How can you label someone a 'spy' without spying on him?

Suthichai Yoon
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date: 17-12-2009

Sivarak Chutipong was right. The Thai engineer was victim of a bizarre "spy" scam. If there was a conspiracy behind his arrest, he had nothing to do with it. He put it aptly when he asked: "Who would want to stage an incident to spend 32 days in jail?"

After all, Thaksin Shinawatra, the former premier whose previous visit to Cambodia ended with Sivarak being put behind bars, is afraid to spend even one day in prison. He is still wanted in Thailand to serve a two-year jail term. And his desperate attempt to create chaos everywhere has only one objective: Avoid jail at all cost.

In that context, Sivarak has proved to be a much more courageous man than Thaksin.

The well-scripted charade began even before Sivarak was brought into the picture. Cambodian Premier Hun Sen and Thaksin colluded to set the stage for a showdown with the Abhisit government. When the Thai government sought Thaksin's extradition, Hun Sen didn't waste one minute in rejecting it.

That wasn't enough though. The plot had to be thicker than just a recall of ambassadors. That's when the Thai Embassy's first secretary, Kamrob, was declared persona non grata. And that's when Sivarak was brought into the picture.

The young Thai engineer, an employee of aviation traffic firm CATS, was charged with spying. He was accused of having stolen classified documents that could threaten national security and Thaksin's personal safety.

He was supposed to have talked to the Thai diplomat, who enquired about Thaksin's flight to Cambodia. Sivarak maintained in the court hearings that there was nothing confidential about Thaksin's flight plan. In fact, when he talked to Kamrob on the phone, the plane had already landed 20 minutes earlier.

"I didn't give the first secretary any confidential information. What I got was general knowledge," Sivarak told the court.

But the court ruled him guilty anyway ("as expected", as one newspaper here put it.) The verdict said that Thaksin, being Hun Sen's economic adviser, was an honorary Cambodian citizen whose life had to be protected. So, any sign of a possible threat would be considered a violation of the law. The question of whether what Sivarak told Kamrob was confidential or not conveniently became secondary.

The seven-year jail term came as a shock to Sivarak. But observers in Bangkok were quick to point to a prompt pardon. The thinly-veiled script was a no-brainer. Thaksin would ask Hun Sen to seek a royal amnesty for Sivarak - and everything would be done to ensure that the Abhisit government was put in a highly embarrassing situation.

As if on cue, Thaksin's Pheu Thai Party quickly drew up a letter to request amnesty. The party's chairman, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, didn't waste any time in telling the world that Sivarak would be free soon. The letter didn't even have to be delivered. Thaksin was readying to fly to Phnom Penh - and, sure enough, the royal pardon was granted even before a request could be filed.

In one of the strangest twists in the whole episode, Thaksin rushed to Prey Sor Prison to "question" him about "who was the mastermind?" Why he was permitted into jail to conduct a personal interrogation of someone who had just been released on a royal pardon was never explained. It could only happen in a country where the leader calls all the shots.

But there was no mastermind. The Thai diplomat had called Sivarak to enquire about the arrival in the Cambodian capital of a man wanted for having fled a two-year jail term. Sivarak was only telling him what he knew - what every reporter in town knew. And the diplomat was only doing his duty.

The following day's release ceremony at Hun Sen's home was even more bizarre. Sivarak, the alleged spy who could threaten Thaksin and Hun Sen's lives, suddenly became a hero. No former inmate had ever been given such treatment before, here or anywhere else.

The drama was all to ensure that tension continues between Hun Sen's Cambodia and the Thai government under Abhisit. But amidst the show of great mercy and compassion, one question has yet to be answered: Where's the evidence that Sivarak actually spoke to Thai diplomat Kamrob - not to mention what they had actually discussed?

How did the Cambodian officials drum up the espionage charge against the Thai engineer if there was no counter-espionage involved?

In other words, were the Cambodian authorities eavesdropping on the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh? If not, where's the proof against Sivarak?

If the answer is yes, a new diplomatic incident may be in the offing. After all, you can't call someone a spy without having spied on him.