Defending champ Thailand gets support from Thaksin
Defending champ Thailand gets support from Thaksin
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra will
give his nation's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games squad a boost by
flying in to attend the regional games' opening ceremony on
Saturday.
Thaksin will fly to Kuala Lumpur on his private jet Saturday
afternoon and hold talks with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
before attending the launch of the SEA Games that evening, the
Malaysian foreign ministry announced.
His visit, at the invitation of Mahathir, was to 'lend moral
support' to the Thai contingent and to Malaysia as the host, it
said in a statement released by Bernama news agency.
Thaksin last visited Kuala Lumpur in April.
His second trip was expected to further strengthen 'strong
ties of friendship and cooperation' between the two neighbors,
the ministry said. He is due to return to Bangkok on Sunday
morning.
Thailand, which has strength in soccer, track and field and
sepak takraw among other sports, is strongly favored to top the
medals at the Games again this year, as it did at the 1999 SEA
Games in Brunei.
Some 4,500 athletes from the 10 member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will compete for a
total of 391 gold medals.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Poor hygiene
Meanwhile, health inspectors have shut down the food court at
the shooting venue for the Southeast Asian Games because of poor
hygiene, irritating organizers.
"How could they seal the food court without prior advice or
warning notice?" venue manager Chu Pu Yam was cited by Bernama as
saying Thursday. "Their acts are totally unacceptable and can
affect Malaysia's image as the host country."
A notice posted on the food court, which will serve 500
competitors and officials from the 10 nations once the games get
under way Saturday, said it would be closed for 14 days for
violating public health codes.
Among the 12 reasons given in the notice were that food
operators need to be vaccinated and wear shoes and caps; walls,
floors and drains need to be clean; there must be pest control;
expired food must be thrown away and food must be served with
stainless steel ware.
Pu Yam said that no one had complained so far of stomach pains
or vomiting, but he pledged that everything would be done to get
the court reopened, starting with cleaning, painting and tiling.