It seems like nothing will ever change

7/02/2011
Saritdet Marukatat
Bangkok Post
Opinion

How the years go by! It's not quite right. As far as relations between Thailand and Cambodia are concerned, they have gone nowhere. Or you can say they are going backward, if you like.

The border battles on Friday and Saturday came as no surprise, given the exchanges of words and tactics _ both diplomatically and militarily _ since the seven Thais stepped out of bounds on Dec 29. Since then ties between Bangkok and Phnom Penh have not been the same as the arrests of those people have been politicised here in Thailand and over there in Cambodia.

The People's Alliance for Democracy and its ally, the Thai Patriots Network, are using the issue to try to topple the government and are continuing to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva into finding a way to gain the quick release of the remaining two Thais _ Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Pipatanapaiboon _ detained on espionage charges at Prey Sar prison after the five others were released and sent home.

Over there in Cambodia, instead of trying to cool down the growing tension, the Cambodian government has made things worse by erecting those tablets and flying its national flag in the area claimed by the two countries. That led to both countries reinforcing their troop strength at the border near Preah Vihear temple.

Then the inevitable happened _ clashes broke out on Friday and on the weekend followed by a ceasefire. This is all very familiar. It is almost identical to what happened at the same place in 2008.

Back then the PAD rallied against the Thaksin Shinawatra-backed government of the day for supporting the Hindu temple being listed as a World Heritage site. The yellow shirts and the network failed to prevent the Unesco listing but the protests began a momentum to sweep Thaksin and any political party he supported out of power.

Their border rally in 2008 also led to armed clashes between the two countries and, like this time, it ended with a ceasefire as well as promises by the two governments' leaders not to allow border fighting to happen again.

Mr Abhisit and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen promised to get on the hotline to each other immediately if anything untoward occurred that could blow up into another conflict. That would appear to have been an empty promise judging from the way the two countries have handled the latest lethal exchange of firepower.

In the wake of the border clashes, it seems pointless to indulge in another round of words and propaganda. The point is not who fired the first shot or intruded into the disputed territory first on Friday, who killed or injured more soldiers (and border villagers as well) than the other, or who decided to order the gunfire to stop first in order to restore calm on the border. It is not about who wins and who loses.

The point is the way the occurrences in 2008 came back to haunt us again last week and to show us that the government and the army leaders of the two countries have been very immature in handling the situation. The latest clashes would not have happened had the two governments used better judgement in sorting out the problem.

Now it will be very embarrassing if the two countries cannot settle this conflict by themselves. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has said it is ready to step in if requested to mediate. Who else? The United Nations probably. But the best way is for the two prime ministers to sit together at the same table and use their collective intelligence to find better ways to avoid another neighbourhood spat. They must make serious efforts to put an end once and for all to the problem of who owns that 4.6 square kilometre area.

One not-so-smart move by Thailand is to seek the suspension of Preah Vihear's World Heritage listing. That can only further heat up the already degrading diplomatic atmosphere. By making this move, as Mr Abhisit is reportedly planning, it can boost support from the nationalists for his government and ease the pressure from the PAD and TPN. But what of Cambodia's feelings? Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia; that was the ruling of the International Court of Justice back in 1962.

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Saritdet Marukatat is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.