Thaksin: Newin is trying to tear me up

Thaksin Shinawatra simply couldn't resist the temptation to give it to his former right-hand man turned traitor: Newin Chidchob.

He told a group of Pheau Thai MPs in Hong Kong over the weekend that Newin was now intent upon "crushing me to pieces." He knows Newin is very ambitious. The guy wants to be prime minister himself.

But Newin may not be his worst problem for now. It's the "two-headed birds" within his own party that's his main concern. Some of them are ready to betray him yet again, he said. "But if we win, they will be on our side," Thaksin consoled his people. Perhaps, he was simply trying to console himself.

In short, Thaksin was saying he couldn't trust anyone at all -- even those who paid him a visit in Hong Kong!

Sleepless in Hong Kong

He has just sneaked into Hong Kong from Singapore after having visited Nicaragua. Thaksin Shinawatra is now a real opposition leader in exile. He met several groups of his Pheau Thai's MPs here today, apparently spearheading the no-confidence debate against the Abhisit government.

The timing couldn't have been more obvious. The "red-shirted" protestors have called for another major rally on Feb 24. That will coincide with the Asean Summit in Hua Hin (Feb 28-March 1). Then comes the opposition's censure debate in the House in early March.

Thaksin has called the Hong Kong special meeting to make sure all the anti-government activities will be properly coordinated. First, he will have to decide who's going to be his nominee to run the opposition party. Then, he will have to decide how to make sure that all the financial needs for his political drives back in Bangkok will be met.

You don't need to be a political pundit to know what's going to happen next. Whoever turns up in Hong Kong will be considered the real "insiders." And the real Pheau Thai Partt leader will be one of them. That's for sure.

Thailand does poorly in 'brand perception' survey

Thailand does poorly in a "Nation Brand Perception" survey. While Singapore comes out as No 1, Thailand is ranked 195th out of 200 nations and territories covered in the survey.

The report has been released by the East West Nation Brand Perception Index based on analysing millions of mentions of countries in hundreds of thousands of news articles, every quarter. For the first indexes (quarter 2 of 2008), 38 prominent global media sources were surveyed between April 1, 2008 and June 30, 2008.

This collection contained almost 5 million references to the 242 countries or regions identified for the study.

Of these references, which were grammatically connected to the countries in question, almost 1.5 million were defined as positive while 1.7 million were defined as negative.

The Nation Branding Index (NBI) score relies both on the overall quality of the media and the prominence of the country, determined by the number of country references or mentions. NBI scores are distributed around a mean 50 with a standard deviation of 10. For the second quarter of 2008, the scores ranged from 17.2569 to 91.3769.

The purpose of this study is to enable countries to address their branding and communications problems -- and to identify their strengths and weakness.

The top ten "best brands" of the survey: Singapore, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Algeria, Peru, Poland and New Zealand.

What the World Almanac 2009 says about Thailand

Abhisit: Lunch with the FT in Davos..but why didn't he eat?

When Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij showed him a copy of the Financial Times (Weekend edition), Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva nodded: "Yes, I have read it. I don't like the caricature though. I look too old and ugly..."

"And you don't have a tie like that?" Korn said, to which Abhisit responded: "Right. It's not my tie. But I guess the cartoonist wanted to portray the fact that I am a fan of New Castle soccer team."

It's the "Lunch with the FT" column by Gideon Rachman while they were attending the World Economic Forum in Davos late last month.

When he was asked whether Thaksin Shinawatr has any good things about him, Abhisit responded: "He has a modern outlook. With him being in the communications and IT business gives him that feel. And he moves quickly. But he doesn't appreciate the true values of these times which is all about human rights, participation, true democracy, transparency and good governance."

Asked about the lese majeste laws, the PM said: "It's like the contempt of court laws in Britain. They are designed to protect an institution that is politically neutral and supposed to be above conflict."

Abhisit admitted that the law is sometimes abused and there may also be pressure for the law to be liberally intepreted. "I will try to find ways of fixing that," he said.

The column disclosed that when Abhisit was at Eton and London Mayor Boris Johnson was one of the classmates, the future Thai future was known among friends as "Veggie."

Johnson has boasted to being the only person in England to be able to pronounce "Vejjajiva" correctly.

It was supposed to be "lunch" with the FT but the columnist complained that Abhisit didn't touch the food at all.

"True," the PM told Korn, "the food didn't look too inviting to me on that day."
It was a sandwich in a Davos restaurant.

Amnesty for Thaksin? What's the hurry?

Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has not publicly rejected the proposed bill to offer amnesty to politicians affected by the Sept 19,2006 coup. But when he was asked about the issue in his weekly television show yesterday, the obvious response was: "What's the hurry?"

He was careful not to be seen to be blocking the move which could also benefit some of his coalition partners, though. Abhisit did inject a cautious note: Politicians shouldn't be seen to be acting on bills that could be seen to constitute conflicts of interests.

In other words, let the pro-Thaksin elements do what they are supposed to do. But other politicians shouldn't just jump on the bandwagon simply because they, too, could get a free ride.

In other words, don't undermine the public's faith when it is needed the most.

Quitting politics in exchange for amnesty?

In the wake of the Pheau Thai Party's plan to propose a bill for a general
amnesty for all politicians, the inevitable question is whether the whole exercise is aimed at getting Thaksin Shinawatra off the hook.

If that's the case, the so-called "National Reconciliation Bill" would be a non-starter. But then I heard on radio just now that former Army Chief Gen Chaisith Shinawatra was proposing that Thaksin could pledge to abandon politics once and for all in exchange for an amnesty.

"I think Thaksin may consider this option. His family has learned the lesson. And I believe he also wants to spend the rest of his life in some peace," Gen Chaisith, one of Thaksin's nephews, said on "Lap, Luang, Prang" (Secret, Deception, Camouflage) programme on FM 100.5 just now.

The problem is even if Thaksin does make that statement, how many people would really believe him?

I for one will be quite skeptical.