Swedish Foreign Minister admits initial ignorance of Phuket holiday resort

Confession angers citizens shaken by tsunami

Laila Freivalds

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Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Leila Freivalds has publicly admitted that when she first heard about the Asian tsunami disaster, she did not know where Phuket was. Freivalds made her admission in an interview with the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
      The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has faced serious criticism over its handling of the Asian catastrophe, and the Foreign Minister's admission of ignorance is unlikely to rein in the critics.
      In the interview, Freivalds admitted that she may have reacted differently to the news of the tsunami if she herself had been familiar with the area, or if she would have known someone who had been on holiday in the Phuket resort on the west coast of Thailand.
      "I didn't understand why the disaster affected Swedish tourists as well, before I travelled to Khao Lak myself and saw the spot inhabited almost exclusively by Swedes, and which had been completely destroyed", Freivalds said.
     
The Foreign Minister's statement came as a considerable surprise to Swedes, because in recent years, Thailand has become one of the most popular holiday destinations for Swedish tourists. Before the tsunami, about 200,000 Swedes would travel to Thailand each year, with roughly 150,000 of them heading for Phuket and surroundings.
      Ordinary Swedes interviewed by the newspaper Aftonbladet expressed shock that the country's Foreign Minister does not know where Swedes travel on their holidays.
      "It's a bit like asking what the Canary Islands are", said one of the interviewees.
      Freivalds denied that her ignorance would have had any effect on the actions taken by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
      "The Foreign Ministry has the necessary information and plans, which are completely independent of my personal knowledge", Freivalds said in a radio interview.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  King of Sweden emerges from disaster as father figure (14.1.2005)

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