Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Date:         Tue, 22 Dec 1992 16:50:54 -0500
              USENET." <VIETNET@USCVM.BITNET>
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS: Bumpy road to prosperity for Thais, Viets, Khmers

12/17

BUMPY ROAD TO PROSPERITY FOR THAIS, VIETS, KHMERS

    By Angus MacSwan
    BANGKOK, Dec 18, Reuter - The players changed roles in a year of drama in
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
    Communism prevailed in Vietnam, but the loudest outcry for democracy and
the worst single incident of bloodshed was in Thailand, where a government was
overthrown.
    Vietnam doggedly pursued its goal of becoming one of Asia's next economic
"little dragons."
    Cambodia suddenly changed from one of the most isolated places on earth to
a global village as a huge United Nations peace mission descended in a bid to
end its long agony.
    But by the end of the year, the U.N. operation had found the road to peace
was one long obstacle course.
    Thailand was squandering world sympathy earned in its own struggle for
democracy by putting profits before peace in Cambodia.
    And Vietnam's drive for prosperity was frustrated by the ghosts of a war
that ended long ago.
    After years of growing rich while its neighbours wallowed in conflict and
misery, Thailand seemed the least likely place to erupt.
    A military coup in 1991 had caused barely a hiccough. But when pro-military
parties won an election in March and asked coup leader General Suchinda
Kraprayoon to be prime minister, demonstrators took to Bangkok's streets in
tens of thousands.
    Office workers joined students in saying they were fed up with an arrogant
military elite dominating politics.
    Suchinda hit back and in two nights of violence that shocked the world his
troops gunned down scores of protesters.
    King Bhumibol Adulyadej summoned him and protest leader Chamlong Srimuang.
In an amazing televised scene, the two men knelt at his feet as he asked for
reconciliation.
    Suchinda finally resigned. Fresh polls in September led to a coalition of
anti-military parties, the so-called "Angels," forming a government under Chuan
Leekpai.
    It was swiftly business as usual again in Thailand.
    An amnesty decreed by Suchinda absolving him and his cronies was upheld.
The general began to be spotted again in fancy restaurants, though he once
suffered the indignity of being booed by other diners.
    The government announced plans to reform the military but parliament spent
more time arguing over a new law making helmets compulsory for motorcyclists.
    And there was no relief for Bangkok's long-suffering commuters as
squabbling held up plans to build new transit systems.
    A new dawn rose in Cambodia, with the peace accord signed at the end of
1991 bringing in a multinational force of 22,000 soldiers and civilians under
the banner of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The dawn soon grew
murky.
    Initially the accord looked good for the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, giving
them a political role from which many thought their blood-stained history
should disqualify them.
    Then leader Pol Pot had second thoughts. His men refused to disarm and
cooperate with the peacekeepers. They shot at helicopters, seized villages and
slew Vietnamese settlers.
    Khmer Rouge guerrillas detained 46 U.N. peacekeepers in central Cambodia on
Thursday, the third group they had held this month.
    UNTAC, though wary about getting dragged into a war, said elections would
be held in May with or without the Khmer Rouge.
    At the end of November the U.N. Security Council voted to impose trade
sanctions on the guerrillas, who run a multi-million-dollar logs and gem trade
from their border enclaves.
    Support for the Khmer Rouge came from the Thai government who complained
that Thai businessmen would lose money. The stand did little for Thailand's
international image.
    Political killings and intimidation in government-controlled Cambodia
threatened to undo the progress made earlier in the year, but opposition
parties kept testing the limits.
    Phnom Penh was transformed into a cash-flush boomtown where the new rich
tried to avoid rubbing shoulders with an army of beggars and amputees.
    Critics accused UNTAC of fuelling corruption and prostitution and even
causing too many traffic accidents.
    But as "Blue Berets" spread out across the country, roads were rebuilt,
children received medical treatment, and millions of Cambodians queued to
register for elections.
    More than 200,000 refugees were brought home over the border and the camps
in Thailand began to close. The remaining 150,000 should be back in time for
the polls.
    The prospect of elections in Vietnam looked dim but Hanoi's decision to
disengage from Cambodia began to pay dividends.
    It achieved important foreign policy coups by normalising relations with
China and forming a new relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.
    Japan and Australia both resumed aid, suspended during the 1979-89
occupation of Cambodia.
    Economic reforms and new trade ties with the non-communist world helped
Vietnam adjust to the cut-off in Soviet aid with far less pain than some
Westerners had predicted.
    Foreign businessmen kept coming and life for the man-in-the street kept
getting better, residents said.
    But perhaps more importantly for Vietnam's economic and diplomatic
wellbeing, the United States moved closer in December to normalising ties by
allowing American firms to open offices and sign contracts in preparation for
ending the trade embargo it imposed on Hanoi in 1964..
    The White House said it was doing so in response to Hanoi's stepped up
efforts to resolve cases of Americans still missing from the Vietnam War.
    While welcoming the news, both Vietnamese officials and U.S. businessmen
urged Washington to go further and lift the embargo.
    The businessmen said only then can they really compete with companies from
Japan, Taiwan, Australia, France and other countries who arrived years ago to
explore one of Asia's last business frontiers.