Abhisit vs. Hun Sen.By Rasmei Kampuchea
Asia News Network
Published on December 1, 2009
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attacked Thailand again yesterday, saying the Thai government was derisive about his country and that Abhisit Vejjajiva was the most difficult Thai PM he had ever worked with.
Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh that bilateral relations, which have been sour for months now, would only be normalised if Thailand had a new government. He added that his country would "have no happiness" while Abhisit and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power.
"I'm not an enemy of the Thai people ... But, these two people look down on Cambodia," Hun Sen said.
"Cambodia will have no happiness as long as this group is in power."
Hun Sen claimed that Abhisit called him over the weekend after Phnom Penh sent a note last week telling Bangkok that it was cancelling its request for a Bt1.4-billion loan to construct a road from the Thai border to Siem Reap.
"Abhisit called me, for the first time, asking me to withdraw the note. He said Thailand is still willing to give the loan," Hun Sen said.
However, Abhisit was told that Cambodia needed an official letter from him, but though the Thai premier agreed he failed to send the letter at the time it was promised.
"Abhisit is the most difficult person to work with when compared to other Thai PMs," Hun Sen said, adding that from now on Cambodia would not accept any aid from Thailand.
"We have decided to stop receiving any assistance from Thailand. Cambodia cannot allow itself to be humiliated," he added. "I told Abhisit that my people and I were hurt when we heard you talk about halting aid and loans. Now stop talking like this - it is cheap and childish."
The Cambodian leader also hit back about Thailand's threat to close the border between the two countries, saying: "If you are [an] idiot, if you want losses, please go ahead."
Bilateral relations between the two countries soured when Hun Sen appointed fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and refused to extradite him to Thailand.
Published on December 1, 2009
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attacked Thailand again yesterday, saying the Thai government was derisive about his country and that Abhisit Vejjajiva was the most difficult Thai PM he had ever worked with.
Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh that bilateral relations, which have been sour for months now, would only be normalised if Thailand had a new government. He added that his country would "have no happiness" while Abhisit and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power.
"I'm not an enemy of the Thai people ... But, these two people look down on Cambodia," Hun Sen said.
"Cambodia will have no happiness as long as this group is in power."
Hun Sen claimed that Abhisit called him over the weekend after Phnom Penh sent a note last week telling Bangkok that it was cancelling its request for a Bt1.4-billion loan to construct a road from the Thai border to Siem Reap.
"Abhisit called me, for the first time, asking me to withdraw the note. He said Thailand is still willing to give the loan," Hun Sen said.
However, Abhisit was told that Cambodia needed an official letter from him, but though the Thai premier agreed he failed to send the letter at the time it was promised.
"Abhisit is the most difficult person to work with when compared to other Thai PMs," Hun Sen said, adding that from now on Cambodia would not accept any aid from Thailand.
"We have decided to stop receiving any assistance from Thailand. Cambodia cannot allow itself to be humiliated," he added. "I told Abhisit that my people and I were hurt when we heard you talk about halting aid and loans. Now stop talking like this - it is cheap and childish."
The Cambodian leader also hit back about Thailand's threat to close the border between the two countries, saying: "If you are [an] idiot, if you want losses, please go ahead."
Bilateral relations between the two countries soured when Hun Sen appointed fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and refused to extradite him to Thailand.
2 comments:
Let's put aside the nationalistic sentiments and view this with a rested mind and objectively. Notwithstanding whether one likes or dislikes PM Hun Sen, I personally think Cambodia needs to stand up firmly on her feet and face the Siamese more eloquently. Since the Siamese government of Abhisit has never been playing by the rules with Cambodia stirring up unnecessarily Preah Vihear issue, all Khmers should put aside their political affiliation and stand behind PM Hun Sen for this topic.
This is what many Cambodians have been calling Mr. Hun Sen to do from the beginning when the Thai government sent troops to invade Preah Vihear on 15th July 2008. Hun Sen, beside being so soft, has been playing along with the Thai games on bilateral negotiations and refused all help from outside such as from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Hun Sen should be consistent in his dealings with Thailand. He has to be firm and stick to his gun. The fact of the matter is that he has changed his positions so many times- tough then soft, soft then tough. This is giving Thailand the wrong message, but most importantly it gives the impression that Hun Sen is very weak and doesn't know how to go about solving the Preah Vihear dispute. For this simple reason that Thai troops still remain on Cambodian soil.
The present tough stance that Hun Sen is taking is not genuine. He is doing it to distract the attention from the Khmer-Vietnamese border and other domestic problems such as Rainsy's immunity issue etc.
The way Hun Sen used Thaksin to cause a stir with Thailand is really destructive to Cambodian national interests. He has to tackle Thailand head on and not going around the bush. Now he is starting to get mad again, but at the end he will be very soft and nothing positive will come out of his madness.
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