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Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle ac



Subject: Re: Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle activists

This has got to be one of the year's gaffes. Most unfortunate
small-mindedness in moment of challenge and greatness: 

   "I want to warn all [Burmese] students to stop any political
movements
here. If they want to conduct political activities, go to the
     United States where there is 100 per cent democracy," he said....

-- Thai National Security Council chief Khachadpai Burusapatana. 

Does anyone know his rank in the thai govt hierachy? Who is he?


He should be fired for undermining the international prestige and image
of Thailand. He is disrespectful of the King and the King's government,
and he is certainly not a liberal democrat!
 
**************

 Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle activists
>      Posted on 10/10/99, 09:43 AM CST. Email this story to a friend.
> 
>      WILLIAM BARNES and AGENCIES in Bangkok
> 
>      Thailand asked the United Nations refugee agency yesterday to play a
> bigger role in resettling exiled Burmese activists following
>      the storming of Rangoon's embassy by radical student gunmen.
> 
>      The move came at a meeting between National Security Council chief
> Khachadpai Burusapatana and the head of the UN High
>      Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok.
> 
>      "We asked the UNHCR to be more active by co-ordinating with [Burma] to
> take back some 100,000 displaced persons, and to
>      find third countries to accept exiled students," said Mr Khachadpai.
> 
>      So far, only a few countries had shown any interest in sheltering
> Burmese activists, he said.
> 
>      "I want to warn all [Burmese] students to stop any political movements
> here. If they want to conduct political activities, go to the
>      United States where there is 100 per cent democracy," he said.
> 
>      Earlier yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai had criticised
> the Burmese junta for its bizarre combination of praise and
>      censure over Thailand's handling of last weekend's embassy hostage
> drama.
> 
>      Mr Chuan said that while the regime had offered comprehensive formal
> thanks for ending the 26-hour siege without loss of life, it
>      also censured Thailand for allegedly handling the hostage-takers with
> kid gloves.
> 
>      "They send a letter to thank us, yet their officials also criticise
> us. The [embassy hijackers] came to our country because they
>      could not solve their problems at home. So [Burma] cannot criticise
> us," he said.
> 
>      This is unusually sharp comment from a normally cautious premier, but
> it reflects increasing Thai irritation with a regime that
>      appears unable or unwilling to get to grips with political and
> economic problems that have flooded Thailand with refugees, exiles
>      and drugs.
> 
>      Yet Burma's regime also feels that a fellow member of the Association
> of Southeast Asian Nations and "good neighbour" should
>      not so obviously sympathise with its opponents.
> 
>      The junta has spiced its criticism with more than words: it has not
> only closed its 2,100km border with Thailand, but also
>      suspended all Thai fishing fleet contracts for "safety reasons".
> 
>      Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who yesterday summoned Burma's
> ambassador to seek a solution to bilateral tensions,
>      said afterwards: "The border closure and fishery concession
> termination contradict our good faith in relations with [Burma]."
> 
>      Ambassador Hla Maung said the measures were for security purposes.
> 
>      Five heavily armed dissidents seized the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok a
> week ago yesterday and held 89 hostages overnight
>      until a Thai police helicopter flew them to a jungle border sanctuary
> on Saturday afternoon.
> 
>      Rangoon had initially told Bangkok that it could take whatever
> measures might be necessary to end the siege soon after it
>      started.
> 
>      What it certainly did not expect was that powerful Interior Minister
> Sanan Kachornprasert would publicly declare that the
>      hijackers were not terrorists but students fighting for freedom and
> that the gang would be given a VIP ride to freedom still
>      holding their weapons.