Thailand Travel News

Thailand has requested the Fijian government to temporarily arrest ousted ex Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra after learning that he is now in Fiji. Thailand has no extradition treaty with Fiji, and application of an extradition request depends on voluntary cooperation.

Thaksin Shinawatra was the first prime minister in Thailand’s history to lead an elected government through a full term in office. But after more than five years in power, he was ousted in a military coup in September 2006, accused of corruption and abuse of power.

He was in Tonga earlier this week and met with HM King George Tupou V and Princess Pilolevu Tuita. The millionaire and his group arrived by private jet at the Fua’amotu International Airport. The Dubai-based former premier was reportedly to have visited the South Pacific nation, seeking asylum in the country. However, Thaksin denied the reports.

In the wake of the department’s report, the Justice Ministry is planning to raise public awareness about the prescribed procedures for a pardon, in order to clear up misunderstandings about the signature campaign that has been fuelling the red shirts.

The government might now be planning government-to-government negotiations to bring back the former prime minister to Thailand since it had not received cooperation from Interpol and other countries

The Thai government has banned demonstrations and other types of gatherings during the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting from July 17^th to 23^rd. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government would not allow even peaceful demonstrations although it was granted under the constitution.

Prawit expressed confidence that the meetings would run smoothly without any untoward incidents after the Cabinet Thursday approved enforcement of the Internal Security Act. Under the rules endorsed by the Cabinet, unauthorized people are not allowed to carry weapons outside their residences, and the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) director is empowered to impose a ban on use of electronic devices in certain areas.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will be among those attending the July 17-23 meetings, along with counterparts from the European Union, China, Japan, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Canada and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The cancellation of the summit in Pattaya caused huge embarrassment to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose country holds the rotating chair of ASEAN. While there were no major street protests in the capital since the April 13 rioting, the red shirted protesters aligned to oust Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra kept their pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government.

Thailand has invited North Korean foreign minister Pak Ui Chun to attend regional security talks to be held this month on a Thai island. Panich Vikitset, a Beijing based foreign ministry official traveled to Pyongyang Monday to invite Pak to the July 19-23 Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum on security on Phuket, 600 kilometers south of Bangkok.

Panich, a special assistant to Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, said that Thailand as a host to ASEAN meeting to held this week would like to invite North Korean foreign minister or his deputy to come to Thailand and discuss the problems of the North Korean peninsula.

Among the leaders scheduled to attend the ASEAN meeting are US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton along with foreign ministers from South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and North Korea.

Tensions with North Korea have risen this year as it carried out its second nuclear test, a series of missile launches and threatened South Korea and UNO if sanctions are applied to North Korea.

The forum is deemed Asia’s most important annual gathering on regional

security issues, such as the

North Korean nuclear threat and Myanmar’s ongoing political instability. Phuket was picked as the forum’s host because Thailand’s largest island is deemed a safe haven for the Democrat Party, which leads the current coalition government.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has refused to resign after police questioned his involvement in last year’s Bangkok airport siege. He reported to a police station on 06-July evening to hear charges which include illegal assembly, invasion, breaches of aviation law and terrorism following the rallies by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). He was among more than 30 leaders of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) summoned by the police this week.

“I am not a terrorist” said Kasit whose involvement in the last year’s airport siege has made him a major target for the opposition, led by allies of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Kasit was seen speaking at several rallies by the Yellow Shirt protesters, who occupied the prime minister’s office compound for three months and shut down Bangkok’s airports.

The PAD is an ardent royalist group that helped topple tycoon Thaksin with mass rallies in 2006 and then took to the streets again last year to drive his allies out of government.

Their campaign peaked with the seizure of Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi international and Don Mueang domestic airports, which left hundreds of thousands of travelers, stranded and caused huge economic damage.

They abandoned the airport siege after the Constitutional Court disbanded the former ruling pro-Thaksin party in December. Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva won a parliamentary vote to become prime minister later that month.

Facing one of its worst crisis in years, Thailand’s tourism industry is going to great guns to drum up business that has plunged thanks to political upheaval, the global recession and now swine flu fears.

Foreign traveler arrivals have fallen 16% so far this year, while hotel occupancy across the country has dropped to 44%, down from 66% last year. Luxury hotels in Bangkok have even lower occupancy rates.

To offset the drop-off in visitors from abroad, Thailand is promoting domestic tourism and hotels are offering rock-bottom discounts to Thai residents. The government is extending a holiday in early July to get Thais on the road. It also has offered low-interest loans to small businesses catering to tourists.

On the other hand, Thai Airways is trying to lure passengers from outside Asia with free domestic flights. Hotels on Thailand’s resort island of Phuket are offering a fourth night free. And mountain lodges up north are offering free golf and spa pampering.

But many fear recovery is a long way off for the industry that employs 2.5 million people and is a pillar of the economy, which already has slid into a recession.

So far, the slump has not led to big job losses, but many hotels have put employees on temporary leave without pay. Thai hotels and restaurants had 100,000 fewer seasonal workers in March than they did in February.

Thailand foreign minister Kasit Piromya and leaders of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have been summoned by the police for their alleged involvement in the shock closure of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports, late last year.

Media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul, retired general Chamlong Srimuang and Somsak Kosaisuk, leaders of the People’s Alliance of Democracy were also among those asked to report to police on July 16^th.

The siege of the airport which was carried out between Nov 26^th and Dec 3^rd stranded more than 350,000 travelers, disrupted trade flows and caused massive damage to Thailand’s vital tourism industry.

The summons came at a critical time for Thailand as it tries to redeem its battered pride by hosting the ASEAN Ministerial meeting and the ASEAN regional forum in Phuket from July 17^th and 23^rd, where Kasit Piromya will chair meetings involving 26 countries, with dignitaries, including United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The PAD, which led massive rallies in the capital, that led to the military ouster of then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September, 2006, took to the streets again in May, last year, after Thaksin’s allies won the December, 2007 general election.

The Thailand police are investigating an alleged insult to the revered monarchy by the board of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT). The “lese majeste” complaint if proved could be punishable by 15 years in jail.

Lese-majeste is a serious offence in Thailand, where many people regard 81 year old King Bhumibol Adulyadej as semi divine.

The complaint was filed by a freelance translator Laksana Kornsil against the 13 member board of the club over the distribution of a DVD that included a controversial speech made at the club in 2007. The FCCT’s 13 member board includes journalists from the BBC, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal.

The DVD included a controversial speech by pro-Thaksin politician Jakrapob Penkair in 2007 about the coup against Thaksin the year before, for which Jakrapob was accused of Lese-majeste and quit his cabinet post in May 2008.

The latest complaint has drawn criticism from activists saying that it underscores the threat that the law poses to press freedom in Thailand. The Paris based International Federation for Human Rights said that it was deeply concerned by the abusive use of the law, in particular the filing of complaints by any Thai citizen rather than by the person targeted.

The Thai cabinet has approved the use of a law that will put the army in charge of security at a regional summit in Thailand in July. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said that the Internal Security Act was being invoked in Phuket and the surrounding area to ensure the safety of all delegates at the ASEAN forum on the resort Island.

This act allows the army to order curfews and restrict freedom of movements in situations deemed harmful to national security. It also allows the army to detain suspects without trial and restrict access to electronic equipment – a clause that critics say will allow censorship of Internet and tapping of phone.

The Prime Minister has said that the cabinet has agreed to declare the internal security act on Phuket and 5 KM around the tourist island from July 10 to 24^th for the ASEAN forum.

The previous meeting for the summit was supposed to have been in April but was cancelled at the lat moment when anti government protestors forced an embarrassing, premature end to the summit. Two days of deadly rioting ensued in Bangkok and a state of emergency was declared in the capital. The leaders’ meeting has now been postponed until October.

The ministerial meeting in Phuket runs from July 16 to 24, although ministers will not arrive until July 19.