International
The Morung Express
Friday 13 December 2013
Dimapur
9
Former Thai PM Thaksin may never return home
BANGKOK, DecemBer 12 (AP): Since being ousted as Thailand’s prime minister in a 2006 military coup, Thaksin Shinawatra has been a very busy man. The billionaire bought and sold England’s Manchester City football club, acquired a titanium mine in Zimbabwe, started a lottery in Uganda and acquired a Nicaraguan passport. He met with Vladimir Putin and Nelson Mandela. But most of all, opponents say, he has been busy running Thailand from afar, pressing to return to power through schemes that have widened the country’s already dangerous political rifts and led to bloodshed on the streets. His latest attempt to erase a 2008 corruption conviction and come home a free man was a gross miscalculation, igniting massive demonstrations in Bangkok against his sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. His return now seems unlikely, but analysts say his wealth, powerful allies and a devoted following among the rural masses mean he will continue to exert significant influence. And the 64-year-old Thaksin will probably remain the most divisive figure in modern Thai history, demonized by the middle class and urban elites as a cocky, corrupt upstart who challenged the traditional
In this Thursday July 3, 2008 file photo, an anti government protester walks past a poster depicting ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra behind bars outside Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. Since being ousted as Thailand’s prime minister in a 2006 military coup, Thaksin has been a very busy man. The billionaire bought the England’s Manchester City football club and a titanium mine in Zimbabwe, started a lottery in Uganda and acquired a Nicaraguan passport. He met with Vladimir Putin and Nelson Mandela. (AP File Photo)
power structure, including the monarchy, and adored as a near-saint by havenots for providing them with handouts and a sense of empowerment. “He bought everything in this country. He would even buy your soul,” businesswoman Chinda Dhamawong said as she marched down a Bangkok avenue with thousands screaming, “Thaksin out!” Meanwhile, in Thak-
sin’s prime stronghold, the impoverished northeast, residents of Kambon village credit him for bringing many benefits: electricity, cheap loans, virtually free medical care, good prices for their rice. “All this is because of Thaksin. This is why rural people want him back — why I want him back,” said 61-year-old Thongchan Potaklang. “It’s always going to be
about Thaksin in Thailand, but increasingly about more than Thaksin,” says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. A leading opposition lawmaker, Suthep Thaugsuban, resigned from Parliament to lead the massive protests. He wants to replace Yingluck with an unelected “people’s council” that he says would remake
Thailand’s government to expunge Thaksin’s influence. At least five people have been killed and nearly 300 injured since the demonstrations began last month, and protesters have temporarily occupied government ministries. The self-exiled, globetrotting Thaksin, based in a luxurious mansion in Dubai, has remained largely silent during the crisis. In
lawyer left the courthouse after a brief hearing, shouting “Murderer!” They also submitted a petition to the court, asking that he be denied bail. The court, though, set bail at about $19,000, which Abhisit met by putting up a house deed. The court also ordered him to remain in Thailand until his trial starts March 24. In 2010, “Red Shirt” protesters occupied downtown Bangkok for more than two months until being dispersed in the crackdown. The Red Shirts are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, today’s protests are the mirror opposite those three years ago, with Thaksin’s supporters now in control of the government, and supporters of Abhisit’s former government demanding the administration step down.
LONDON, DecemBer 12 (reuTers): The global death toll from cancer rose to 8.2 million in 2012 with sharp rises in breast cancer as the disease tightened its grip in developing nations struggling to treat an illness driven by Western lifestyles. Cancer deaths were up 8 percent from 7.6 million in a previous survey in 2008 and breast cancer killed 522,000 women last year, up 14 percent in the same period, according to the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). “Breast cancer is also a leading cause of cancer death in the less developed countries of the world,” said David Forman, head of IARC’s Section of Cancer Information, the group that compiles the global
cancer data. He said this was “partly because a shift in lifestyles is causing an increase in incidence, and partly because clinical advances to combat the disease are not reaching women living in these regions.” An estimated 14.1 million people developed cancer in 2012, up from 12.7 million in 2008. And 1.7 million women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer last year, up by more than 20 percent from 2008. IARC’s report, called GLOBOCAN 2012, gives the most up-to-date estimates for 28 different types of cancer in 184 countries and offers an overview of the global cancer burden. It found that the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide in men and women combined were lung, breast and colorectal cancers. The most com-
mon causes of cancer death said were “huge inequaliwere lung, liver and stom- ties” between rich and poor countries. While rates ach cancers. of new cancer cases are SUBSTANTIVE INCREASE still highest in more develProjecting forward, IARC oped regions, death rates experts said they expected are relatively much higher “a substantive increase” in in less developed countries cancer cases worldwide, because people’s tumours with annual new cases pre- are often not detected and dicted to rise to 19.3 million diagnosed early enough by 2025 as the global popu- due to a lack of screening lation both grows and ages. and access to treatment. “An urgent need in canWorldwide trends show that in developing countries cer control today is to degoing through rapid soci- velop effective and affordetal and economic change, able approaches to the early the shift towards lifestyles detection, diagnosis, and more typical of richer indus- treatment of breast cancer trialised countries leads to among women living in less a rising burden of cancers developed countries,” said linked to reproduction, diet Christopher Wild, IARC’s director. He said it was critical and hormones. The IARC report said to bring rates of disease and cancer incidence - the death in poorer countries number of new cases each in line with progress made year - has been increas- in recent years in treating ing in most regions of the and curing some cancers on world, but noted what it wealthier countries.
Former Thai premier charged with murder
BANGKOK, DecemBer 12 (AP): Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was charged with murder Thursday in connection with the 2010 deaths of two protesters killed during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. The move comes amid weeks of renewed protests that have shaken the Thai capital and threatened to again plunge the country into crisis. Abhisit, who was charged with the deaths of a 43-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl, denied all the charges in the brief court hearing. About 90 people were killed in the crackdown, and it was not clear why Abhisit faced charges in those two deaths. Relatives of some of those killed were waiting for Abhisit as he and his
a recent post on his Facebook page, Thaksin denied often-repeated claims that he has been disloyal to the royal family, headed by much-revered but ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej. “Thai politics is played out with cruelty and in cold blood. Please don’t be cruel to me,” Thaksin wrote. Throughout his career, Thaksin has been a tenacious and sometimes ruthless fighter. After obtaining a doctorate in criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Texas, and a stint on the police force, the descendant of Chinese immigrants used his connections to obtain a monopoly for what became the country’s most successful mobile phone company. In 2001, after a landslide victory, he became the first prime minister in Thailand’s history to lead an elected government through a full term in office. Over the next five years, the economy boomed and so did the Shinawatra’s family fortune, allegedly through massive corruption. Thaksin’s populist policies, CEO management style and willingness to roll up his sleeves and hit the campaign trail in remote areas gained him millions of supporters. But he also curbed press freedom, placed relatives and cronies in positions of power and battered the
Cancer deaths rise to 8.2 million
With VIPs gone, mourning South Africans reclaim Madiba
PreTOrIA, DecemBer 12 (AFP): Nelson Mandela was given back to ordinary South Africans, who queued in their thousands from early morning Thursday to file past his open casket on a day of viewing reserved for the public. Until now, the cameras of the world have often been trained on leaders, VIPs and celebrities paying tribute to a man known for his common touch -- a man who related to princes and paupers with equal ease. Ordinary mourners from all walks of life had also queued for hours on end Wednesday to view the body, but many were turned away by evening without having made it to the front of the long, winding line of people united in
grief and gratitude for the father of their democratic nation. Many returned on Thursday for another chance, with the entire day given over to general public access. “My heart is so broken,” said Anita Bodiba, 35, who arrived at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, hours before dawn to join the long queue that had already formed. “I can’t even sleep, I’m thinking of Madiba. He is the one who united us here in South Africa -white people, black people, Indian people,” she said -- using the clan name by which the democracy icon is fondly known. On Wednesday, Mandela’s distraught widow Graca Machel and other family members were followed by presidents, royalty
and other international figures in paying their last respects in the amphitheatre of the Union Buildings where the Nobel laureate is laying in state. It was here that he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994, after emerging from 27 years’ imprisonment. A third day of lying in state will be held Friday, after which Mandela’s body will be transported to his boyhood home of Qunu, ahead of its eventual burial on Sunday. Thursday’s programme began, as the day before, with Mandela’s casket brought in a solemn cortege from the 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings. Thousands lined the route as a black hearse, flanked by motorcycle outriders,
carried the flag-draped coffin on its journey through the streets of Pretoria. In the Union Buildings amphitheatre, soon to be renamed after him, Mandela’s body lies underneath a perspex screen, dressed in the type of printed shirt that became his trademark. Two navy officers stood by the coffin, their eyes downcast, and Mandela’s grandson Mandla sat in a chair on the platform supporting the coffin. Some visitors collapsed as they passed the coffin, felled by the weight of their grief, and were helped away by medical personnel and fellow mourners. “It was so sad,” Alinah Lekalakala, 52, said after seeing the body of her icon. “I needed to pay my last respects because I am so
grateful for what he has done. This will help me to accept that he is gone.” For Tryphina Kau, 78, the event was a joyful one. “I am very, very happy because his spirit is still with us, only the body is going,” she said, recounting the day that Mandela shook her hand while she queued to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. “I saw him at the beginning, and I came to see him at the end.” Lebogang Phillips, a 36-yearold police officer who had served on Mandela’s security detail when he was president, remembered the man as “the friendliest person I have ever met”. “When meeting people, he would always try to speak their language, whatever it was.”
Kiwi PM ‘unidentified guest’ on world stage
WeLLINGTON, DecemBer 12 (AP): Spare a thought for New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, or as he is known in the rest of the world, the “unidentified guest.” Domestically, polls show he’s been a popular leader. But during each of his big moments on the international stage, he seems to attract another small insult that feeds into a wider anxiety among New Zealanders that their country just isn’t much noticed or taken seriously. The latest incident came this week when Key was photographed by the European Pressphoto Agency joking with his British counterpart at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. The caption? “British Prime
In this Sept. 9, 2012 file photo, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, center, chats with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, left, as they take their seats for the leaders meeting at the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia. Spare a thought for Key, or as he is known in the rest of the world, the “unidentified guest.” (AP Photo)
Minister David Cameron (R) laughs with an unidentified guest ...” A small insult to be sure, but one that
received plenty of media attention in this South Pacific nation of 4.5 million, especially after the photo
ran on the New York Daily News website. The caption has since been updated. But it seemed to fit a pattern. In 2011, Key was jubilant after President Obama agreed to meet with him in the Oval Office. At the subsequent press conference, however, Obama repeatedly referred to him as “Prime Minister Keyes.” Perhaps the worst part was that nobody seemed to notice. When he visited Queen Elizabeth II this year, the Daily Mail newspaper described “Kay” as a “galloping colonial clot” for breaking royal protocol by discussing his visit and releasing a photo of himself in the queen’s private sitting room. Never mind that it wasn’t Key, but a
reporter who had taken and distributed the picture. Then there was Key’s goofy 2009 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, during which Key read out the top 10 reasons to visit New Zealand. Letterman asked the Prime Minister whether the nation was near Tasmania, how many years the plane ride had taken, and whether New Zealand got mail. “Why is he out here Paul?” Letterman asked his band leader, Paul Shaffer. Perhaps part of the problem for New Zealanders is that their country usually functions well enough not to receive the negative attention that keeps other nations in the media spotlight. Corrup-
tion, crime and unemployment are all low compared with other countries. Life, for the most part, is pretty good — if a little quiet. Director Peter Jackson, for one, has done his part to keep New Zealand in the international consciousness with his 5 films - and counting - about the fictional hobbits, elves and dragons that inhabit Middleearth. But New Zealanders’ existential worry about their place in the world runs deep. The comedy duo Flight of the Conchords regularly tapped into this feeling. In one episode of their former HBO television series, a fruit vendor insults them after mistaking them for Australians.
democratic system of checks and balances by removing those in the civil service perceived to be against him. International human rights groups accuse him of ordering extrajudicial killings in his 2003 war on drugs, which left more than 2,200 people dead. Today, Thaksin remains highly energetic and presumably still ambitious, having built up a second, wide-spanning business empire, which includes $30 million invested in African mining ventures. He bought Manchester City in 2007 and sold it the following year. He has served as an economic adviser to the Cambodian and other governments and launched a popular “Go Lotto” in Uganda. In Montenegro, he purchased a boutique hotel. “I’m hyperactive. I cannot sit,” he said in a 2011 interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Yingluck recently told reporters that her brother no longer wants to be involved in politics. But both siblings have said that before, even as Thaksin openly called in to offer advice to his followers in the ruling Pheu Thai Party and summoned Cabinet ministers for meetings abroad. “I am the one who thinks ... Pheu Thai acts,” he said in an interview with Forbes magazine last year,
repeating the slogan the party used on its way to a landslide victory in 2011. The conflict is only the latest chapter in Thailand’s grappling with how to evolve into a true democracy, one going back to the overthrow of absolute monarchy in 1932. Thaksin proved a catalyst to awaken the longignored voices in the countryside who propelled him to electoral victories and allowed him to challenge the long-entrenched, conservative order. His enemies accuse him and his supporters of corruption and abuse of power, though both have been endemic in Thai politics for generations. Some analysts, including Thitinan, say the real goal of Suthep and the forces behind him is to ensure that Thaksin has no control over the crucial transition period when the 86-year-old king passes from the scene. Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch but he and the monarchy remain extremely influential in Thailand. Thaksin is accused of disrespect in part because of allegations that he has tried to curry favor with the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. “I think the anti-government protesters do not want to see Thaksin’s shadows presiding over the succession period,” Thitinan said.