Bangkok Post
The extreme nationalist section of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is risking the reputation of both the country and its supporters with its latest antics over the Cambodian border. The PAD-linked National People's Assembly has gone to the court, the streets, the government and the media with its conspiracy theories. In short, the leaders of the Assembly claim that Parliament and the government are selling out the country and giving away huge amounts of territory to Cambodia. They cite nothing but their own interpretation of three memos dating back more than a decade. It is time for these nationalists to stop their misguided movement.
The Assembly has spent a long political campaign trying to press their point, convincing no one outside their group. Last weekend, it hit the undoubted low point. Leader Banawit Kengrian, a former naval officer who once rose to become deputy permanent secretary of defence, said the government's handling of the three memos effectively means there can be no reconciliation. People generally will take that as a threat that the Assembly faction will try to torpedo efforts to reunite the nation. That is a major and serious escalation of a bizarre conspiracy theory into a threat against the vast majority of the country.
The nub of the Assembly's claims makes no sense. Adm Banawit and supporters believe that three times, during negotiations with Cambodia under the auspices of the Joint Boundary Commission, Thai military and government officials agreed to give away 1.8 million rai of territory currently governed by Thailand. The conspiracy rests in the main on the maps used by the negotiators.
The vast majority of the country, thankfully, does not believe this invention of the Assembly. Governments under Chuan Leekpai, Thaksin Shinawatra, Gen Surayud Chulanont and the military junta, and current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have also dismissed the allegations. The Cambodian authorities involved in the negotiations have made no claim on any vast swathes of Thai territory.
Perhaps most tellingly, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has denounced the Assembly, its tactics and its conspiracy theory. Mr Kasit, during the 2007-2008 campaign by the PAD to bring down the pro-Thaksin regimes, exposed several flaws in various negotiations with Cambodia, particularly about the relatively tiny sliver of disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple. He railed heavily against the government for ceding too much to Cambodia. But he never claimed the sort of national sellout that his former PAD companions are claiming. On Monday, the frustrated foreign minister vented his anger against the PAD, saying it is not speaking truthfully to the public. He said he had met personally with senior PAD organisers to try to sway them, but their minds were fixed.
Because there is so little to the Assembly's conspiracy claims, there is little to say about its campaign. No reliable authority in either country believes Thailand will cede, or that Cambodia will accept, any large area under Thai control. The continued harping on the issue does not add credibility to the Assembly's claim.
Having failed in court, in the media and among elected members of Parliament, the Assembly and those few PAD leaders who support it now want to escalate their strange obsession into yet another street campaign. If the group cannot reasonably persuade either the government or the public, more street rallies will not help. Continued threats by the Assembly will only make the situation worse.
The Assembly has spent a long political campaign trying to press their point, convincing no one outside their group. Last weekend, it hit the undoubted low point. Leader Banawit Kengrian, a former naval officer who once rose to become deputy permanent secretary of defence, said the government's handling of the three memos effectively means there can be no reconciliation. People generally will take that as a threat that the Assembly faction will try to torpedo efforts to reunite the nation. That is a major and serious escalation of a bizarre conspiracy theory into a threat against the vast majority of the country.
The nub of the Assembly's claims makes no sense. Adm Banawit and supporters believe that three times, during negotiations with Cambodia under the auspices of the Joint Boundary Commission, Thai military and government officials agreed to give away 1.8 million rai of territory currently governed by Thailand. The conspiracy rests in the main on the maps used by the negotiators.
The vast majority of the country, thankfully, does not believe this invention of the Assembly. Governments under Chuan Leekpai, Thaksin Shinawatra, Gen Surayud Chulanont and the military junta, and current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva have also dismissed the allegations. The Cambodian authorities involved in the negotiations have made no claim on any vast swathes of Thai territory.
Perhaps most tellingly, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has denounced the Assembly, its tactics and its conspiracy theory. Mr Kasit, during the 2007-2008 campaign by the PAD to bring down the pro-Thaksin regimes, exposed several flaws in various negotiations with Cambodia, particularly about the relatively tiny sliver of disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple. He railed heavily against the government for ceding too much to Cambodia. But he never claimed the sort of national sellout that his former PAD companions are claiming. On Monday, the frustrated foreign minister vented his anger against the PAD, saying it is not speaking truthfully to the public. He said he had met personally with senior PAD organisers to try to sway them, but their minds were fixed.
Because there is so little to the Assembly's conspiracy claims, there is little to say about its campaign. No reliable authority in either country believes Thailand will cede, or that Cambodia will accept, any large area under Thai control. The continued harping on the issue does not add credibility to the Assembly's claim.
Having failed in court, in the media and among elected members of Parliament, the Assembly and those few PAD leaders who support it now want to escalate their strange obsession into yet another street campaign. If the group cannot reasonably persuade either the government or the public, more street rallies will not help. Continued threats by the Assembly will only make the situation worse.
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