PM denies border tour was secret

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva grimaces as he walks from the Thai Khu Fa building at Government House to attend the cabinet meeting yesterday. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD

5/01/2011
Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has addressed a news conference to explain a YouTube video clip which shows Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth making a phone call to someone to tell Mr Abhisit's secretary, Somkiart Krongwatanasuk, that he and six other Thais were crossing the border into Cambodia just before they were arrested last Wednesday by Cambodian soldiers. The following are the prime minister's responses to questions from reporters.

Did you order Mr Panich to go on this trip?

I assigned Mr Panich to coordinate with a group of people who do not understand the Thai-Cambodian problem, to ease the conflict in Thai society to prevent it from escalating and affecting the Thai-Cambodian relationship.

Mr Panich reported to me that there were local people who had problems using land along the border. He wanted to go to the area to take care of this issue.

He told me he would go to Prachin Buri, not Sa Kaeo. He also asked me how he could coordinate with the local authorities. I told him to call me when he arrived in the area where he needed to coordinate with the authorities.

Mr Panich's secretary called me after he [Mr Panich] was arrested.

Why did Mr Panich tell somebody to tell your secretary not to tell anybody [that he was inside Cambodian territory]?

Mr Panich informed only me about the trip. If the PM's secretary was to report to other people, they would not understand. So he had to inform me. It was not a secret mission.

Didn't Mr Panich coordinate with the local authorities?

That area was under the responsibility of the Border Patrol Police. We need to find out what happened with the Border Patrol Police checkpoints along the road and why there were no policemen on it that day.

This is not the time to criticise anybody. We will find out when the situation eases.

Have you watched the video clip?

Yes, I have. The clip should be more than four minutes long. The person who posted it on YouTube cut it to a little over one minute.

[Mr Panich] said [in the uncut version of the clip] he believed he was in Thai territory and heading for boundary marker No.46.

We should not make an assumption from the cut version of the video clip [in which Mr Panich was seen speaking on the phone] that he was going into Cambodia and that I was aware of it.

Will this clip make it more difficult for the government to help the seven Thais who were arrested?

There is no indication there will be a problem. I have ordered relevant agencies to follow this issue closely.

Foreign Minister Kasit [Piromya] went to Cambodia and was given the video clip, which lasted more than 20 minutes.

We brought the video back and sent a Thai official on Dec 31 to go to the areas shown in the video [with the cooperation of the Cambodian authorities] to find the exact location where the Thai people were arrested.

Officials tried to locate the area on maps the next day but the existing maps lack the detail of roads and geographic conditions, which makes the identification difficult.

Did you know Veera Somkwamkid, a coordinator with the People's Alliance for Democracy, would also be on the trip?

[Mr Panich] didn't tell me he would go with Mr Veera. He told me only he would go with Mr Samdin [Lertbutr, a PAD activist].

In the video clip, when the Cambodian authorities ask him why he did not coordinate with anybody, he said he didn't find anybody when he passed the Border Patrol Police checkpoints. This is a fact that I know.

So far, I have not yet talked to Mr Panich and I don't want the issue to escalate.

Is the relationship with Cambodia still normal?

You mean now? It's normal. Please let me work on the issue first.