Less than six months ago, Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra believed he was on top of the world. The Apec summit he was hosting had his approval rating soaring in a way no political
leader before him had ever seen.
His ambition to be recognised as a regional leader seemed to be within reach. Thaksin could even
proudly count US President George W Bush as a friend. After all, the "major non-Nato ally" status accorded Thailand by
Washington was probably the best deal Thaksin could bargain for in standing side by side with the US in its war against terrorism.
But that was October 2003, and Thaksin today might already be missing those "good old
days". A succession of events, including the violence in the South, the bird flu, the iTV scandal, the humiliating loss in the
Songkhla by-election, and the ongoing face-off with the Egat union, have somehow brought him back to earth.
Even his "friend" George seems to be deserting him. The damning report on the human
rights situation in Thailand issued by the US State Department last week had Thaksin fuming. The Thai leader, of course, never
expected his good friend in Washington to treat him this way.
Thaksin and Bush probably have different definitions of the word "friend". As a
superpower, the US considers countries to be friends only when they serve its economic and political interests. And Thaksin certainly
is not naive enough not to know that.
But Thaksin's outburst over the US rights report is a good indication of how he interpreted his
friendship with the US. And that it was definitely not the way he thought it should be.
Thaksin apparently believed that from the day he shook hands with his friend George during the Apec
summit in Bangkok, there would be only backslapping and sweet words between them. After all, didn't Thailand uphold her part of the
bargain by giving Washington her wholehearted support to the war on terror?
It was certainly beyond the prime minister's comprehension why President Bush would allow such a
critical report of Thailand's human rights record to come out. Apparently forgetting all the handshakes and the new-found friendship,
Thaksin was swift to denounce Bush as a "useless" and "annoying" friend.
Well, it seems rather unfair for Thaksin to vent his anger on his old friend this way. The Thai
prime minister probably has only himself to blame for not having made clear to Bush the meaning of "friend".
Thaksin should have told Bush that once they became friends, nothing that would stir up bad feeling
should be said about each other. Even if your friend is in the wrong, you are supposed to turn a blind eye to it.
Therefore, as a friend of Thailand, Bush was not supposed to take any notice of the 2,000 cases of
murder and extrajudicial killings in the name of a war on drugs - much less make a noise about it.
And if Thaksin was accused of attempting to roll back press freedom in Thailand, his friend George
was supposed to be oblivious to it. He was also supposed to plead ignorance to the problem of corruption and all other forms of human
rights violations in Thailand that were pointed out in the report.
After all, at least by Thaksin's definition, that's what "friends" are for. The only
problem was that he somehow thought that his friend Bush shared this understanding.
The latest US State Department report on human rights practices in Thailand, therefore, came as a
rude awakening for Thaksin. All of a sudden, it dawned on him that he has been wrong all along in his assumptions about friendship
with Washington.
But Thaksin is not a leader who is readily apologetic about mistakes he makes. He would rather put
the blame on someone else. And in this particular case, if there is to be a culprit, it has to be Bush.
Now that the American president has been relegated to the status of "useless" and
"annoying" friend, it should be interesting to see how he makes it up to the Thai leader. Bush should know better than to
think that one can cross paths with Thaksin and get away unscathed.
Bush mustn't forget that Thaksin is not someone who is ready to kow-tow to anyone.
Even the United Nations earned his ire for criticising his government's war on drugs.
Here is a little tip for the American leader on how he can atone for his offence. When Thaksin is
unhappy with a newspaper, he would have its owner fire the editor.
Bush should know what to do with his secretary of state if he still wants Thaksin
to consider him a "friend."
THEPCHAI YONG
