The Automotive Focus Group (AFG) stretched its corporate legs to hold their June seminar at the Mövenpick Resort this side of Cambodia. The subject was “When the unexpected is expected” (which could almost describe life in Pattaya!).
Leading the group was President Frank Holzer while the main speaker was Tony Harman, the Asia Manager of Intelligent Risks Pty Ltd.
Tony began by reviewing the fact that Thailand has had 25 elections and 19 coups. He also reaffirmed that the insurgency Down South does not have any bearing on the rest of Thailand, or the Eastern Seaboard in particular.
He discussed some of the recent protests, leading to the coup under our present Prime Minister. If the AFG members didn’t know already, Tony covered the fact that the protestors did not go hungry and all received a daily allowance. The protests were naturally very well attended, no free offer is ever undersubscribed.
After the multiple postponed election has been held (don’t hold your breath) Tony was led into stating that, “The next 12 months will be pretty interesting” but felt that there would be limited security impact.
Areas of concern included organized crime, loan sharking, which can affect the workforce, procurement fraud (which seems endemic at present) and bribery.
He stressed that transparency is important, especially in the areas of procurement and stock control. (The opposite has seen a glut of “unusually rich” civil servants in the news recently.)
The Q & A session was very lively with speakers showing that there are real problems out there and needing intelligent review.
Following on from the seminar, the AFG members and friends moved to another area in Mövenpick where a lovely lady kept topping up my wine glass and it wasn’t fruit wine either.
