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25. Many people think that, for all its reported lassitude, the Prem Government will stay in office for the next eighteen months (ie until the next elections). While I was in Bangkok the newspapers were intrigued by several meetings between the Prime Minister and Kukrit. It has subsequently been announced that the SAP has joined the Government (thereby strengthening Prem's position). Looking to the future, I was told that General Arthit, Assistant Army Commander-in-Chief and Commander of the First Army Region, was the man everyone was watching.
26. On ASEAN, a Treasury official, while acknowledging that it had been a political success, was very dubious about the value of the Thai soda ash project. Prasit Narongday, formerly Minister of Industry in the Kriangsak Government, agreed that ASEAN was a success and said that the feasibility study on the soda ash project was not yet completed. Tej Bynnag of the MFA, on the other hand, said that the feasibility study had been completed and the site near Sattahip had been chosen. He added that markets were assured in ASEAN countries.
27.
As regards new members for ASEAN (apart from Brunei), he did not think that Sri Lanka would be admitted for geographical reasons. Burma might be given observer status but would not attain full membership for political reasons. It was unlikely that Papua New Guinea would become a full member either. The projected dialogue with
India was stalled because of her attitude towards Cambodia and Vietnam.
Burma
28. Much has been written about the decrepitude of Rangoon and it certainly was the worst maintained capital of those I visited in South East Asia, apart from Hanoi. It is, however, a city of undoubted, if rather passé, charm, not least because of the richness of its greenery which softens the effects of time on masonry. And nothing can dim the splendour of the Schwedagon Pagoda, one of the great buildings of Asia- not even the tawdry souvenir shops and stalls which, as in many Buddhist shrines, clutter the entrance steps. Mandalay, which I had not previously visited is scenically
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/delightful
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