Loose Cannons Damage Thailand's Bilateral Ties With Cambodia

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Loose cannons damage bilateral ties with Cambodia

By The Nation

Nationalist elements within the yellow-shirt movement do the country no favours by exacerbating border disputes with our neighbour

Whatever their real intentions were, we will probably never know. But five of the seven Thai nationals, including a Democrat MP, who were arrested for trespassing last month in Banteay Meanchey province of Cambodia should consider themselves lucky for having been freed on suspended sentences.

It is hoped that this decision will take this high-profile case - which has strained already shaky diplomatic ties - one step closer to a conclusion. After all, there are more important things that Thailand and Cambodia should be focusing on instead of the plight of seven nationalists who had no business crossing illegally into a neighbouring country.

Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth was released last Friday along with fellow defendants Saemdin Lertbutr, Tainae Mungmajon, Naruemol Chitwaratana and Kitchaponthorn Chusanasevi. They were arrested in Banteay Meanchey while supposedly investigating the contentious border demarcation process between Thailand and Cambodia. A Cambodian court sentenced the five to nine months in prison, suspending eight months of the sentence after the group spent several weeks in pre-trial detention. They were also fined 1 million riel (US$247).

Two other members of the group, yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary, Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, have also been charged with espionage. They are facing a maximum of 10 years in prison. They are set to stand trial in Cambodia on February 1.

While the charge of espionage contains a heavy dose of political posturing, politically speaking these two accused, as well as the five freed Thais, should not be billed here as national heroes.

Just when things appeared to be on the upswing diplomatically between Thailand and Cambodia, these seven have succeeded only in taking bilateral ties down a notch. Restoring the patched-up relationship to where it was will take some time, and the government in Bangkok was sensible in labelling this as an immigration issue, nothing more.

If anything, the government needs to speed up the boundary demarcation process via negotiations with the Joint Boundary Committee (JBC), which is headed by retired ambassador Asda Jayanama. The idea is to make the borderline clearer. For the time being, the JBC is waiting for an approval from the Thai parliament on the agreed minutes of three previous meetings to enable the body to go ahead with further talks.

Sad to say, the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva is afraid of moving this forward because of the opposition from yellow-shirt nationalists such as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the Thai Patriots Network, whose key member Veera Somkwamkid is now detained in a Cambodian jail.

Parliament has been reading the documents since November and there is no sign of an end to its deliberations so that the border negotiations can proceed. Parliament is controlled by the majority of government MPs and it should let the border talks continue without further delay. All MPs also need to be reminded that they were elected to serve the people and the country, not to please the PAD.

Technicalities aside, the seven Thais who crossed illegally into Cambodia should not be permitted to get away with what they did. Seemingly they went there to provoke conflict between the two nations for their own political agenda.

If they want to make a name for themselves, how about doing something good for the general public. Better yet, look for constructive ways to promote bilateral ties between the two nations. Frankly, this group of seven has nothing to do with the border area in any official capacity. Apparently they went there to challenge the Cambodian government, while at the same time hoping to put Abhisit under tremendous pressure at a time when he needs it least.

The PAD will call rallies during which they plan to attack Abhisit and Foreign Minsiter Kasit Piromya for their "failure" to get tough with Cambodia over the border issue. What the PAD should be doing is restraining their people and not letting them run wild and creating problems that could do great harm to bilateral ties between Thailand and Cambodia.

-- The Nation 2011-01-26

[animatic]

Loose cannons usually do more damage only to the ship they are on.

[jayjay0]

The article states and in my opinion it is true.

"

While the charge of espionage contains a heavy dose of political posturing,"

It is also true that what the seven did was a deliberate political move to get Thailand into a war.

Sounds strong. But think what will Cambodia do if the Government was to suddenly implement the demands the yellow shirts put up,

Did nobody stop to realize what they were asking for.

[Thai at Heart]

I am not sure what this article is driving at.

Ties with Cambodia haven't been that good for centuries, and I don't expect them to get any better in the next few decades either. What would ALL Thai's have Abhisit do? Start a war to fight about demarcating the border? That will hardly do something to improve ties will it.

The so called Nationalists are tub thumping but are really p******g up a waterfall. The days of fighting over issues like this are long gone, so if the border doesn't get officially demarcated, the status quo remains. Hardly a deterioration of Thailand's connections with Cambodia. I would suggest the ingrained superiority complex that a certain percentage of the Thai population possesses towards all their neigbouring countries is the largest barrier to improving ties with Cambodia.

One question that I have always wondered though. How many of these so called nationalists/PAD and their leaders are first,second or third generation immigrants? If as one of the PAD leaders did state during the protests, that many of the PAD protesters were "his people", this nationalist flag waving is quite an odd phenomenon. Very strange that they are shouting about historical issues that occured when many of their families weren't even yet in the country.

[jillwilliams999]

I wonder who is the Loose cannons. Mark, Suthep or Kasit?

[cup-O-coffee]

Being elected into a position of authority for a term; perhaps it is simpler to provoke and exacerbate a situation so that it remains unstable? After all, I only seem to be subject to boring stories of Thais, who seem to make a career out of keeping the pot stirred in order to create excuses to avoid any humane solution. The similarities of these stories and schoolyard games is astounding.

In this manner, it becomes a relatively easy matter to deal with for the elected official. Keep the issue hot so that one can be excused from any responsibility to step forward and be a leader.

Rather, were one to seek an amicable solution, one would have to make enemies of one's own people; those who are fanatical nationalists; or brainwashed people with a love of one's country - at the expense of other nations, which are perceived as inferior in comparison to one's own. This is the Thai (-Chinese) way, with the added exception that Thais generally demonstrate the impression that they are better than all else. They may think different, but they certainly do discriminate and prejudice anyone not Thai; all to their personal benefit, and without recourse from the damaged parties.

Therefore, I believe that no one on either side of the line wants to deal with this simply on the basis that their terms are not long enough to make any real impact, and then end up having a successor remove or destroy everything they worked for. I propose further that I am giving more credit here than is due. I am convinced that no politician has it anywhere on their agenda to settle any border dispute in their lifetime, or any other lifetime. This is typical. "What! You mean I have to get up off my ass and do something so that my legacy will live on?" The Hutus and Tutsis will be giving each other wet, warm kisses before Cambodia and Thailand live side by side in harmony.

There is no win-win solution to be found on the arena floor when the air is tainted with ignorant, illiterate, uneducated, brain-washed, stiff-necked, stubborn thinking; or in other words, two bickering and quarrelsome children need a strong, loving parent to separate them and make them behave. The children know that to continue bickering and quarreling will bring swift and certain punishment and make the choice to behave much more desirable.

No one seems to want to intervene and adopt these two country's bickering and quarrelsome ways, and so I imagine that it will continue, and the news stories will earn their living by reporting the obvious "He said / They said / We did / They did" stories. It will continue until long after I am gone from this life. In my opinion; from benign to malignant, or tedious to overblown, there's no future in trying to settle a Thai conflict, simply because it usually makes no sense and mostly exists over the most stupid reasons imaginable.

Cultural differences are a fact of life. The list is long. No government in my memory has ever been able to overcome this in any lifetime, let alone any one electoral term; the kind of difference you have here between the Khmer and Thai people.

[Buchholz]

The article states and in my opinion it is true.

"

While the charge of espionage contains a heavy dose of political posturing,"

It is also true that what the seven did was a deliberate political move to get Thailand into a war.

Sounds strong. But think what will Cambodia do if the Government was to suddenly implement the demands the yellow shirts put up,

Did nobody stop to realize what they were asking for.

I'd still like to hear the details of their espionage charges.

What secrets are there in an unfenced area 55 meters inside their disputed territorial border?

There's probably a reason that all that's ever been released about the specifics is a one-liner claim by Cambodians over a button camera and a "recording device" (an MP3 recorder/player?)

More than a "heavy dose"... so far, it's been a "complete dose" of "political posturing."

[fvw53]

This Preah Vihear Temple is - if my information is correct - a Hindu Temple

Thailand is a Buddhist country as well as Cambodia

So can somebody explain to me the religious importance of this Temple (ruins)?

[Hardie]

I think the only importance is nationalist, not religious. To me it only proves that yellows are as stupid as the reds, anything and everything but an intelligent discussion on the problems and issues that the country actually faces...

[ndw]

I didn't condone occupying the airport, but I did support the yellow shirt cause the last time. But now they are behaving like children who don't want to play with their own toys until someone else has taken them.

[asiawatcher]

Loose cannons usually do more damage only to the ship they are on.

Yes and this kinda sums it up.../

this group of seven has nothing to do with the border area in any official capacity. Apparently they went there to challenge the Cambodian government, while at the same time hoping to put Abhisit under tremendous pressure at a time when he needs it least.