Thursday, August 07, 2008

Dust settles on ministry transfers [-Virachai Plasai returns to Thai FM to negotiate Preah vihear temple with Cambodia]

Thursday August 07, 2008
Bangkok Post

After the dust has settled, the truth will appear. This statement by former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama when he announced his resignation last month can be perfectly applied to the transfer of senior Foreign Ministry officials on Tuesday.

Current Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag proposed on Tuesday that the cabinet reinstate the three ministry officials who had been transferred by Mr Noppadon to their previous positions at the ministry.

They include Virachai Plasai, now ambassador attached to the ministry, to replace Krit Kraijitti. Mr Krit will return to his old job as chief of the International Economic Affairs Department now held by Thanatip Upatising. Mr Thanatip will return to his old position as ambassador attached to the ministry.

Mr Noppadon's reason for the abrupt transfer of Mr Virachai on May 6 was because he wanted to improve work efficiency by putting the right man in the right job. Mr Virachai was also alleged to have performed unsatisfactorily in the eyes of Mr Noppadon.

But a motive for the transfer, which the public still believes even now Mr Noppadon has gone, is in connection with the documents about the controversial purchase of Suvarnabhumi's CTX bomb scanners, which came under Mr Virachai's responsibility.

Certain politicians were believed to be eager to see the document in order to help former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra fight his corruption case.

Now, with the proverbial dust having settled, Mr Virachai was chosen by Mr Tej as a key figure in the negotiations with Cambodia on July 28 in Siem Reap that led to the agreement by both sides to reduce their troops around Preah Vihear temple.

The transfer of Mr Krit back to his old job at the International Economic Department does not mean he did anything wrong during his three months in the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department. In fact, he performed very well in protecting the Thai territory from Cambodia in the border dispute.

Mr Tej might see Mr Virachai has more experience in dealing with the Preah Vihear case, as he had followed this issue since the Christchurch meeting last year, when Cambodia tried to list the temple as a World Heritage site using the controversial 1907 France-Siam map which shows an overlapping area with Thailand.

In addition, Mr Virachai also has experience negotiating with Laos in the bloody dispute over the sovereignty of Ban Rom Kao in 1988.

At least one thing is for sure after Mr Noppadon's departure from the ministry - ministry officials confirmed he did not take a copy of the CTX document with him.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cam should resuffle ministries too

Anonymous said...

no way, you'll see that the government cabinet will be bigger than before.

Anonymous said...

He's already said it-gov;t bigger and it don't cause a damn problem like Cambodia is as large as China or US.

He talked along his tales of how to coped with Siam. Yet I can;t believed he sounds really PROUD WITH THE SITUATIONS!!!

Folks I anticipate that this matter will be prolonged as long as Ah Siam want to to go!!!!! Hun Xen will wait and hope to see PAD in Siam CRACKED DOWN LIKE THE PROTESTERS IN CAMBODIA!!!!AND HE CAN;T DO A DAMN ABOUT IT-YOU CAN WAIT AND SEE!!! AND FINALLY HE AND HIS CORRUPTED CABINET WILL PROPOSE THE JOINT DEVELOPMENT WITH AH SIAM IN ORDER NOT TO LET THE SITUATION ESCALATE SINCE MUCH BENEFITS OR EVEN HIS POWER WILL BE OVERTHROWN!!!!! HE WILL UNSHAMELY BARK WITH THE SAME BULLSHITS OF CO-SHARING INTERESTS AND NOT LOSE ANY INCH OF SOIL TO AH SIAM LIKE HE DID WITH AH YOUN!!!!!!!!

COULD ANYONE FIGURE OUT HE FUCKING WANTS TO DO TO RESOLVE THE BORDER DISPUTES WITH AH SIAM INSTEAD OF BOWING AND SHOWING HIS CHICKEN-FRIENDLY TAIL TO AH SIAM????????