How Surakiart bungles his own UN campaign 

By Asda Jayanama 
December 24, 2005
The Nation (Thailand)
Original Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/12/24/news16.htm

DEPUTY Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai has never ceased to amaze me with his clumsy, eager-beaver diplomacy. His quest for the position of United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) amply demonstrates his bungling working style. 
Surakiart succeeded in receiving Asean's support for his quest about one and a half years before Kofi Annan's term ends by running a pushy campaign, particularly in regards to how he went about gaining support from Singapore, the last Asean member to give in. 
Then he sent his permanent secretary to ask a Taiwanese diplomat to lobby his case with the 25 or so UN members that still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan C even though Surakiart has previously said publicly that Thai-Taiwan relations are strictly economic. 
However, the most disgraceful tactic was reserved for his treatment of Supachai Panitchpakdi, when Thailand's permanent representative to the UN in New York was asked to coax various diplomats into complaining to Kofi Annan that Kofi's appointment of Supachai to the highest position in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development would hurt Surakiart's chance of becoming the next UNSG! 
And just before he lost the foreign affairs portfolio, Surakiart made a major bungle when he tried to force our ambassador in Washington to retain the services of two firms providing lobbying services, which had ties to US Vice President Dick Cheney. 
To our ambassador's credit, not only did he refuse to sign the wasteful contracts, he also recommended that Surakiart withdraw from the race. 
But such events are minor affairs compared to Surakiart's dealings, directly or by proxy, with the Sri Lankan Government. 
Earlier this year, after the name of Jayantha Dhanapala was announced as Sri Lanka's candidate for the UNSG job, the director-general of the South Asian Department of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Sri Lankan ambassador to the ministry to hear Thailand's, or should I say Surakiart's, displeasure because of this announcement. 
The ambassador did not put up long with this gesture, and soon left. This policy of deliberate discourtesy continued when the Foreign Ministry rejected the ambassador's request for extra security for his president for her short private visit to Bangkok on her way home from Tokyo. 
Asda Jayanama was permanent representative of Thailand to the United Nations from 1996 to 2001.