So, who is more wrong? The first or the second man?
SNOWDON: The Head of the Thai army, coup leader and political king maker, General Sonthi wants to get Thailand's satellites back.
They're the assets of the Shin Corporation satellite subsidiary.
They were sold off last year to the Singapore government's investment company Temasek as part of a controversial multi-billion dollar sale by the Thaksin family.
General Sonthi says the satellites are national assets and should be returned to Thailand.
Managing Director of Hong Kong based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, Robert Broadfoot.
BROADFOOT: So that's why it's even more important because the comments are by the military which has put the government in place.
SNOWDON: Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry has issued a statement which says:
"Singapore is surprised at what Council for National Security Chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin was reported to have said about getting back Thai national assets which have been sold to foreigners. We should wait for the Thai Government to clarify what those remarks mean."
Singapore issued a similar statement in January when General Sonthi said it was possible that Singapore's ownership of the communication satellites could compromise Thai security by having them spy on military phone conversations.
Relations between the two countries turned more frosty when Mr Thaksin met with the Deputy Prime Minister during a visit to Singapore.
Robert Broadfoot believes the bilateral relationship will survive, and the bigger implications lie in business and investor sentiment - for both countries.
BROADFOOT: There's certainly going to be a strain in relations, but I think that the Singapore government in particular is going to be able to manage it. I think the Thai government also wants to manage it, but it's going to have negative fall-out for both sides.
SNOWDON: Do you think this is just an issue of national pride, could there be real security issues involved in his thinking?
BROADFOOT: Well I don't know what his thinking is, but I don't think that there are any real security issues involved. I think the main motivation now is against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The military junta wants two things, to neutralise Mr Thaksin so he cannot make a political comeback, and secondly they want to tie his hands financially as much as possible so that he cannot finance future politicians and become a power behind the throne. So to the extent that if the government can somehow tie up or even pressure Temasek into going after Thaksin to say listen, we want our money back, that potentially ties Mr Thaksin's hands. So I think keep in mind all of these moves by the Thai government are really designed against former prime minister Thaksin. And that in itself is a concern because it seems like they're so focussed on this one issue that they're making a number of other mistakes with the economy which are hurting foreign investor confidence.
SNOWDON: Such as?
BROADFOOT: Such as changing the way that they honour intellectual property for pharmeuceuticals, such as putting on the capital controls last December and scaring the 'beejeezus' out of investors in the stockmarket there. And now the way that they're going after the so-called nominees, which is going to affect the large number of foreign investors in the country.
SNOWDON: Because that's what irritated a lot of Thai people wasn't it, the use of nominees, some people called them proxies in the Shin Corp sale to Temasek?
BROADFOOT: They would like to use the Temasek deal as a way to tie Mr Thaksin into corruption. So they could have him barred from politics among other things. It's going to be awfully difficult to prove in a Thai court, which raises the next question of through this crisis will the integrity of the Thai court system be maintained or will it be compromised?
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/s1852139.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment