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.
An unbreakable bond? – Asia Times
June 28th, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LF29Ak02.html
T-shirt for sale in Jerusalem. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
JERUSALEM – In ‘The Great Divorce’ C.S. Lewis attempted to allegorise about a reality which he admitted he could not know, but tentatively hoped to suggest. The US-Israeli relationship, to most, seems like an unbreakable bond, and any potential divorce might be regarded as unimaginable.
But when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Barack Obama on July 6, they will discuss a relationship that is on the rocks, despite an annual US$2billion in aid and – in keeping with the traditional parameters of the relationship – Obama’s repeated commitment to Israel’s security. Stirring things up in advance, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Oren spent Sunday and Monday denying media reports that he told Israeli diplomats that a “tectonic rift” was emerging between the two countries.
The summit will be a reprise of a stillborn meeting originally scheduled for late May, which Netanyahu cancelled after nine Turks were killed by Israeli commandoes onboard one of the six boats attempting to breach the blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. In the aftermath, whatever Obama’s private thoughts, he refused to join the chorus condemning Israel. But American policymakers felt themselves to be caught between a rock and a hard place, and beyond this incident, there are divergent worldviews colouring thinking in both administrations. (more…)
Both sides of the wall – ISN
June 24th, 2010
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=117949
Simon Roughneen in Ramallah – It might be unwitting irony, but the coffee-shop overlooking central Ramallah tips its hat to an American consumer icon, in what might otherwise be deemed an outpost of anti-Americanism.
Inside Stars and Bucks, Ramallah. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Stars and Bucks cafe in downtown Ramallah is branded with same colour scheme as the global chain, simultaneously a hue pretty-close to Islamic green. Hummus and labaneh are on the menu should the customer want a more “authentic” experience than just downing a Middle East macchiato. Inside a mixture of western and Arabic-dressed women kept to their own tables, appearing inscrutable behind outsized sunglasses. Some men lounged on sofas, puffing on shishas while watching the Portugal-North Korea World Cup mismatch.
Outside traffic crawled through the streets and pedestrians meandered in the 34 degree heat. Downhill from Ramallah’s centre-point at al-Manara square and the faux-iconic coffee shop, a lush fruit and vegetable market is packed high with greens and reds, browns and yellows, while shoppers browsed melons, tomatoes, onions. “You need to ask if you want to take photos here”, said Ashraf, leaning out over his stall to make himself heard over the din of hagglers, before happily posing behind his produce.
Since 2008, the Palestinian Authority has implemented some institutional reforms and economic development, supported by more than US$3 billion in foreign donor assistance. (more…)
Israel in the dock — but what do Israelis think? – Crikey
June 22nd, 2010
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/06/22/israel-in-the-dock-but-what-do-israelis-think/
In the distance a Jewish settlement, as pictured from inside Bethlehem in the West Bank. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Simon Roughneen in Tel-Aviv – Israel has taken a hammering once more in much of the world’s media after the recent flotilla incident and due to the Gaza blockade. Despite the country’s uncompromising “siege mentality” image, a few days in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem suggests that many people are sensitive to what the world thinks. Gali Ginat is a reporter for Maariv newspaper, the second-biggest seller in Israel. She lamented that “it seems that the rest of the world hates us now”. And while the Government and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) have mounted a vociferous defence of the country’s actions in recent weeks, many Israelis are not fully-convinced.
I spoke with Gal Lin at the Media in Conflict seminar organised by the IDC Herzliya, where he is a student. He said that “it’s almost a consensus in Israel that the execution of the operation to stop the flotilla was poor”. During the seminar IDF spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Liebovich fielded tough questions from Israeli journalists who thought the operation was a mess, and from Turkish reporters who questioned the official account of events.
After the flotilla incident and a Red Cross statement that the blockade contravenes international law as it involves collective punishment of one million Palestinians living inside Gaza, Israel announced that it would relax some of the blockade’s provisions. Most Israelis I asked about this said that they are happy for anything that could not be used against Israel by Hamas to be let through, as the Red Cross and others say that humanitarian conditions inside Gaza are “dire”. (more…)
Tensions remain despite pledge to ease Gaza blockade – Sunday Business Post/RTÉ World Report
June 20th, 2010
http://www.thepost.ie/news/world/coloniser-israel-relaxes-gaza-blockade-49972.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0620/worldreport.html
SIMON ROUGHNEEN IN JERUSALEM – Israel’s Government last week agreed to relax its 4-year long blockade on the
Israelis call it a security fence, Palestinians call it a segregation wall. Pictured near Rachel's Tomb close to Bethlehem. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Gaza Strip, but the fallout from the recent flotilla incident lingers. With Israeli-US relations somewhat-frayed of late, US President Barack Obama called the move “ a step in the right direction”. Israel has come under intense international criticism for the deaths of nine Turks onboard the Mavi Marmara, one of six boats that tried to breach the naval blockade on May 31 last. Former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble is one of two foreign observers to a committee set up to look into the clash, but described as a diversion by critics such as Turkey who want an international investigation.
Israel maintains that its soldiers were set upon first by members of a controversial Turkish group known in English acronym form as the IHH. Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Liebovich told a press conference that video evidence proves that the fourth Israeli soldier to land on the boat was the first to open fire on the IHH contingent, after three colleagues were already attacked with iron bars.
Israel has been accused of heavy-handedness in dealing with the ship and many Israelis I spoke with this week criticised the planning and methods used to deal with the flotilla. Alon Pinkas recently served as Israeli Consul-General to the US. Speaking at the closing of the “Media in Conflicts Seminar” in Tel-Aviv on Friday, he said that “Israel has never been in a worse place in world opinion”, but added that some of this opprobrium comes from a misperception among liberal opinion in the west that “Israel is a coloniser” akin to the French and British empires. (more…)
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…)
