Episode #232: No Diplomatic Immunity
“I have been going through three phases of my life. The first one was as a career diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand for 37 years. And the second phase, after my retirement, I went into politics, both as a former politician and as a political activist. And now my in my third phase, since about a decade ago, I am more or less in working on advocacy for democracy and human rights, the NGO and civil society organizations.”
This is Kasit Piromya’s self-introduction, although many listeners will be familiar with the former Foreign Minister from his last appearance on our podcast, when he called out the international community for their lackluster support of the Burmese democracy movement. He joins this discussion to go over his recent article in the Bangkok Post, titled “A Wrong Approach on Myanmar.”
“I have been working as a diplomat and as a politician, but I think my position is to be honest, truthful, and straightforward. I have done this inside Parliament and outside Parliament, and in every forum: regional, national and international. I do speak my mind,” he says. “I’m a peace-loving person, and I call for diplomacy and dialogue.”
Piromya’s relationship with Myanmar goes back more than five decades, and for much of this time he has been advocating for greater transparency on the Thai side of the equation, and pressing certain bad actors not to collude with the brutal Burmese generals. “The Thai government must take into consideration the welfare of the Myanmar people as a top priority, and not that of the authoritarian regime in Naypyidaw,” he says bluntly. This is in contrast to the military-to-military ties that have developed over the years, which helped spread “criminal activities across the Thai-Myanmar border, [such as] illegal trade in drugs and small arms, endangered species, animals and human trafficking, the scam centers and the illegal smuggling of the precious stones and timber from Myanmar.” Piromya has also called on Bangkok to be more welcoming of the flood of Burmese migrants now seeking refuge in his country, and criticizes the routine exploitation which often greets them instead. “It is unbecoming and sinful indeed, for a Thai elected government to be cooperating with the authoritarian and quite cruel military regime,” he says. “I cannot condone, I cannot accept, and I have to be against the position of the current Thai government as expressed and conducted by the current Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Thailand. Pure and simple.”
Piromya goes deeper into how both sides of this relationship have benefited over the years. “I have no evidence, but I am old enough to sense things that are wrong, and from the Thai side, say some of the bad soldiers of Thailand who send arms, fuel, even for the aircraft, send food, medicine, basic necessities of life and so on, to the Tatmadaw leadership and for the families of the soldiers and for the supporters of the Tatmadaw, in exchange for the precious stones, gems and various type of rubies.” This is just the beginning of the illicit activity, however; he next addresses the more serious problems of human trafficking, scam centers (as Jason Tower addressed in a recent episode), and other criminal enterprises that some Thai military and political figures help facilitate in exchange for a handsome, personal profit.
In contrast to the situation today, Piromya recalls how Thailand has traditionally been a welcoming place for refugees fleeing all sorts of hardships in their own countries, as well as being a melting pot of cultures. He mentions a former Prime Minister who has Mon ancestry, as well as how both Aung San and Ho Chi Minh sought temporary refuge in Thailand while pursuing their respective nationalist struggles. Looking at Thailand’s prior acceptance of refugees, he points to the many Burmese who came over after the 1988 democracy movement, as well as Vietnamese boat people, Cambodians fleeing the Khmer Rouge, and Laotians escaping their civil war, among others.
“We are Buddhists, we are Christiana, we are Muslims,” he says of Thailand. “And each of the religions say that you have got to help your neighbor when they are in distress!” Piromya argues that the Thai government should coordinate with international aid organizations, the United Nations, and Western countries to set up welcome stations along the 2,400 kilometer long Burmese border and provide shelter, food, medicine, and other necessities for those now caught up in the conflict. “We have done that before, it is nothing new, and it is definitely not a burden!” he exclaims, adding that it will also invigorate the Thai industries that would provide such support, though he makes clear this would be only a side benefit, the real boon being helping fellow humans in need. “The last government and the present government have a heart of darkness,” he says, “and as a fellow human being, it is not acceptable for the Thai government to be so unkind and lacking any feeling of humanity.” Instead, Thai authorities have worked to establish a humanitarian corridor within Myanmar, which has been quite controversial given how this plan proposes a partnership with their counterparts in the junta. “If the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister especially are honest, and true to form, he must do something,” Piromya insists, referencing as a helpful precedent Cyclone Nargis in 2008, when cross-border cooperation allowed aid to reach those who needed it most. But he sees nothing like that occurring now. “They cannot go on with setting up humanitarian corridor, which is a farce, because you cannot set up a humanitarian corridor in the midst of a civil war!” Like many, he suspects this less-than-transparent process is providing aid to all the wrong people, such as “the families and the supporters of the Tatmadaw, so that they can continue to keep on killing the Myanmar people!”
As an alternative, Piromya calls for Thailand to meet with China, Bangladesh, and India to discuss how they can coordinate to provide urgent, humanitarian support at each respective Burmese border crossing. “Thailand has to do differently than the Five Point Consensus of the ASEAN community,” he continues. “That is diplomacy, that is a civilized way of doing things, but not a unilateral thing.” Moving onto Thai relations with the NUG and young Burmese democratic leaders, Piromya is again not shy about unleashing his disappointment. “How can a Thai Foreign Minister who comes from an elected government ignore all the democratic niceties and the happenings and the reality on the ground?” As the resistance to the coup has gone on, he is furious that Thai leaders haven’t shown greater interest in at least meeting and recognizing the opposition forces, who now clearly have the momentum.
With the momentum now clearly changing on the battlefield in favor of the resistance, Piromya was asked if the Thai government might decide to shift their support away from the military. His answer echoes the pessimism expressed recently by security expert, Anthony Davis. “First, there is a fear of the Tatmadaw, and I don't know why they are afraid. Second there are lucrative businesses. And third, there is a fear to do the right thing. Fourth, ignoring together one of the Five Point Consensus is of ASEAN that is to speak to all the stakeholders. The Thai government has failed completely as a democratic entity, as a member of the ASEAN community and as member of the international community. It has been ignoring all of this simply to keep whatever friendship and common interests together with the Tatmadaw. Or maybe the Thai leadership doesn't have the guts and the determination to do the right thing! But to play safe, as long as it can, by being nice to the Tatmadaw, it's sad for Thailand, that we have had such a leadership and a few personalities that are useless.”
However, Piromya’s criticism is not limited to the political and military establishments, but also to Members of Parliament, the academics and scholars, and the media and journalist communities as well. “I think as a principle, it should be the number one priority for the Thai society,” he says, adding that if Thailand invested more attention in creating peace in neighboring countries, their tourism sector would surely spike as a result.
One reason that some Thai authorities have given for continuing to support the military involves the extensive energy supplied by Myanmar to power their country, a subject taken up by Guillaume de Langre in a previous episode. However, Piromya also calls this out, noting that “we could increase more of the hydroelectric power by investing in Laos, the battery of the Asia-Pacific region. So one has to look all around, and the government has a duty to put this on the table for the Thai public. But to say that we cannot do anything with the Tatmadaw, because they will cross the gas pipeline, then we are being blackmailed by the Tatmadaw! To me, I would still use bad language and say ‘to hell with it!’ We might suffer for the first two or three months and so on,” he acknowledges. Moreover, he thinks that Thailand could address its energy needs by: diversifying through increased imports of coal and liquified natural gas from countries like Australia, Indonesia and the Middle East; enhancing renewable energy investments; and developing contingency plans for potential disruptions to Myanmar's gas supply due to regional instability. “And if my Prime Minister, my Minister of Energy, my Minister of Foreign Affairs and Industry and so on, cannot do that, then they should not be in the position, they should resign and go home and play with their grandchildren.”
Regarding ASEAN, Piromya notes that the organization finally seems to have recognized that that Special Envoy to Myanmar has never really been effective, and so now they are initiating a tripartite arrangement with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Laos, working together to find a solution. Piromya suggests a far more aggressive stance, which includes suspending Myanmar’s membership in ASEAN, and putting Thailand’s payments for their gas revenues into escrow so that the military cannot use them to continue killing their own people, and they will eventually be given to the legitimate leaders of the country. He also calls for an immediate ceasefire, as well as prohibiting visas to generals and their families.
Piromya closes by speaking directly to those in the resistance: “To all my Myanmar friends, I think you have to be encouraged. Now, by your own efforts, congratulations, you have denied the outright victory of the Tatmadaw. They have failed in the coup d’état, and they now on the defensive side.”