After 'Running' To Singapore, Gotabaya Rajapaksa Now Enters Thailand
JAKARTA - The ousted former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was allowed to enter Thailand following a request from Sri Lanka. But Gotabaya Rajapaksa won't last long.
Director General of the Ministry of Information and Spokesperson for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tanee Sangrat said the consideration to allow Gotabaya to enter was based on the good and longstanding relationship between the two countries.
"As a holder of a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport, the former president (Gotabaya) can enter Thailand without a visa for a period of 90 days, in accordance with the 2013 Agreement on Visa Exemption between Thailand and Sri Lanka," he said in a statement, Wednesday 10 August.
“His stay is temporary for the purpose of his onward journey. No political asylum is being sought," said Sangrat, when asked for comment on reports of Gotabaya moving to Thailand from Singapore.
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However, he did not reveal when Gotabaya would enter the kingdom, but the media have reported that he is expected to arrive in Thailand on Thursday (11/8).
Thailand will become the second Southeast Asian country for Gotabaya's temporary shelter.
He fled Sri Lanka for Singapore via the Maldives in July, amid mass protests over the country's worst economic crisis in seven decades.
Last month, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement confirming Gotabaya had been allowed into Singapore on a "private visit". A spokesman for the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Gotabaya had never asked for asylum or was granted asylum.