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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Week of August 14, 1998
BANGKOK The IMF is pleased with efforts to stabilize the economy but insists more reforms are needed in the banking sector. A Fund team arrived Aug. 2 to draft the fifth "letter of intent" outlining economic reforms in exchange for the next tranche of a $17.2 billion deal approved last year.WASHINGTON, D.C. The IMF has less than $10 billion left to deal with the financial crisis in Asia, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers warned. The government wants Congress to authorize $18 billion for the Fund. So far it has given $35 billion dollars to aid Asian nations.
CHUAN'S POLITICAL TIMELINE
A former minister and member of Thailand's Democrat Party suggests that Premier Chuan Leekpai is considering either shuffling his cabinet or dissolving parliament some time around his government's first anniversary in November. Chuan's honeymoon since replacing the discredited government of Chavalit Yongchaiyudh ended in May when the press and social activists began a constant and withering attack on him for not showing crisis leadership. And his slim parliamentary majority will be threatened within months, if not weeks, by the likely expulsion of a dozen MPs in one of his smaller coalition partners for party-hopping against their leader's wishes. The embattled PM needs to make a decisive move to regain momentum.Among his most pressing problems is dissension within his cabinet, and the trouble surrounds crucial players. His two most important economic advisers, Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda and Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi have long been at odds. The voluble Supachai - the most likely victim when the knives come out and already reading the writing on the wall - has spoken publicly of his desire to be the next head of the World Trade Organization. He vowed he would quit politics altogether if he got the post. But a simple personnel change at the top might not be enough. Chuan's cabinet is a coalition of strange bedfellows cobbled together out of political expediency and with a successful new election he might have a freer hand in choosing his policy-makers.
THAILAND WILL INJECT $4.8 BILLION into the economy over the next two months, aiming to ease liquidity and get interest rates to fall by 1%-1.5%. On Aug. 3 the government announced a package of 25 measures to attempt to slow the decline in the economy during the second half of this year.
Week of August 7, 1998
Moody's Investors Service placed the long-term debt rating of six major banks under review for possible downgrade.THE THAI DIAMOND MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION says the value of gems and jewelry traded worldwide shrunk by 40% this year because of the downturn. Asia usually takes more than 50% of all such business.
Week of July 31, 1998
Bangkok Watch for protests to grow against the $180-million nuclear power plant going up near the city. Opponents question the need for the facility during the financial crisis.Week of July 17, 1998
WASHINGTON The Institute of International Finance - a U.S.-based group of 285 private financial firms - is launching an investigation to determine how private lending bodies contributed to the Asian crisis and to propose guidelines for avoiding such mistakes in the future.REJECTING EXPENSIVE FOREIGN wines, Thai Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart is making his own. Chateau de Shalawan - it's named after a local crocodile - will go on sale for about $15 late next year. Sanan - criticized for high living in general - has also forsaken his preference for Versace designer clothes and now wears Thai silk.
Week of July 10, 1998
BANGKOK Visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin warned against loosening up monetary policy, saying it will not necessarily bring about normal bank lending. Former deputy prime minister Virabongsa Ramangkura questioned whether the U.S. understands the Thai economy, and whether the IMF program is right for the country.BANGKOK Condominiums are attracting the interest of foreign buyers, according to real estate consultants Jones Lang Wootton. But many buyers are waiting for prices to drop further and real-estate laws to change. The government has yet to approve 100% foreign ownership of condo blocks.
Week of July 3, 1998
KUCHING Having failed to reach an agreement on the U.S.-backed pact to liberalize trade within Pacific Rim countries, APEC trade ministers will meet again in November to try to close the deal. The American trade representative Charlene Barshefsky singled out Japan as the recalcitrant partner to lowering trade barriers and praised Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand as ready to make the necessary changes.BANGKOK Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the world's wealthiest says Thailand no longer has any U.S.-dollar billionaires. Last year Bangkok Bank's Chatri Sophonpanich and CPGroup's Dhanin Chearavanont made the Forbes list; in 1996, 10 Thais were named.
Week of June 26, 1998
BANGKOK In a fit of desperation, opposition leader and former premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh called on PM Chuan Leekpai to resign, claiming he had failed to steer the country out of the economic crisis. He called for a non-elected person - whom he did not name - to take Chuan's place. Chuan replied that his coalition would only heed advice if it was constructive and hinted that Chavalit's performance as PM had left a lot to be desired.THE U.S. LIFTED employment restrictions on Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippine, South Korean and Thai students studying in the States. The program allows them to work longer hours to help pay for their education or only attend school part-time without the risk of losing their visa status.
TO SAVE MONEY, Thailand and Malaysia canceled their annual joint wargames, code-named "Thamal." This month, the Thai military completed its "Cobra Gold" joint exercise with the United States, in which Washington picked up 80% of the costs.
Week of June 19, 1998
BANGKOK The Food and Drug Administration said it has little choice but to allow Viagra to be sold by prescription. Demand for the anti-impotence drug is so great that men are paying up to $50 for a single pill - which is often counterfeit. The agency will monitor the drug's performance for two years before deciding if it can be sold over the counter.THAILAND'S CHANNEL 3 TV STATION dropped this year's Miss Thailand contest, a perennial favorite. The station could not find enough advertisers to back the show.
Week of June 12, 1998
BANGKOK Ethnic-Chinese Indonesians with at least 10 million baht ($250,000) in cash have been offered permanent residency in Thailand. Successful applicants would be required to make investments or deposit the money in Thai accounts.BANGKOK Prime Minsiter Chuan Leekpai will not make any overseas trips for at least three months so he can concentrate on domestic matters, the foreign ministry said.
Week of June 5, 1998
BANGKOK: The fourth letter of intent with the IMF was made public, with emphasis placed on reducing interest rates and helping ease unemployment. PM Chuan Leekpai's government has been under attack for a lack of attention to the plight of the poor. The proposal, while not specifically dealing with the issue of poverty, indicates a slight easing of the IMF terms. The Fund will examine the plan in June before releasing the next round of $800 million in credits.Week of May 29, 1998
More finance companies will fold this year even though the Bank of Thailand took over seven ailing firms. The bank closed the companies because they were insolvent and unable to increase their capital bases by the government's September deadline.Thailand says it is ready. Its anti-terrorist teams have been staging displays of their prowess for the press to forestall any worries about terrorists disrupting the 13th Asian Games to be held in Bangkok in December. The city should know the ropes by now - this will be the third time the competition has been held in the City of Angels.
Week of May 22, 1998
The IMF agreed to a fourth letter of intent for more aid to stabilize the baht. Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda declined to say how much more money would be made available in the credit line. The Fund has already given $17.2 billion to Thailand.Week of May 15, 1998
Arresting Gas Agreement
What is the link between the April 22 signing of a $2.42 billion agreement between Malaysia and Thailand to jointly develop a huge offshore gas and oil field in a disputed area in the Gulf of Thailand, and Malaysia's return of four leaders of the Pattani United Liberation Organization to Thai authorities in January? Soon after initial consensus on the gas project was reached in December, Malaysia began rounding up key rebel leaders and delivering them across the border. Until then, PULO activists, who seek greater autonomy for the southern Muslim-dominated provinces of Thailand, had crossed the border with seeming impunity, ostensibly carrying out small attacks and then returning to Malaysia.Thailand has long been critical of the Malaysians for not pursuing the rebels more actively, implying the Malaysian government offered them sympathy if not outright support. Kuala Lumpur denied the charges, saying the activists were difficult targets to nab because they speak Malay and often have family ties in Malaysia. Naturally, the Thais are thankful since tranquillity returned to the region, which is the power base of PM Chuan Leekpai - who finally closed the gas field deal - and of his Democrat Party.
CAMBODIA-THAILAND Cambodian leader Hun Sen flew to Bangkok at mid-week for talks with Thai PM Chuan Leekpai and other top leaders. Conflict at the border and preparations for Cambodia's July 26 elections were at the top of the agenda.
Week of May 8, 1998
Reports that Kuwait is willing to purchase the eight F/A-18s Thailand was going to buy from the U.S. were played down by PM Chuan Leekpai - official talks have not started. Washington agreed to cancel the sale, but Kuwait must agree to pay the $74.5 million deposit.Week of May 1, 1998
Bangkok residents vote for new councillors and assemblymen on April 26. Governor Pichit Rattakul's "Working Ants" party faces the ruling national Democrat Party and emerging Palang Thai Party in a forerunner to a general election which could happen this year.Week of April 10, 1998
CAMBODIA-THAILAND Around 7,000 Cambodian refugees started to pour into Thailand amid fighting for the last Khmer Rouge stronghold in Anlong Veng in northern Cambodia, the Thai army said. Water on the Cambodian side was running short, aggravating the situation.BANKING SHARES SHUDDERED when tough new rules to bring the troubled sector up to world standards were unveiled. The market was already battered because U.S.-based Moody's Investors Services lowered ratings for the top five banks.
Week of April 3, 1998
MYANMAR-THAILAND Bangkok may change its policy and allow the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to help shelter 90,000 refugees from military-run Myanmar. The decision came after recent attacks by Burmese troops and their allies on camps in northwestern Thailand.
AN APPEALS COURT REJECTED A SUIT brought against former
premier General Suchinda Kraprayoon and three others involved in the bloody 1992 crackdown on democracy protesters. Suchinda had granted himself amnesty while in power, which the court could not overturn.Week of March 27, 1998
PM Chuan Leekpai's visit to the U.S. paid off. He got a promise of a $1.7 billion aid package which includes a $1 billion credit from the Exim bank and the cancelation of a $392 million purchase of eight American-made F/A-18 fighters and a refund of money already paid.Week of March 13, 1998
Hopewell Holdings Ltd. will be allowed to bid for a scaled-down version of its Bangkok mass transit contract that was canceled last month. In Hong Kong, Hopewell said it will seek compensation from the Thai government over the scrapping of the project in which it had invested $600 million. The $4 billion project was killed after the government accused the firm of unacceptable building delays.Week of February 27, 1998
The Thai government is likely to postpone the privatization of Thai Airways for the third time, after the company announced huge foreign exchange losses on Feb. 16. The government wants to sell about 20% of its shares, currently valued at about $260 million.Week of February 20, 1998
So far, the government has not found any buyers for the eight F/18-A fighter jets it contracted to buy from the U.S. The Americans suggested selling the planes to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, but no takers have come forward to bail the cash-strapped Thais out of the $390 million deal.Week of February 13, 1998
CAMBODIA-THAILAND "We are willing to mediate, but to organize a meeting between Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh depends on the willingness of both parties," Thai PM Chuan Leekpai said. Ranariddh is ready to see Chuan; co-Premier Hun Sen has not responded.Week of February 6, 1998
"We know we will have a shortfall," PM Chuan Leekpai said, admitting that an IMF-targeted 1997-98 budget surplus will not be met. It was the message Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda gave earlier to IMF and World Bank officials in the U.S., too.Week of January 30, 1998
THAILAND-MALAYSIA The Bangkok Post criticized Malaysia for not helping to end violence in Thailand's three Muslim-dominated southern provinces. "Malaysia . . . serves as a safe haven as well as a launch pad for criminal acts on Thai soil," the Post said in an editorial.Week of January 23, 1998
Major hotels raised the ire of tour operators by switching their room quotes from baht to dollars, dealing a blow to the country's tourism campaign. "Such behavior makes the baht worthless," says Association of Thai Travel Agents president Anant Sirisant.Week of January 9, 1998
Enlisting All Able Hands
Desperation or a wise move? How do skeptics view the Thai government's move to woo "White Knight" former premier Anand Panyarachun into joining the country's economic rescue effort? Some wondered whether bringing in Anand showed that the government is out of its depth as it tries to salvage the economy. But according to the PM's Office Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, a close adviser to PM Chuan Leekp ai, calling on Anand and two other former Thai ambassadors to the United States, M.R. Kasem Kasemsri and Arsa Sarasin, was a wise move aimed at bringing all hands on board to help the country survive its steadily worsening economic crisis. The plan is for the three to use their contacts to encourage support from the White House, Congress and big business and to drum up American investor backing. Anand's high-profile presence also brings clout in terms of experience, and plays down outsiders' fears of partis an politics interfering with what must be a protracted unified recovery effort. But do not expect to see two "premiers" walking the halls of power together. Anand has made it clear that he will be acting only in an advisory capacity as a long-term planner and head of the Thailand Development Research Institute, a think-tank, rather than as a member of the government.A BOMB ATTACK at a school fair in the southern province of Yala killed two people and injured 13. It was the latest and most serious in a sp ate of terrorist attacks in the predominantly Muslim southern Thai provinces close to the border with Malaysia.
News from Thailand in 1997
News from Thailand in 1996
News from Thailand in 1995
