Hun Sen bashes Abhisit, 'patriots'

Published: 22 Jan 2013 
Bangkok Post 

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has linked former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to Thai nationalists he said are trying to use Cambodia merely to score political points.

Members and followers of the Thai Patriots Network rallied on Monday at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok. (Reuters photo)

The premier referred to protests in Bangkok and near the Cambodian border by the self-styled Thai Patriots Network and other groups, according to a report in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper Tuesday morning.

The Network organised a rally in Bangkok on Monday in protest against the International Court of Justice and its part in lawsuits over the Preah Vihear temple. Other, smaller demonstrations have taken place in Si Sa Ket province, near the temple.

Mr Hun Sen charged that Mr "Abhisit, whose Democrat Party shares political views with the protesters," was trying to making political capital with charges that Cambodia had made deals with Thaksin Shinawatra over disputed territorial waters in the Gulf of Thailand.

"Today, I would like Abhisit to bring up evidence. But if there is no evidence, don’t rally to cheat more than 60 million Thai people, (and) 14 million Cambodian people," the Cambodian premier said, according to the newspaper.

According to Mr Hun Sen, Mr Abhisit and his government in 2011 accused Cambodia and Thaksin of having "secret interests", and that Cambodia denied such deals at that time.

"The Thai people are [still] not aware that the Abhisit government tried to talk with Cambodia secretly about that issue," said the Cambodian premier.