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POLITICS: Cambodia Raises Stakes, Ties with Thailand Plummet
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Nov 12 (IPS) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is known for his brash and earthy vocabulary
even when, as he did in early April, he talks about himself. "I am neither a
gangster nor a gentleman, but a real man," the politician who has led his
country for 25 years said in a fit of rage.
The target of his ire at the time was Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya,
following comments the latter had made during a parliamentary debate in
the Thai capital.
Hun Sen criticised Kasit for calling him a "gangster" during that debate, but
Kasit shot back, saying his description of Hun Sen in Thai had got lost in
translation. The actual words were "Nak Leng," Kasit had explained, which in
Thai means "a person who is lion-hearted, a courageous and magnanimous
gentleman."
It was Kasit’s second run-in with the Cambodian leader in under a year. In
late 2008, when the former veteran Thai diplomat was in the political
wilderness as a speaker for a conservative, right-wing protest movement, he
had called Hun Sen a "thug" during a speech at a public rally.
If the new Thai government, formed under a cloud of controversy last
December, was hoping that Hun Sen would move on from such moments,
then the current war of words between the two countries suggests otherwise.
"The Thais seem to have forgotten that Hun Sen has a very good memory. He
does not forget easily," a South-east Asian diplomat from a regional capital
told IPS on the condition of anonymity. "He unearths details and history he
knows well to go after those who criticise him."
But the current war of words between Cambodia and Thailand has
degenerated into personal insults and a trading of charges about interfering
into each country’s judicial and domestic affairs.
Hun Sen raised the stakes this week in an increasingly volatile relationship
between the two South-east Asian kingdoms by targeting his Thai
counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva, in a verbal barrage.
"I would not be surprised if there was a link here with comments made by
political allies of Abhisit," the diplomat added. "It is Hun Sen getting back."
Besides words, Phnom Penh also rejected a request by Bangkok on Wednesday
for the extradition of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who
arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to begin his new role as Hun Sen’s economic
advisor.
Thaksin, whose popular elected government was turfed out of power in a
2006 military coup, has been living in exile to avoid a two-year jail term after
a Thai court found him guilty in a conflict-of-interest case.
To goad the Abhisit administration, Hun Sen welcomed Thaksin with warm
hugs and handshakes, and offered his own villa in Phnom Penh for the
fugitive former Thai premier to stay in.
Bangkok has not fallen for Phnom Penh’s bait, for now. Even though it bristles
at such hospitality and the verbal salvos fired by Hun Sen, the Thai
government is trying to stay above the fray, offering statements that appear
calm and diplomatic.
"The government is stressing that the problem between both countries is still
a bilateral issue," Thani Thongphakdi, Thai foreign ministry’s deputy
spokesman, told IPS. "We want to see a positive sign from Cambodia that
gives precedence to bilateral ties over personal relationships."
Yet at the same time, the Thai government is taking a tougher line towards
the range of ties it maintains with its eastern neighbour. "We are reviewing
existing agreements, existing cooperation and future cooperation between
the two countries," Thani revealed. "Everything is on the table."
Bangkok’s unilateral actions against Cambodia has already seen the Thai
ambassador in Phnom Penh withdrawn and Thailand revoking a memorandum
of understanding between the two countries to explore oil and gas reserves
in the Gulf of Thailand.
It followed Hun Sen’s tongue-lashing that targeted Abhisit. "People should
know that when I was starting my political career, the Thai prime minister
(Abhisit) was still a child running around, playing," Hun Sen told Cambodian
journalists on Sunday, the transcripts of which IPS has seen.
"If Abhisit is so sure of himself, then he should call an election. ‘What are you
afraid of? Is it that you are afraid you will not be the prime minister?’" Hun
Sen continued, driving home his current achievement as South-east Asia’s
longest-standing premier, as opposed to Abhisit, who has been in office for
less than a year.
"I am prime minister of Cambodia who has received two-thirds of the vote in
the Cambodian parliament. How many votes does Abhisit have? ‘You have
chosen somebody else’s chair to seat yourself in’," goaded Hun Sen, referring
to the question of legitimacy that has dogged the Abhisit government. "You
claim other people’s property as your own. How can we respect that?"
The 57-year-old Hun Sen has been Cambodia’s premier for 25 years, a
period where he has not shied from revealing his authoritarian streak, using a
mix of violence, intrigue and verbal attacks to cling to power. His journey to
power began on the economic and social fringes of the poorer Cambodia,
including a short stint when still a teenager as a soldier for the genocidal
Khmer Rouge in the later 1970s.
The 45-year-old Abhisit hails from the opposite end, being born into wealth,
enjoying a British education and feeling at home among Thailand’s patricians.
He formed a coalition government after a controversial court ruling last
December saw the collapse of the elected government, paving the way—
through a combination of military influence and cash enticements to broker a
deal—to secure a parliamentary vote than a win at a general election.
Hun Sen’s penchant for dipping into his country’s history to take on the
Abhisit administration is also threatening to expose a darker side of
Thailand’s relationship with its poorer and weaker eastern neighbour.
To counter Bangkok’s current charges that Phnom Penh is interfering in
Thailand’s internal politics and judicial system by rolling out the welcome mat
for Thaksin, Hun Sen retorts by reminding the Thais about the hospitality they
offered to Khmer Rouge leaders like Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, now
about to face justice in a United Nations war crimes tribunal.
"The Thai judiciary has not much value to be respected," Hun Sen said during
his weekend encounter with Cambodian journalists. "Khmer Rouge leaders
Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were living in Thailand for years. This was a
violation of international law that Thailand had signed."
"Hun Sen is absolutely correct," said Tom Fawthrop, co-author of ‘Getting
away with Genocide? Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal’. "In fact
after 1979, when the Khmer Rouge were driven out of Cambodia by Vietnam,
(Khmer Rouge leader) Pol Pot and other leaders all fled to Thailand."
"The Khmer Rouge’s fight to regain power was aided by logistics and
weapons that flowed through Thailand, even tanks," Fawthrop, a regional
expert who spends time in Phnom Penh, told IPS. "The Thais violated the
international law after the 1991 Paris peace accord by letting the Khmer
Rouge operate along its border, which was not the case along the Vietnamese
and Laotian borders."
Hun Sen’s current anti-Abhisit rhetoric may not be the isolated views of
Cambodia’s leader but may find resonance among its people, added
Fawthrop. "The Thai-Cambodian relationship has to be looked at in a
historical context. The Cambodians feel a huge sense of grievance."
(END/2009)
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