Exclusive interview with Vice President of ICC Hans-Peter Kaul

Recently, the name of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has come into attention of the Thai public when Robert Amsterdam, international lawyer hired by Mr.Thaksin Shinawatra, advocates for filing the Thai government on the charge of “crime against humanities” through the institution. I asked, Hans Peter Kaul, Vice President of the ICC the procedure of the investigation and whether it is possible.

Q: The red shirt protestors said they’d like the ICC to investigate the death of 90 people from the riot in April and May last year, what is the possibility, can ICC involve in this investigation?
A: I have of course been informed about this news, I have also been told that it is American professor or American lawyer, Robert Amsterdam who was advising certain people in the country to take this out…this is nonsense, why is it nonsense, because he must know that as long as Thailand is not a state party to the court, the court can never intervene to the domestic policy of the country. I am grateful that I can clarify this important message as there are so many people in this country who do not understand the system of the treaty, so the public opinion should not be misled by false prophet who are directing public opinion in the direction which is irrelevant and which cannot work.

Q: The only factor that can bring ICC to this case is Thailand has to ratify in the “Rome Statute” first, am I right?
A: Yes, again, ICC has jurisdiction over crime committed in Thailand only after the ICC ratification, so we cannot look back into events occurred in the past and, of course, this is also another important point. Not every political violence amounts to genocide or crime against humanities and it cannot be war crimes even if human rights violation might have been committed. If the type of crime does not correspond to this treaty, it is of course no jurisdiction, because we are not responsible for ordinary killings, we are not responsible for police violence or this type of normal crime. We are the most competent for the most serious crime concern to the International Community. See, it is on a different scale, they are mass crimes and more serious than ordinary crimes.

Q: With the death toll of 90 people and it happened in Thailand, don’t you consider it as massive killings?
A: I cannot comment on this because this will end up immediately as taking position on domestic policy matters. Judges of the ICC cannot matter into internal affairs of state so well let me repeat what I said before, ICC can be of relevance to Thailand and can benefit the Thai society if the government and Thai people join the International Criminal Court.


Q: Just in the case, “Red shirts” want to file petition again in this case, will it be possible?
A: As I said ICC for the time being, have no relevance to Thailand and I would like to make clear that we know, yes, in various countries there are always forces who want to use ICC as an instrument against their political opponents. ICC cannot be instrumentalised in the conflict of domestic policies; we are a non-political nature and objective institution, so we must avoid to be drawn into a political conflict between two parties in the domestic disputes.

Q: Even though Robert Amsterdam, the lawyer…
A: I do not give any importance to him, no importance should be given to him by Thai people to what he is saying and the way he is proposing because it does not work, he is misleading the Thai people.

Q: Even though he has tried to put on international pressure on the Thai government to do so? Would it be possible?
A: There are many people in the world who try all kinds of maneuvers; ICC has nothing to do with this. As I said and I repeat for the third time, ICC can be of relevance to Thailand only if Thai people and the Thai government make a sovereign decision to become a member of the ICC. ICC cannot play any role in the struggle between two factions of the Thai domestic policy scene; we do not want because we are a judicial neutral and objective body. So many political disputes in the world and each time, if we would be silly enough, it would be crazy enough to meddle in this political disputes, it would be very harmful in our standing and our reputation in the world.

Q: What is the stance of Thailand on signing the “Rome Statute”?
A: Well, the possibility is Thailand has signed Rome Statute already in 2000 and to sign a treaty means normally the state has the intention to ratify and what is required is someone’s decision by Thailand to join a treaty or not. It is a positive thing that such a treaty, such a statute is not imposed on a nation. It is sovereign and voluntary decision of people of the government and of the people concern. We sincerely have the hope that such a country like Thailand which is so resourceful with so many talented people and committed to the rule of law and committed to human rights can join ICC.

Q: What would be the positive aspect of ratification to the Rome Statute?
A: The positive aspect is Thailand will strengthen the protection of human rights both on international and national level and let us compare with adoption of a new law protecting human rights of a population of a country, then the parliament of Thailand adopt a new law enhancing and promoting human rights of Thailand. So people of Thailand do not get more money, but more secure and have a better guarantee so they can live out the fear of injustice and human rights violation.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Happy Birthday Singapore: 45th National Day

Very spectacular! Truly well-organised! This is Singapore!

This is Singapore that I have heard of: being punctual, disciplined, and well-ordered. These words could be cliché but they are, more or less, shown successfully in the celebration of the 45th National Day.

The full 4-hour of the celebrations can say many things about this country, like the message from Mr Lee Hsien Loong, PM of Singapore, it is time to reflect on the past, appreciate the present, and look to the future for an even better Singapore.

This time I have privilege to witness from the VIP stadium with a group of journalists from Asean to learn more about Singapore.

The event started sharply at 4.30 pm at Padang, in front of the City Hall. The theme for this year is “Love our Dreams Fly our Flag”. I can see how the stadiums are fully packed with 25,000 seats of visitors with most people wearing red and white t-shirt, which fits the theme of “Red-White Wow” too.

Throughout the four hours of the event, I can see how the nation has encouraged strong message of “united people of Singaporeans”. From the outset, different interests of various groups of people are addressed to help to pursue the same dreams of Singapore. From the three big screens, the image of ethnic Malays and Indians are shown with ethnic Chinese, from young to old generation.

I can see how vibrant of Singaporean’s spirit are clearly shown.

The most impressive and, I would say, highlight of the event would be 210 of army vehicles involved in the Mobile Column. This is a real show of “military capacity” of Singaporean armies. This year, the first time in five years, those thirty contingents take part in the Parade and ceremony segment. The segment represents the five pillars of Total Defence, namely military, civil, economic, social and psychological defence.

All types of military participate in the parade from army, navy, airforce, police force and civil defence force.

It is a real show of military. On the one hand, I can see how the country is so confident with how it has achieved so far for 45 years of its independence. On the other hand, the full-stretch show of military could have reflected psychological defense too for this “small and open” country.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Q & A with Prof. Muhummad Yunus

The following is excerpt from my interview with Professor Muhummad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the founder of 'Grameen Bank', Bank for the Poor in Bangladesh. He was in Thailand to open Yunus Centre at the AIT. I did the interview on 19th August 2009 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Q: Why does the concept of Grameen bank so applicable to many countries around the world to China, to Zimbabwe and to New York and on its way to open the first Grameen bank in Glasgow, Scotland, why it is so?

A: Because people need it. Whether they are in New York or in Glasgow or in Bangladesh or in Thailand, people want to have some small amount of money to carry on with their work but they don’t get it so they have to go to the loan shark which charges high interest rates.With Grameen bank interest rate just to cover the cost and have you to retain your money and improve your life get out of poverty and it works very well with their own bank and they are happy with that.

Q: If you compare different Geographies like New York must have been so different from Bangladesh, why does it work in inner city like New York and Glasgow?

A: Because the need is the same, the countries may be different. Rich people are very rich but the poor are the same whether they are in Bangladesh in New York or Glasgow. People don’t have jobs, they don’t have income they need some money to use their own talents to create activities to start their own business to look after kids, pets dogs or to start the day care center. The spirit of the poor is created by the same kind of system: rejection. Rejection from the system, they don’t get any opportunity like anybody. Nobody will help you.

Q: Is micro-credit the same concept with self-reliance?

A: Yes, micro credit is for you to learn to discover yourself. All human beings are built to do lots of activities lots of potentials but many of them never discover the talents. Many people are full of creativities and talents but they never have the chance to do so because they don’t have option. So microcredit gives them option that you can discover your own talent some of them become very successful with their discovery and they can move very fast from poverty because they have activities they have talents. So this is what it is all about to help you unleash your own talents.

Q: Talking about Thailand, do you know Khru Chob Yodkaew who started with encouraging women in rural area to save more, do you think it is the right direction for Thailand

A: I am not sure so I should not make any comment, but from what you say it is very good idea to go to the villages give loan to the poor women and encourage them to save. Everything that we do is the same thing. This is exactly what we have been doing so somebody is doing that is a great idea.

Q: What will Yunus Centre do for the region?

A: The Yunus Centre at AIT will bring all the idea I have been promoting to Thailand and the region. It is not a Thai organization but it is regional organization so I try to bring those ideas to make it appeal to the region, how to create social business how to bring micro credit how to address social problem in a sustainable way how to create energy of the young people to look at social issue and get involved in helping them, not to learn from the textbook and not to answer in the exam and never really do something else. The whole idea of Yunus centre at AIT is to get people to go out and stop the problem, even just to help even one person to get out of poverty by their own activities so they will be learning a lot from activities and how it can be done. So you have to help people get out of poverty, you learn something and if you apply this to another person, you help two people out of poverty.

Q: Is it like the way you did in 1976?
A: Exactly, this is how I did in Bangladesh in 1976. That’s how it actually goes.

Q: What is more important between having natural resources and having rice attitudes of people to tackle poverty?

A: Must be the same. People may not be have the same kind of attitude that you like to see so you need to build new generation, young people to have those ideas, how to get themselves involved in solving the problem they see around them so that’s not just to get good degree, learn things and get the jobs to become big boss in a big company, that’s not the end of life. Life has to be something that you feel satisfied with what you have done in your life, what impact you have made on other people’s lives.

Q: What do you see yourself 5 years from now, would you go back to politics like what you did in 1996, what pull you back from politics at that time?

A: There was crisis in the country in 2007 to 2008 so I was kind of encouraged by everybody to have a political party to solve problems and under that pressure I finally agree that I would join politics and political party and I saw how difficulty that I have to get good people to help me, but I could not get them, they don’t want to join politics. At one point after 2 months, I said this is enough I don’t want to join politics I will continue to do what I like to do so this is what I think.

Q: You once said you can reduce half of the world poverty in 2015 and in 2030 we will see a museum of poverty, are you still confident about it?

A: I am very serious about it, the first one of 2015, this is the millennium development goal to reduce poverty by half by 2015 and this is global commitment of not just Bangladesh or just one country. So this is everyone in Thailand is doing, in Bangladesh is doing. Many countries will achieve that. We plan to reduce poverty by half in 2015 and I am asking the question that if we know we are going to make it happen why don’t we decide which year we will bring poverty to zero so nobody would remain a poor person remain in the country. So, Bangladesh thinks why don’t we adopt the year 2030 wherein Bangladesh …nobody will remain as a poor person in 2030 and once you can accomplish that then we will build a museum of poverty so that our children and grandchildren when they would like to know about poverty and since we don’t have poverty anywhere, we can take you to the museum to show you what poverty is like, so this is the idea to take poverty into the museum.

US 'visitor' to be released

Surprise! Surprise!

The Burmese junta agreed to release John William Yettaw, an American who visited Aung San Suu Kyi at her house and led to her trial in the court. This release came after Jim Webb, US senator visited Burma and met the Burmese military ruler Than Shwe in Burma today.

This is quite a big surprise given that last week the Burmese government had announced to put Suu Kyi back in house arrest for 18 months while Yettaw would be put in prison for 7 years.

Perhaps, there would be another big surprise soon in relations with Aung San Suu Kyi's release. We have not yet known at the moment.

However, surely, Jim Webb will talk about all his discussion and with the Burmese government when he holds a press conference in Thailand with Yettaw.

women in their 30s are warned to check fertility

image Mother's Love by Kolongi Brathwaite


Our grandmothers’ generation could become a mother in their teens, around 15 to 16, and 20s for most of our mothers’ generation. What’s happening for women in their 30s these days? : Postponement of the day to become a mother.

Let’s face it. This is the global trend we all cannot deny and it is currently moving this way especially in urbanised societies. Women are now career-oriented, overloaded with work and more concerned with individual lifestyle, not to mention family responsibility for their parents. This can be quite a crude analysis but this is to say of the global trend. Perhaps, women overestimate themselves with how fit they are physically!

Time and tide wait for no man (and, obviously for women).

In the UK, this problem is highlighted recently; Professor Bill Ledger of Sheffield University is urging 30-year-old women to take fertility tests to check their possibility of having children in the future. This would be like a guarantee that couples will not be disappointed when they want to have their kids.

In Thailand, our national mother’s day is coming and we all know how we regard very highly of ‘mothers’ in our society.

It is good that mothers are praised for their contribution to the growth of future generations, nevertheless women should not put or not to be put too much pressure to become mothers for having complete lives. All-round knowledge both physically, socially and psychologically are significant for women to make decisions for them whether to be or not to be a mother.

what a crazy world with this thing called 'twitter'!!!

For 9 days, to be exact, that I have joined this latest world craze called 'twitter'. Probably a bit late, if you would count twitter of Thaksinlive and PM_Abhisit who registered with twitter before me, of course. Well, at least I have seen how 'tweets' have been moving in the past 9 days. One big movement is cyber attack on twitter.

If you are one of the 'tweets', you would have noticed that it happened to be very very slow last Thursday and Friday. Just realised the hackers wanted to attack just one man, an economics professor from Republic of Georgia, according to the New York Times.

The hackers bombarded the professors web pages with spam messages to try to block him from reading events which led to territorial war between Russia and Georgia and this is to make him look like an irresponsible guy who sent million spam e-mails to others.

Logically, I am not quite sure how 'hackers' work this out and why but if this is the case, perhaps we can say that the real world is truly interconnected with the digital world indeed.

Wonder when this will ever happen again, I hope it won't be too soon. Be careful, twitter folks.