Learning About Our Neighbors: Farwell Abhisit

Prime Minister Abhisit (Mark) Vejjajiva (and his party) has been defeated. His immediate resignation from the Democrat Party and his concession to Pheu Thai Party are great examples for other Khmer leaders who have been clinging to power for too long regardless whether the Khmer people like them or not. 

Cambodian political leaders, too, tend to hold on to their respective position(s) for life.

Leadership changing provides new and fresh air for both sides—the leaders and followers—to breathe; and it is good for the country. Clinging to power too long provides the breeding ground for corruption, nepotism, etc. and it is one of the major factors that can lead to a great destruction from deadly uprisings.

Even the law of nature offers no excuse for “permanence” because nothing is permanent except change. This time, Thais don’t just change their leaders; they elected the first woman to become their Prime Minister. They are tired of being led by "men".

For Prime Minister Abhisit, leaving his positions at the right time and the right moment is the right thing to do. He deserves to be congratulated.  

Thailand uses Muscle to get "arm-twisting" or bilateral talk with Cambodia

From the very beginning of the conflicts, Thai military did not want to have a third party involved with border issues between Thailand and Cambodia fearing that the world would know the truth about Thailand's naked aggression.

The meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, failed for Thailand refused to send its high officials to meet Gen. Tea Banh and Hor Nam Hong there. Mr. Tea and Hor went home empty-handed.

Since then Thailand has prepared for a bigger war with Cambodia by conducting military exercises instead. New additional war planes freshly purchased from Sweden had also arrived in Thailand. 

Now to prove that Thailand means business, Abhisit is demanding again for the "bilateral talk" while Thailand is flexing its military muscle at the border. Thai military have warned that sophisticated weapons would be used. The CNN report below helps prove that Thailand would do whatever it takes to twist Cambodia's arm.

In addition, Thailand blamed Cambodia that it was Cambodian soldiers who started the fight. Perhaps Thai leaders think that they can fool the world again about their naked aggression.

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Troops clash in disputed area along Thailand-Cambodia border

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 23, 2011 5:01 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Each side blames the other for the violence
• Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages
• Cambodian officials accuse Thai troops of attacking
• Thai officials say Cambodia violated an agreement over weapons and troops

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Renewed clashes in a disputed area along the Thailand-Cambodia border killed at least one Thai soldier and left 11 people injured Saturday, Thailand's MCOT news agency reported.
The skirmish came a day after officials said three Thai soldiers and three Cambodian soldiers were killed in fighting there.

Each side blames the other for the violence, which erupted Friday near two temples in the Phanom Dong Rak district of Thailand's Surin province.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from nearby villages.
 Cambodian state-run media described the situation as a "Thai invasion."

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Cambodia's deputy prime minister said Thai troops had engaged in a "large-scale attack with many types of weapons," targeting areas around temples "deep inside Cambodian territory."

Thai army Lt. Col. Siriya Khuangsirikul accused Cambodia of violating an agreement not to bring weapons or post troops in the disputed area.

Cambodian Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat claimed Thai troops shelled and damaged temples, and flew over Cambodian territory with spy planes, Cambodia's state-run Agence Kampuchea Presse reported.

At least 10 people were killed when renewed fighting flared up in another disputed border area between the two nations in February, prompting the U.N. Security Council to issue a statement calling on both sides to implement a permanent cease-fire and "resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue."

Those clashes, which lasted four days, stemmed from a longstanding conflict related to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. Both Cambodia and Thailand lay claim to the temple, which sits atop a cliff on Cambodian soil but has its most accessible entrance on the Thai side.

At the time, each nation accused the other of firing first, according to a statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.


Conflict over the site has taken place periodically for years. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the site was in Cambodia, adding that the structure was "an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture."

But Thailand says the 1.8-square-mile (4.7-square-kilometer) area around Preah Vihear was never fully demarcated, and blames a map drawn at the beginning of the 20th-century during the French occupation of Cambodia.

CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this repor

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Cambodian, Thai armed clashes force 5,000 Cambodian villagers flee home

PHNOM PENH, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Two straight days of armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops over the disputed border areas have forced 1,420 Cambodian families to flee their home for safe shelter, said a senior government official on Saturday.

As of Saturday at 4:00 p.m., 1,420 families with 5,000 people have been evacuated to a safe shelter in Banteay Meanchey province' s Samrong district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone, Nhim Vanda, the first vice-president of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, said on Saturday.

The two straight days of armed clashes on Friday and Saturday broke out at the Ta Mon Thom temple and Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey province, left troops on both sides killed and injured, the temples were in damage and villagers' properties were destroyed.

In the villages near the fighting areas, Cambodian soldiers have found shrapnel and craters resulted from the artillery shelling by Thai troops during the clashes.

Cambodia's Ministry of Defense on Saturday afternoon issued a statement to condemn Thailand for its "repeated deliberate acts of aggression against Cambodia."

"Thai side used DK 75 and 105 mm heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas in today's (April 23, 2011) assault," it said. "Thai military aircraft, including reconnaissance planes flew deep into Cambodia's airspace."

"Heavy weapons, including 130 mm, 105 mm and 155 mm artilleries have also been used during this latest military onslaught," the statement said.

The latest military clashes between the two countries'troops reoccurred just more than two months after the deadly clash on Feb. 4-7 at the border disputed area next to the Preah Vihear temple, a World Heritage Site.

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand have had a border conflict due to Thai claim of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

Meanwhile, Indonesia, as current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), strongly called for the immediate cessation of hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand that recommenced since April 22, a press statement said on Saturday.

"Indonesia also calls for the two sides to continue to resolve their differences through peaceful means as has been reflected in addressing the border dispute between the two countries," said Kusuma Habir, a spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry.

She said that Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is in communication with his Cambodian and Thailand counterparts to address this latest development.

Like an ostrich, Thailand buries its head but the rest...

Original image at: thesingularityprinciple.blogspot.com/

May be it is better for Thailand to tell the truth and try to rebuild its reputation by helping to clean up those bombs to avoid fatalities and injuries to innocent Khmer civilians who have nothing to do with Thai warmongers.


With modern technology and up-to-date knowledge, people can learn fast and Thailand cannot hide the truth forever.

Fighting with a mall and weak neighboring country like Cambodia will not demonstrate that Thailand is strong, it only tell the world about its naked aggression toward Cambodia.

The uses of cluster bombs, regardless of what reasons, will further destroy Thailand’s integrity and will make Cambodia become more credible.

Cambodians are 100 percents behind Hun Sen when it comes to Preah Vihear issue and they believe him when he said that, “Thailand signs agreements with its hand and quickly erases them with its foot.”

Timothy S. Chhim
    

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Thai Bomb Talk

By Luke HuntApril 13, 2011


StumbleUpon Digg Delicious Reddit Yahoo Buzz Mixx Google Buzz Plurk When the last round of fighting erupted between Cambodia and Thailand around Preah Vihear Temple earlier this year, vigilant journalists suspected cluster bombs were being used, putting civilian populations at great risk. Cluster munitions are explosives that contain smaller bomblets and are too often detonated by civilians long after battles have subsided.

They’re a favorite for children who unwittingly pick-up what they think are toys.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen initially claimed that Thai soldiers had used cluster bombs; a charge denied by Bangkok, which determined it was in fact the Cambodians who’d used the munitions.

Now, experts from the international group Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), who visited the Thai-Cambodia border and interviewed people injured by the fighting near the Preah Vihear, have confirmed that almost half of the 12 border sites they recently toured were contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs. More importantly, they’ve pointed the finger of blame at Thailand.

Neither Cambodia nor Thailand has signed an international convention outlawing use of the weapons, which has been agreed to by 108 other countries. Perhaps they think technically, this means they stand on solid ground from an international legal standpoint.

But in a classic case of doublespeak Thailand admits that while it didn’t use actual cluster munitions, it did deploy the also-controversial Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM), in response to Cambodia's attacks with BM-21 rocket launcher systems, which struck at targets indiscriminately.

‘Such attacks had impacted Thai civilians. It was therefore necessary for Thai troops to act in self-defense against such military targets,’ the Thai foreign ministry stated last week. This admission was soon picked up by CMC Director Laura Cheeseman, who said a DPICM is in fact ‘a classic example’ of a cluster munition.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi responded, quickly dismissing CMC's claim by saying the group ‘misinterpreted’ the Thai Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Sihasak Phuangketkeow who’d confirmed the use of DPICM.

According to latest reports, the Thai defense ministry continues to insist that clusters were not used and its sources are now saying that the weapon in question could be the Caesar self-propelled howitzer—whose artillery also bursts into bomblets. It added the army has suspended its use however, after the border clashes in February. Cheeseman says armies do categorize weapons differently, however, that no country besides Thailand has ever questioned the DPICM as a cluster munition.

CMC investigators are urging both Cambodia and Thailand to ban all cluster munitions by joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the international treaty that prohibits the use, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs—instead of muddying the waters with questions over definitions.

Importantly, it wants Thailand to release more information about the bombs it’s used so the mess can be cleaned-up and perhaps a few lives can be saved.

Less doublespeak would also be welcomed.

Thank you Supalak Ganjanakhundee. The world have learned long ago who have controlled the Thai Government--the ones who possess cluster bombs. 

The two cases in question--the Thai-Khmer border talk and the deployment of cluster bombs--show the world that Abhisit is just a figurehead, to put it lightly. However, some may say he is just a puppet.

The whole situation is an embarrassment to Thailand and makes the "bully boy next door" more mature.

Now what is the King of Thailand going to do?

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BURNING ISSUE

Military should not be allowed to interfere in foreign policy

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on April 13, 2011

The latest statement from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in relation to posting Indonesian observers at the disputed area near Preah Vihear Temple clearly reflects that it is the military, not the government, that controls Thailand's foreign policy toward Cambodia.

On his weekly talk show, Abhisit said his government had taken the same stance as the military - to not allow Indonesian observers to be |stationed on the 4.6 square kilometres area near the temple, which |Thailand believes comes under its |sovereignty.

Nobody should have a problem if the area in question really belongs to Thailand. If the area is truly under |Thai sovereignty, then it has the right to decide who does or does not enter it. In reality though, this piece of |land is being clamed by both |Thailand and Cambodia, and it |sits at the core of the conflict |between both neighbours.


The Thai military just raised the issue as a tactic to defer the observation. If the observers are kept out of the disputed area, they will have no knowledge of what really happens. This would make the Indonesia-proposed peace plan meaningless and allow the military to scrap it.


The government was wrong in believing that it has full mandate on the foreign policy involving Cambodia when it authorised the Foreign Ministry to make a deal with Indonesia and Cambodia in February, during which it was decided that observers would be stationed at Preah Vihear to monitor a permanent ceasefire.


Indonesia, as chair of Asean, has to lend a hand in resolving the conflict because Phnom Penh took the February border skirmish to the United Nations Security Council. The Security Council then asked Asean to implement a permanent ceasefire.

Initially, having unarmed Indonesian observers monitoring the border situation sounded fine. Many government officials even claimed |that this was a diplomatic victory to prevent aggressive acts from the |other side.

However, this sweet victory turned into a bitter pill a week later when the military disagreed with the idea of stationing observers, saying involving a third party was unnecessary.


Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who represents the military rather than the government, previously tried to use diplomatic means to defer the deal saying he needed to discuss the terms of reference (TOR) with his Cambodian counterpart in the General Border Commission (GBC). However, when Indonesia called a meeting of the GBC and the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) in Bogor last week, the Thai military, in a |very undiplomatic response, simply refused to go.

The government pretended to honour the deal that it had already agreed upon and tried to explain that Thailand needed more time to study and negotiate the TOR, when in reality it already had more than a month to read and study the proposal.


Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya should have been the one taking care of negotiations with Indonesia and the TOR on observers. Dealing with other countries is his job, not that of the military. As the foreign minister of an elected government, Kasit has the authority to make deals with other countries and honour them.


The Army should only be consulted on technical matters, such as the terrain in the area and whether it is safe from landmines. If the case of foreign observers is a policy matter, then it's the government's call to make the decision.

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Bangkok Post

Behind THE NEWS

Unrest stirs between ministry and army

• Published: 13/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Signs of conflict between the Foreign Ministry and the Thai Army emerged when Supreme Commander Songkitti Jaggabatara said last week that Indonesian observers would not be allowed to enter the disputed border area.

Gen Songkitti also said an agreement the Foreign Ministry had reached with Cambodia and Indonesia to send Indonesian observers to the disputed border area "has nothing to do with the military".

The deal was made on Feb 22 when Indonesia, as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, called the Asean Foreign Ministers meeting in Jakarta to resolve the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. The meeting ended with the two countries accepting an Indonesian observer team be stationed along their common border.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya did not directly respond to Gen Songkitti's comment but said Thailand is an open society and everybody is free to express their opinions.

Mr Kasit confirmed he held talks with Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and Army Chief Prayuth Chan-ocha over the Thai-Cambodian issue almost every week.

But he could not make public details of the discussion because some issues have not been finalised.
"Although we [the ministry and the army] have different opinions, we can still sit and talk with each other," Mr Kasit said.

Regarding the deployment of Indonesian observers, a ministry source said the only inconclusive section of the terms of reference was the "areas of coverage". This is an important point because it determines where the Indonesian observers team will be stationed.

In fact, the Foreign Ministry and the army have both agreed that the Indonesian observers should not be posted in the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area.

The army also planned to inform the Cambodian military about the Thai stance regarding the Indonesian observers at the General Border Committee (GBC), which is led by defence ministers from Thailand and Cambodia.

But the army changed its mind and refused to join the GBC meeting when Cambodia, the host of the next GBC meeting, insisted the talks must be held in a third country, which is Indonesia.

This has led to the impasse and prompted Mr Kasit to offer to clear the issue during a meeting with Gen Prawit last Wednesday. Although Mr Kasit has decided to take over from the Defence Ministry the task of defining the roles of Indonesian observers and the locations along the Thai-Cambodian border where they would be posted, it could not handle the matter alone, the source said.

Citizen Jane of Bangkok: The military is in charge on the border [Really?]

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen usually says that the Thais signs agreements with their hand and quickly erases them with their foot!

The military is in charge on the border


Published on April 13, 2011
One does not have to be an apologist for the less-than-fragrant Phnom Penh regime to recognise the accuracy of the Cambodian foreign minister's complaint that Thailand's government and military speak with different tongues over the border dispute (The Nation news report, April 10).


Anybody with a modicum of experience of Thai affairs realises that ultimately it is the military that calls the shots (excuse the pun). This was shown during the domestic crackdown last May, when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was a "house guest" at Army HQ, and earlier this year, when fighting broke out on the border unbeknown to Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who was in Phnom Penh ostensibly negotiating at the time.


Of course, persistent and credible accusations of the inexcusable use of cluster bombs by the Thai side at Preah Vihear in February may well reinforce the reluctance of the Thai authorities, and the Army in particular, to involve outside observers, facilitators or mediators. This topic is very well covered in your editorial of April 11.

It is all a far cry from one of the generally accepted tenets of a functioning democracy, that the military is subject to the authority of an elected executive and has a duty to protect civilians.

To adapt an old saying to the situation here: the government proposes; the army disposes.

Citizen Jane

Bangkok
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