August 7: Kraisak Choonhavan, is chairman of the Thai Senate Committee on International Relations and the son of the former Prime Minister Chatchai Choonhavan. He spoke to The Irrawaddy about Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s regional foreign policy.

Q: Do you think Thaksin’s regional foreign policy as in suppressing drug trafficking in the border area and his relationship with Burma’s leaders are contradictory?

A: It is a very worrisome relationship because there is no progress in it. Surakiart Sathirathai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand gave hope to other nations about the Bangkok Process but the good process is actually dead, although Surakiart made a statement that Thailand will
request Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

That Burma will join the ASEM conference or not, depends largely on EU members rather than anything else.

Q: What do you think of Thaksin’s particular interest in South Asia? Does his interest comes from his wish to make investment in Information technology and software? Does this represent a conflict of interests?

A: It is good that he is interested in South Asia – past governments were ignorant about this region. South Asia could become a major export market for Thailand as well as an investment hub. Currently, India alone has over 600 companies in Thailand. Regarding Burma, Thailand should make an agreement with India on how to cooperate with Burma. India, however, fears the erupting of its domestic terrorism which comes largely from Burma and thus does not dare making a move on Burma. India believes that if it put
more and more pressure on Burma, then it will be threatened from the latter with terrorism.

Regarding China, the country itself is neither very concerned about, or wishes to see democratic reform in Burma. For Thailand, the country needs to have a clearer and more concrete policy towards Burma. At present, we need to appear to be decisive.

Q: What do you think of Thaksin’s drug suppressing policy?

A: His policy on drugs seems to be troublesome and does not really solve the problem. It’s actually a war on the people, which creates a bad image because it involves so much violence. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and AIDS organizations have all criticized Thailand for its overuse
of guns on drugs. The question is, has drug use really decreased since the policy has been applied? Thailand is a democratic state and the government is decided by the votes of the Thais – it is not a killing state. The government should have respect for the law.

Q: What do you think of the fact that Thailand is buying natural gas from Burma? Is it an appropriate purchase as Burma spends its natural gas revenues on military weapons that may be used against Thailand?

A: It is not such a good idea. Furthermore, Burma reduced by over 50%, its budget for education and health welfare, which led to severe problems and epidemics. Thailand as its neighboring country should protest Rangoon over this policy as it suffers directly from Burmese epidemics and other
problems. Burmese migrant workers flood into Thailand because they are seeking a better social security and health care. These workers bring with them diseases, some of which have long disappeared from Thailand.

Q: What do you think of Thaksin’s referring to Hernando de Soto’s idea – facilitating sustainable growth in developing economies by granting property rights to the disenfranchised poor?

A: In applying de Soto to practice, Thaksin needs to be more transparent because the application of this philosophy could lead to many hidden agendas. At present, many of his projects are doubtful and non-transparent as they tend to benefit certain groups of people. Take the SME [small- and
medium-sized enterprises] policy for example – some government officials own companies that use SME privileges for their own benefit. Some of the firms copy the designs of products made by villagers and produce them as their own goods under the SME umbrella. I fear that there will be more
corruption due to the non-transparency of the project.

Q: Thaksin has been criticized for his “CEO Style” of governing Thailand and various “conflicts of interest”. What do you think of these criticisms?

A: How he runs the country with the so called “CEO Style” is worrisome and has been heavily criticized for lacking credibility. Those who criticized him have their own views. I personally warned Thaksin even before he went into politics that he should stop his running his family business and put
it into a trust, because sooner or later, his business would surely become an issue.

Thaksin’s businesses operate government concessions. When he was transferring his share to other people, the way he did it was not subtle at all and thus, needed the court to rule it out. My warning does not seem to have been heard because several of Thaksin’s trips abroad were done at
the behest of the Shin Corp group. In his dealing with the Thai-Australian FTA, it is viewed that Shinawatra Satellite and its IPstar will directly benefit from telecommunications investment in Australia. Opposition parties see the FTA as packed with hidden agendas. This is also true of the Thai-China FTA agreement. As long as Thaksin’s family still owns shares in his business and those shares increase in value, his image will be tarnished by conflicts of interest.