Thailand's new PM likely to be more 'pro-Active' on Burma: Activist

http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1445-thailands-new-pm-likely-to-be-more-pro-active-on-burma-activist.html

by Mungpi
Monday, 15 December 2008 20:49

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Thailand's opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has been elected as the country's new Prime Minister after winning a special vote in Parliament on Monday.

Abhisit, on Monday, won 235 votes, edging out Pracha Promnok who received 198 votes, to become Thailand's 27th Prime Minister.

The 44-year old Abhisit, who was born in Britain, will also become the fifth Prime Minister of Thailand within a period of less than two-and-a-half years.


The election came after Thailand's constitutional court in early December forced former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to resign. Somchai and his Peoples Power Party, along with two other parties, were charged for election fraud related to polls convened over a year previously.

While electing Abhisit as the new Prime Minister seems to provide at least a momentary end to the political deadlock that has dragged on in Thailand for months, supporters of the ousted government, known as the red-shirts, on Monday reacted furiously – rampaging through barricades and preventing MPs from leaving Parliament.

While the election of Abhisit as the new Prime Minister signals an end to the immediate political crisis, Burmese pro-democracy activists based in Thailand said Abhisit's new government is more likely to take a pro-active role regarding Burma's politics.

According to Nyo Ohn Myint, in-charge of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the exiled National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), with his fair knowledge and understanding of political situation in Burma, Abhisit is likely to be more pro-active than other earlier Thai governments.

Abhisit, during a conference on 'Safeguarding Democracy – Role of Opposition,' held in Bangkok on Saturday, acknowledged that Thailand's former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had used Thailand's foreign policy to make personal deals with Burma's military junta.

Nyo Ohn Myint, who was also a participant in the conference, said Abhisit, during an informal discussion, had promised to be more 'pro-active' towards Burma's political crisis if elected as the new head of state.

"I also made a point to him that, as a neighbor, Burma's political problems impact on Thailand," Nyo Ohn Myint added.

Nyo Ohn Myint said that while it is still too early to predict what will be Thailand's foreign policy under the newly elected Premier, it would look more positive if the leaders do not have any personal business connections with Burma's military rulers.

Thaksin, Thailand's former Prime Minister, now in exile, during his tenure conducted lucrative business deals with Burma's military junta. Critics said Thaksin used Thailand's foreign policy to deal with Burma's military junta for personal gain.

"I believe that if the new elected leaders of Thailand do not have personal business ties with Burma's military rulers, Thailand could take a better position on Burma," Nyo Ohn Myint speculated.

Thailand, with its ongoing political crisis, is unlikely to have Burma as a major focus of its any new foreign policy, but Nyo Ohn Myint said the Thai government is likely to more sympathetic towards Burmese refugees and migrants.

Thailand currently hosts over two million Burmese migrant workers, who are employed in varied fields of work, including the sex industry. Additionally, there are some 140,000 Burmese refugees eking out a survival in nine camps along the Thai-Burmese border.