Why Singapore had to go public on Sonthi's remarks

The Straits Times, January 25, 2007

SINGAPORE yesterday explained why it had to issue a public response to the Thai army chief's comments over fears that the Republic was eavesdropping on them.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement: 'The Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to issue a public response to a public expression of concern because Council for National Security chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin had implied that Singapore could compromise Thai security.

'The implication of those remarks went beyond the commercial realm. It is also entirely appropriate that the Singapore Government elaborate on its regulatory principles to address concerns raised about its integrity as an international telecommunications hub.'

The statement was issued in response to media queries about the Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman's comments made earlier yesterday.

Mr Kitti Wasinondh was quoted in news reports as saying: 'I am puzzled by the statement from Singapore's Foreign Ministry that they do not understand the remarks of Gen Sonthi.

'It is not appropriate for Singapore to issue such a statement. If Singapore wants clarification of the remarks, Singapore can send its ambassador to Gen Sonthi.'

Mr Kitti's remarks were made after Singapore responded to media queries on Monday about Gen Sonthi's comments.

The Singapore statement said: 'We do not know what Gen Sonthi's remarks meant. Domestic calls within Thailand are not routed through Singapore. It does not make business or technical sense to route domestic calls via another country.

'Doing so will incur additional and unnecessary network resources (including costly international bandwidth) and degrade the quality of service.'

Addressing a forum last week, Gen Sonthi had said that foreign ownership of the telecoms industry could jeopardise national security.

'The armed forces are currently experiencing a problem,' he said.

'We pick up the phone, and the line runs to Singapore. We can talk about confidential official matters, but it goes to Singapore.

'National security is an important matter for the nation, one that is entirely domestic.'

He did not say how or why this might be done.

But a day later, Thai leaders warned telecoms companies that their licences could be revoked if they were caught bugging conversations.

The message was seen as aimed at two Thai telcos in which Temasek Holdings has a controlling stake.

Both companies - Advanced Info Service and Shin Satellite - denied the charges.