Hello friends!
It’s official! The Thai Election Commission has confirmed all 500 MPs after May’s election. But it’s still a long road ahead. We touched on Pita Limjaroenrat on Friday and will bring another update this week if needed.
But Prayuth Chan-o-cha definitely won’t be going quietly. He hosted talks with Myanmar in Bangkok yesterday and it’s mayhem. Let’s crack in.
See you Thursday,
Erin Cook
🇹🇭🇲🇲 Caretaker? So what! It’s meeting time
This Monday, Thailand hosted a foreign ministers meeting on Myanmar. Crucially, this was outside of Asean and the Thai government is in caretaker mode sooo. What was the point?
“Dialogue is a fundamental requirement of diplomacy in seeking out peaceful solutions. As a neighbouring country that shares a 2,400 km long border with Myanmar, Thailand wants to see cessation of violence which will eventually lead to peace and stability inside Myanmar,” the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement last week.
“Everyone was happy with today's meeting. We explored many issues, including the current situation along the border, scams and other transnational crimes. The issues that we talked about are beneficial to all stakeholders,” Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said Monday after the event, as per Bangkok Post.
While not an Asean event, the majority of the bloc did send representatives: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They met alongside China and India, who, for obvious reasons, have an important role in the crisis.
In an invitation sent to Asean, Thailand called on the bloc to “fully reengage with Myanmar at the leaders' level,” which is in stark contrast to the five-point consensus. Thanks, but no thanks, said current Asean chair Indonesia.
“It is critical that we safeguard existing momentum while keeping in mind that ASEAN foreign ministers will meet and further discuss it at our meeting in Jakarta in less than four weeks' time,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi wrote in a letter to Dom sent last week ahead of the meeting, according to Nikkei Asia.
“Engagement with just one group alone is not aligned with the five-point consensus,” Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs’ special staff for regional diplomacy Ngurah Swajaya told media on Monday. “In five months, Indonesia has done more than 75 engagements with Myanmar with various partners. And this engagement that is done includes the State Administration Council, the National Unity Government and the others,” he added, via the Straits Times.
Could it all be a cynical bid for Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s caretaker government to keep a hand on the reins? Kyoto University’s Pavin Chachavalpongpun thinks so. He told the South China Morning Post that Prayuth “wanted to set the tone in the Thai-Myanmar relationship before it leaves office.” “The outgoing government strives to claim credit for its plan to initiate reconciliation in Myanmar … This is against political protocol,” he added
This whole thing is deeply irritating to me. What was the point? What’s the point of any of this? Who does it help? Certainly not the millions living in Myanmar who just want to get on with it and bring back peace and stability.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Dari Mulut ke Mulut to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.