Welcome to The Nation: "APEC WARNING: Protesters to be denied aid
Published on Oct 2, 2003

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned yesterday that any villager groups holding protests during this month's Apec summit in Bangkok would fall out of favour with his administration.

'You will be among the last ones to receive financial aid from the government,' he said, referring to an ambitious plan to spend at least Bt200 billion to stamp out poverty.

Thaksin revealed the plan at a meeting of government officials to discuss poverty eradication, held yesterday at the Foreign Ministry.

The prime minister warned that protesters would be barred from receiving any government funds from its poverty-eradication programmes.

He said street rallies would complicate security operations because terrorists could disguise themselves by mingling with protesters.

Thaksin also threatened to blacklist any non-governmental organisation taking part in a street rally during the meeting.
'Any NGO that brings them [poor villagers] for protests will no longer be able to work with me in the future,' Thaksin said.

'Today I appeal to NGOs not to hold any demonstrations, and I want to let rural villagers know that the government is doing many things that will benefit them,' he added.

The premier said activists should think first about the country's image. 'It won't hurt if you will think about your motherland and the image of your country for just a week,' he said.

'These people merely need to show they are working to please their overseas sources of funding. Everybody knows that NGOs are funded by foreigners,' said the premier, who has had stormy relations with such organisations.

A Government House source said yesterday that NGOs had been informed to conduct any protests away from thsummit venues.
A number of "problematic" foreign NGOs have been blacklisted and activists affiliated with the groups will be prevented from entering the country during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the source said.

Thailand is rolling out tight security precautions ahead of the October 20-21 summit, which is to be attended by 21 world leaders, including US President George W Bush.

The prime minister's tough stance on prospective protests was met with strong criticism yesterday.

Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, the chairman of the Upper House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said that Thaksin should be proud of street protests because they showed that Thailand is a democratic society in which people have the freedom of expression.

Senator Nirun Pitakwatchara yesterday expressed surprise at Thaksin's remarks. "He shouldn't have taken such a stance. It will only create confrontations," he said.

Suriyasai Katasila, the secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy (CPD), said that measures taken by the government as part of clean-up efforts ahead of the summit violated human rights.

"These measures are against the human rights guaranteed by the Constitution: relocating the homeless, bans on garland vendors on the streets and bans on the use of Sanam Luang to commemorate the October 14 uprising," Suriyasai said.

"The foreign media are monitoring what's going on in our country. I think it's these tough government measures that will appear humiliating in the eyes of foreign leaders," he said.

Pipop Thongchai, an adviser to the CPD, said the prime minister's attempt to curb demonstrations violated the Constitution.

"Why doesn't the PM want the public to express their views? There are a lot of people who are opposed to Apec and the policies of rich countries like the US," he said.