A 'Gutless' Trip to Myanmar (Asiawe

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A 'Gutless' Trip to Myanmar (Asiaweek)
 
Asiaweek, 10 Sept:   Thailand's press, which rarely misses an opportunity
to highlight bilateral relations between Bangkok and Yangon, vastly
underplayed Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan's recent two-day visit to
Myanmar, his first since taking office. The reason seems to be that Surin,
a staunch democrat, made no effort to meet dissident leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, despite his avowed intention, openly spoken about in his ministry last
year, that he would want to visit the Nobel Peace laureate when he goes to
Yangon. Surin's political instincts clearly got the better of his liberal
ones -- insiders say he neither asked to see Suu Kyi nor raised any human
rights issues with Myanmar's military junta. None of this was reported by
the Thai press, which likes Surin
and wanted to protect him from any adverse publicity back home, where the
Yangon regime is widely reviled. Privately, some officials in Bangkok are
unabashedly critical of the whole affair. "A gutless trip -- gutless," was
how one senior figure described Surin's journey to Asiaweek's Roger Mitton. 

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