Singapore buckling under Thai pressure

Singapore buckling under Thai pressure After the comment by Kishore that Thaksin had done an unkind act to us, I saw this headline in Today's paper, 'Was Thaksin a good friend after all?' The article by PN Balji speaks for itself. In the face of Thai pressure we are questioning our actions towards a good friend albeit one who has been ousted by a military coup. Thaksin had been a good friend before, a very good friend of Singapore when he was Prime Minister. Bilateral relations was at its best. Now that he is out, that the Thai military junta wanted him to disappear, should we tow the line and tell Thaksin to quietly disappear too. Shall we tell Thaksin that he is no longer useful to us and we do not need such a friend? I think if we do such a thing, we will lose big in the international community. We will become a fair weather friend. We need not accord Thaksin the honour and protocol of a Prime Minister, but we can accord him some decency as a former national leader, as another national stateman. This is the least that we should do. Unless Thaksin has been found guilty of a crime, becomes a criminal, that will be another matter. Other national leaders should see comfort in how we treat a fallen national leaders. For it may be their turn the next time. The politics of ASEAN and in fact the world is such that one can be in power one day and in disgrace the next. The military coup leaders may think that it will not happen to them. It will. Singapore must treat every dignitary with some respect and decency. It is bad if we spit out the cherry when some one tells us to do so.