Foreign Ministry, Minister Sued For Providing False Info On Preah Vihear: Thailand

[webfact]

Foreign Ministry, Minister sued for providing false info on Preah Vihear

ANUPHAN CHANTANA,

PRAPHAN JINDALERTUDOMDEE

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Leaders of the Thai Patriotic Group - Chaiwat Sinsuwong, Wanwipha Burutrattanaphan and Somboon Thongburan - filed the lawsuit with the Criminal Court.

In addition to Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul, the other defendants are permanent secretary for foreign affairs Seehasak Puangketkaew, East Asia Department director-general Passakorn Siriyaphan, Department of Information director-general and ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi and Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs deputy director-general Thatchayut Phakdi.

They are being accused of malfeasance in violating Articles 83, 90, 91 and 157 of the Penal Code, as well as loading false information into a computer system, which was damaging to the public.

The lawsuit said that from March 15 last year, the Foreign Ministry had begun falsely publicising on its website (www.mfa.go.th) that the minutes of three previous meetings of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission were legally binding, when in reality they were not.

"The three reports still need to be endorsed by the Parliament, which is part of the process required by the law and the Constitution," the lawsuit said. "The defendants' false statement has led to confusion among the public. This caused a misunderstanding that there is already a legally binding effect on Thailand."

According to the plaintiffs, the false information was part of a section providing "information Thais should know about the Preah Vihear case and negotiations about the Thai-Cambodian border".

Meanwhile, former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama, who is a legal adviser to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday blamed the opposition Democrat Party for making at least "six mistakes" in relation to the Preah Vihear Temple and the dispute with Cambodia. He said late Democrat leader and former PM Seni Pramoj was part of the legal team fighting the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, which resulted in Thailand losing the temple to Cambodia.

At the Senate meeting yesterday, Bangkok Senator Rossana Tositrakul called on the government to conduct a public referendum on whether Thailand should respect the latest ICJ ruling on the case. She said the government could cite the referendum result when it says it does not want to abide by a court verdict that would result in Thailand losing more territory.

Senator Kamnoon Sidhisamarn voiced his support to the idea of holding a plebiscite about this matter.

-- The Nation 2013-01-15

[bigbamboo]

Thailand.......... hub of referendums.

[cloudhopper]

This place must be a gold mine for lawyers. The ICJ is a total joke as any country can choose to not abide by an adversarial verdict (as the US already has) without consequence.

[waza]

Caught red handed telling lies and spreading mistruths.....

"The lawsuit said that from March 15 last year, the Foreign Ministry had begun falsely publicising on its website (www.mfa.go.th) that the minutes of three previous meetings of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission were legally binding, when in reality they were not."

But wait for it, then come the standard redshirt, PTP response, it was Ahibist........

"Meanwhile, former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama, who is a legal adviser to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday blamed the opposition Democrat Party for making at least "six mistakes" in relation to the Preah Vihear Temple and the dispute with Cambodia. He said late Democrat leader and former PM Seni Pramoj was part of the legal team fighting the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, which resulted in Thailand losing the temple to Cambodia."

Now for the redshirt/ PTP TVF apologists to join the chorus.

Edited January 15, 2013 by waza

[Moruya]

"Meanwhile, former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama"

Didn't he lose his job over his shenanigans with the temple?

Why do the Shinawatras seem so keen to give this land away......................

[FarangTalk]

Why do the Shinawatras seem so keen to give this land away......................

Just a guess but it's a Khmer Hindu temple and belongs to Cambodia.

I'm sure they don't give a toss about the surrounding scrubland either, except the fascists in the PAD keep raising this non-issue.

Both the scrubland and the PAD are an irrelevance.

I'm going to keep repeating this for the benefit of some posters' apparent and complete lack of historical knowledge. The fascists in the PAD are living in a bygone era where Thailand was allied with other fascist Axis powers, and used France and Indochina's military weakness in the region while fighting Japan to conduct a land grab of much of Western Cambodia. Victory Monument in Bangkok celebrates this embarrassment. These same Thai fascists no doubt consider that vast swathe of land to still belong to Thailand, even though it was repatriated to its rightful owners when Thailand ended up on the losing side of the war.

Throughout recent history Thailand has always been the aggressor, even committing atrocities and war crimes during the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians at Preah Vihear in the late 70's when the Thai military forced people fleeing the Vietnamese invasion over minefields and off cliffs.

Cue conspiracy theories about oil and gas reserves to excuse this most recent case of blatant nationalist posturing.

Edited January 15, 2013 by FarangTalk

[geovalin]

Useless to discuss the matter, if the Thai Patriotics and their influent masters want the war, there will be a war. They represent 0.05% of the population, but Thailand always obeys to them = they make provocation until Cambodia replies, then this country is caught up in the Thai system.

[Locationthailand]

Perhaps a reading by Charnvit Kasetsiri will throw some light on all this. The temple is in fact Hindu. Thailand's borders have moved throughout history. What belongs to whom is simply now political and the historical hatred continues through the centuries. This is a good read for a better understanding. http://kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/issue/issue2/article_242.html

[Thai at Heart]

Why do the Shinawatras seem so keen to give this land away......................

Just a guess but it's a Khmer Hindu temple and belongs to Cambodia.

I'm sure they don't give a toss about the surrounding scrubland either, except the fascists in the PAD keep raising this non-issue.

Both the scrubland and the PAD are an irrelevance.

I'm going to keep repeating this for the benefit of some posters' apparent and complete lack of historical knowledge. The fascists in the PAD are living in a bygone era where Thailand was allied with other fascist Axis powers, and used France and Indochina's military weakness in the region while fighting Japan to conduct a land grab of much of Western Cambodia. Victory Monument in Bangkok celebrates this embarrassment. These same Thai fascists no doubt consider that vast swathe of land to still belong to Thailand, even though it was repatriated to its rightful owners when Thailand ended up on the losing side of the war.

Throughout recent history Thailand has always been the aggressor, even committing atrocities and war crimes during the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians at Preah Vihear in the late 70's when the Thai military forced people fleeing the Vietnamese invasion over minefields and off cliffs.

Cue conspiracy theories about oil and gas reserves to excuse this most recent case of blatant nationalist posturing.

So if the PAD, and the scrubland are an irrelevance, why is it a conspiracy theory about the oil and gas? Are they just doing it for the fun of it then?

As I wrote elsewhere, if the PAD wanted to get somekind of universal response, they would have a far better chance taking this from the point of view that yes, there is a chance that this judgement could cause Thailand to end up on the wrong side of the gas reserves in the Gulf, causing a huge amount of financial damage to the country. Why do they persist in getting their nickers in a twist over the land without embellishing the story to explain to the people about the offshore reserves?

Are they really so stupid as to try to get a lot of people excited over some scrubland, when the possible truth of the issue is so much jucier and potentially emotional?

[Moruya]

Why do the Shinawatras seem so keen to give this land away......................

Just a guess but it's a Khmer Hindu temple and belongs to Cambodia.

I'm sure they don't give a toss about the surrounding scrubland either, except the fascists in the PAD keep raising this non-issue.

Both the scrubland and the PAD are an irrelevance.

I'm going to keep repeating this for the benefit of some posters' apparent and complete lack of historical knowledge. The fascists in the PAD are living in a bygone era where Thailand was allied with other fascist Axis powers, and used France and Indochina's military weakness in the region while fighting Japan to conduct a land grab of much of Western Cambodia. Victory Monument in Bangkok celebrates this embarrassment. These same Thai fascists no doubt consider that vast swathe of land to still belong to Thailand, even though it was repatriated to its rightful owners when Thailand ended up on the losing side of the war.

Throughout recent history Thailand has always been the aggressor, even committing atrocities and war crimes during the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians at Preah Vihear in the late 70's when the Thai military forced people fleeing the Vietnamese invasion over minefields and off cliffs.

Cue conspiracy theories about oil and gas reserves to excuse this most recent case of blatant nationalist posturing.

"Just a guess but it's a Khmer Hindu temple and belongs to Cambodia."

The case there is very contentious. Technically the land and temple fall inside Thailand given the agreed watershed.