Thailand’s ambassador protested yesterday comments by deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez and Sen. Richard Gordon on the political turbulence in Bangkok, saying they insinuate the Thais lack political maturity.
Read the story here, and here.
Gordon said it was not his intention to brand the Thais “politically immature,” but he added that even if he said so, there is nothing wrong with it since the Philippines is a free country. “Assuming for the sake of argument that I did say that the Thais are politically immature, this is a free country and every citizen is entitled to an opinion,” he said.
For his part, Golez denied saying the Thais lack political maturity. He said last week the turmoil in Thailand was unlikely to happen in the Philippines -
“because our people have reached a high degree of political maturity whereby our people respect due process and the rule of law.”
Whooh.
Both Golez and Gordon refused to apologize.
Whatever Gordon and Golez meant and said in effect, it certainly resulted in the Thai envoy getting offended personally and in behalf of his countrymen.
Was the Thai envoy being overly sensitive to a fault, at the point of being unreasonable and overbearing?
Was an apology from the two gentlemen in order?
How much would it cost either way?
Hmmm..
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Love means never having to say ...?
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2 comments:
What did Senator Gordon actually say? The ambassador's protest is the effect of what they allegedly said. The articles report the effect but does not say what the cause was. Which leaves the reader thinking he knows the story without realizing he does not know the whole of it.
- TE
TE,
Here is Senator Gordon's response from a report by the Inquirer:
“I don’t have to apologize for anything and thank you very much for doing his research. And the Thai ambassador should do his research for what I actually said,” Gordon told a press conference Wednesday, directing his statement to Thailand Ambassador to the Philippines Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya.
He said the ambassador should check his facts first because he might have been misinformed.
“Ang sinabi ko lang [What I just said], we should always remember the national interest dahil itong nangyayari sa Cha-Cha [because what is happening to Cha-cha] ay [is] combustible… pwedeng magkaroon ng liyab yan at baka gayahin natin yang mga nangyayari dyan [this can cause a spark and we might imitate what is happening there]. Tayo pa ang manggagaya sa Thailand na nakakagulo ang ating bayan [It’s as if we have to ape Thailand when our country is in chaos],” he said.
“At yung tingnan niyo kako nangyayari dun, nasisira yung kanilang tourism at nasisira rin yung kanilang exports at nasasaktan ang mga tao, yun ang sinabi ko [And what I said was look at what’s happening to Thailand, its tourism is disrupted, their exports are affected, and people get hurt. That is what I said],” he pointed out.
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