It
was not a good idea for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to cancel her plans
to attend the world class Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in
Hawaii this weekend, as she is effectively losing a chance to put Thailand in
its rightful place at the international forum.
Yingluck's reasoning is that the country needs
her to head operations to solve the current flood disaster in Bangkok and the
suburbs.
The Prime Minister informed Apec leaders days
ago that she would not join the meeting in Honolulu due to the disaster at
home.
Of course, leaders of countries in Asia and
the Pacific are aware of and understand the situation in Thailand, where many
provinces have been inundated for months. Hundreds of people have died and
millions of others are displaced. Several of the country's economic centres are
under water.
However, leaving home for a few days would not
result in any change to the situation. With or without the Prime Minister at
home, the water is not going to go away.
At Apec, if she were to go, Yingluck would
have the chance to meet world leaders from 20 other economies across Asia and
the Pacific. They would discuss various economic matters, notably the crisis in
the United States.
Indeed, Yingluck told reporters a few weeks
ago when water was approaching Bangkok that she wanted to use the Apec forum to
explain her plan to rehabilitate the country and restore the damaged economy.
The US will likely propose its interesting and
debatable ideas for a green growth economy during the Apec summit. It would be
timely if the Thai leader were to participate and share her visions of an
environment friendly economic model now that the country is suffering a natural
disaster.
Yingluck said she would dispatch her deputy
and commerce minister Kittirat Na Ranong to represent Thailand in the Apec
summit.
Kittirat is no stranger to international
meetings but this is not his forum. It is for the leader to show ideas and
visions in economic cooperation.
Beside her bilateral visit to some
neighbouring countries when she first took office, Yingluck has not yet
attended any international forum.
The flooding at home, which started even
before she assumed office in July, has forced the first female Prime Minister
of Thailand to cancel many foreign trips including her introductory missions to
Malaysia, Singapore and China last month.
Yingluck will have another chance to meet some
world leaders including US President Barack Obama at the Asean summit in Bali
next week, which also includes meetings of the US-Asean summit and East Asia
Summit - unless she cancels that trip too.
Supalak Ganjanakhundee in Bangkok/The Nation |
ANN
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