Blair kicks up controversy in Thailand over speaker’s fee
Print Edition
Thailand has denied it will pay former British Prime Minister Tony Blair US$640,000 to speak at an upcoming government-sponsored forum in Bangkok on bridging the kingdom’s festering political divides.
A lawmaker from Thailand’s opposition Democrat party last week alleged 20 million baht (US$640,000) had been put aside in the budget to pay controversial ex-premier Blair, a claim refuted by the government.
Several dignitaries will take part in the one-day “unity forum,” a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding none “will receive any extra pay.”
Thailand will only “offer them air tickets, accommodation and transportation while they are here,” spokesman Manasavi Srisodapol added.
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Finnish ex-President, Martti Ahtisaari and Priscilla Hayner — an expert in truth and reconciliation commissions — will be among the guests, he said.
The September 2 forum is being convened to find a way through the political turmoil which has gripped the kingdom since a 2006 military coup toppled Thailand’s divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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