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THe Nation: PM flayed for Soros
- Subject: THe Nation: PM flayed for Soros
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 18:44:00
Politics
PM flayed for Soros
'assignation'
The spectre of George Soros flitted across
the nationally broadcast no-confidence
debate yesterday as opposition leader
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh reminded Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai about his
too-close-for-comfort contact with the man
who broke the back of the Bank of
Thailand.
Chavalit sought to paint Chuan as the man
who easily forgot the pain of the past by
burying the hatchet with Soros, who had led
a pack of currency speculators in a series
of assaults on the baht since 1995 until he
succeeded in forcing the central bank to
float the baht in July last year. In New York
last week at a function held in his honour by
the Foreign Relations Council in
cooperation with the Asia Society, Chuan
shared the same podium with the US
financier, who introduced him with kind
words to more than 200 top US business
leaders and financial executives.
The Chuan-Soros picture, flashed across
the wires to Thailand, gave the impression
that the Thai leader was kow-towing to
Soros. Chirayudh Vasuratna, vice chairman
of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, did not
conceal his discontent, saying to reporters
that he did not like what he saw because
Chuan was giving Soros a chance to purify
his image.
Soros certainly knows how to play the PR
game, as the following day he sent out a
message saying he and an American
consortium were ready to pump US$650
million into Nakornthai Strip Mill, a
debt-ridden steel company controlled by
Sawat Horungrueng.
The opposition leader's misgivings about
Soros were aimed clearly at Chuan during
his opening speech.
''As for the problem of Mr Soros, the hero of
Chuan, your memory might not be so good.
Mr Soros attacked the baht between
January and March 1995 during your
administration. He repeated the attack
during the tenure of Prime Minister Banharn
[Silapa-archa] in August and November
[1996]. During my time, it happened in
December [1996] and February and May
[1997]. He's just a very nice guy,'' Chavalit
quipped.
''The reason he attacked the baht was
because he saw a soft spot. So you cannot
say that he only launched a currency attack
during my administration. If we have to get
to the bottom of the story, then I can say that
during my administration, the problem was
minimal. Next time, I would like to address
Mr President [of the House] personally that
it did not happen during my administration,
nor was it during the Banharn
administration but it happened during the
Chuan I administration.''
Later, Chuan stood up to answer the
charges that he insulted the nation by giving
Soros the attention he did not deserve. The
prime minister played down the incident by
saying that he was in New York as the
guest of the Foreign Relations Council. He
had never met Soros before. As a guest, he
said, he could not choose whom he would
like to see or meet. In this case, Soros
happened to be one of the hosts.
''I did not praise him or express any
satisfaction. By social etiquette, could I
really show a stern face while he was
speaking?'' Chuan protested.
Chuan then cleared up the matter by saying
that when it was his turn to play host in
Washington DC, he was careful about the
guests he invited.
Underlying his message was that he was
there in New York to represent Thailand as
a whole and not to appease Soros
individually, since the US has now become
Thailand's largest trading partner,
overtaking Asean.
He explained that it was his responsibility to
establish better relations with the White
House, Congress and the US private
sector.
BY THANONG KHANTHONG
The Nation