Singapore's Straits Times did a great job liveblogging from Pattaya about the Asean summit which broke down today after anti-government protesters stormed the convention centre.
But the Malaysian media had more to say about the leaders.
Bernama reported yesterday:
A group of eight demonstrators broke through the security cordon at the venue of the 14th Asean summit in an attempt to hand over a petition to demand the ouster of Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
They demanded to see a representative from a foreign delegation to hand over the petition.
Initial indications are that they asked for Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is the Deputy Chair of Asean.
The demonstrators eventually handed over a stack of the petition to P.Balakumar of the Asean secretariat and asked him to distribute it to the leaders attending the summit…
The Malaysian media were also quick to report today their prime minister was safe.
The Star reported:
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his entourage were safe throughout, The Star's Mergawati Zulfakar reported. He left for home at about 6pm Malaysian time and arrived at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang at about 7.30pm.
Before he left, he told the Malaysian media that the summit had had an "unexpected ending" but he was not among those to be evacuated out by helicopter to the nearby U-Tapao airport.
“I will not go take the helicopter but the normal way. The leaders can choose various ways but I choose the normal way,” he said.
Anyone following the news knows all the leaders have left Pattaya. The state of emergency has been lifted in Pattaya following their departure, reports the Bangkok Post.
But the only online news about the Singapore delegation I have seen so far is from blogger Ephraim Loy, who posted at 5.16pm: (Foreign Minister) George Yeo flying home by RSAF plane soon. Thanks for everyone's good wishes.
AFP reported:
Abhisit — the number-one target of the demonstrators — was the first to fly out of town, whisked away to the Vietnam War-era U-Tapao military airfield near Pattaya.
The leaders of the Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam followed by chopper to the airstrip, where planes were on standby to take them home. Other leaders left by road but all were evacuated within hours of the ruckus.
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