Thai PM Abhisit Demands Cambodians Leave Disputed Border Area

[webfact]

Thai PM demands Cambodians leave disputed border area

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Tuesday demanded Cambodian citizens leave a disputed border area that has been the focus of deadly clashes in recent years.

The two countries have stepped up a war of words over the spat, with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warning it could lead to fresh bloodshed.

"We have to tell them (Cambodians) to leave," Abhisit told reporters. "They have trespassed so we are trying to evict them.

"The problem happened because Cambodia intruded into Thai territory so we have the right to protect our sovereignty and we will do everything possible through peaceful means."

Hun Sen warned Monday that the border dispute with Thailand was "very hot" and could result in violence.

Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when the ancient Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding grounds remains in dispute, with occasional gunfights claiming several lives.

Before the most recent deadly clash, in April 2009, more than 300 Cambodians were living in a village near Preah Vihear, but they had since moved to a location further away from the temple, according to a Cambodian official.

The Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-08-10

[ilyushin]

Guess we can expect a closure of the border.

[aaacorp]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

[TheBarbarian]

Abhisit and his boss Sutheo are dangerous fools. That is also why they do not want to bring it to the World Court.  Abhisit will lose big time. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were all damaged by Thailand before and the help they gave to the Americans and the Khmer Rouge. No Asean country will support thailand. Let's hope that the court disband his party tomorrow, so he cannot damage the country more. We see now that the PAD is ruling Thailand.

[zthyadat]

Well, that should keep all this national division nonsense under the carpet where it belongs, eh? Let's have a war with our neighbours and turn our hatred on them - a rifle in one hand and a Thai flag in the other.

Mind you, the one thing they aren't taking into account is that Cambodia is likely to give Thailand a good solid drubbing given that the Thai military is trained only to turn guns on their own people and dream up new useless equipment to order.

Edited August 10, 2010 by zthyadat

[cardholder]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

So are we saying that Thailand is not allowed to 'defend' it's territory.

The area is disputed but it is 'legally' Thailands.

[aaacorp]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

So are we saying that Thailand is not allowed to 'defend' it's territory.

The area is disputed but it is 'legally' Thailands.

That's all the point

Territory of thailand in thai opinion, not international rules. If Thailand does not agree with UN, maybe it's time to close borders,remove from UN and declare war. Then we will see if, for few nationalists warmongers, it's better to "loose" 4kms2 or to loose face and then loose confiance, economy, investments, tourism, money from international institutions and individuals.

Thailand should much more be worried about internal divisions and hate, as this will make thailand loose much more than a cliffy land

[groovyc]

Let's hope that the court disband his party tomorrow, so he cannot damage the country more.

dream on...

[KeyserSoze01]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

So are we saying that Thailand is not allowed to 'defend' it's territory.

The area is disputed but it is 'legally' Thailands.

That is the point... The territory in question is LEGALLY Cambodian, not some fantasy the Thai government continues to rant about....

[lioness]

Yes well, the Thai Prime minister is saying by peaceful means and the Cambodian leader saying it will lead to bloodshed.

Would you not defend any property belonging to you? because I certainly would.

[rubl]

Abhisit and his boss Sutheo are dangerous fools. That is also why they do not want to bring it to the World Court.  Abhisit will lose big time. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were all damaged by Thailand before and the help they gave to the Americans and the Khmer Rouge. No Asean country will support thailand. Let's hope that the court disband his party tomorrow, so he cannot damage the country more. We see now that the PAD is ruling Thailand.

Dream on, barbarian, you're probably better at that. You mixed barely related issues, draw illogical conclusions and you're still lucky: as personal opinion it's allowed. As for the court disbanding the Dem's, that would be undemocratic at this moment, still many more sessions planned with hundred of witnesses for and against. The juridical process works if slowly.

[Gimbo]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

So are we saying that Thailand is not allowed to 'defend' it's territory.

The area is disputed but it is 'legally' Thailands.

Lemme see...

SARS

Bird flu

ongoing Muslim insurgency killing thousands

Tsunami

Military Coup

National airport occupation leaving tourists stranded for weeks

Army killing scores of rioters who in turn burn the center of Bangkok

Bombs exploding left and right

Yeah, a war with a neigbouring country is just what Thailand need right now!

[crazydrummerpauly]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

Well, yeah, but what percentage of the potential tourists to Thailand do you think ever pay attention to

news stories about politics and international relations in S-East Asia ? Virtually zero - maybe 5% -

and most of them will be investment/business types, not your cheap-flight bar-boys etc. who make

up the overwhelming majority of visitors to Thailand. Bad news DOES make a difference, agreed, but

as long as Thailand carrys on serving up the hedonistic delights it is famous for, they'll keep coming,

border-disputes or no border-disputes.

[MAJIC]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

[fxe1200]

Abhisit told reporters. "They have trespassed so we are trying to evict them."The problem happened because Cambodia intruded into Thai territory so we have the right to protect our sovereignty and we will do everything possible through peaceful means."

It looks like some members of Thaivisa did not understood his saying "through peaceful means".

I believe, that Abhisit is trying to calm the dispute.

Let Thailand and Cambidodia discuss this matter after the cleaning of all landmines. I hope that works. I' rather consider Hun Sen more a military hardliner then Abhisit (with his education).

[geovalin]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

100% true.

Sorry for the hysterical nationalist Thais (or yellow farangs) who wants war.

Anyway, dear Abisith, yellow Thais or farangs, if you want war, just do it. No need any reason.

Edited August 10, 2010 by geovalin

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

as long as Thailand carrys on serving up the hedonistic delights it is famous for, they'll keep coming,

border-disputes or no border-disputes.

Hey, drummer Pauly! You're not so crazy after all!

[Slip]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

I was also amazed at the speed with which the Thaksinites swooped on this thread. Well He doesn't pay them to sit around doing nothing, I guess.

(More's the pity- we could all do with a break from the relentless spin).

[aaacorp]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

No need to be red or yellow to understand what kind of politic Abhisit, PAD and Nationalist play now.

Thaksin was corrupted, as well as many others.

It's time to go on an upper level dude. You sure do not realise what will happen to Thailand if the current government continue this way.

Instead of 4kms2 it should really try to find a good reconciliation plan and do not make stupid moves like allowing PAD and Abhisit join the rally

If they just want at the same time internal and external war then they are in the good way

[aaacorp]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

I was also amazed at the speed with which the Thaksinites swooped on this thread. Well He doesn't pay them to sit around doing nothing, I guess.

(More's the pity- we could all do with a break from the relentless spin).

Yes, by the way just medidate on this sentence :

‎"Don't be misled by Freedom, Human rights,

Democracy, globalisation and other crazy fashionable ideas. They are

poisonous and hollow." The Nation newspapper's editor

[geovalin]

Analysis

Sebastian Strangio

Phnom Penh Post

YESTERDAY, Thai media reported that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and nationalist Yellow Shirt leaders had reached a “common position” on the 4.6-square kilometre disputed area adjacent to Preah Vihear temple.

In a televised debate with the so-called Thai Patriots Network, a fringe group dominated by the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy, Abhisit agreed that the disputed area belonged to Thailand, and that Cambodians had “encroached” on Thai land.

During Sunday’s debate, Veera Somkwamkid, leader of the network, called on the government to revoke the memorandum of understanding on border demarcation that Thailand signed with Cambodia in 2000.

A day earlier, The Nation newspaper reported, Abhisit told a rally of Yellow Shirts that he would be willing to trash the MoU and openly considered using “military means” in order to safeguard Thai sovereignty.

At the debate, however, he softened his stance, saying that preserving the MoU was in Thailand’s best interests, and that military force was a “last option”.

The fact that Abhisit eventually backed away from the confrontational stance advocated by the Thai Patriots gives little reason to hope for a solution to the border dispute that has captivated the two countries since July 2008, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site.

Indeed, the Thai leader’s prevarications encapsulate Bangkok’s peculiar bind: how to pursue a rational solution to the border dispute while contending with the demands of the PAD demagogues who swept the government to power in 2008.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said that after using “irrational nationalism” and mass Yellow Shirt protests to unseat former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his proxies, the government was experiencing great difficulty putting the yellow genie back in the bottle.

As a result, he said, Abhisit has “lost legitimacy to deal with the [temple] issue without any political implication”.

“For Thailand, the danger lies in the fact that the Yellow Shirts, taking the same position adopted by the government, can aggravate the situation,” Pavin said. “How will Abhisit make sure that nationalism can be used at the appropriate dose?”

No end in sight

Following another round of sparring over Preah Vihear at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Brazil earlier this month, a solution to the temple dispute appears as remote as it did two years ago.

With the Thai government now struggling to appease its own nationalist support base, analysts predict that the temple issue will continue to sour relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok as long as the Thai crisis continues – that is, for the foreseeable future.

Puangthong Pawakapan, a specialist in Thai-Cambodian relations at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said that even a handover of power at next year’s Thai elections could be stymied by continuing Yellow Shirt “misinformation” about the Preah Vihear issue.

Given that the temple issue was used by the PAD to force the resignation of former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama in 2008, she said, Thai governments of all complexions will be wary of giving ground. “This implies”, she added, “that even in the next election when the pro-Thaksin party might become a government, they will not dare to be friendly ... with Cambodia.”

It takes two to tango

Cambodian actions have also deepened the dispute. Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said Prime Minister Hun Sen’s own use of the Preah Vihear issue as an electoral tactic in 2008 had fuelled a dispute that he now “does not know how to stop”. He described the appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser as a “mistake” that had allowed Thai nationalists to put a further obstacle in the way of a negotiated solution.

Ou Virak said Hun Sen’s call for the creation of an international conference to settle the border dispute, made in a speech yesterday, was “long overdue”, but Thailand has long opposed a multilateral solution.

Others said Cambodia and Thailand could benefit from taking a more creative approach to the border dispute.

In an article in the Bangkok Post yesterday, Morakot Meyer from Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok said the two countries should look to Germany and Poland, which turned a border zone into a shared heritage site.

Puangthong said similarly that Phnom Penh and Bangkok should jointly submit the 4.6-square kilometre disputed zone to UNESCO and develop the area as a “peace park”.

She said such a solution, denounced as “treason” by the Thai nationalist fringe, could be the last chance to prevent an international settlement that, following the 1962 World Court ruling that handed Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia, would likely turn out in Phnom Penh’s favour.

Such an outcome would “cause an upheaval in Thailand and thus worsen Thai-Cambodian relations”, she said.

“But the Abhisit government never cares to listen to different views,” she added. “He has been playing with

nationalist fire ever since he was an opposition leader.”

[rubl]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

PT party spokesman K. Prompong already petitioned Crime Suppression Division police to take legal action against leaders of PAD/TPN, accusing them of violating the emergency decree in their rallies over Preah Vihear temple. Not sure he also included UDD for their gathering last Sunday, or the aerobics in Lumpini the day Rajprasong was less safe. K. Prompong also plans to petition the NCCC to seek legal action against his usual suspects in government for neglect of duty in violation of Article 157 of the Criminal Code.

Can anyone remember when last the PT did something positive. I only remember obstruction and filing petitions against all and sunder.

[Slip]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

No need to be red or yellow to understand what kind of politic Abhisit, PAD and Nationalist play now.

Thaksin was corrupted, as well as many others.

It's time to go on an upper level dude. You sure do not realise what will happen to Thailand if the current government continue this way.

Instead of 4kms2 it should really try to find a good reconciliation plan and do not make stupid moves like allowing PAD and Abhisit join the rally

If they just want at the same time internal and external war then they are in the good way

Oh shoot! Were you authorised to give that bit of the plan (last sentence) away? Quick get on the phone to Amsterdam! He'll know what to say.

[Boss]

Easy ! Just make the new "Preah Wihear state" - Lots of income from visas, taxfree, etc and no state loses face. But probably the government want to make a new common enemy in the reds country to illiminate the red ghost.

[rubl]

Poor Abhisit,

He looked clever and capable. The truth is that he is just one more puppet in the hands of PAD and army.

Thailand should really have an external look on the situation and see how its international image deteriorates everyday, not good for businnes, investments, tourism.... Time to wake up

100% true.

Sorry for the hysterical nationalist Thais (or yellow farangs) who wants war.

Anyway, dear Abisith, yellow Thais or farangs, if you want war, just do it. No need any reason.

Only fools want war. K. Abhisit is aware he's got a few of them in powerfull positions and he needs to maneuver carefully to avoid a war and bloodshed. To use this Preah Vihear issue as method to distract from other internal problems is old-fashioned, used many times in many countries. Thailand is fortunate in a PM who has a bit more education and knowledge of the outside world than most others here. And yes, IMHO!

[souvenirdeparis]

The French have been very active with removing the mines, pity Cambodgia doesn't keep a lower profile with its borders since it's not very good at cleaning them by itself ; Let's not forget how hard it was on the Thaï side in the days of the Khmer si deng , with constant incursions and the Thaï army having to cope ( granted, there were shady rubies etc deal stories) I think Kamputcha could show some good will now because Thailand was patient and lenient in those days .Both countries have a great opportunity for a shared project on this temple but I can see they'd rather show off their muscles for the girls like kids in a school yard .

[SamritT]

What if they don't? SHOOT TO KILL?

[Slip]

I see the Red Shirt sympathisers are out in force already,

Usual underlying message:any excuse to bring Abhisits Government down.

Shame they will be disappointed, once again!

I was also amazed at the speed with which the Thaksinites swooped on this thread. Well He doesn't pay them to sit around doing nothing, I guess.

(More's the pity- we could all do with a break from the relentless spin).

Yes, by the way just medidate on this sentence :

‎"Don't be misled by Freedom, Human rights,

Democracy, globalisation and other crazy fashionable ideas. They are

poisonous and hollow." The Nation newspapper's editor

Come on- at least give a link, or you're just taking the pish! Not to mention

[troehr]

It is too bad this is happening. That is a very beautiful area in southern SiSaKet Province. I was down there a couple weeks back and there are military camps all over the place on both sides. There are many National Parks and sites you can't visit anymore be cause of this.

One thing I did notice was the guards are very jumpy at the roadblocks. I was turned back at three places by armed guards who had their fingers inside the trigger guard each time. They are very nervous down there.

T

[aaacorp]

‎"Don't be misled by Freedom, Human rights,

Democracy, globalisation and other crazy fashionable ideas. They are

poisonous and hollow." The Nation newspapper's editor

This certainly resume why some western people laugh about the democracy in thailand when such important newspapper let his editor say such stupidities