According to Thai Lt Gen Tawatchai, "Cambodia used unmanned aerial vehicles to photograph Thai military locations and Thailand also used similar aircraft to do the same on Cambodian soil."
No one believes that kind of excuse, but the joke is on you Lt General Tawatchai.
General Tawatchai, maybe you were smoking some kind of weed for what you were seeing was probably Cambodian kites flown by Khmer children who was playing around Ta Krabeiy Temple.
Or may be it was just a Cambodian white pigeon looking for his long lost partner because of Cambodia's deforestation problems. How many birds shot by Thai soldiers lately?
Next time you should come up with a better joke, like Thai military leaders saw a UFO flown by Hun Manet or something. How about this: Hun Manet invented a unmanned aircraft using his T-shirt brought from the West Point Military Academy.
With the military budget of less than 200 million dollars per year, Cambodia cannot even afford to buy boots for it soldiers let alone to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles to spy on Thailand. Maybe you are right General; Cambodia used flip-flops to save money in order to buy flying objects to spy on Thailand.
Gen. Hun Manet, please keep your "magical tool kits" to use later. Next time make sure you use the latest model F222 Jet you made in your basement.
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Cambodian officers gave their word, not Hun Sen
The Bangkok Post
- Published: 25/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son, an army commander, have broken a gentleman's agreement for a truce, leading to the latest border clash and damage to both Thailand and Cambodia.
Thai soldiers expected their Cambodian counterparts to honour the gentleman's agreement for a truce, so they trusted their counterparts and sustained many deaths and injuries from the unexpected opening of fire.
The Thai-Cambodian border seemed peaceful over the past two months, after the truce had been agreed by Thai soldiers led by army chief-of-staff Dapong Rattanasuwan and Cambodian soldiers led by Cambodian army deputy commander Hun Manet in Cambodian territory next to Chong Sa-ngam border pass in Phu Sing district of Thailand's Si Sa Ket province.
Thai and Cambodian soldiers coexisted in a friendly manner in the 4.6 square kilometre disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.
They met, shared meals, played sports and enjoyed the Songkran water festival together. That together with the supposed credibility of the son of Hun Sen convinced Thai soldiers that Cambodia was honouring the truce.
However, a local source said there were signs leading to the latest clash. During the Songkran festival Lt Gen Hun Manet, in his capacity as the combat commander in the vicinity of the Preah Vihear temple, came to Preah Vihear province and Gen Kun Kim, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, travelled to areas near Ta Kwai and Ta Muen temples to inspect and promote local soldiers.
Cambodian soldiers conducted military exercises from late March to last week. They also made reinforcements but claimed the movements were only parts of such drills.
Cambodia used unmanned aerial vehicles to photograph Thai military locations and Thailand also used similar aircraft to do the same on Cambodian soil.
"It is surely the order of Hun Sen because he is upset with the Thai armed forces' refusal to welcome military observers from Indonesia and determination on bilateral approaches. [He] wants to escalate the issue internationally so he had to trigger fire to attract the UN and other countries to handle the issue," said Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon, commander of Thailand's 2nd Army, who supervises defence affairs in the Northeast.
"I did not think Cambodian soldiers would break the promise. Although the truce was not signed, it was a gentleman's agreement."
He said Cambodian soldiers always opened fire first. He contacted a local Cambodian commander who said it was an order. Lt Gen Tawatchai said the order was known to have come from Hun Sen.
"The order of Hun Sen led to the deaths and injury of Cambodian soldiers and heavy damage of their weaponry as Thai soldiers responded equally. We are more precise and even ready to use Caesar [self-propelled] artillery," Lt Gen Tawatchai said.
He has also put his soldiers near the Preah Vihear temple in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket on standby as Cambodian soldiers removed the covers of their artillery and multi-barrel rocket launchers there.
"Regarding the situation at Preah Vihear, it depends on Hun Sen as to whether he wants it to expand to the area. It is up to him because we are only defensive and are fully ready," Lt Gen Tawatchai said.
"Don't worry. If [you] shoot at us, [we] will fire back with similar weapons. The Army chief has given a green light. Thai soldiers do not want a fight or a war but Cambodian soldiers started it. So, we must fight and react to protect Thai soldiers, sovereignty and Thai people.
"From now on, we will not believe in any promise or gentleman's agreement from Cambodian soldiers. Even on the first day of the clash, they told us by phone to stop firing our artillery but when we stopped, Cambodia resumed firing their artillery shells at us."
He also denied reports that Thai soldiers were captured by Cambodian troops.
