It may be too late, but the government should listen carefully to the reasonable voices warning against throwing great Thai resources at plans to build a new industrial complex in Burma. The push to back the project at Dawei has won powerful allies. For one, there is Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who returned from his first official trip to Burma three months ago, enthusiastic about the chance to build a port, virtually from scratch. For another, Thailand's biggest and most influential companies are determined to move into Burma to work on the Indian Ocean scheme.
But there are increasing voices questioning the rush to Dawei - the regime's name for the town of Tavoy. For one, Burma is still a despotic, brutal military dictatorship. It held elections of a sort late last year but even the United Nations saw through the sham of a vote that only sought to legitimise military rule. The regime released No.1 political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, but continues to keep thousands of others under lock and key for the "crime" of criticising the regime. As a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the government should question doing such big business with Burma, not enthusiastically supporting it.
But clearly, Burmese and Thai officials at lower levels have done their work carefully. Within days of Mr Abhisit's return from Burma, the military regime awarded a huge construction contract to Italian-Thai Development Plc. Under the 10-year, 400-billion-baht agreement, Ital-Thai will virtually take up residence in Burma. From almost nothing, the Thai firm will oversee the transformation of Dawei into a thriving industrial zone and international port with all the necessary infrastructure.
This is the 21st century version of the only major government-sanctioned project of this kind in Thailand, the Eastern Seaboard. It is clear that some of the growing pains of the Rayong-centred seaboard programme are now driving some big Thai companies out of Thailand. By moving to Burma they can leave behind the environmental problems of Map Ta Phut and Rayong courts.
This is the second major reason to slow the stampede to Dawei. Environmental activists have questioned whether the Thai firms are fleeing the Eastern Seaboard exactly because they intend to make no effort to set up clean industry in Burma. Buntoon Siethasirote, director of the Good Governance for Social Development and the Environment Foundation, pointed out that Burma has no decent laws on protecting the environment. The Burmese military leaders have a history of cooperation in shady business deals. There is grave doubt whether the generals would even make an attempt to enforce any sort of acceptable standards if that interfered with profits.
And now, senior officials of the bureaucracy have questioned the government's all-out support for an Andaman Sea project at Dawei. They note correctly that this has turned into a zero-sum contest between Dawei and a formerly planned port project further to the south at Pak Bara, in Satun province.
In short, what Dawei and Burma gain, Pak Bara and Thailand lose.
Private businesses have their own agenda, but there are legitimate and pressing questions about the Thai government's strong backing for the Dawei port plans. The government should slow its rush to Burma, until important political and economic questions have clearer answers.