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VENUS' VISION
Ambassador's Preah Vihear strategy music to the ears
Veena Thoopkrajae



BANGKOK: -- Virachai Plasai, the man who carried the Thai flag at the International Court of Justice in The Hague during the Preah Vihear hearings, might have been a famous musician touring the world - or at least playing in a pub someplace - had he followed his teenage dream.

At 17, Thailand's Ambassador to the Netherlands wanted to be a professional musician. He'd been playing since he was 13 - bass guitar, then piano and violin. His life was at a crossroads when he finished high school, but his parents, a diplomat and a medical doctor, overruled the music dream and packed him off to academia.

Virachai excelled in his studies, and chose French as his major out of personal interest. He fulfilled his parents' wish by earning a spot at prestigious Triam Udom Sueksa School, which his mother had attended.

She proved to be a woman of vision, he tells Dichan magazine in a surprising interview. Attending Triam Udom was one of two wishes she asked him. The other was that he never enter politics. "Actually, she came up with a third request, albeit in an indirect manner," Virachai says. Evidently she had some of her husband's diplomatic skills as well. She asked all of his aunts to help steer him away from a career in music, and it worked. Two decades later, Thailand can thank his mother for her planning and foresight.

Virachai earned a place in Chulalongkorn Univiersity’s Faculty of Law, but after just three months won a Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholarship to study in France. "I remember I'd just finished rehearsing with my band and my mum told me the news," he recalls. "I hid my real emotions, but inside I was so happy to be flying away from home. I wanted to see the world."

He spent 10 years in France, spending a full year learning the language, and the rest in legal studies. His father, also a law student, provided inspiration, as did little things that he picked up from family, like a photo of an uncle taken at the Eiffel Tower. His decade in France was well spent. He studied hard but never failed to allocate time for music. "I read 16 hours a day on average but still, on weekends I had gigs with a band I founded with Lao friends. I can still play pleang ramwong," He says, referring to Lao dance music.

"He also leads a Foreign Ministry band - he's a great guitarist," says a colleague at the ministry, where Virachai has worked over 20 years. Younger colleagues speak highly of him. On Facebook, one calls him a senior who is very smart and also artistic. "He’s humble and down to earth and is very friendly to the younger ones," says yet another. "He also has a good sense of humour."

Virachai enjoyed solid support from the public while representing the country in the Preah Vihear case. His picture and quotations were all over the social media, along with words of appreciation for a good effort. "I’ll leave it to the public to judge me when the work is done," goes one of the popular quotes. "I believe I did my best and I fought with all my ability."

The court battle was highly anticipated and Virachai did Thailand proud with a good fight backed by solid research. He managed to keep every detail secret for his team's advantage. Little do most people realise, though, but he's been involved in the Preah Vihear since his early days at the ministry. "To me it's like a jigsaw puzzle and a brain exercise, and it's been with me all along," he says.

Things happen for a reason, and Virachai can see how everything is interrelated, from his mother’s requests to university to fame in his career. When he first came into the job, Thailand was having a border dispute with Laos, the so-called "Ban Romklao case". A senior official, knowing Virachai was fluent in French, asked him to review a 10,000-page document. He regards the Ban Romklao and Preah Vihear disputes as virtually the same. " Laos and Cambodia were both French colonies, so I couldn’t just ignore the Cambodia situation as well when I was studying the Lao matter," he says.

Virachai has spent two decades dealing with border issues. His legal expertise also takes him to the signings of treaties, gatherings that further enrich his knowledge and skills. It was in treaties that he laid the strategy for the "battle" over Preah Vihear. "We based our argument on the treaties, while Cambodia cited the map. To me, it was like we were using the 'mother' and they were using the 'son'."

The strategy was blessed with luck - most of the old documents have been declassified in the last half a decade. "If there's a positive result, I must give a credit to WikiLeaks," he says.


-- The Nation 2013-05-04

[Arkady]

Who cares?

[BanTamo]

Loads of us care, mate. Come up and see why someday.

[whistleblower]

Is this really a fight over border territory?

Or is it more about losing out on entry fees?

[LuckyLew]

Is this the person who will take the fall if Thailand lose the decision?

Or will they blame all the farang lawyers that represented Thailand

I know who my money is on

[Thai at Heart]

I think they should save the praise and fawning until after they win.

[Locationthailand]

There is no doubt Virachai is a man amongst men and a great person for Thailand to have out there. I make no opinion on the outcome but I like his logic, I hope the court does as well.

[GrantSmith]

Complete with a shout out to WikiLeaks...

[Thereisnoif]

There is no doubt Virachai is a man amongst men and a great person for Thailand to have out there. I make no opinion on the outcome but I like his logic, I hope the court does as well.

So you say, and why should we believe you ?