What's good for Thaksin may not be for Thailand

When it was known that the current foreign minister, Surapong Towichakchaikul, would be appointed to his current post, the man was all humble. He told the hounding press that he might not know much about diplomacy but he was all ears. Indeed, humility proves to be an important virtue when one is put in such a tight corner.

His critics said he was appointed to the Foreign Ministry post because of his close ties with the Pheu Thai Party's de facto leader, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Surapong insisted, however, that he had Thailand at the heart of his interest, not Thaksin. But before he even set foot in the Foreign Ministry, he was already lobbying the Japanese government to grant Thaksin a visa to visit tsunami victims, and then tried to say that it was Tokyo who wanted Thaksin there.

It was nothing less than a humiliating episode, but then again, what the boss wants, the boss gets.

Obviously, the concept of a people's mandate has got to the Pheu Thai Party members' heads. Never mind that Thaksin is a convicted criminal.

But having the majority of votes should not be a green light to turn Thailand into a playground for Thaksin and his quirky ambitions. What's good for Thaksin may not necessarily be good for Thailand.

Surapong is in New York now for the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting. The days of humility are gone, and now it's time to turn up the heat for the boss. This means Thaksin's brainchild, the Asia Community Dialogue (ACD) is back on top of the agenda. The much-derided ACD was proposed by Thaksin a decade ago. It was supposed to be his shortcut to international stardom. Needless to say, he didn't make it, and neither did the ACD.

This time around - either Surapong is doing his duty of fulfilling Thaksin's ambitions or Thai diplomats don't have the courage to tell him to put a lid on it - the Thai foreign minister is suggesting that the ACD be upgraded to be similar to the Asean Community.

 "Asia should seize the opportunity for closer economic cooperation within the continent through the ACD. It is time for us to set a clear direction for the ACD. We should focus on actual tangible outcomes we wish to achieve from this forum," Surapong said in his statement as a coordinator of the grouping.

If the ACD wants to move towards institutionalisation, it needs to do something collectively. The problem with the ACD is that people want to be mentioned but nobody wants to do any real work. The 31 members have nothing much in common and one wonders over this past ten years since it came into being, what has the group done except provide a forum to talk and talk and talk.

Like any member organisations, the forum only is as good as its members want it to be.

Perhaps Surapong should go back to being his humble self and take up the advice of a panel of experts who met recently at Ramkhamhaeng University to talk about his ineptitude on foreign affairs.

Panellist Kiatichai Pongpanich said Surapong's first month in office was mostly about Thaksin's homecoming and little on the direction of the country's diplomacy.

And then, of course, there was talk about getting the fugitive ex-premier his passport back. Couldn't Surapong wait a little longer until the dust settled? Or is he afraid that the longer they wait, the harder it will be to push anything through. After all, there is only one honeymoon period for any government.

The panel at Ramkhamhaeng also pointed out that Thailand has lost its prominent position within Asean due to its domestic political conflict.

If the Pheu Thai-led government is serious about Thailand's image abroad and its role in Asean, it needs to get away from its campaign to save and salvage Thaksin at all costs.