Dear President of the AIT Alumni Association (AITAA) Mother
Chapter and Members of the AIT Alumni Association (AITAA) National
Chapter Presidents,
I wish to bring to your kind attention a very serious matter in
relation to the new international intergovernmental AIT Charter which
will come into effect on 30th January 2012. It is very sad and
disheartening to report that the AITAA- Thailand Chapter President Mr.
Thanin Bumrungsap has been working to undermine the new
intergovernmental international AIT Charter coming into effect on 30th
January 2012 using various channels including the local press, launch
of a negative campaign against AIT intergovernmental status and even
writing a personal letter to the Foreign Minister of Thailand.
Attaining international intergovernmental status is a milestone in the
history of AIT, which will reaffirm and strengthen AIT's legal status
and institutional standing not only vis-à-vis its host country
Thailand, but also partner countries in the region and beyond, and we
as part of the AIT community should be proud of this achievement. Our
alumni across so many countries have been actively engaged and put in
so much of their time, effort and commitment, in following up with
their respective governments, in ensuring that they sign and ratify the
new AIT Charter. The alumni have indeed played a large and significant
role in this important undertaking and on behalf of AIT I would like
thank our alumni for their important role in this process.
It is also important to highlight that the initial drafting of the new
AIT Charter was done by the Executive Committee and after several
iterations submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thailand
through the AIT Board. However, the whole process of drafting the new
AIT Charter had to literally be restarted from scratch under an
intergovernmental process led and chaired by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Thailand, with the engagement of AIT?s partner governments with
AIT invited as observer in the deliberation. The final version of the
new AIT Charter was considered by all the governments, and a number of
governments including Thailand, adopted and signed it on 25 August
2010.
H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the Board and former Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Thailand, has put so much of his time and effort in
the new AIT Charter, and with the assistance of the Foreign Ministry of
Thailand, has personally travelled to various countries in Asia
and Europe in inviting Governments to join as members of the new
Charter.
To date 7 countries have ratified the new AIT Charter, namely Japan,
Sweden, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. So far Japan,
Sweden, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have deposited their instruments
of ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand, and
along with Nepal, which will be submitting their instrument of
ratification today, will be part of the new AIT Council, when the new
AIT Charter comes into force on 30th January 2012.
To-date, 18 countries and 1 international organization have signed or
confirmed to sign the new Charter, which include, not counting the
above Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Seychelles, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and the United
Nations Development Fund for Women, East and Southeast Asia
(UNIFEM)-now part of UN Women). There is also interest and ongoing
discussion with the USA, Russia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Israel,
Ethiopia and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) among
others.
The cabinet of the Royal Thai Government has approved the new AIT
Charter and the Draft Negotiation Framework of the Headquarters
Agreement between the Thai Government and AIT. The cabinet approved it
in its meeting held on 27 December 2011 and has endorsed the submission
of the Charter and Draft Negotiation Framework for parliamentary review
and approval. Besides, the Thai cabinet has also authorized the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to proceed with the ratification of the
Charter, following which the new AIT Enabling Act will come into force.
The draft Headquarters Agreement and its supporting Enabling Act will
need the approval by the Parliament. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Thailand has informed AIT that during this interim process, AIT shall
continue to enjoy all its current rights, immunities and
privileges.
Since Thailand has yet to ratify, H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the
AIT Board of Trustees, has mentioned openly that he would be putting
forward a recommendation to the new Council through the Board at its
last meeting on 30th January 2012, that no decision regarding the core
interests of AIT be taken unless Thailand is on Board as a new Council
member.
In line with Dr. Tej's recommendation, I have also put forward my
personal recommendation to the Board that the new Council should make
all efforts to try and ensure that Thailand as AIT's host country is on
board the new Council at the earliest, following the ratification by
the Parliament. In this regard, I have mentioned that work on strategic
initiatives could continue, and be prepared for consideration and final
decision by the new Council, when Thailand is officially a member of
the new Council.
AIT attaining international and intergovernmental status will also add
to the prestige and influence of host country Thailand, especially in
the context of the regional integration in the ASEAN.
Therefore, it is very disheartening to note that Mr. Thanin, President
of the AITAA Thailand Chapter, has been pursuing such a negative
campaign against the new AIT Charter, linking it to the exploration of
a new funding model and other issues, which are being undertaken at the
level of the AIT Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee. Here it
is important to add that the AITAA Mother Chapter President, is a
member of the AIT Board of Trustees and is also on the Executive
Committee, and fully aware and has been engaged in all of these
important initiatives.
At the recent meeting of the Executive Committee meeting held on 16th
January 2012, which was participated by Mr. Chawalit Chantararat, new
President of the AITAA Mother Chapter, all the major issues and
concerns on the new AIT Charter, funding model etc., were clarified and
the Executive Committee, was unanimous in their view that the recent
Q&A based on the concerns from the AlT Student Union, Faculty,
Staff and Alumni, which was compiled by the Media and Communications
Unit (MCU), was very well prepared and answered to most of the concerns
in a thorough and comprehensive manner.
https://oldweb.ait.ac.th/news-and-events/2012/news/Q-A.AITPresident.pdf
With only 6 more days remaining for the new AIT Charter to come into
effect, and after several years of hard work and effort by so many of
our alumni colleagues and partners, it is indeed very sad and painful,
to witness such a negative and concerted campaign by Mr. Thanin,
President of the AITAA Thailand Chapter.
Through this letter, I wish to also request the AITAA Mother Chapter,
to communicate their position on the new AIT Charter and actions taken
by Mr. Thanin, President of the AITAA Thai Chapter.
We also kindly request the other AITAA national chapters, who have put
so much effort in realizing this important international
intergovernmental status for AIT, to also put forward their
views.
Yours sincerely,
Said Irandoust
President
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Cc: AIT Board of Trustees
Executive Committee
AIT alumni
References:
Link to the 2 articles published in the local (Thai language) newspaper
Matichon Online are available at the below links:
http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1327067317&grpid=&catid=19&subcatid=1903
http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1327231194&grpid=&catid=19&subcatid=1903
The English translations of the articles will be provided as soon as
they are ready.