MikeLigalig.com

Thailand protests RP criticism vs crisis

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:05:00 12/03/2008

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Thailand has expressed "great concern" over criticisms by deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez and Senator Richard Gordon that the unrest in Thailand reflected the Thais' lack of political maturity.

At a press conference Wednesday, Thailand Ambassador to the Philippines Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya said the two officials' statements "were not based on facts and may have some implication of hidden agendas."

He said he was set to file a diplomatic protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs this Wednesday.

Pressed to reveal what these agenda might be, the ambassador said he didn't know for sure if there was an agenda, only that it appeared that there was.

The ambassador said that while the Philippine society allowed for open criticisms, it must respect facts and rule of law.

Its officials should not "compare the two societies [as if] competing to do something that is not necessary at all. If there is a good advice, Thailand will appreciate it," he said.

The ambassador said calling Thais politically immature was not fair. "Thais have admired Filipinos for a long, long time. The Philippines has been a place of knowledge for us for a long, long time," he said.

The ambassador said he was also concerned about the two officials' statements that Filipinos "have reached a high degree of political maturity whereby our people respect due process and the rule of law," and that "the political turmoil in Thailand could not possibly happen here."

"In fact, the protest is only [an] indication that [the] Thai people are free to exercise their political right based on democracy. In the midst of the protests, the Royal Thai Government has committed itself to upholding the democratic system and will resolve the current situation in accordance with the democratic means," he said.

Asked if he wanted the two to apologize, the ambassador said he could not require that of them. "It is voluntary," he said.

The ambassador also noted that these statements violated the ASEAN Charter which specified that member-countries could not interfere in each other's internal affairs.

"I would also like to reiterate the importance of the basic principle of ASEAN which appears in the ASEAN Charter that the member countries will not interfere in each other's internal affairs," he said.

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I guess the best diplomacy for our state officials is not to preach from a moral high ground, especially since the Philippines' political risk index, an independent international assessment, is in the same bracket as Thailand.

Lisod mag-criticize nga hugaw ang nawong sa uban kung ikaw pud bolingiton (no offense to bolingiboy).

After all, as far as political maturity is concerned, we hold the record in modern times for ousting and installing two presidents by extra-constitutional means.

At least the Thai judiciary has the gumption to hand down a verdict on an incumbent prime minister who was deemed elected illegally, however their law defines it. And everyone follows, respects and enforces it.

Can we say our own political system has a working checks-and-balance mechanism? Does our Supreme Court have the same guts? Can our Congress really legislate independently of its Malacanang patron and apart from vested interests?



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i think it's time for the thai king to intervene and use his royalty to annoint someone who can lead thailand back to normal.

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majo untag matakdan mi diri sa pinas sa thailand.  thais were inspired by the filipinos' people power in 1986 that toppled a dictator. ang pinoy karun gikapuyan na siguro.. maghuwat na lang manaog si GMA..

ang thais nangiskwela sad na sila diri sa IRRI, they invented jasmine rice and karun exporter na sila. ang pinas nagapadayun tawn ug import..

huhuhuhu

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majority of filipinos don't really have that much political conviction that would drive them to the streets to pressure officials to institute reforms. what drove metro manilans to edsa is basically the usisero attitude that is inherent in the filipino. people went to edsa because everyone was there and it was like a fiesta. there was a lot of food being passed around and people enjoyed watching the events transpire in a drama in real life involving two opposing military forces.

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the royals glacier and the royalists daw...

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