Abhisit In Wonderland

Hua Hin’s about to be hermetically sealed off from the real world out there. The seaside resort has been cleaned up and adorned for days and starting Tuesday, October 20th, strict checks on vehicles passing through areas around the summit venues will begin. Got no Asean Summit Car Sticker? Don’t even dare to enter town.

Hua Hin’s about to receive Asia’s top political leaders. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and their counterparts from South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the Asean member states are expected for an event that was due last December in Chiang Mai. But things happened.

Postponed several times and seriously disrupted during the April mayhem in Pattaya, Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva finally gets the chance to show off a peaceful, sunny Thailand. That’s at least the backdrop in Hua Hin and Cha Am where the 15th Asean Summit is held. With this time no Asian leaders to be airlifted from their hotels. That at least is the plan.

Red shirts won’t make it through to the venue, Abhisit has made that clear. With all the road blocks and war ships and patrol boats out at sea and the helicopters now and then hovering above it would be quite a tall order to reach Hua Hin for a good old demonstrations. And that’s good like this.

You may deplore the current state of affairs in Thailand, but all that the kingdom needs now is NOT another debacle broadcasted around the world. Let’s give Abhisit his three days of fame and spin and pageantry and off and forgotten the summit is again. Forgotten like the 14th Asean Summit held in February at the same place – remember?

The high guests from near and far know better themselves that there’s no good reason to attend a way delayed summit at this stage in Thailand. The kingdom’s too busy with its own issues and the summit agenda doesn’t break any new ground. The protocol’s dead serious, there is no room for improvisation or even surprises.

An interesting event may be a bilateral meeting along the sidelines of the summit between the prime ministers Wen and Singh. But essentially the summit is a – with due respect – public nuisance, even though the permanent secretary for the interior ministry assures that the “enforcement of the security act will not affect to locals’ everyday life.”

Come again.

They’re coning off the middle lanes with nailed down cones forcing everyone to drive in one lane in each direction …

Already four days before the summit traffic became a nightmare giving a first taste of lockdown mode. Monday evening media activist Supinya Klangnarong reported from Hua Hin that the

Internal Security Act is declared here, I am kept in the resort, heard that the security check in town is so tight, military around.

At least in the long run the summit may mean some good PR for sleepy Hua Hin. And the soldiers smile. How often do they see a foreigner.

And aren’t Thai people well versed in enduring deprivation for the sake of a higher aim.

But more importantly: the official Thailand receives the high guests not because they have a mission here, but because Thailand wants them here and spared no expenses to this end.

Unfortunately the summit is mainly about appearance and saving face. Pattaya, not to mention the airport blockade, left deep marks in Thailand’s psyche and international standing.

With the likes of Asia’s great leaders attending Thailand attempts to award itself some of that greatness.

And the Thai opposition will most likely grant Abhisit his moment in history.

This is not the moment to confront the government.

Another fiasco could be devastating not only for Thailand, but also Thaksin who’d be easily outed as a reckless power-monger.

This is rather a moment to unite – or keep quiet – and focus on the wounded pride of a nation that attempts to be proud again.

In this respect Abhisit has to be commended for his efforts to showcase Thailand against all odds.

Even though the showcased Thailand behind all the security parameters with the Dusit Thani’s peaceful backdrop of the Gulf of Siam couldn’t be more misleading.

What can be wrong in such a picturesque, artificial world.

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One Response to “Abhisit In Wonderland”

Asean Buzz on October 22nd, 2009 2.58 pm

[...] Where superstition and magic are part of politics, can such a prelude of an accident only be seen as a bad omen? Hua Hin looks kind of eerie. People seem to avoid the sleepy town, everywhere security forces. Thailand doesn’t leave anything to chance. Around Hua Hin and in Bangkok 36,000 security personnel are on duty. The probably biggest security operation in Thailand’s history shall not only avert a repeat of the Pattaya incident. [...]

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