[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

THe Nation: PM flayed for Soros



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