies. He has absolutely no intention at all of any meaningful reform or democratization. However, there can and should be a difference between what we in the international community do and what people inside Burma do. I have no respect at all for those in the international community who have a rose-tinted view of what these elections mean. All of us should be in no doubt that this is a discredited and illegitimate process. However, I do understand and respect why some Burmese feel that they have no alternative but to make the best out of it. Some Burmese will want to take part and some will not, and I respect both points of view. But in the international community we have to be clear that it offers no hope for change.
Sentimental Journey for the Philippines – The Irrawaddy
June 11th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18675
Cover of June 2010 Irrawaddy magazine
When former President and anti-dictatorship figurehead Cory Aquino passed away last August, the outpouring of grief and nostalgia did more than just make for a memorable funeral and headline obituaries for a national icon. It contributed to the landslide win for her son Senator Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III in the May 10 Presidential election.
Initially unsure whether or not to run, the low-key Senator spent time in a Carmelite monastery, attempting to discern what was God’s will for him and his country. He was the clear leader for most of the pre-electoral polling period, with only eventual 3rd-place finisher Sen. Manny Villar ever looking like threatening Aquino’s lead.
Villar’s campaign went off the rails as ‘Noynoy’ fingered him as being allegedly too close to the deeply-unpopular outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and for links to a corruption scandal.
Even before the poll took place, odds were short that Aquino would win. ‘Noynoy’ supporter and head of the influential Makati Business Club Alberto Lim told The Irrawaddy that Aquino’s decision to run was “a game changer”, that left the other candidates trailing in his wake.
Rooting out graft was a key campaign issue which all candidates paid lip service to. Ordinary Filipinos see dismantling cronyism as the best bet to addressing the growing poverty and massive rich-poor divide in the 7000-island archipelago. (more…)
Thai-Burma Relations through the Thaksin Prism – The Irrawaddy
June 10th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=18672
BANGKOK — After the crackdown on the two-month-long Redshirt protest in Bangkok, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra remains a controversial and polarizing figure in Thai politics. Listed by the Thai courts as a “terrorist” and still running from a 2008 corruption conviction, the former prime minister might be on the wrong side of the law, but he remains on the right side of his millions of supporters.
Adored by Redshirts for his pro-poor economic redistribution, he is seen by some as the man who changed Thai politics and tried to take power from the traditional elites. Opponents dismiss him as a populist in the style of Hugo Chavez, who bought votes with social spending and centralized power around himself, overriding Thailand’s 1997 Constitution and playing fast and loose with human rights. Others say he represented and personified a brash nouveau-riche elite who sought to undermine the old school networks at the top of Thailand’s political and economic tree.
Thaksin tried to have an impact on the world stage too, and still does, as he flits from Cambodia to Dubai to Montenegro and beyond. Despite dismissing the UN as “not my father” while in office, he and Redshirt leaders called for UN intervention during the recent anti-government rally. Launching his new book “Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin and His Foreign Policy” on Wednesday, Thai academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun said that Thaksin extended the market-oriented foreign policy of previous PM Gen Chatichai Choonhavan (1988-91), undermining the sway of the Democrat Party-oriented old school diplomatic elite, whom Thakisn dismissed as “dinosaurs.”
While describing many of Thaksin’s foreign policy initiatives as “bold,” Pavin added that these were often “hollow.” (more…)
Dili fires a broadside at Woodside – Asia Times
June 9th, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LF10Ae01.html
A conflict between the East Timor government and Australian company Woodside on where to process gas from the Greater Sunrise field is escalating, with officials in Dili rejecting a proposal for an offshore liquefied natural gas plant. Delays may cost the government revenue in the short term. Further ahead, they could work in East Timor’s favor
By Simon Roughneen
East Timor PM Xanana Gusmao addresses district-level officials. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Timor-Leste’s government has declined a proposal by Australian oil and gas company Woodside to process gas drawn from the Greater Sunrise field onboard a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Timor Sea, claiming that it would be deprived of tens of billions of dollars in much needed revenues under the arrangement.
As the conflict between Australia’s second-largest energy company and one of the world’s newest and poorest island countries escalates, there is no quick resolution in sight. Dili may seek to prevent the plan coming into force and thereby seek a revision of the three treaties that underpin the Greater Sunrise project. Under the current agreement, Timor-Leste has only the option to veto any arrangement to extract the gas which it disapproves.
Dili has accused Woodside and its partner companies of ”grandstanding” over its plans for the multibillion-dollar floating processing project, and has said under no circumstances would it consent to the plans. The government also claims that the company has not followed all the procedures outlined in various international agreements between Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, and Australia.
For its part, Woodside says that an onshore plant in Timor-Leste “presents significant technical risks”, according to a presentation (available on the Woodside website) given by chief executive officer Don Voelte to an investors conference in Sydney on June 3. Citing concerns about running a pipeline through the “seismically-active” 3,000 meter-deep Timor Sea trench to the Timorese coast, Woodside says that Timor-Leste’s infrastructure deficit would add “approximately US$5bn” to the capital cost versus the projected cost of the floating plant. The company has accused the Timor-Leste Government of “posturing”. (more…)
Thailand, Reconciled to Division? – ISN
June 8th, 2010
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=117160
A government peace plan is viewed with skepticism by opposition leaders as the fallout from recent political violence continues.
Protester from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in August 2008 (CC/Flickr)
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok for ISN Security Watch
Three weeks after a violent conclusion to a two-month political protest in downtown Bangkok, the Thai government says it wants to implement a five-point reconciliation plan, which Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva believes will address some of the grievances anti-Government redshirts say motivated their mass rally in the capital.
The plan was first proposed on 3 May, and while leaders initially welcomed it as “quite constructive,” they turned it down in the end. The deal pledges constitutional amendments, an independent investigation into the recent political violence, increased social spending and the establishment of a media monitoring body.
Prime Minister Abhisit rescinded an offer to hold early elections after the negative response, but then appeared to revive the prospect of early polls while speaking in Vietnam last weekend. The redshirts regard his administration as illegitimate, as it came to power after courts dissolved the redshirt-aligned party, which was in power up to the end of 2008. Smaller parties then backed Abhisit’s Democrat Party, enabling it form a coalition government. (more…)
Evidence Points to Burma’s Nuclear Weapons ‘Intent’ – The Irrawaddy
June 4th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=18622
BANGKOK—There are regional and international security implications arising out of fresh evidence that Burma is
This Dec. 21, 2009, photo released by the Democratic Voice of Burma, shows Myanmar defector Sai Thein Win at the control panel of an industrial machine at an undisclosed location in Myanmar. (AP Photo/Democratic Voice of Burma)
seeking nuclear weapons and is in breach of a UN arms embargo on North Korea.
Referencing the nuclear issue, US Sen. Jim Webb on Thursday canceled his scheduled trip to Burma. “It would be inappropriate and counter-productive for me to go at this time,” Webb told journalists at a Thursday press conference in Bangkok. While the substance of the nuclear issue and the potential breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1874 remain to be clarified, Webb said, “There is enough for now in these two allegations, which need to be resolved,” before he could reconsider going to Burma.
While allegations about a junta nuclear weapons program have emerged in the past, the latest reports are backed by documentation and photographs supplied by Burmese army defector Maj Sai Thein Win. A news documentary about the issue ran on Al-Jazeera today and is based on work carried out by the Democratic Voice of Burma news agency. Sai Thein Win had to flee Burma after superiors suspected that information about missile-building and uranium enrichment programs were being leaked. He says “that they really want to build a bomb, they want rockets and nuclear warheads.”
American nuclear scientist Robert Kelley, a former director in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the international nuclear watchdog, said he spent months examining the material supplied by Sai Thein Win and concluded that the projects outlined in the material are “useful only for weapons.”
In an overview published on the DVB website, Kelley said: “The total picture is very compelling. Burma is trying to build pieces of a nuclear program, specifically a nuclear reactor to make plutonium and a uranium enrichment program. Burma has a close partnership with North Korea.” (more…)
