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Down Under
Ex-Thai Leader says Australia ignorant
2006-11-13
A FORMER Thai prime minister has accused Australian politicians of being ignorant and uninformed about Asia, just days before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting starts in Vietnam. Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) chairman Anand Panyarachun said western politicians, including those from Australia and New Zealand, had failed to understand the country's recent military takeover in a bloodless coup on September 19. "You say that Australia is an Asian nation and it should be well aware of what's going on in other Asian countries," Anand said. "But this (coup) is a case in point - you're not Asians yet, you have an entirely different mentality - you belong to the Western group."

His comments echo similar views held by Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad who earlier dismissed Australia's efforts to move closer towards Asia in the 1990s. Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, both preparing to visit the region ahead of the APEC meeting in Hanoi this week, have criticised the Thai military's takeover in which Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown. Thaksin had been accused of muzzling the media, abuse of power and corruption as well as human rights abuses in suppressing a Muslim insurgency in Southern Thailand and the deaths of more than 2,000 people during a drugs crackdown in 2003.
Posted by:Fred

#5  Mrs. Billy has recently been a very useful source of information. My thanks, Bankok Billy.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-11-13 15:21  

#4  Mr. AC - a point of oder. The person who made the comments, Anand Panyarachun, was appointed PM in the early 1990's for about a year after the coup/civil unrest of May 1992 - which was very bloody by anyone's standards. He is a former Senator from a very wealthy family and Oxford-edumacated. Not to be confused with the current PM Surayud. Not trying to be a wisenhiemer but it is important to know the players in this strange game I currently find myself in. Hat tip to the wife for the inside scoop.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy   2006-11-13 07:39  

#3  "But this (coup) is a case in point - you're not Asians yet, you have an entirely different mentality - you belong to the Western group."

Lol. That's apparently meant to be an indictment... sounds rather complimentary to my ears. Truth is, they'll never really be accepted as "Asian", at least until they have a few coups and banking system / monetary collapses, I guess...
Posted by: .com   2006-11-13 02:35  

#2  Yeah, this is the new guy, Pancake.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2006-11-13 00:59  

#1  Uh, Fred - this ain't Toxin talking.

Fixed
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2006-11-13 00:22  

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