Thailand is crying foul over remarks made by two Philippine government officials who allegedly said that the crisis that happened in Thailand, which led to the overthrow of the Thai government, could not happen in the Philippines due to the "maturity" of Filipinos, implying that the Thais were immature and inferior to Filipinos.
Thailand assailed the Philippines Wednesday after an aide of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and a senator issued statements questioning the Thai people’s degree of "maturity" following the takeover by demonstrators of two airports in Thailand.
Thailand’s ambassador to the Philippines said the statements made by Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Golez and Senator Richard Gordon were uncalled for.
Speaking to the media, Ambassador Kulkumut said Golez and Gordon recently made public statements saying that the Thai people lacked "political maturity" and that the Thai people "brought chaos to their country" in the past few days when anti-government rallyists forcibly shut down two of Thailand's main airports, the Suvarnabhumi International airport and the Don Muang Domestic Airport.
"The said statements are not based on facts and may have some implication of hidden agendas. In fact, the protest is only indication that Thai people are free to exercise their political right based on democracy," the ambassador said.
The ambassador said the two Philippine officials should apologize for their statements, which could be misconstrued as comments made by the Arroyo government "and may make the Thai people feel inferior."
"I believe that the statements made by Mr. Golez and Senator Gordon does not positively contribute to our good and long lasting relations between our two countries and peoples," he added.
Last Nov. 26, Golez was quoted as saying that the takeover of anti-government protesters of two airports in Thailand will not happen in the Philippines because Filipinos have reached "political maturity."
"Our people have reached a high degree of political maturity whereby our people respects due process and the rule of law," Golez said then.
On Wednesday, Golez turned down Thailand's request for an apology after his allegedly disrespectful comments.
"For the record, I did not say that the Thais are not politically mature. My statement was simple and I never said that. I said that Filipinos have reached a high level of political maturity regarding the remoteness of the possibility that we will have the same problem as with the Thais," he said.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also defended Golez's statement, saying that the comment was not meant to offend the Thai people. "That's like saying that you're a handsome guy. Does that mean that the other guy is ugly? It just means that the other guy is more handsome," he said in Filipino.
Ermita, meanwhile, said the Philippine government is not worried about the safety of Filipinos in Bangkok after a Thai court ordered the prime minister to step down.
"We have nothing to worry about. Thailand has changed prime ministers three time in the last eight months and there's been no effect in regional security. The Thai people are very stable, they are not violent," he said.
