Call off rallies at the border

4/01/2011
EDITORIAL
Bangkok Post

The splinter group that flatters itself with the name Thai Patriots Network (TPN) should get a better grip on its actions and improve its understanding of good neighbourliness. This spinoff from the People's Alliance for Democracy has called for an unfriendly public rally at Sa Kaeo today. The target of the protest is Cambodia and its government. The "patriots" are demanding that Phnom Penh release their core leader and six other Thais who were arrested last week for illegal entry into Cambodia.

The protest is wrong on several levels, and should be abandoned so that reason and diplomacy can prevail.

The first and greatest reason to call off this and other anti-Cambodia protests is that they are wrong-headed. In fact, it is well known that Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government hold a specific contempt for the PAD and its offshoots. It is laughable that the Thai Patriots Network might believe that a relatively small protest could influence Hun Sen and his government. If anything, given the Cambodian leader's public statements, protests by yellow shirts only will increase the probability of continued detention and trial for network leader Veera Somkwamkid, Democrat Party MP Panich Vikitsreth and the other five Thais arrested inside Cambodia after having crossed from Sa Kaeo's Khok Sung district into Cambodia on Dec 29.

The leaders of the PAD should also reconsider their stance towards this branch group, and stop providing them with political shelter. Most supporters of the yellow shirts have little sympathy for the Thai Patriots Network's strident campaign against both Cambodia and the government. An outspoken critic of the Phnom Penh authorities himself, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is highly qualified to judge whether border agreements with Cambodia have violated Thai sovereignty. Like almost all Thais, he strongly insists they have not.

In fact, a string of Thai governments dating back to the prime minister Chuan Leekpai have carefully studied and negotiated border agreements with Cambodia. Without a word of dissent, every prime minister and foreign minister has agreed that the border documents are in order, and completely in line with international law, bilateral relations and Thai sovereignty.

The claims by the small and noisy Thai Patriots Network that Cambodia has been handed Thai territory appear baseless to all experts involved.

In addition, the armed forces and other security agencies have agreed with the successive governments. Top Thai commanders have been in regular touch with Cambodian counterparts and understand as well as - or better than - most citizens the exact state of border security. No responsible, informed border security agency or officer agrees with the PAD group that our borders are endangered by Cambodian pacts and treaties.

After years of protests, and months of increasingly provocative border incidents, the Thai Patriots Network would do well to back off. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and others can handle both the border relations and the mini-crisis over the Phnom Penh Seven. There should be no rally at Sa Kaeo, or provocations anywhere near the Cambodian border.

It is not credible that a small political group can be right, and all governments and armed forces officers wrong about Cambodian border security. In the interests of better border relations, Hun Sen should recommend against pressing charges against the arrested seven men. This is a case where the government should be allowed to handle the matter.