Cambios en la perspectiva sobre los bienes culturales

D: Diplomat B, Diplomat based in Embassy of Malaysia, Bangkok Thailand

W: As Thailand and Malaysia have a very unique diplomatic bond especially when we are sharing the same border, what are the differences when comes to dealing with the former civilian government and with the current military government?

D: Personally as a diplomat, we came here upon a mission assigned from the government. And the matters we basically handle are diplomatic exchange. So there is definitely some differences in terms of policy and the people in charge of certain task, not to say we have to go through everything in detail, but because there are certain protocols and procedure we have to adhere, the differences are not that significant. The leader is different, but I can say that the protocols are basically the same. We still deal with the same issues, and we still expand our cooperative efforts in the areas that require attention. W: Based on the democracy index score recorded by international organizations, democracy in Thailand

is backsliding. In your opinion how has this affect the daily lives of the Thais and also for diplomatic missions based in Thailand?

D: Yes this is actually visible and it also impact the grassroots level a lot more than those with diplomatic ties. You can see how the junta is extremely strict when it comes to freedom of speech, and the censorship of media. You must be extremely careful of what you speak about. That is also the reason that you won’t often hear any conversations criticizing the government. No one can do it publicly, no one dare to. And of course it more or less affect the diplomatic missions here. We have to guarantee the safety of the Malaysians here. And what we can do is to remind them not to participate in any activist programs here for their personal safety.

W: How does the human rights issue (as a measurement of democracy) affect the economic development in Thailand?

D: When the junta took over office, they have to come up with a plan to rejuvenate the economy. During the protests, businesses had to shut down for weeks, including big corporations here and it definitely reduced the investor confidence. But the thing about Thailand’s economy, is that it has the advantage in the region. Just like Malaysia, it has the natural resources and manpower. Although the government has changed, but the aim of the government, the policies, they are more or less the same. The welfare of the people comes first. The country needs keep the economy running. So they opened up their economy for foreign investors and let the foreign investors pump money into the economy. The government did so by bidding infrastructure projects because infrastructure is necessary to generate equal development in both urban and rural areas.

W: You mentioned an important point regarding the development of urban and rural areas. Does it mean that there is a big gap between the urban and rural areas? What seems to be the cause of it?

D: Yes I think this is a very common phenomena in developing countries. Even Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. And the same will be visible in the CLMV countries. Because when you receive investments, these investments are used to build the infrastructures. It depends on the government’s planning where do they want to first develop? Then they definitely concentrate on the strategic locations, where you can have access to the natural resources, manpower, accessible to ports for shipping and transportation. And the rural areas are still dependent on agriculture, but for countries

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like Thailand and Malaysia, we have already shift to manufacturing and heavy industries. If we don’t shift to industrial sectors, it is not possible for us to achieve what we are today.

W: When it comes to trade, do you think Thailand is under pressure with the perception that Thailand is in the middle of the struggle between the West and the East?

D: I personally think that when it comes to trade, countries definitely want to prosper, it is not relative to the size of the market, and everyone wants to prosper. Because countries like us, we are not given the choice and so we have to stay competitive. This is also the reason that Thailand has been very active in ASEAN to promote regional production chain. It is to protect the benefits of the weaker states. What if we are no longer competitive in the future, and we instead have to fully rely on technology innovation and when natural resources deplete? But if you are talking about the political intention behind this, it is always about security guarantee. Thailand’s trade with Japan and China has increased in the recent years. But this does not indicate that the US is out of the loop. The US influence is not something that could be replaced by any other countries. They have the military weapons, and they are still controlling the fluctuation of oil prices.

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Transcript of Interview 2