COMMENTARY: The Big Lie Tactic of the Thai Government May be a Prelude to Renewed Armed Clashes with Cambodia

The ill-willed fabrication by the Thai authorities, including the Thai Prime Minister, concerning the arrest of three people, claimed to be from Cambodia and one of whom is accused of being a “spy”, is a groundless allegation aimed at misleading the public and creating the pretext on which to justify aggression against Cambodia in the future.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is reported by ASTV Manager Online and Thai-ASEAN News Network/ TAN (10 June 2011) as saying that Thailand will file a complaint in this Cambodian spy case to the International Court of Justice, and inflating the row by saying that the three arrested are Cambodians.

The Royal Government of Cambodia, on the same day, through statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defence rejected this baseless accusation by firmly and clearly stressing that “Cambodia does not have any required necessity to do what the Thai Prime Minister had exaggerated”.

This spying accusation against Cambodia is made deliberately while Cambodia and Thailand are awaiting the interpretation of the 1962 Judgment of International Court of Justice, following the application by Cambodia, together with a request for provisional measures to prevent the Thai government from invading Cambodia and to withdraw its armed forces unconditionally from Cambodian territory in the vicinity of the Temple of Preah Vihear.

After returning from the International Court of Justice in the Hague, on 2 June 2011, H.E. Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, said that Thai could attack Cambodia again at any time. This statement is a message to inform the national and international public of the Thai’s provocative design to invade Cambodia using its mysterious, secret, unilaterally-drawn and not internationally recognized-map.

Clear aggression against Cambodian territorial sovereignty by Thailand has occurred repeatedly. Furthermore, the present Thai’s caretaker government issued a warning that “Thailand will reject any injunctions by the International Court of Justice for the withdrawal of its troops from the disputed border with Cambodia”.

According to the Statement of Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense of 3 June 2011, from 31 May to 3 June 2011, Thais had used an L-19 plane and a paraglider to spy on and heedlessly violate Cambodia’s airspace along the border in the region of Thmor Pouk, and O Chrov of Oddar Meanchey Province and Phnom Preuk district of Battambang Province. These are deemed as provocations and a prelude to renewed armed clashes, in which the Thai government has to bear responsibility in the present and the future.

With bravado deemed a threat of war against Cambodia, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, Thailand’s Defence Minister, is quoted in the Bangkok Post (5 June 2011) as saying that “Although ICJ asks Thailand to withdraw its troops, it will not withdraw”.

This statement is in line with the foreign article which reads that “Thai could become the big brother of ASEAN”.

Mr. Supalak Ganjanakhundee, writer of The Nation Newspaper, in his article published on 8 June 2011 under the title “Thailand cannot duck World Court Verdict” puts forward the truth when he states that “The possibilities for Thailand to defy an injunction or a verdict by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Preah Vihear case is very low as the Court – the top judicial body of the United Nations – has many instruments and tools to enforce its ruling.”

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other senior Thai leaders have often been known to blame journalists for misquoting, as happened in this case when, according to the Post Today (8 June 2011), Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan stated that “I did not say such a thing and this has been interpreted by the journalists themselves”. It is unfair and a pity for Thai journalists that their country’s leaders would twist what they have said and put such blame on the others.

Threatening to use all means, military and diplomatic against Cambodia, Thailand has since 2008 declared that Cambodia must leave the 4.6 sq km. and this accompanied by frequent shelling into Cambodian territory has occurred. These acts of aggression normally take place after the sabre-rattling warnings by the Thai leaders. It is widely remembered that on 27 January 2011, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced that “the use of force will be the last resort…… Thai government is not afraid of war with Cambodia”.

Now similar utterances have been heard again by the followers of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit’s. General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, Commander-In-Chief of the Thai army, was quoted by the Bangkok Post on 9 June 2011 as saying that “military measure or the use of force will also be resorted to in order to protect Thailand’s territory.” In truth, it is not for the protection of their territory but for the capture of Cambodian territory based on its mysterious, secret, unilaterally-drawn and not internationally recognized-map.

In contrast, the Royal Government of Cambodia’s efforts in addressing the border dispute with Thailand have been legitimately made and are based on the internationally-recognized Annex I (Dangrek) map. Moreover, Cambodia firmly adheres to her stance that Cambodia has never accepted any so-called overlapping 4.6-sq km. That area is de jure under Cambodia’s sovereinty.

The Thai military’s aggressive attack towards Cambodia can be seen as in support of two strategies of the leaders of Thai government. First, to promote ultra-nationalism and territorial ambition based on Thailand’s unilaterally-drawn and mysterious map, along the lines of the acts of Fascist Hitler and dictatorial Mussolini of Italy during the World War II period. Second, this act of aggression is wielded as part of Thailand’s internal political crisis resulting from the September-2006 coup to oust elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Some think that caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit may even hold Cambodia hostage for his political purpose when realising what will be the result of the upcoming election in Thailand. According to a survey, the Puea Thai Party is leading, so Mr. Abhisit may seek a pretext to wage war against Cambodia before or after the election so as to prolong his grip on power and keep the Puea Thai Party out of government.

To pursue his ill intentions, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will be not reluctant to invent new problems to put the blame on Cambodia. It is noted that in the lead-up to World Heritage Committee meeting, the Thai government has always created many new problems (particularly the military issues) for which blame and oppose Cambodia, in order to complicate the work of the World Heritage Committee and UNESCO as well as to block the involvement of the international community.

In addition, the Thai government has, on seven occasions, refused to accept the Terms of Reference for dispatching Indonesian observers to the disputed border area, seemingly showing that Thailand intends to grab this opportunity to renew war. However, many times already have the caretaker government’s tricks been unmasked by the international community, causing the diplomatic failure of the Thai government. 

One such trick is the denial that Thai forces fired 414 artillery shells at the Temple of Preah Vihear, by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, while Mr. Suwit Khunkitti, Thai Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, proudly told the meeting of the World Heritage Committee that the Temple of Preah Vihear did not suffer damage. This is a bold lie. Thailand is a big country that has aggressively violated Cambodia’s territory, but Thailand has instead accused Cambodia of being an aggressor.

Even though the Cambodia’s Temple of Preah Vihear was already inscribed on the World Heritage List in Quebec, Canada in 2008, the Thai Prime Minister and a number of Thai senior officials have continued to complain about the inscription and have demanded a joint-inscription of the Temple with Cambodia, despite the fact that Thailand is the aggressor and the destroyer of the Temple of Preah Vihear. Witnessed by the Chair of the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brazil, the leader of theThai delegation signed an agreement with Cambodia to accept the Management and Development Plan for the Preah Vihear Temple area to be considered in the upcoming 35th Session of the World Heritage Committee, to be held in France in late June. The Thai side has fabricated false reports about that fact.

The Thai government should reconsider and change its attitude since respecting international laws is the most important foundation to ensure regional and global peace, and it is binding for Thailand.

The recent announcement of resorting to military means as Thai goverment’s last option to resolve the border dispute with Cambodia and the accusation of espionage against Cambodian citizen prove that this caretaker government has been misleading public opinion and creating many problems linked to Cambodia. Moreover, these actions could prove that the Abhisit government only adheres to the policy of waging bloody war and using tricks to invade Cambodia in order to retain its power. However, the violation of international goodwill by Thailand could not be whitewashed to conceal it from the international community.

Phnom Penh 15 June 2011
Press and Quick Reaction Unit