BANGKOK, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) protest against ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off on Sunday in Thailand's capital Bangkok.
By 18:30 p.m. local time, over 10,000 PAD protesters or the yellow-shirted people were rallying at Sanam Luang in the center of capital Bangkok after they officially started their protest from 04:00 p.m. local time.
The PAD rally, which was participated by the supporters from both Bangkok and many provinces across the country, was occurring after Thailand and Cambodia have downgraded their diplomatic relations due to conflict over an appointment of Thaksin as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government and Hun Sen on Nov. 4.
More PAD protesters are arriving at the rally site, the PAD staff announced on the rally stage. The PAD supporters range from the general public, students, employees of state enterprises, war veteran members to taxi drivers.
They were announcing that they were uniting to show the world the Thai people's strength and to protect the country's dignity against Cambodia and Thaksin.
A day after the appointment of Thaksin, the Cambodian government announced recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.
Moreover, on Nov. 11 Cambodia refused to extradite Thaksin to Thailand after Thailand officially submitted a letter asking Cambodia to extradite Thaksin.
Thailand's government will continue issuing measures to pressure Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva disclosed Friday.
The weekly cabinet on this Tuesday will discuss about the possible measures and also review bilateral projects with Cambodia.
Also, the cabinet will discuss to suspend loan worth of 1.4 billion baht (42.02 million U.S. dollars) planned for Cambodia.
About 1,500 police staff were deployed to ensure law and order around the rally site.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Sunday the government has not imposed the Internal Security Act (ISA) during the PAD rally since there was no sign of violence to occur, Thai News Agency reported.
Also, Suthep denied reports, which said the government took its people to join the PAD rally as he said "the government wouldn't do this."
In a related development, Thailand's Acting Police Chief, Police General Pateep Tanprasert echoed Suthep's statement saying that he was not reported about a third hand, who was feared to incite violence.
Police General Pateep said he has ordered his policemen to closely monitor the rally situation and areas surrounding the rally site.
The PAD core leaders earlier announced that the rally will not prolong as the PAD demonstrators will disperse peacefully at about23:00 p.m. local time.
Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September 2006, in accusation of corruption, and has been kept in exile since then.
He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.
Editor: Wang Guanqun
Showing posts with label Politic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politic. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thailand's PAD rally against Thaksin, Hun Sen kicks off in Bangkok
Thai-Cambodia border trade reviving
SA KAEO, Nov 15 (TNA) – Cross-border trade at the Thai-Cambodian frontier in Sa Kaeo’s Aranyaprathet district on Sunday showed a gradual return to normal after convicted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra left Cambodia.
At Aranyaprathet’s Ban Klong Luek border crossing, trade activities at Rong Klua market were lively as most Cambodian traders from Poipet resumed their business activities in the area.
Border tensions eased after Thailand’s fugitive ex-premier flew out of Cambodia's Siem Reap on Saturday.
Many Cambodians were following Cambodian media reports on Thursday’s detention of a Thai engineer by Cambodian authorities in Phnom Penh on charges of spying on Mr Thaksin.
Local Cambodian market talk suggested that the issue could be a trivial matter which will affect bilateral relations to the extent that the Aranyaprathet border crossing would be closed.
Regular Thai gamblers, meanwhile, begin returning to hit the casinos in the neighbouring country.
The atmosphere in on the border in Si Sa Ket province, on the other hand, is still worrisome.
Both Cambodian military and traders along the border of Thailand’s Si Sa Ket province and Cambodia are still concerned about rumours of the closure of the Chong Sa-ngam border crossing.
Anxieties led to Cambodians crossing the border Sunday to stock up on dried Thai foodstuffs and everyday necessities from a market in Phu Sing district to keep in reserve.
Chakkrit Tomasa, a customs official at the Chong Sa-ngam border point, said that the number of Cambodians crossing the border sharply decreased while the amount of purchased goods increased.
Meanwhile, Thai villagers in Praipattana subdistrict near the border have built underground shelters, with financial support of provincial officials, to improve the security of the villagers.
In other developments, Thai foreign ministry official Thani Thongphakdi said that Thailand had presented the letter asking for access to the Thai detainee in Phnom Penh.
The foreign ministry information department deputy director said the ministry had forwarded a letter seeking permission from Khmer authorities to visit detained 31-year-old Siwarak Chothipong, an engineer at Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS).
The Thai worker was accused of given confidential information on Mr Thaksin’s flight schedule to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.
Mr Thani said until now there was no reply from Cambodia giving permission, but it is the weekend and the office concerned is not open. The ministry would closely follow up the request. (TNA)
Hun Sen defiant on Thaksin role
In Thailand 15,000 People's Alliance for Democracy members rallied over the weekend to denounce convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Relations between Cambodia and Thailand hit another low last week after Mr Thaksin began his role as an economic advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. It's led to the recall of diplomatic staff by both countries, and a Thai extradition demand for Mr Thaksin, that Cambodia has turned down. Mr Thaksin's begun his new job with a pledge to regenerate the Cambodian economy, saying that will be good for both Cambodia and Thailand. But analysts say all he'll do is to deepen fractured relations between the Asian rivals even further.
Presenter: Matt Conway
Speakers: Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister; Thaksin Shinawatra , forer Thai Prime Minister; Andrew Walker, Senior Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change with the Australian National University
Chavalit undecided whether to pick up Thai engineer
File photo shows Gen Chavalit shakes hands with Camodian PM Hun Sen after a meeting in Phnom Penh in October.Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Nation
Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has not decided whether he would fly to Cambodia to bring back a Thai engineer charged for spying in Cambodia, his aide Chawaengsak Thongsaluay said on Wednesday.
Chawaensak said he needed time to verify the new reports related to Chavalit.
The Thai press reported from a Cambodia radio programme claiming Chavalit's involvement, he said.
According to the Cambodian report, Cambodian authorities are expected to try Siwarak Chotipong for spying before granting him a pardon. Then Chavalit is expected to escort him back home.
Chawaensak said he needed time to verify the new reports related to Chavalit.
The Thai press reported from a Cambodia radio programme claiming Chavalit's involvement, he said.
According to the Cambodian report, Cambodian authorities are expected to try Siwarak Chotipong for spying before granting him a pardon. Then Chavalit is expected to escort him back home.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
A view of the Thaksin dispute
Former prime minister’s visit is just another hiccup in relations.
COMMENT
Derek Tonkin
Derek Tonkin
THE recent tensions in Thai-Cambodian relations are seen in Europe primarily as a reflection of the transition in Thailand from the reign of a monarch who is greatly revered in Thai society and highly respected internationally to an uncertain future that is difficult to predict. It should not be forgotten that the young King Bhumibol Adulyadej felt himself very much influenced by and beholden to the Thai strongman of the time, Field Marshal Phibul Songkran, whom the occupying Japanese suspected of harbouring monarchical aspirations of which they, as devout monarchists, did not approve. Following the coup by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat against Phibul in 1957, only a few weeks after I first arrived in Thailand, the young King Bhumibol established his independence from Phibul’s patronage and, with Sarit’s strong support, became first the national and then the international personality whom we know today, set above politics at the apex of a trinity of Nation, Religion and Monarchy.
Thai revanchism had its heyday in the late 1930s and during the Second World War when arch-nationalists such as Luang Vichit Vadhakarn nurtured pretensions of a Greater Thai nation to include all Tai ethnic groupings in French Indochina, Burma and southern China, and even further afield. It was on the wave of such pan-Thai pretensions that Phibul erected the “Victory Monument” in Bangkok to celebrate a brief Thai military victory over French forces in Cambodia, which led to the wartime occupation of western territories in Cambodia.
Yet relations at the local level between Thais and Khmers in the border regions have historically been friendly and hospitable, with both Thai and Khmer spoken widely on both sides of the border. Around Surin in Thailand, you are more likely to hear Khmer spoken than Thai, though many native Khmer speakers in Thailand do not know the Khmer alphabet, and all will have learned Thai at school. Trading relations, employment and intermarriage across the borders have been traditional and have helped to reduce tensions even at times of serious diplomatic disputes that have flared up in the capitals Bangkok and Phnom Penh.
As regards Thaksin himself, opinions in Europe are mixed.
When the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 by nine votes to three that the disputed temple of Preah Vihear was situated in Cambodian and not Thai territory, passions for a time ran high in Thailand, but in due course the Thais accepted the ruling. When Prince Sihanouk visited Preah Vihear in January 1963, bounding up the 525-metre-high cliff in less than an hour, he made a notable gesture of conciliation by announcing that all Thai citizens would be welcome to visit the temple without visas, and that Cambodia would not insist on the return of any antiquities that might have been removed.
From the Khmer Rouge victory in Cambodia in May 1975 until December 1998, when the remnants of the Khmer Rouge in control of Preah Vihear finally surrendered, the temple was unsafe to visit, but in the years that followed when peace was restored, visitors to Preah Vihear enjoyed unfettered access. When in 2007 both Thailand and Cambodia agreed that the site should be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, this appeared to the international community as a perfectly reasonable decision reflecting the wishes of both countries. In Europe there was both puzzlement and astonishment that the Thai foreign minister responsible for the understanding with Cambodia, Noppadon Pattama, who was a former legal adviser to Thaksin Shinawatra, was compelled to resign. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court of Thailand, the understanding had allegedly infringed Thai sovereignty by supposedly “consuming” adjacent areas of land whose ownership Thailand disputed, even though these areas had been excluded from the understanding reached.
Cambodia, thus, finds itself enmeshed in a dispute with Thailand that on the Thai side reflects profound uncertainties about the future, bitter tensions between conservative royalists and pro-Thaksin supporters, and intense puzzlement in the international community about the application of Thai laws, which appear to many Europeans archaic and undemocratic. Any allegation of lese-majeste has to be examined by the Thai police, however unreasonable and even malicious the allegation might seem. “This is a petty law”, The Times commented on Wednesday, “which only opens Thailand up to ridicule.”
As regards Thaksin himself, opinions in Europe are mixed. On the one hand, he enjoyed an unchallenged mandate from the Thai electorate, but was forced out in a military coup which induced even the United States to show its displeasure. Such a democratic mandate commands sympathy and support in Europe. On the other hand, Thaksin’s ruthless policies against local Islamic extremists in the south, his support for the use of police violence against alleged narcotics dealers in the north and the use of his financial clout to dominate the media and silence critics led to serious concerns about the extent of his abuse of human rights. Few, though, were all that concerned by the sentence passed on him for financial corruption, not that the charges might not have had merit, but because in that case many thought that a majority of the financial and commercial establishment in Thailand could well have cases to answer.
Thaksin’s arrival in Phnom Penh is bound to arouse anger in Bangkok, but the visit may only be a three-day wonder likely, and no doubt intended, to provoke politically, but not to result in any physical confrontation in the Preah Vihear area. By the time President Obama arrives in Singapore this weekend for the first summit meeting with ASEAN, the president’s advisers must hope that the summit will not be overshadowed by any serious deterioration in relations, particularly as the Americans have made it clear that differences over Myanmar will no longer dictate the agenda. Prime Minister Abhisit has won popular support by recalling the Thai ambassador, though in times of tension interlocutors are so badly needed.
This may give him, though, the clout necessary to restrain the less-responsible elements in the Thai establishment who have no electoral mandate.
Extradition of Thaksin shot down
Photo by: AFP
Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra embraces Prime Minister Hun Sen at his home in Kandal province on Wednesday.
Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra embraces Prime Minister Hun Sen at his home in Kandal province on Wednesday.
CAMBODIA rejected a formal request by the Thai government on Wednesday for the extradition of visiting Thai ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who faces a two-year prison term in Thailand after being convicted of corruption in absentia in 2008.
In a statement reiterating a promise the government has made repeatedly over the past few weeks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would not extradite Thaksin, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid imprisonment in Thailand for the “politically motivated” corruption conviction.
“The condemnation of HE Thaksin Shinawatra is logically the consequence of the military coup d’etat in September 2006, which resulted in his removal from the post of prime minister, while he was overwhelmingly and democratically elected by the Thai people,” the statement read.
In Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva condemned the Cambodian refusal to extradite Thaksin.
“My government wants bilateral ties to be normal, but Cambodia’s political standpoint is incorrect, inappropriate and against international principles,” Abhisit said.
Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Thailand was weighing its options after the rejection.
“We have received a copy of the diplomatic note that the Cambodian side has sent to us, and at the moment, our legal people are examining the details and the contents of the letter,” Thani said, adding that the Thai legal team would make a policy recommendation for the government to consider.
Abhisit has threatened to terminate the extradition agreement between Thailand and Cambodia in the event that a request for Thaksin is denied, though Thani said that his government has not yet settled on a response.
“I think a review of all the agreements that we have is being examined. I don’t want to prejudge what the outcome of that review will be,” he said.
Last week, Thaksin was officially appointed economics adviser to the Cambodian government and personal adviser to Hun Sen.
In response, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Phnom Penh, and Cambodia responded in kind.
Photo by: AFP
Thaksin Shinawatra and Prime Minister Hun Sen speak to journalists at the Cambodian premier’s home in Kandal province on Wednesday. .
Thaksin Shinawatra and Prime Minister Hun Sen speak to journalists at the Cambodian premier’s home in Kandal province on Wednesday. .
The ‘eternal friends’ speak
In a joint interview with Thaksin broadcast on state-run TVK television on Wednesday afternoon, Hun Sen spoke of the partnership between his Cambodian People’s Party and Puea Thai, a Thai opposition party with which Thaksin is associated. Hun Sen also alluded to this partnership when he met with Puea Thai’s Chavalit Yongchaiyudh last month.
“We have a party-to-party relationship between the CPP and Puea Thai, which was originally Thai Rak Thai,” Hun Sen said, referring to Thaksin’s former party.
“Now this party has transformed itself into Puea Thai, but this party relationship continues. The leaders of the CPP and the leaders of Puea Thai can meet each other at any time, at any place, and can even hold a summit meeting together.”
Even as he threw his support behind the Thai opposition, however, Hun Sen dismissed the possibility that the recent row with Thailand could escalating into armed conflict, characterising it as a dispute between politicians rather than populations.
“It is a dispute between Abhisit and Hun Sen,” he said, adding: “If there is a dispute between people and people, how could Thaksin and I be talking together? He is also a Thai.”
In the same interview, Thaksin defended his acceptance of the advisory role and accused the Thai administration of holding a “Cold War” mindset in its antagonism towards him and the Cambodian government.
“Whatever I say, the [Thai] government will be against, so actually, in this 21st century, we should have some dialogue,” Thaksin said, adding: “If I can help, it will be beneficial to Cambodia and to Thai people as well.”
Diplomats expelled in tit-for-tat
Photo by: AFP
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Thursday greets ecstatic Red Shirt supporters at a hotel in Siem Reap province after arriving from Phnom Penh.
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Thursday greets ecstatic Red Shirt supporters at a hotel in Siem Reap province after arriving from Phnom Penh.
CAMBODIA and Thailand expelled senior diplomats from their respective embassies on Thursday, the same day that fugitive Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra told an audience in Phnom Penh that Thailand’s current leadership is guilty of “false patriotism”.
“We declared the first secretary of the Thai embassy as persona non grata,” Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said.
“We just declared that, and then Thailand reciprocated, meaning our first secretary to the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok will come back, too.”
Asked to explain the Cambodian government’s decision, Koy Kuong said only that the Thai first secretary “performed his duty contrary to his position”.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the expulsion was the result of Thailand being “arrogant”.
“Cambodia did not make the first move. This follows the recall of the Thai ambassador,” he said. “We should respect each other through diplomatic channels, but Thailand doesn’t respect them. They overreacted.”
Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi confirmed the expulsion, though he added that both countries have maintained personnel at their respective embassies.
“We still have a presence, and they, too, still have a presence. The channel of communication is still open,” he said.
The expulsions mark the latest step in the countries’ ongoing row over Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin as a government economics adviser. In response to this appointment, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia last week, and Cambodia responded in kind.
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a prison term for corruption charges.
Speaking in his new advisory capacity on Thursday morning, Thaksin emphasised the need for cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia as he told a gathering at the Ministry of Economy and Finance that the two countries’ economic fortunes are inextricably linked. But he added: “Of
course, not all my compatriots see it that way right now.
“I do not believe those who do not share our vision right now are myopic. Their domestic political compulsions force them to false patriotism. Let’s pray that they, too, will one day appreciate this partnership for progress,” he said.
In the conference’s opening address, Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Thaksin’s tenure as prime minister “is generally agreed to have been one of the most distinctive in the country’s modern history”.
“Whatever the critics say about Thaksinomics, the achievements were astonishing,” Keat Chhon said.
Thaksin and Keat Chhon were speaking at a conference titled “Cambodia and the World After the Financial Crisis”, attended by about 300 economic experts and members of the business community.
Security at the conference was heavy, with members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit providing protection for Thaksin.
Members of the media were ushered out of the conference hall minutes after Thaksin began speaking.
Following the lecture, Thaksin travelled to Siem Reap, where he visited the Angkor Wat temple complex and planned to play golf with Hun Sen on Friday, Siem Reap provincial Governor Sou Phirin said.
The onetime telecommuncations mogul was greeted upon arrival in Siem Reap by members of Thailand’s Red Shirts, and the Bangkok Post reported Thursday that parliamentarians from the opposition Puea Thai party planned to travel to Cambodia “to drink with their former party leader on Friday night until dawn before seeing him off to Dubai on Saturday morning”.
In Bangkok, about 150 protesters rallied outside the Cambodian embassy on Thursday and delivered an open letter telling Hun Sen not to interfere in Thailand’s justice system, Thai police said.
Speaking before the diplomats’ expulsion Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he was considering further retaliatory measures against Cambodia. He added, however, that his government would not seal the border, and that the rift with Phnom Penh would not lead to violence.
“I don’t want the situation going out of control,” he said.
“We declared the first secretary of the Thai embassy as persona non grata,” Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said.
“We just declared that, and then Thailand reciprocated, meaning our first secretary to the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok will come back, too.”
Asked to explain the Cambodian government’s decision, Koy Kuong said only that the Thai first secretary “performed his duty contrary to his position”.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the expulsion was the result of Thailand being “arrogant”.
“Cambodia did not make the first move. This follows the recall of the Thai ambassador,” he said. “We should respect each other through diplomatic channels, but Thailand doesn’t respect them. They overreacted.”
Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi confirmed the expulsion, though he added that both countries have maintained personnel at their respective embassies.
“We still have a presence, and they, too, still have a presence. The channel of communication is still open,” he said.
The expulsions mark the latest step in the countries’ ongoing row over Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin as a government economics adviser. In response to this appointment, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia last week, and Cambodia responded in kind.
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a prison term for corruption charges.
Speaking in his new advisory capacity on Thursday morning, Thaksin emphasised the need for cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia as he told a gathering at the Ministry of Economy and Finance that the two countries’ economic fortunes are inextricably linked. But he added: “Of
course, not all my compatriots see it that way right now.
“I do not believe those who do not share our vision right now are myopic. Their domestic political compulsions force them to false patriotism. Let’s pray that they, too, will one day appreciate this partnership for progress,” he said.
In the conference’s opening address, Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Thaksin’s tenure as prime minister “is generally agreed to have been one of the most distinctive in the country’s modern history”.
“Whatever the critics say about Thaksinomics, the achievements were astonishing,” Keat Chhon said.
Thaksin and Keat Chhon were speaking at a conference titled “Cambodia and the World After the Financial Crisis”, attended by about 300 economic experts and members of the business community.
Security at the conference was heavy, with members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit providing protection for Thaksin.
Members of the media were ushered out of the conference hall minutes after Thaksin began speaking.
Following the lecture, Thaksin travelled to Siem Reap, where he visited the Angkor Wat temple complex and planned to play golf with Hun Sen on Friday, Siem Reap provincial Governor Sou Phirin said.
The onetime telecommuncations mogul was greeted upon arrival in Siem Reap by members of Thailand’s Red Shirts, and the Bangkok Post reported Thursday that parliamentarians from the opposition Puea Thai party planned to travel to Cambodia “to drink with their former party leader on Friday night until dawn before seeing him off to Dubai on Saturday morning”.
In Bangkok, about 150 protesters rallied outside the Cambodian embassy on Thursday and delivered an open letter telling Hun Sen not to interfere in Thailand’s justice system, Thai police said.
Speaking before the diplomats’ expulsion Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he was considering further retaliatory measures against Cambodia. He added, however, that his government would not seal the border, and that the rift with Phnom Penh would not lead to violence.
“I don’t want the situation going out of control,” he said.
Thai national arrested for espionage
A Thai national has been arrested and accused of espionage for allegedly stealing the flight schedule of fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, amid an ongoing row between Thailand and Cambodia over Thaksin’s appointment as government economics adviser, Phnom Penh police and court officials said.
Sok Phal, director of the Ministry of Interior’s Central Security Department, said 31-year-old Siwarak Chotipong, an employee at Cambodia Air Traffic Services Co., was arrested by officers from the Central Security Department at his office on Wednesday.
“He stole the special flight schedule of Mr. Thaksin and handed it to the first secretary of Thai Embassy,” Sok Phal said. “It is not his duty to do so. What he did was beyond his responsibility. He must face legal action.”
On Thursday, the Cambodian government expelled the first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with Thailand responding in kind.
Cambodia Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong would not confirm whether the expulsion was related to the airport case.
“It’s a case of the court. It’s the court’s affair,” he said, adding that the Thai first secretary had “performed his role contrary to his position.”
Sok Phal, however, said the first secretary was directly involved and had been expelled as a result.
"He ordered the man to copy the schedule of Thaksin's return flight, and that's why he was expelled," Sok Phal said.
In Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya forcefully rejected the espionage accusations.
"It's not true. It is a malicious and false claim," Kasit said. "Thaksin feels he must destroy Thailand and collaborate with Hun Sen."
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a jail term for corruption charges. Last week, Cambodia announced Thaksin’s official appointment as government economics adviser, prompting Thailand to withdraw its ambassador to Phnom Penh and Cambodia to reciprocate.
Phnom Penh court deputy prosecutor Sok Roeun said Sivarak is now in pre-trial detention at Prey Sar prison and is being charged under article 19 of the 2005 Law on Archives, which covers offenses related to matters of national defence, security or public order. If convicted, Sivarak faces a jail term of between seven and 15 years and a fine of between 5 and 25 million riels (US$1198-5990).
Police are now investigating whether more people were involved with the plot, Sok Phal said.
Sok Phal, director of the Ministry of Interior’s Central Security Department, said 31-year-old Siwarak Chotipong, an employee at Cambodia Air Traffic Services Co., was arrested by officers from the Central Security Department at his office on Wednesday.
“He stole the special flight schedule of Mr. Thaksin and handed it to the first secretary of Thai Embassy,” Sok Phal said. “It is not his duty to do so. What he did was beyond his responsibility. He must face legal action.”
On Thursday, the Cambodian government expelled the first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with Thailand responding in kind.
Cambodia Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong would not confirm whether the expulsion was related to the airport case.
“It’s a case of the court. It’s the court’s affair,” he said, adding that the Thai first secretary had “performed his role contrary to his position.”
Sok Phal, however, said the first secretary was directly involved and had been expelled as a result.
"He ordered the man to copy the schedule of Thaksin's return flight, and that's why he was expelled," Sok Phal said.
In Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya forcefully rejected the espionage accusations.
"It's not true. It is a malicious and false claim," Kasit said. "Thaksin feels he must destroy Thailand and collaborate with Hun Sen."
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a jail term for corruption charges. Last week, Cambodia announced Thaksin’s official appointment as government economics adviser, prompting Thailand to withdraw its ambassador to Phnom Penh and Cambodia to reciprocate.
Phnom Penh court deputy prosecutor Sok Roeun said Sivarak is now in pre-trial detention at Prey Sar prison and is being charged under article 19 of the 2005 Law on Archives, which covers offenses related to matters of national defence, security or public order. If convicted, Sivarak faces a jail term of between seven and 15 years and a fine of between 5 and 25 million riels (US$1198-5990).
Police are now investigating whether more people were involved with the plot, Sok Phal said.
'Wall Protests' for Obama’s Eyes
Chinese netizens take aim at their government's online controls.
People use computers at an Internet cafe in Beijing, June 3, 2009.
HONG KONG—Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chinese netizens have lodged protests on a commemorative site against Internet controls in their country, with some calling for the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama, who travels to Beijing next week.
“Mr. Obama, help us KO the bloody GFW. Yes, you can! Thank you very much,” wrote a user called “Trigant” on the microblogging service Twitter.
The “GFW” denotes what Internet users call “the great firewall of China”—an elaborate system of virtual blockades aimed at preventing users from accessing content the authorities want to keep off-limits.
The tweet appeared as Chinese users flocked to post comments on www.berlintwitterwall.com, a commemorative site set up by a Berlin-based company to solicit online comment for Monday’s anniversary.
“Mr. President, Welcome to Eastern Berlin!” tweeted another user, “orangeking.”
Site available, and then not
Many of the messages posted on the Berlin Wall site also bore the keyword “obamacn,” used by Twitter users to comment on Obama’s Nov. 15-18 state visit to China, during which he will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.
The site’s organizers said last week that the site was unavailable in China using normal Web browsing methods.
Another Twitter user, evilboyeb, commented: “It’s not a straightforward thing, to look to the U.S. President to help us in our struggle for democracy.”
“What’s more, if we place so many expectations on a foreign president, then it just goes to show what a pitiful state we are in: we can see the huge amount of pressure we live under and also the sincerity of people’s desire for democracy,” the Tweet continued.
On Monday, a high proportion of posts to the Berlin Twitter Wall site were still visible in Chinese.
Twitterer “mcchina” wrote: “20 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. When will the wall that oppresses the Chinese people fall?”
Great Firewall
Many comments linked the fall of the Berlin Wall to the wall of government blocks, filters, and surveillance software used to limit what Chinese Internet users can see online.
“There is still a wall in China—GFW,” wrote user “gongchengshiw,” in a commonly used reference to China’s Great Firewall. “I hate it!!! We are not ... free.”
Another user, “lianyue,” made a dry reference to China’s insistence that its diplomatic partners subscribe to Beijing’s view of what constitutes Chinese territory—including Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan:
“I affirm that there is only one China, and that the Berlin Wall is an integral and indivisible part of its territory.”
“When Obama comes to China he will see a banner saying ‘Welcome to East Germany!’”
The Obama administration, which recently imposed trade tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, has been seen as taking a softer line on Beijing’s human rights record ahead of the presidential trip.
Obama didn’t meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on his recent visit, as his predecessor did.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Firm attributes losses to logging crackdown
CHINA Asean Resources Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed company operating a timber concession in Kratie province and a medical supply business in China, on Tuesday blamed government red tape associated with logging for part of a US$2.858 million loss over the nine months ending September 30.
It earned $3.645 million in profit in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement announcing quarter three financial results.
The firm said it had halted logging on a 10,000-hectare concession in Kratie province that originally contained more than 5 million cubic metres of timber stock. It made $6.72 million from the site in the first nine months of 2008.
The statement said the company had been inadvertently affected by a government ban on the illegal export of timber to save forest and promote carbon-credit trading.
“This crackdown on the illegal timber trade has had unintended negative repercussions on the legal export of timber products,” it said. “These include an increase in administrative procedures in relation to the export of timber products, and significant delays in the processing of trade documentation.”
The Ministry of Forestry declined to comment Thursday, citing confidentiality concerns.
China Asean said it intends to use the cleared land for cultivating rubber and acacia trees along with jatropha, a shrub used to produce bio-
diesel.
Garment companies record lowest exports drop this year
Ministry of Commerce figures show 15.15pc drop in September
Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Workers make garments at a Phnom Penh factory. Cambodia’s garment exports have fallen more than 21 percent so far this year, but September was the best month yet in 2009.Cambodia's garment exports are losing market share in the US.
Q3 garment exports
Annualised figures year on year:
Annualised figures year on year:
- September - down 15.15pc
- August - down 18.31pc
- July - down 18.67pc
- Year to date - down 21.66pc
The decline is the smallest year-on-year monthly drop since last December, when exports fell 13.64 percent to $222.1 million, and comes as competitor Bangladesh said September was its worst month for garment exports in six years.
Cambodia’s garment exports have fallen on a year-on-year basis every month since last November, when they fell 0.89 percent to $218.3 million, dragged down by falling consumer spending in the key US market, which accounts for around 70 percent of total garment exports. Exports also fell in July and September last year, before the shockwaves of the US financial meltdown began to be felt around the world, but gained in every other month in 2008.
Garment exports have now fallen 21.66 percent over the first nine months of the year to $1.78 billion.
Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia Secretary General Ken Loo said there was not enough data to predict whether the impact of the global economic recession on the sector was beginning to bottom out, and that the next three months will be critical.
“If the Christmas period this year is good, then maybe we can say we have a bit more confidence of a recovery,” he said. “But, if Christmas is very weak, I don’t think we will see a recovery.”
Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) announced this week that its total exports – of which garments represent around 80 percent – fell around 28 percent from a year earlier in September, the steepest year-on-year drop in six years, as the delayed impact of the global recession routed the country’s garment sector.
However, garment shipments, which account for 80 percent of Bangladesh’s annual exports, fell just 10 percent over the July to September quarter despite the bad month. Its garment exports grew 15.5 percent to $12.3 billion in the year to June 30, helped by low prices that undercut rivals such as China, India Vietnam, and Cambodia.
The World Bank said this month that Cambodia’s market share in the key US garment market had fallen from 3.2 percent last year to 2.8 percent in mid-2009, reflecting a possible structural weakness in the country’s competitiveness. All countries in the region had been hit hard as US demand for garments plummeted in the midst of the economic and financial crisis, but as demand began to recover, Cambodia was not sharing in the gains, Ivailo Izvorski, a World Bank economist, said at the time.
“We see a very negative development where Cambodia’s garment exports are losing market share in the US, suggesting that perhaps there are deeper structural problems with competitiveness,” he said. “Whether that will be reversed is very hard to say, but the fact they lost position is something that they have to think about … given how large the garment sector looms for the economy.”
Ok Boung, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the downturn was not a big issue, as the sector had grown sixfold since 2005.
“Compared to five years ago, our garment sector is still good even though exports have dropped in many months this year,” he said.
The Ministry of Labour said last month that 77 garment factories were shuttered in the first nine months of the year, costing 30,683 jobs. A further 53 suspended operations at some point over the period, it said.
Add value to compete amid crisis: Thaksin
FORMER Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged Cambodia on Thursday to focus on rural development and infrastructure investment in order to emerge competitively from the global downturn.
Thaksin’s remarks came as part of a conference held at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, titled “Cambodia and the World After the Financial Crisis”, that included about 300 local economics experts and members of the business community.
Last week, the onetime telecommunications mogul was appointed economics adviser to the Cambodian government in a move that drew ire from the current Thai administration. Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a two-year prison term for corruption.
Cambodia must develop its ability to add value as well as exploit its advantages in labour and raw materials, Thaksin said, citing agriculture and mining as two examples of sectors that may be ripe for increased profitability.
In the development of an economy, “the first tier is only selling labour and natural resources. The second tier… starts to have some value added, and also some value creation,” Thaksin said.
The newly appointed economics adviser spoke of the problems that befell developed countries in the run-up to the global crisis, arguing that these nations concentrated too much of their talent in finance.
Thaksin said that only by creating more opportunity within the Kingdom could Cambodia prevent a “brain drain” in which its most capable workers seek their fortune abroad.
Stock exchange due for soft launch during Q1
But first three companies still won’t list until the end of 2010 with govt still undecided on the final exchange building design
Photo by: Tracey shelton
Duk-Kon Kim, vice president of Korea’s World City, points Thursday to the land where Cambodia's stock exchange will be built in Camko City on the outskirts of Phnom Penh (left). At right the company's model of the development shows the proposed location of the four-storey exchange building on a redeveloped waterfront.“The soft opening of Cambodia’s stock market will be in January or February next year,” Mey Vann told the Post, adding that the government had only passed about 10 of the 30 required regulations to launch the bourse.
The three state-owned companies the government has pushed to list on the exchange – Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Phnom Penh Port and Telecom Cambodia – would not make their initial public offerings until the end of 2010, he added.
“We will open it without any company listings at the start,” Mey Vann said. “I will just open an office to receive companies that are sufficiently qualified to join the stock market.”
The Ministry of Economy and Finance will house the new bourse to begin with, he said, ahead of the completion of a US$6 million exchange building in Camko City on the outskirts of Phnom Penh which is scheduled to be finished and ready to start trading around October next year.
Duk-Kon Kim, vice president of Korea’s World City, which is the developer of Camko City, told the Post Thursday that it was still waiting for the finance ministry to select one of five conceptual designs for the exchange.
“The Ministry of Finance informed me that they will select the final one … this week, and the construction agreement can be reached at that time,” he said, adding that World City would be able to break ground in December, a month later than it previously planned.
The design, which will be paid for by World City along with construction costs, will mix a traditional Khmer pagoda style with modern design elements, he added.
Inpyo Lee, the Cambodia-based project director of Korea Exchange (KRX), the joint-venture partner on the exchange along with the finance ministry, said Thursday that discussions were continuing on the start date, but that he thought it should be launched without delay.
“I think the sooner, the better. Many countries had a stock market early even when their economic situations lagged behind … Cambodia’s,” he said, referring to South Korea’s decision to launch a securities exchange in the late 1950s despite being one of the poorest countries in the world at the time after the Korean War.
Given the significance of the project, Lee said, the government would push hard to set up the exchange, but public confidence remains the biggest challenge.
“People are still cautious about the stock market,” said Lee, agreeing that the three firms due to list would not be qualified to do so until the end of 2010. “Many people still think the stock market is a form of gambling, but it’s not actually; it will help the Cambodian government boost the economy.”
Derek Tonkin
THE recent tensions in Thai-Cambodian relations are seen in Europe primarily as a reflection of the transition in Thailand from the reign of a monarch who is greatly revered in Thai society and highly respected internationally to an uncertain future that is difficult to predict. It should not be forgotten that the young King Bhumibol Adulyadej felt himself very much influenced by and beholden to the Thai strongman of the time, Field Marshal Phibul Songkran, whom the occupying Japanese suspected of harbouring monarchical aspirations of which they, as devout monarchists, did not approve. Following the coup by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat against Phibul in 1957, only a few weeks after I first arrived in Thailand, the young King Bhumibol established his independence from Phibul’s patronage and, with Sarit’s strong support, became first the national and then the international personality whom we know today, set above politics at the apex of a trinity of Nation, Religion and Monarchy.
Thai revanchism had its heyday in the late 1930s and during the Second World War when arch-nationalists such as Luang Vichit Vadhakarn nurtured pretensions of a Greater Thai nation to include all Tai ethnic groupings in French Indochina, Burma and southern China, and even further afield. It was on the wave of such pan-Thai pretensions that Phibul erected the “Victory Monument” in Bangkok to celebrate a brief Thai military victory over French forces in Cambodia, which led to the wartime occupation of western territories in Cambodia.
Yet relations at the local level between Thais and Khmers in the border regions have historically been friendly and hospitable, with both Thai and Khmer spoken widely on both sides of the border. Around Surin in Thailand, you are more likely to hear Khmer spoken than Thai, though many native Khmer speakers in Thailand do not know the Khmer alphabet, and all will have learned Thai at school. Trading relations, employment and intermarriage across the borders have been traditional and have helped to reduce tensions even at times of serious diplomatic disputes that have flared up in the capitals Bangkok and Phnom Penh.
A(H1N1) infections rise by 25pc
THE number of people in the Kingdom infected with the so-called swine flu virus has jumped by more than 25 percent in just over a week, according to government figures released Thursday.
The A(H1N1) influenza virus has now infected 394 people in Cambodia, according to statistics released on the Web site of the Ministry of Health’s Communicable Disease Control Department. The November 4 count was 313 cases. Four people in Cambodia have died from the virus since the first official case this year was recorded in June.
The country’s first fatality attributed to swine flu happened September 27, when a 41-year-old woman with previously existing health problems succumbed to her illness. Since then, three others have died, including a pregnant 25-year-old. Cases have been reported in 12 provinces. To help prevent the spread of the virus, health officials are urging residents to wash their hands frequently, refrain from spitting in public, avoid crowds and use tissues and handkerchiefs.
People showing symptoms of the virus – a fever above 38C, coughing, headaches, muscle aches, sore throats and runny noses – are asked to call the public hotline on 115, 012 488 981 or 089 669 567.
ASEAN seeks to negotiate an end to the Thaksin imbroglio
Photo by: AFP
ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan (centre) talks to reporters at the APEC Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Singapore ahead of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this weekend.There is now a window of opportunity in Singapore for us to help the two sides calm down.
SINGAPORE
SENIOR leaders in the region are urgently discussing how to defuse the rising tension between Cambodia and Thailand, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Diplomacy in Singapore, Surin said the war of words that has flared between Phnom Penh and Bangkok over the arrival in Cambodia of Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has caused deep concern among regional leaders.
It is feared that the bilateral animosity could affect the inaugural US-ASEAN summit on Sunday, which will be attended by US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which is currently being held in Singapore.
To prevent that, Surin said, “the highest levels of diplomacy are going on right now in this city to deal with the matter”.
“In ASEAN, we all feel collectively that there is a need to calm down before we meet President Obama,” he said during a keynote address.
Surin said both sides in the dispute will need help to resolve the matter, and the landmark meeting with the US leader will provide the other eight ASEAN leaders an opportunity to collectively help to cool tempers in Phnom Penh and Bangkok.
“They both need a leg up in order to help them climb down,” said Surin.
Whenever nationalistic sentiment is fanned, such as happened over the disputed Preah Vihear temple, the concerned parties ultimately regret it, he said.
“So, to me, there is now a window of opportunity in Singapore for us to help the two sides to calm down.”
Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday that Cambodia supports any means of resolving the dispute, including multilateral ones. “Cambodia does not oppose the initiative proposed by Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan ... so long as the Thais agree to it ,” he said.
However, after a meeting of Thailand’s National Security Council on Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was quoted as saying the conflict “will not be discussed at the ASEAN level”.
Thani Thongphakdi, deputy spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that in principle, Bangkok saw the issue as a bilateral one that “should be worked out and resolved bilaterally”.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said, in response to the prospect of a third country raising the issue in a multilateral forum.
“A number of countries, I think, may have expressed their views, but I don’t think any country has proposed that it be raised in a regional or multilateral forum.”
However, some say ASEAN mediation may be the only way out of the current impasse, which has seen both countries withdraw their ambassadors and threaten further escalation.
“ASEAN is the only regional institution that can bring the kind of solution that both countries need, because bilateral negotiations and dialogue have not worked,” said Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.
“I think that this would be a win-win situation for Cambodia and Thailand if ASEAN plays a strong role. Both of them listen to ASEAN.”
Other observers remained less optimistic. Andrew Walker, a Thailand expert based at the Australian National University in Canberra, said that in the case of a simple dispute, a mediator such as ASEAN could help both Bangkok and Phnom Penh save face, but that the nature of the current dispute makes it especially resistant to outside mediation.
He said the dispute is complicated by the extreme political polarisation in Thailand, which has “energised” the dispute between the two countries.
“In Thailand, there is a very fundamental political polarisation,” he said. “I’m pessimistic about the prospect for external mediation because this dispute is a result of internal political dynamics.”
Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Diplomacy, noted on Wednesday that the one great achievement of the European Union had been not only to prevent wars between its member states but also to eliminate the potential for war.
“In ASEAN, however, we have not yet eliminated that potential for war between member states. That potential remains,” he said.
Watchdog criticises jailing of Ros Sokhet
THE International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has criticised the recent jailing of freelance journalist Ros Sokhet, saying his offence did not warrant criminal charges.
Last Friday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhay Kong sentenced Ros Sokhet, 40, to two years in prison after convicting him of spreading disinformation by sending disparaging text messages to Soy Sopheap, a well-known CTN anchor.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the IFJ slammed the court for applying the “outdated” UNTAC Penal Code rather than the Kingdom’s more liberal 1995 Press Law.
“There are appropriate civil laws in place to resolve media-related complaints, and Cambodia’s Press Law should be applied to assist in their resolution,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park was quoted as saying.
The IFJ, which represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries, added that it stands “in solidarity” with Ros Sokhet and called on the government to ensure media complaints are dealt with under civil law.
Chhay Kong said he did not have time to comment Thursday, but during last Friday’s hearing, court deputy prosecutor Sok Roeun dismissed the argument of Ros Sokhet’s defence lawyer that the case should have been prosecuted under the Press Law.
“The law requires me to accuse the suspect of whatever charge, and the judge will decide in a hearing. The prosecutor always stands behind the plaintiff,” he said.
When contacted on Thursday, Ros Sokhet’s sister Ros Keaveak said she planned to file an appeal against the court’s conviction next week.
Koh Kong families ask for delay of eviction
MEMBERS of 43 families in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district whose land is at the heart of a dispute involving two feuding businessmen have asked the Supreme Court to postpone their eviction, a representative of the families said Thursday.
“We are worried that the provincial court will come to evict us, so [Wednesday] we went to Phnom Penh to deliver a letter to the Supreme Court asking the judges to issue a verdict to stop them from evicting us,” said representative Tep Hai.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that the land belonged to two businessmen, Sok Hong and Heng Huy.
Sre Ambel district officials signalled that the eviction would be carried out on October 27. Instead, police officers escorted provincial court Deputy Judge Meas Vatanea to the site, where he read the June ruling aloud. He also marked how the land would be divided, with most going to Heng Huy, who has said he plans to turn it into a cassava farm.
Am Sam Ath, a technical supervisor for the rights group Licadho who has been following the case, said at the time that he expected the eviction to be carried out “within a matter of weeks”, though he noted that the authorities had not provided a specific date.
Tep Hai said Thursday that the lack of communication from provincial officials had left the families concerned.
“We are worried because they are quiet,” he said. “We’ve had bad experiences already, and because they are quiet we are worried that they are going to use the Supreme Court verdict to come and evict us soon.”
Meas Vatanea said Thursday that he was aware of no immediate plans to evict the families. Supreme Court President Dith Munty could not be reached for comment Thursday, nor could Sim Thol, chief of the provincial department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.
Rainsy could lose immunity
Photo by: Svan Philong
Sam Rainsy speaks to the Post at his office in Phnom Penh.Officials said Thursday that the National Assembly will move to strip opposition leader Sam Rainsy of his parliamentary immunity on Monday after his removal of posts marking the border with Vietnam last month.
Cheam Yeap, a senior lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said parliament would remove the Sam Rainsy Party president’s constitutional protection to pave the way for the Svay Rieng provincial court to summon him in relation to the posts’ removal, which could be seen as threatening national security.
“The Assembly will convene on Monday to strip Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity,” Cheam Yeap said, adding that the decision was made at an Assembly standing committee meeting on Thursday. “We are doing this in conformity with procedure, following the request of the court and the Ministry of Justice.”
During a Buddhist Kathen ceremony in Svay Rieng province on October 25, Sam Rainsy led local villagers and SRP officials in uprooting six wooden posts marking the country’s ambiguous border with Vietnam. Villagers said the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil. Sam Rainsy’s action prompted a storm of protest from Hanoi, which said he had interfered in the two countries’ sensitive border-demarcation process.
Sam Rainsy said he is not scared of government threats to his parliamentary immunity, and that the action will shed more light on the country’s problems with Vietnam at a time when people are distracted by the conflict with Thailand.
“Hun Sen’s government’s strategy nowadays is to draw the interest towards the West rather than the East. I want to draw the public’s attention towards [Vietnam] as well because there are also serious issues in the East,” Sam Rainsy said by phone from Paris.
“At this time, our Khmers have to be unified to defend our territorial integrity – both the West and East,” he added.
Rights groups opposed the decision to strip Sam Rainsy of his immunity, repeating the SRP leader’s statement that the markers he uprooted were not official border markers.
“It is a political issue because those posts were not legal, official posts,” said Vibol Sim, the national project coordinator for the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, agreed that parliament had no real grounds to strip Sam Rainsy’s immunity.
“This action is just intended to show political muscle. It will only prompt more and more criticism,” he said.
Diplomats expelled in tit-for-tat
Photo by: AFP
Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Thursday greets ecstatic Red Shirt supporters at a hotel in Siem Reap province after arriving from Phnom Penh.CAMBODIA and Thailand expelled senior diplomats from their respective embassies on Thursday, the same day that fugitive Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra told an audience in Phnom Penh that Thailand’s current leadership is guilty of “false patriotism”.
“We declared the first secretary of the Thai embassy as persona non grata,” Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said.
“We just declared that, and then Thailand reciprocated, meaning our first secretary to the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok will come back, too.”
Asked to explain the Cambodian government’s decision, Koy Kuong said only that the Thai first secretary “performed his duty contrary to his position”.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the expulsion was the result of Thailand being “arrogant”.
“Cambodia did not make the first move. This follows the recall of the Thai ambassador,” he said. “We should respect each other through diplomatic channels, but Thailand doesn’t respect them. They overreacted.”
Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi confirmed the expulsion, though he added that both countries have maintained personnel at their respective embassies.
“We still have a presence, and they, too, still have a presence. The channel of communication is still open,” he said.
The expulsions mark the latest step in the countries’ ongoing row over Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin as a government economics adviser. In response to this appointment, Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia last week, and Cambodia responded in kind.
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup and self-exiled last year to avoid a prison term for corruption charges.
Speaking in his new advisory capacity on Thursday morning, Thaksin emphasised the need for cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia as he told a gathering at the Ministry of Economy and Finance that the two countries’ economic fortunes are inextricably linked. But he added: “Of
course, not all my compatriots see it that way right now.
“I do not believe those who do not share our vision right now are myopic. Their domestic political compulsions force them to false patriotism. Let’s pray that they, too, will one day appreciate this partnership for progress,” he said.
In the conference’s opening address, Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Thaksin’s tenure as prime minister “is generally agreed to have been one of the most distinctive in the country’s modern history”.
“Whatever the critics say about Thaksinomics, the achievements were astonishing,” Keat Chhon said.
Thaksin and Keat Chhon were speaking at a conference titled “Cambodia and the World After the Financial Crisis”, attended by about 300 economic experts and members of the business community.
Security at the conference was heavy, with members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit providing protection for Thaksin.
Members of the media were ushered out of the conference hall minutes after Thaksin began speaking.
Following the lecture, Thaksin travelled to Siem Reap, where he visited the Angkor Wat temple complex and planned to play golf with Hun Sen on Friday, Siem Reap provincial Governor Sou Phirin said.
The onetime telecommuncations mogul was greeted upon arrival in Siem Reap by members of Thailand’s Red Shirts, and the Bangkok Post reported Thursday that parliamentarians from the opposition Puea Thai party planned to travel to Cambodia “to drink with their former party leader on Friday night until dawn before seeing him off to Dubai on Saturday morning”.
In Bangkok, about 150 protesters rallied outside the Cambodian embassy on Thursday and delivered an open letter telling Hun Sen not to interfere in Thailand’s justice system, Thai police said.
Speaking before the diplomats’ expulsion Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he was considering further retaliatory measures against Cambodia. He added, however, that his government would not seal the border, and that the rift with Phnom Penh would not lead to violence.
“I don’t want the situation going out of control,” he said.
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