Thailand, 2008

The attachment

that Thailand has had to the ideals and principles that

gave birth to the United Nations is long, enduring and

natural. From the very first day in this family of

nations more than 60 years ago, Thailand, or Siam at

that time, made known to all that we stood for peace,

for freedom and for tolerance, because peace, freedom

and tolerance are part of our national character — a

part of who we are. Today, our commitment to peace,

freedom and tolerance anywhere and everywhere

remains unwavering, and it will remain so.

Therefore, I warmly congratulate Mr. Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann, a man of peace, freedom and

tolerance, on his election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session. His cause is our

cause, and he can rest assured that the Thai delegation

will give him its full support and cooperation.

We are living in a world of enormous

opportunities for progress. But we are also living in a

world that is in a state of flux, a world that is drifting

from one crisis to another. The information technology

revolution and transportation advancements have

brought people from all corners of the world closer

together than ever before. We are now living in a

global village, but, sadly, this village is not united as

one. This village is deeply divided along political,

economic, social, racial, religious and cultural lines.

That is not sustainable; it is not healthy. It should not

be allowed to go on. All of us have a stake in this. We

must not take those divisions for granted or as a given,

because they are not.

We need to reclaim the ideal that brought us

together in this place: the ideal of “We the peoples”.

We need to cultivate and nurture a “we” feeling among

us. We must try our best to focus on what binds us

together rather than on what keeps us apart. We must

be fully aware that to continue to see the world through

the glasses of “us versus them” can only lead to

confrontation. And confrontation helps no one,

because, at the end of the day, in this interconnected

globalized world, no one wins everything, but

everyone can lose everything. As Mahatma Gandhi

once admonished, “An eye for an eye, and soon the

whole world is blind”.

We have a choice between progress and self-

destruction, between cooperation and confrontation,

and between amity and animosity. The choice is for all

of us to make, and the choice is clear. There is no

better alternative to progress, cooperation and amity

among nations and peoples.

The Thai people have made their choice. It is for

democracy. The challenge now in Thailand, as in other

countries around the world, is to find the right balance

between the political culture and the desire for

democratic ideals. Nurturing a democratic culture in

any country takes time and requires an appreciation of

the fact that it is an evolutionary process in which ups

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and downs are to be expected. Thailand’s democratic

evolution is no exception.

What is unique about the present state of political

evolution in Thailand is the consistent expression of

our national character: we stand for peace, for freedom

and for tolerance. Indeed, Thai political developments

have made a lot of headlines lately. But we trust that

good eyes and informed minds will not mistake recent

events for the trajectory of a nation. Thai people are

resilient people. The Thai society is a resilient society.

And Thai people and Thai society are determined to

move ahead along the democratic path.

The world has made a choice with respect to

development. That choice is embodied in the

Millennium Declaration and the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). We are now midway

towards 2015, the target year for their realization.

While there have been many remarkable and

encouraging success stories of progress so far — in

reducing poverty, hunger and disease, to name a few —

there are also unremarkable and discouraging stories of

setbacks. For far too many countries, the realization of

the MDGs by 2015 has become increasingly difficult to

achieve. Thailand therefore is pleased to see the

international community coming together as one in its

determination to work harder to help people in each

and every country enjoy the fruits of developmental

progress and well-being.

To help one another to have a better life is a

moral imperative as well as a practical necessity. Can

anyone afford to live happily and sleep soundly on an

island of opulence in the middle of a sea of poverty and

despair? Certainly, the answer is no. It is after all in the

enlightened self-interest of every country to ensure that

the MDG targets are met — as many and as soon as

possible.

Our unity as “We the peoples” is all the more

important in the face of the perfect storm that is the

global oil crisis, food crisis and financial crisis. These

multiple crises threaten to derail the achievements of

the MDGs or even to undo hard-won gains of the past

in many countries. Developing countries need stability

and security in the world energy market. Every dollar

hike resulting from speculation on oil price futures

being traded on futures market floors means

development costs for the Governments of developing

countries and affects the livelihoods of ordinary people

around the world.

But in every crisis, there exists an opportunity.

The exponential rise in oil prices has made it necessary

for countries to adapt their patterns of consumption and

to rethink their energy security strategies. The global

oil crisis has not spared Thailand: our people have been

adversely affected by the skyrocketing oil prices in

almost every aspect of their lives.

At the same time, Thailand has learned to adapt

and adjust. Energy efficiency and the development of

alternative energy sources, such as liquefied gas,

biofuels and gasohol, are now being pursued with

greater urgency. Because of the global oil crisis, more

and more vehicles in Thailand today have been shifted

to various sources of alternative energy. This market

for alternative energy is booming in Thailand and

across Asia. There is so much potential in this market,

and Thailand stands ready to work together with our

friends from around the world in all endeavours

pertaining to research in and development of

alternative energy.

Developing countries need stability and security

in the world food market. In addressing these

challenges, we should not forget that the current food

crisis has had multiple causes, such as the global oil

crisis, drought and flooding. To be effective, any

attempt to address this world food crisis must be

comprehensive and concerted. It must look at the short-

term imperative of keeping the supply flowing in the

world market while working towards the longer-term

imperative of stabilizing food prices and enhancing

productivity.

As a rice bowl of the world, Thailand will

continue to ensure a constant supply to the world rice

market. We will continue to work with other countries

to enhance productivity and ensure food security. In the

past, we had an industrial revolution and an

information technology revolution. Now, we believe, is

the time for the next revolution: a green revolution. We

will continue to work with countries around the world

to ensure an open international food market and

establish agricultural trade rules that help the world’s

poor farmers and shore up food security in developing

countries. To that end, the Doha Development Round

should resume as soon as possible.

Developing countries also need stability and

security in the world financial markets. The current

turmoil in the world financial markets, if not

effectively addressed soon, threatens to cause

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widespread economic downturns than could push

millions below the poverty line and severely affect the

achievement of the MDGs. To have the world financial

crisis piling on top of the world energy and food crises

is the last thing that people in the developing countries

want to see. That is particularly true for people in

Thailand and across Asia. Our painful experience has

taught us how phenomena such as those that started off

as a financial crisis in 1997 can spiral into a

multifaceted crisis that drove millions of people into

abject poverty and despair, strained the social fabric of

societies and created social tensions that developed

into political ones.

We who lived through those dark days do not

want to see a repeat of this type of crisis again. All

countries therefore have a high stake in the current

financial turmoil. We must work together, and quickly,

to arrest the downward spiralling effects before it is too

late.

Besides the perfect storm of this year’s world

energy, food and financial crises, South-East Asia has

witnessed a massive storm in the form of Cyclone

Nargis, which struck Myanmar in May. Nargis was the

most devastating cyclone ever to hit Myanmar. Many

lives were lost and many livelihoods were severely

affected. But Nargis was not an isolated case. In the

past few years, we have witnessed a changing climate

pattern that has produced successive monster storms

and severe weather in all corners of the world. Ice at

the North and South Poles is melting at a frightening

speed. Sea level is rising steadily and threatens to

engulf low-lying areas around the world. Drought has

increased, and many areas, once arable, have turned

into desert.

We can no longer turn our eyes away from the

gathering threats posed by climate change. These

threats recognize no political boundaries. Large and

small, powerful and weak, we are all bound together by

our common vulnerability and a common destiny as

residents of planet Earth. We therefore have a

collective responsibility on this issue.

The choice is clear and has been made. When the

world gathered to discuss climate change at the Bali

Conference in December last year, the world chose

collective responsibility over collective irresponsibility.

Thailand will spare no effort to work actively with all

parties to ensure that the journey that started under the

Bali road map last year can be realized at the

Copenhagen conference scheduled for next year. This

is a critical time that requires critical action by all

parties. Time is simply not on our side.

There is a saying that, in every storm, every

cloud has a silver lining. That is true for the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of

which Thailand is a member. Faced with the challenge

of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, ASEAN had to

make a choice between doing nothing and losing its

credibility, or doing something and being seen as a

force to be reckoned with. ASEAN chose the latter.

Acting as a bridge between Myanmar and the

international community, ASEAN has successfully

forged a working tripartite partnership between

ASEAN, Myanmar and the United Nations. That

partnership has continued to work effectively to this

day and could serve as a model for future humanitarian

partnerships in other parts of the world. Through that

process, ASEAN has once again proven its

effectiveness and resilience.

ASEAN has also made another choice — an

important and profound one. ASEAN is moving

towards being a rules-based and people-centred

organization, with the signing of the ASEAN Charter

this past year. The upcoming fourteenth ASEAN

Summit will take place in Bangkok under the theme

“ASEAN Charter for ASEAN peoples” to mark a new

era for ASEAN, with people at the heart of our

cooperation. As Chairman of ASEAN, Thailand has

launched a “three Rs” campaign. First, we want to

realize the purposes and vision of the Charter. That

includes the realization of an ASEAN human rights

body, one of the new organs envisaged in our Charter.

Secondly, we will revitalize the people-centred nature

of our community in order to enhance their

participation in building an ASEAN community.

Thirdly, we will reinforce ASEAN cooperation to

better contribute to the well-being of our peoples,

especially in the areas of human development and

security.

Thailand will carry forward the work of the

previous ASEAN Chair, Singapore, to realize the

dream of the ASEAN founding fathers of transforming

South-East Asia from a community of good neighbours

into one ASEAN community, where the feeling of “we

the peoples of ASEAN” takes root. The world will

benefit from having a more rules-based, effective,

predictable and people-centred ASEAN as a partner.

Through greater integration with the regional countries

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in Asia, ASEAN can become a natural bridge that

connects China and India, the two emerging global

economic centres of the twenty-first century, with a

combined market size of billions of people. We believe

that it is not too much or too far-fetched to see a new,

modern silk road passing through ASEAN.

Allow me to conclude the same way I started. We

need to reclaim the ideals of “We the peoples of the

United Nations” in order to work together, to resolve

our common problems and to survive. It has never been

more imperative for the Members of this Organization

to put aside for a moment our narrow self-interest and

come together to forge solutions that are in the interest

of us all. The United Nations can only be what the

collective membership wishes it to be. “We the peoples

of the United Nations” have a choice to make.

Let what one astronaut gazing at planet Earth

from a space station once said serve to remind us all of

our collective responsibility:

“For those who have seen the Earth from

space, and for the hundreds and perhaps

thousands more who will, the experience most

certainly changes your perspective. The things

that we share in our world are far more valuable

than those which divide us.”