Thailand cancels invite to Singapore over Thaksin visit

The Straits Times, January 17, 2007
By Nirmal Ghosh, THAILAND CORRESPONDENT



BANGKOK - THAILAND yesterday cancelled an invitation made to Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo to visit Bangkok this month.

It did so because it was 'dissatisfied' that Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar had met former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra over the weekend.

Mr Yeo was due to visit Thailand in connection with a regular Thai-Singapore civil services exchange programme - which the government in Bangkok has now suspended. The meeting on the joint programme has been cancelled.

In a statement late yesterday, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) expressed 'regret' at the moves.

'The Singapore Government hopes that Thailand can appreciate Singapore's position on the visit,' the MFA said. 'The Thai Government did not notify us that Dr Thaksin has been charged for any offence. There is also no restriction on where he can travel to. He had chosen to make a visit to Singapore on his own.'

It added: 'Thai nationals do not require visas to visit Singapore. There is no reason for Singapore to turn Dr Thaksin away. Prior to Singapore, Dr Thaksin had also visited several other countries without any protest by the Thai Government.'

The announcement by the government in Bangkok came a few hours after Singapore's Ambassador to Thailand Peter Chan was summoned to Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday morning to explain the meeting with Mr Thaksin.

Soon after the meeting, Singapore's MFA released a brief statement saying the Thai MFA's permanent secretary Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn conveyed to Mr Chan the Thai Government's views regarding the recent visit of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra to Singapore.

'Mr Chan explained that the Singapore Government regarded this as a private visit. Singapore had also conveyed this to the Thai Government earlier.'

An earlier statement issued by Singapore's MFA on the weekend described Mr Jayakumar as an old friend of Mr Thaksin and said their meeting was 'purely social and private'.

But after yesterday's meeting in Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister General Surayud Chulanont told reporters: 'We informed the Singaporean (Ambassador) that we are concerned by the political movements made by Thaksin. Singapore should be more cautious about allowing such movements since we have already revoked Thaksin's diplomatic passport.'

An official at Thailand's MFA told The Straits Times yesterday that the Thai government's move related only to Mr Yeo's visit and the civil service exchange programme.

This was contrary to reports in some of the Thai media that said all high level contacts between the countries had been suspended.

Thailand's government, appointed by the military, which unseated Mr Thaksin in a bloodless coup d'etat last September, would like to turn Mr Thaksin into an international pariah, say analysts.

His recent trips to China, Hong Kong and Indonesia have figured in Thai newspapers and are seen as an embarrassment to the new government in Bangkok, which is bent on eclipsing him from Thailand's political scene.

The fact that Mr Thaksin gave interviews to two American media organisations - The Wall Street Journal and CNN - while in Singapore raised his profile further. Mr Thaksin's interview with CNN has yet to be aired in Thailand.