State of emergency should be lifted : TCC, BoT

The two powerful business confederations said the emergency rule, imposed last Tuesday, had sent a wrong signal to the international community concerning doing business in Thailand.

Partial strikes paralysing Bangkok Port, railroads and other public services have also hit the economy hard following weeks of political stalemate.

Many foreign traders have abandoned plans to visit the Bangkok Gems and Jewellery Fair set for later this month.

Most of them would shift to attend only the Hong Kong Gems and Jewellery Fair which will be held around the same time, the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce said.

As a result of the political standoff, both the TCC and BoT repeated their call for Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to demonstrate responsibility.

However, Samak told the nation in a morning radio address that he would neither resign nor dissolve Parliament.

Both the TCC and BoT also said that they do not believe that the national referendum proposed by the government would be an effective move to end the political turmoil.

Phongsak Assakul, vice chairman of the TCC, said Thailand had lost credibility in the eyes of foreign businessmen.

"Our leader should have already shown his responsibility as disaster is awaiting us," he said.

Pornsilp Patcharintanakul, deputy secretarygeneral of the TCC, said the political strife is causing estimated daily losses of Bt3.5 billion in missed business opportunities.

Phongsak said the emergency decree was a bad decision and the "last straw" in driving the business community to voice complaints.

Dusit Nontanakorn, vice chairman of the TCC, said business, production and operating costs have soared as a result of the political situation.

"Our creditworthiness has plunged, affecting banks and importers, for example," he said.

Nander von der Luehe, president of the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce, urged the government to restore normalcy as soon as possible.

"The state of emergency (if not revoked quickly) will lead to dislocation of existing investments to other neighbouring countries," he said.

Khamron Kropnopparat, president of the Nakhon Ratchasima Chamber of Commerce, will send the premier an open letter, asking the government to revoke the emergency decree.

Methee Tanmanatrakul, president of the southern chapter of the Thai Hotels Association, said Samak did not say anything in his radio speech that would improve the situation.

"We expected to hear the PM's decision to make a compromise to curtail the conflict and pave the way for peaceful solutions. However, he seemed to have added [fuel] to the fire."

The crisis has drastically hurt the tourism industry, as 12 countries have already issued warnings on travelling to Thailand, he said.

Tourists to Phuket in particular have cancelled 30 per cent of their bookings.