Surakiart and the UN

[Tettyan]

I find this article blatantly one-sided. The first two-thirds of it may as well have been written by Surakiart's press secretary.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/051214/3/2cgjj.html

Wednesday December 14, 11:48 PM
INTERVIEW - Thai candidate for U.N. sounds reform note

Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Surakiart Sathirathai, Southeast Asia's candidate to lead the United Nations, said on Wednesday he would work to make the U.N. more accountable after an oil-for-food scandal showed a "culture of mismanagement".
Surakiart, a Harvard-educated lawyer and deputy prime minister, has made management reform a key part of his pitch on some 50 trips abroad since announcing his bid to succeed Kofi Annan a year ago.

"I think for the U.N. to be an effective voice of democracy and human freedom, the United Nations itself must be a paragon of good governance. It has to be effective, accountable and transparent," Surakiart, 47, told Reuters.

Annan is due to step down at the end of 2006 after a second five-year term marred by charges of mismanagement stemming from abuses of the U.N. Iraq oil-for-food plan and other scandals.

An inquiry led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker found more than 2,220 companies that did business with Iraq had paid Saddam Hussein's regime nearly $2 billion either through straight bribes or surcharges on oil sales.

Annan and his senior advisers were faulted for mismanaging the $64 billion programme, but the report did not accuse Annan of interfering in contract awards to a firm linked to his son.

"The most profound finding of Volcker's report is not the smoking gun of this or that misallocated funds. But it's a broad culture of mismanagement," Surakiart said.

He said he would push for stricter internal oversights, independent audits, and proposed hiring a "chief operating officer" to help run the vast U.N. bureaucracy.

"There are many companies that have undergone good management reform and are up and running with the confidence of stakeholders. We have to apply that to the U.N.," he said.

ASIA'S TURN

Surakiart, who speaks English and French, has spent most of his career moving between academia, business and politics.

After becoming the first Thai to earn a doctoral degree in law from Harvard University, he taught law in Bangkok before entering politics in the mid-1980s.

His term as finance minister from July 1995 to May 1996 was a bruising experience as he implemented deeply unpopular reforms which came too late to stave off the 1997 financial crisis.

He later went into oil and banking, overseeing the restructuring of several companies caught in the crisis.

A co-founder of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, he spent four years as foreign minister after the party swept to power in 2001.

Surakiart appeared to take an early lead after his candidacy won backing from the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a bloc of some 500 million people.

Nominations for the post usually originate from regional groupings, with the 15-nation Security Council settling on a single name that is voted on by the 191-nation General Assembly.

No formal rotation system exists among the world's continents, but Security Council members China and Russia have already said they would back an Asian. Washington opposes a regional rotation for the world's top diplomatic post.

"Many countries I have talked to agree that it is Asia's turn," said Surakiart, adding it would help if the region rallied around a single candidate.

Surakiart and Sri Lankan peace negotiator Jayantha Dhanapala have declared their bids, but South Korea has said it may also field a candidate.

Outside Asia, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga have been mentioned.

Analysts say Thaksin's prickly relations with U.N. agencies, and concerns about human rights in the troubled Muslim south and a deadly anti-drugs war could harm Surakiart's candidacy.

Surakiart said he would work to "ensure that human rights are promoted everywhere", including army-ruled Myanmar where as Thailand's foreign minister he was criticised by the West for trying to engage Yangon's generals.

"Our bottom line is we want to see democracy and better human rights protection. For the world and ASEAN, it's too little progress," he said of Myanmar.

ASEAN, embarrassed and frustrated by its most awkward member, this week issued it clearest call yet for the release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was extended for another six months on Nov. 27.

But Surakiart said ASEAN, the West and influential neighbours China and India needed to work together on Myanmar.

[Scuba22]

"a paragon of good governance"
"effective, accountable and transparent"
"stricter internal oversights, independent audits"

Ummm...does Surakiart have any concept of the irony in these statements given the state of TRT?

This is like Donald Rumsfeld promising Truth and Peace... oh wait, he DOES promise that!

Scuba22

[The Enforcer!]

He seems to have missed out the bit about being a member of 'perhaps' the most corrupt political party Thailand has ever had.

There again he is aiming to replace the person who is 'perhaps' the most corrupt Secretary General the UN has ever had.

The Enforcer!

[GWR]

Well, we know his face doesn't fit with TRT; but I'm interested to know how you feel Surin Pitsuwan might have fared as a candidate.

[GWR]

Suggests some problems on the horizon. Interesting to be reminded of his involvement with the Barnharn & Chaovalit debacles:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surakiart_Sathirathai

Elsewhere in Forum:-

http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showpost.php?p=7541&postcount=7

[Tettyan]

GWR -

A senior US diplomat that I happend to talk to not so long ago said that the US would have enthusiastically backed Surin were he nominated. That said, he didn't think too highly of Surakiart's chances.

-Tettyan

[Tettyan]

Two blistering articles from The Nation today on Surakiart's UN bid. Hope they don't get into trouble for this:cool:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/12/22/opinion/index.php?news=opinion_19489627.html

How Surakiart bungles his own UN campaign
Published on December 22, 2005

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 – 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.

After such unprofessional and unfriendly treatment of Sri Lanka, one could assume that Surakiart would not pursue this delicate issue further. However, early last month, Virachai Virameteekul, our vice minister of foreign affairs, who is known to be close to Surakiart, visited Colombo, ostensibly to preside over the Thai Foreign Ministry’s kathin ceremony. In reality his main purpose was to call on the Sri Lankan foreign minister, whom he met on November 4. During the private meeting, Virachai effectively offered this deal to the Sri Lankan side: if the country withdrew its candidate, Thailand would give Dhanapala any senior post in the UN that he wanted.

This astonishing proposal was rejected by Sri Lanka because, it was explained, its candidate was more than qualified to be UNSG. Perhaps Sri Lanka should have replied “We do not take bribes.”

After this event it must have dawned on Surakiart that a major faux pas has been committed. And so it became the task of our vice minister to formally explain to Sri Lanka that the offer was merely Surakiart’s “own personal initiative”.

With such chilling of Thai-Sri Lankan relations, it was not surprising that only a low-key official reception, without the participation of the countries’ foreign ministers, was held at Thailand’s Foreign Ministry on November 21, to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

However, this was not the end of Surakiart’s attempt to get rid of Dhanapala. At the Asean Foreign Ministers Dinner in Kuala Lumpur on December 8, which he managed to gatecrash, Surakiart opined to the Asean foreign ministers that “many think the Sri Lankan is not a serious candidate”, adding his claim that the Nigerian foreign minister had “offered to talk to the Sri Lankan candidate to get him to withdraw”. If this is true, obviously our Nigerian brother was unaware of Surakiart’s failure to convince the Sri Lankan candidate to back down by other means. Otherwise, the Nigerian would not have dared to offer his services in the role of “big brother”. One may legitimately ask whether our African brother really knows what he may be getting into.

As an official candidate of a government which is known to be anti-UN, as well as of a regional organisation with one member annually being condemned by the UN for human rights violations, Surakiart surely has enough problems on his hands – problems which he needs to explain to the international community, especially to members of the UN Security Council who in reality are the ones will who determine who will be the next UNSG. I am therefore puzzled why he would want to aggravate further his already wobbly international standing by running such a clumsy, unethical and uncouth campaign.

One may conclude from his campaign that Surakiart not only wasted vast amounts of Thai taxpayers’ money, but also destroyed the good reputation of Thai diplomacy – both as a refined method of civilised communication and as an honest method of attaining foreign policy objectives.

Diplomacy is now an instrument of the maverick, the uncouth, the ignorant and the egotist, who apparently are primarily interested in fulfilling their personal ambitions.

Asda Jayanama was permanent representative of Thailand to the United Nations from 1996 to 2001.

Asda Jayanama

Special to The Nation


http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/12/22/headlines/index.php?news=headlines_19489773.html

REPLACING KOFI ANNAN: Abandon UN race, Bangkok advised
Published on December 22, 2005

Embassy in US urged govt to end bid in Sept, citing ‘unresponsive’ Washington. Thailand should withdraw Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai’s candidacy for the post of UN secretary-general, the Thai Embassy in Washington recently advised the Foreign Ministry.

The embassy suggested the longer Thailand waited to exit the campaign, the greater the political damage it faced.

In a telex obtained by The Nation yesterday, the Foreign Ministry was advised that Surakiart’s bid to replace outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was in doubt, because the US did not support it.

The telex said the current and previous US secretaries of state appeared “unresponsive” to Thailand’s fielding of Surakiart and that it was “not too late” to withdraw his candidacy.

The telex said it would not be “embarrassing” to withdraw Surakiart’s candidacy at this time, but suggested a tactical withdrawal sooner rather than later.

The telex, dated September 30, 2005, and signed by then Thai ambassador to Washington Kasit Piromya, said US President George W Bush had implied Surakiart was not “a brand name” and “unmarketable” in the areas of human rights, democracy and leadership.

Support by the US is important for any candidate, since Washington, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, has the right to veto.

Surakiart claims to have the support of China and Russia, two of the five permanent members.

The telex said neither Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or her predecessor Colin Powell had ever paid much attention to Surakiart’s candidacy.

In fact, they had been “unresponsive” and “unexcited” about Thailand’s bid to have its deputy prime minister replace Annan, the telex said.

The government was urged to assess Surakiart’s candidacy honestly, without bias or personal ambition, because the country had more important things to do with its money than spend it on Surakiart’s campaign.

It appears the Thai Embassy in Washington based its assessment on a series of dialogues between Thaksin and US President George W Bush, and Surakiart and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, as well as lower-level discussions between Thai officials and their American counterparts.

The telex also pointed out that Rumsfeld did not appear satisfied with Surakiart’s answer when asked what kind of platform the Thai candidate was running on. Instead of explaining what he had in mind for UN reforms, Surakiart spoke of the importance of the US role in the world body, the telex said.

Former ambassador Kasit made headlines earlier this year when he turned down a proposal to hire a lobbying firm with ties to US Vice President Dick Cheney, reportedly at a price of Bt1.5 million a month, to help win US support for Surakiart.

Kasit, who recently retired from the foreign service, reportedly suggested Thailand use Clark Consultants to campaign for Surakiart, a firm then working on the Thai-US Free Trade Agreement.

A senior official at the Foreign Ministry said it remained government policy to mobilise all national resources necessary to help Surakiart snare the UN’s top job.

The Nation

[ncr]

This Nation cartoon (24 December 2005) is spot on....... :p

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/12/24/cartoon/p1.jpg

[BangkokPundit]

Tettayan - It is JW here, see I promised I would register. No need for me to defend Thaksin here, but I will add my 2 cents on this subject anyway.

Surakiart could still win, but I think as more time passes, his chances will fade. Before 2004, Surakiart would have stood a reasonable chance. He would have garnered reasonable support in a number of developing countries, particularly China, but also some developled countries. It is difficult to know how the other 4 permanent members of the UN Security Council will vote, but I doubt any of them would have vetoed him becoming UN Secretary General.

Since 2004, the violence in the Deep South has intensified. Now, I would be surprised if Surakiart could even muster the support of Indonesia and Malaysia, despite all of ASEAN supposedly supporting him. China, apparently back him (http://www.aseannewsnetwork.com/2005/10/should-khun-surakiart-sathirathai-be.html), but that alone won't be enough.

I agree Dr Surin would have a much better chance of winning, but Thaksin would never nominate him (just as Chuan would never have nominated someone from the opposition for the WTO DG when the Democrats were in power).

You say the Reuters article is one-sided, but what about the Nation. They have been in Surakiart attack mode since April (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:uzctG09Xc_YJ:www.unescap.org/unis/eye_on_unescap/issue17_28_april2005.doc). I suggest you do a search on Supachai's campaign for the WTO DG where the vitroil directed at America and anyone who dared think that Supachai shouldn't be WTO DG was simply astonishing. The Nation was part of that. No attacks on Supachai back then, but it was all about national pride back then.

[Scuba22]

Hi Bangkok pundit:

Would you be kind enough to defend Thaksin on some other threads? I've been hoping for an articulate and intelligent discussion about him, his policies, the TRT and the current government, but so far no one has joined to make such arguments in his favor. Media reports and official statements tend to be pretty superficial and devoid of substance; it would be great to discuss Thai politics with an erudite supporter of the present government.

thanks,

Scuba22

[ncr]

...that sum it up quite well. I think this is not so much a question of being against Surakiart or the government; but can anyone explain/give one good reason why this man should become UN Secretary-General? :confused:


Bid for UN job reflects our damaged political system

Re: "Thailand’s UN bid: an exit strategy", Opinion, December 26.

It goes without saying that all Thai people would feel overjoyed if Surakiart Sathirathai in the end succeeds in securing for himself the top position in the UN secretary-general. But let’s dare to face the reality that it is all but impossible that such a dream will come true. Let’s keep in mind:

- Our’ PM’s insults directed at the UN.

- The notorious record of our PM in regard to curtailing human rights and media freedoms, and his consistently hostile attitude towards democracy.

- Our PM and his government’s dubious relationship with the junta in Burma, which is universally condemned.

As for Surakiart’s qualifications for the top job, there’s nothing impressive there. He is little known among international diplomats. People are now wondering why our government is conducting this costly campaign. For the country’s honour? No, to put feathers in the PM’s own cap, to seek credibility for him and his government.

Our PM always counts his chickens before they are hatched. And most of the time, he fails to get the chickens he has counted. He is a man who never admits defeat. He suffers no loss for his crazy ideas. It is we, the people, who suffer.

Let’s boycott this campaign to avoid wasting more money that has come from taxpayers.

Abee

Bangkok

------------------------------------------

Surakiart should save face and quit while there’s still time

This campaign is a joke! Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai has been with every government in power except the Democrats. He has no ideology whatsoever and just follows the scent of power and money. Give me one thing he has accomplished, and I’ll give you 10 failures!

JT

Bangkok

[Yappofloyd]

A dark horse for the new UNSG? Dr Supachai to be PM or UNSG.....?
I don't think that Surakiat ever had a real chance of being seriously considered as UNSG.

SECRETARY-GENERAL POST UN Big Five see Supachai as apt Unctad head a front-runner who is also now touted as possible PM
The Nation 26/09
The UN five permanent members are considering the possibility of nominating Thailand's Supachai Panitchpakdi as the next UN secretary-general (UNSG), replacing Kofi Annan when he steps down in the coming weeks, according to a diplomatic source at the UN in New York. "The person right now being most mentioned and most likely to be recruited as UNSG by [the five permanent Security Council members] is Dr Supachai who is acceptable to all sides, moderate, and the right mix of outsider and insider," the source said. "But we'll have to wait and see whether political developments in Bangkok over the next few days will take him away," he added.

Supachai is the secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). He was previously head of the World Trade Organisation. Incidentally, Supachai is also one of the leading choices for the post of interim prime minister to replace Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a bloodless coup led by Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

In Bangkok, efforts to prevent ex-deputy premier Surakiart Sathirathai's return to New York and to get Sonthi to distance the Council of Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) from his candidacy, appeared to have failed as the CDRM yesterday issued an order designating Foreign Minister's deputy permanent-secretary Sihasak Puangketkoew, to be team leader in assisting Surakiart's campaign. Sihasak has been in New York over the past week lobbying for Surakiart's candidacy. The CDRM's announcement sent a confusing signal among various quarters, including key generals, because Surakiart had taken the lead role in condemning Sonthi and defending Thaksin when the coup unfolded.

Surakiart went on CNN to attack the coup plotters and defend Thaksin even as army tanks were taking up positions in Bangkok. According to Army sources, Sonthi was also aware that Surakiart was the key person in the redrafting of Thaksin's speech that was supposed to be delivered to the UN General Assembly but was sabotage by the CDRM just hours before the delivery. Thaksin was looking to use his speech to attack Sonthi for carrying out the coup. Sources attribute the sabotaging of Thaksin's UN speech to the quick thinking of former intelligence tsar, Prasong Soonsiri, a political strategist for the CDRM, who told the junta to instruct the Thai Ambassador to UN, Laxana-chantorn Laohap-han, to pull Thailand's name from the roster because a new regime was effectively in place in Thailand.

A UN diplomat said Surakiart's return to New York to face the UN members could proved to be awkward for Thailand because "they will wonder why a coup had to be staged if members of the old government are not removed." The diplomat said the UN members will definitely ask Surakiart about Thaksin's rule and it would be interesting to hear what he has to say about his former boss. Surakiart has long billed himself as the Asean candidate. But sources said other Asean countries are prepared to nominate one of their own - if and when Surakiart withdraws his bid.

[Yappofloyd]

Tonights UNSC vote should finally put the nail in the coffin for Khun Surakiart

EDITORIAL UN candidate past his shelf life Bkk Post 02/10/06

The most powerful members of the United Nations are looking for a replacement for their Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who retires on New Year's Eve. The first to apply was Surakiart Sathirathai, then a minister and later a deputy prime minister in the old Thaksin Shinawatra government. Mr Surakiart's application was received politely. His provided references included the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, since many UN members believe it is Asia's turn to get the job. But it is clear that Mr Surakiart will not get the job, and it would be best if the government and Asean recognise that. They should consider backing a stronger, more viable candidate.

The latest setback and quite enough humiliation for Mr Surakiart and Thailand was the latest vote by the Security Council. It dropped the Thai nominee from a weak third to a feeble fourth place. Another vote will come tonight, with a strong likelihood that Mr Surakiart will go from bad to worse. There is no known backing for him from any important UN member. On the contrary: his actions at the time of the military coup created more roadblocks.

He was a dark horse from the beginning because of his government's Burma policy, drug-war killings and failed attempt to win a military victory in the South. But in the past two weeks, Mr Surakiart has openly displayed two faces. He was Mr Thaksin's chief spokesman to the international media on the New York day of the military coup d'etat. He dissembled and prevaricated in the manner of the infamous Iraqi military spokesman in 2003. For example, he told CNN that events in Bangkok were exaggerated by the media. "We have to believe that they [the military] are backing off," he said. Mr Thaksin had given orders and "they probably [are] on their way to give new instructions for the tanks and armoured vehicles to go back to their barracks." A day later, the coup a reality, Mr Surakiart explained Mr Thaksin "just wanted to take a rest".

Back in Bangkok, however, the other Mr Surakiart told Thais that Mr Thaksin had to accept defeat. In New York, Mr Thaksin was to give a speech and hold meetings to support Mr Surakiart's candidacy for the leadership of the UN. In Bangkok, Mr Surakiart deeply thanked the Council for Democratic Reform for continuing to back his application.

Mr Thaksin, as uncompromising CEO of the Thai Rak Thai party, backed his minister for the UN job for largely negative reasons. Other, qualified Thais were being considered for the top UN job, among them ex-foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan and Supachai Panitchpakdi. Instead of proudly backing such respected Thai diplomats from another political party, the ever-divisive Mr Thaksin picked his own man and convinced Asean to make the Thai nominee their regional choice.

The Foreign Ministry, on Mr Thaksin's orders, then spent huge but unaccountable amounts to finance Mr Surakiart's worldwide campaign trip. It has claimed huge support for Mr Surakiart _ 146 countries solidly behind him. Mr Thaksin bragged he had brought members of the Security Council behind the Thai candidate. These claims, always suspect, now appear to have been made up. Only the 10 Asean countries support Mr Surakiart. And that, according to an Asean spokesman last week, was because many thought it was too late to support anyone else.

The Security Council is to vote again tonight, and for the first time there will be vetoes by permanent members China, France, Russia, Britain and the US. Thailand should withdraw the Surakiart candidacy voluntarily, before UN members serve total defeat. That would free this country and its Asean partners to back one of the current candidates, of whom the Korean Ban Ki-Moon is the favourite. Or they could rally behind another candidate, such as Singapore's superbly qualified Chan Heng Chee. Mr Surakiart, never a strong candidate, tarnished his reputation by his twin reactions to the coup.

[Yappofloyd]

And the front runner.....

South Korean hoping to reflect nation's rise By Choe Sang-Hun International Herald Tribune Published: October 1, 2006

SEOUL In 1962, a secondary-school student from a rural town in South Korea, then among the world's poorer nations, won an English-language speech contest sponsored by the American Red Cross and was invited to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy. When an American journalist asked him what his goal was, the teenager, who had not even visited his own country's capital, spoke of a globe- trotting dream. "I want to become a diplomat," he remembered saying in response.

That teenager, Ban Ki Moon, today is South Korea's foreign minister and the front-runner to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary general of the United Nations, a job commonly referred to as the "top diplomat of the world."
"When I met Kennedy, my childhood conviction became firmer that a diplomat was what I wanted to become; I have since spent my life living up to that dream," said Ban, 62, speaking in an interview on the eve of a crucial straw poll at the Security Council on Monday that could determine whether he has clinched the top UN job.

Unlike the three previous polls, which Ban led by a large margin, the latest straw vote requires the council's five permanent members to cast ballots of a different color. For the first time, Ban will find out whether any of the five - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - objects to his candidacy. One veto from a permanent council member can kill a candidate's chances. Ban's attempt is not just a personal campaign by an ambitious man whose soft voice and quick smile, his aides say, belie a tenacity that has propelled him on a diplomatic fast track through successive governments in Seoul.

It also carries the backing of his home country. People here closely follow Ban's bid, considering it a campaign for their country, which has risen from poverty and dictatorship to become the world's 11th-largest economy with a vibrant democracy and a constant hunger for global recognition. The United Nations, though its usefulness has been questioned elsewhere, has always fascinated South Koreans. Their country was created in 1948 by the United Nations and defended by UN troops in the Korean War. Once a recipient of UN handouts, the country celebrated the UN's birthday, Oct. 24, as its own national holiday until 1976. Ban's election, South Koreans believe, would mark a symbolic affirmation of the global body's relevance.

Ban's strong showing in the polls - and the UN's vague and unpredictable way of choosing its secretary general - has subjected his candidacy to unusual scrutiny. Will the election of a stalwart U.S. ally in the UN Secretariat exacerbate tensions in the world body and complicate U.S. efforts to reform the UN's finances and its negotiating role in resolving the Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons crises? "I take such a notion as a way of thinking that existed in the Cold War era," Ban said during the interview at his hilltop residence, which overlooks the main U.S. military base in central Seoul. "It will be far better for someone like me, who has experience in dealing with the North Korean nuclear problem, to become secretary general than someone who doesn't."

The Times of London reported Friday that South Korea had been waging an aggressive campaign on Ban's behalf, offering millions of dollars of aid for African countries. South Korea said the aid packages had been prepared years in advance, because the country, with its growing economic prowess, wanted to expand assistance for underdeveloped nations. "I am deeply disappointed by the recent negative campaign," Ban said. "It's a grossly unfair and groundless allegation from people who don't know the facts yet intend to discredit a specific candidate."

Then there is the question that Ban said was prompted partly by East-West differences in leadership: Can a diplomat with mild manners, who critics say appears more eager to please his bosses than confront them, lead an institution plagued by inefficiency, corruption and a debilitating rift between poor and rich countries? "Some Westerners don't seem to fully understand the Asian leadership virtue of being tender in appearance and resolute in the mind," Ban said. "They see a smile just as a smile; they often fail to see inner strength behind such a smile. "Some Westerners may say I look soft and not pushy. But I remind them that an unreasonably strong character doesn't win respect."

A key point to watch during the straw poll Monday is whether the single negative vote Ban got in each of the three previous votes will appear again and come from a permanent council member. Ban was cautiously optimistic that it would not. In the last straw vote among 15 council members held Thursday, Ban was the only one among the 7 candidates to get more than the 9 votes required for approval, receiving 13 votes in favor, 1 against and 1 undecided. He widened his lead over his closest challenger, Shashi Tharoor of India, a UN under secretary general whose support fell to 8 favorable votes from the previous 10.

The other candidates include President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia; Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai of Thailand; Prince Zeid al- Hussein of Jordan, its ambassador to the UN; and Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan, a former finance minister there. Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, a former UN disarmament chief who finished last in the straw polls, pulled out of the race over the weekend. His government threw its backing behind Ban.

Annan steps down Dec. 31 after two five-year terms. The world body wants to select his replacement by the end of October. The Security Council recommends a candidate to the 192-member UN General Assembly, which has traditionally approved that person with little debate. Diplomats generally agree that the next secretary general should come from Asia because the last incumbents were African, Arab, South American and European. The last Asian secretary general was U Thant of Burma, who served from 1961 to 1971.
They also say the straw polls are hard to interpret. A Swedish diplomat, Dag Hammarskjold, who won the election in April 1953, did not even know he was a candidate when he was told he had won. His first reaction to the news was to dismiss it as an April Fool's Day joke.

Han Seung Soo - a former South Korean foreign minister who worked with Ban at the South Korean Embassy in Washington and the presidential Blue House in Seoul - called Ban "one of the finest diplomats South Korea ever produced." Ban's ability to "make a very tough decision" is often hidden by his modest manners, Han said. Han and Ban worked together at the United Nations when Han became president of the General Assembly shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and appointed Ban as his chef de cabinet.

Diplomats say Ban's best training for the UN job comes from being a foreign minister of a country struggling to carve out its own identity while surrounded by global powers. As foreign minister since 2004, Ban has steered South Korean efforts to help resolve one of the most intractable disputes in international diplomacy today: how to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. The task has given Ban an opportunity to build rapport with his counterparts in the United States, China, Japan and Russia. "South Korea and the United Nations are inseparable as a nation and as an institution," Han said. "Ban's candidacy is a godsent opportunity for South Korea to pay back something to the United Nations."

[jpatokal]

Ban passed the final informal hurdle and is virtually assured of the job now:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-10-03T001335Z_01_N02382155_RTRUKOC_0_US-UN-LEADER.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-5

[Yappofloyd]

Belatedly Khun Surakiat had finally pulled out of the race.

UN RACE / LATEST POLL RESULT DISCOURAGING Surakiart throws in the towel Bkk Post 07/10/06

Former deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai has thrown in the towel in the race for the office of the United Nations secretary-general, after the latest informal poll on Monday showed him slipping one spot. Mr Surakiart called on Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont at Government House yesterday after returning from New York following the vote. The meeting raised speculation about his decision to withdraw his candidacy.

Gen Surayud later confirmed that the Thai candidate, who received backing from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), had informed him about his withdrawal from the race. ''It's like a football game. When the team reaches the final stage and loses, it has to accept that,'' said Gen Surayud.
Mr Surakiart came fourth in the informal poll on Monday, down one place from his ranking in the second poll on Sept 29.

The result also led to the withdrawal of second-placed Shashi Tharoor, a UN undersecretary-general for communications and public information, to clear the way for the winner, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, to become the new UN chief. Mr Ban still needs endorsement from the 192-member UN General Assembly to succeed Kofi Annan, whose term will end this year.