H.E. Dr. Manaspas Xuto, Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his capacity as Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, headed the Thai Delegation to the inaugural meeting of the Bali Democracy Forum held in Bali, Indonesia between 10-11 December 2008.
The Bali Democracy Forum is an initiative of the Government of Indonesia — set up to be Asia’s first inclusive inter-governmental forum on democracy that seeks to promote dialogue, information and experience-sharing in the area of democracy among countries in the region so as to support the region’s political development.
The first meeting of the Bali Democracy Forum brought together Leaders, Ministers and high-level officials from 32 countries in the Asia-Pacific region as well as 8 observer countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland). It is expected that the Forum will convene annually at the Ministerial level, with a number of technical workshops for senior officials and experts to be organised in between. To support the work of the Forum, Indonesia has set up the Institute for Peace and Democracy on the campus of the University of Udayana in Bali.
At this first meeting, Leaders and Ministers were given the opportunity to deliver country statements. Dr. Manaspas spoke of Thailand’s democratic development and affirmed Thailand’s continued commitment to realising sustainable democracy that is in accord with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He stressed the importance of nurturing and sustaining a culture of democracy centred on an informed and responsible public. Nevertheless, there is no single model of democracy, especially in a region as diverse and vast as Asia, and there is no perfect democracy. In this connection, he echoed other Leaders and Ministers’ support of the Bali Democracy Forum as an opportunity for countries in Asia to learn from each other in this area. Dr. Manaspas also took this opportunity to reaffirm Thailand’s intention to see through its duties and obligations as ASEAN Chair.
On the sidelines of this meeting, Al Jazeera requested an interview with Dr. Manaspas. The interview questions concerned Thailand’s political situation. Dr.Manaspas emphasised that, whatever happens, the Thai people will always return to the path of democracy. Throughout 76 years of democratic development in Thailand, there were naturally some ups and downs but every time, the choice of the people at large was to go back to democratic rule.
(Speech by Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand is attached herewith)
Prime Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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