Bangkok Post
Published: 6/01/2011
The arrest of seven Thais by Cambodian soldiers deepens Phnom Penh's long suspicions of the alliance between the Democrat Party and the People's Alliance for Democracy.
Lack of knowledge no longer a defence: A video clip posted on YouTube shows Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth talking on a mobile phone, saying he is ‘‘inside Cambodia’’.
The yellow shirt PAD has irked Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ever since the group dragged his country into its political campaign to oust then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and later pressed the Thaksin-backed People Power Party out of Government House. Its rallies were successful, with Thaksin being stripped of power by a military coup in 2006 and the PPP disbanded by the Constitution Court two years later for election fraud.
The Democrat Party distanced itself from being seen as an ally of the PAD when the opportunity came for the party to administer the country in 2008. It denied during the formation of the government that the rise to power of the Democrat-led coalition had been made possible with help of the PAD's ending the political influence of Thaksin. Although Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva picked Kasit Piromya to be his foreign minister, the choice of the former career diplomat was based on his experience in international affairs and as an adviser and a shadow minister for the party when it was on the opposition benches, instead of his being selected as part of a "PAD quota" to please the yellow shirts. That, in essence, was the message sent to political watchers and to Cambodia.
To this day Hun Sen has not been completely convinced of that message, but he has had to live with the changes in Thai politics, by ending his bet on Thaksin's coming back to Thailand. So Hun Sen has had to mend fences with Thailand's present government. The most controversial figure in the Thai cabinet for Hun Sen remains the foreign minister. Mr Kasit is remembered by Phnom Penh as the one who attacked Hun Sen and his government when he joined the PAD to oust Thaksin.
Mr Abhisit is banking on time to end that suspicion and heal Hun Sen's anger against the foreign minister. But what happened last month shows that the issue is still on the Cambodian leader's mind. Hun Sen handed over three Thai villagers - who had been sentenced to 18 months in jail for trespassing into the country and on spying charges - to army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha on Dec 20, instead of returning them to Mr Kasit, who was also in Phnom Penh before that date, to celebrate six decades of bilateral ties. The three received a royal pardon as a goodwill gesture of the two countries' relations.
But Gen Prayuth, who was in Phnom Penh to introduce himself as new army chief, knew how to handle the case, by sending the villagers back to Thailand through Si Sa Ket instead of bringing them on the same plane to Bangkok, which would have focused public attention on him.
"Hun Sen is not a person who easily forgets what's happened," said a government official with experience in dealing with Cambodia.
The arrest on Dec 29 of Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth, together with the PAD's leading member Veera Somkwamkid and five other delegates, cannot be seen as anything else by Phnom Penh but the connection between the Democrats and the yellow shirt camp. It is a big blow to the Democrats' efforts to convince Cambodia that it is not in cahoots with the PAD.
Allowing Mr Panich to inspect the border in Sa Kaeo was already a wrong move by the prime minister. That mistake was exacerbated by the inclusion of Mr Veera on the trip, regardless of whether or not the prime minister was aware of who were among the group's members. Mr Veera is a staunch critic of Phnom Penh, especially regarding the spat over Preah Vihear and the disputed area around that ancient temple.
What the government can do now is to find out ways to control the damage to ties with Cambodia in the wake of the arrest of the seven Thais, who have been detained at Prey Sor prison. They will appear in court today, starting a judicial process as they face two charges, of trespassing on Cambodian soil, and entering an area controlled by the Cambodian army. The Thai government has to handle the case with only one hidden card left to play.
One possible avenue Thailand could use to fight the case is to claim that the seven had no intention of trespassing into Cambodia. But video footage on YouTube showing Mr Panich talking on the phone and saying he was already inside Cambodia makes that claim moot.
Which leaves only one tactic for Thailand: appeal to Phnom Penh to consider the case in the context of close relations between the two countries now and into the future.
Given the cold relations between Mr Kasit and the Cambodian leader, diplomacy might not be the right channel to convey this position to Mr Hun Sen.
But there are other channels Thailand could exploit to sort this problem.
The two countries still maintain close military ties and the Thai and Cambodian premiers have already agreed that each would call the other up regarding any problems that could jeopardise bilateral relations.
The arrest of the seven Thais is already an embarrassment for Bangkok, and Thailand is now waiting to see how the Cambodian court rules on this issue.
Still, the Democrat Party's strenuous efforts to nurse fragile relations between Thailand and Cambodia, following the spat over Preah Vihear and the appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh, have already moved one step back due to the reckless decision of Mr Panich, Mr Veera and five other people to step beyond Khok Sung district in Sa Kaeo.
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