Hush the border radicals

Dec 27, 2011
Bangkok Post

One of the early and positive achievements of the Pheu Thai government is the dramatically improved relations with Cambodia. Almost as soon as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was sworn into office, the tension between the countries dropped. Diplomacy is nearly back on a dignified level, and the military officers are once again conducting professional talks and negotiations. It still is not entirely smooth or always pleasant to be the neighbour of Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, but Thai-Cambodian relations can be described as peaceful once again.

This is why it is disturbing to hear from the self-styled nationalists that the very top politicians, diplomats and military officers are giving away Thai territory to Cambodia. It happened again over the weekend, when Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa and army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha flew back to Bangkok from the General Border Committee meeting with Cambodian counterparts in Phnom Penh. The top military men of the two countries spent several days putting together a border agreement which, for the first time, will pull back all troops from the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple _ and involve foreign observers from Indonesia.

The very far right wing of the People's Alliance for Democracy immediately criticised the deal. The self-described patriots alleged, and not for the first time, that the high-level border agreement is not just a sellout. Pulling back Thai troops from the disputed area is allegedly the equivalent of giving the territory to Phnom Penh, as the extremists view it.

On the question of the Cambodian border, then, there now is more disagreement among Thais than between Thailand and Cambodia. It is important, then, that the government carefully describe the state of border relations with Cambodia, so the extremists can be dismissed. Credit Gen Yutthasak, then, for his cooperation with the media, and his detailed explanation of what occurred at the Phnom Penh meeting, and what will happen at and around Preah Vihear in coming months.

First, it is a welcome development that the two countries will pull their troops back. During the last government, under then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, several battles broke out in the Preah Vihear region, over nothing but misunderstandings on troop positions. Soldiers died in at least three such clashes, villagers were terrorised and the local economy was damaged. This is a border between two friendly countries, and does not require a heavily armed military presence 24 hours a day. A mutual standdown is in the interests of both countries _ and that is what Gen Yutthasak and his team negotiated over several hard, tough days at the bargaining table.

Thailand and Cambodia will always have points of dispute; neighbours always do. But it was just a year ago that Cambodia arrested a member of parliament and six other Thais for illegal entry. A year ago this week, Gen Preecha Iamsuphan of the PAD insisted there was "only one answer, that is to go to war" with Cambodia.

One hopes in the very changed circumstances that Ms Yingluck will resume efforts to free the two misguided and "patriotic" Thais from prison in Phnom Penh. For certain, given Hun Sen's record of trying to score cheap points, the government must exercise all caution to ensure that Cambodia lives up to last week's Preah Vihear agreement. But one must also never lose sight of the fact that Cambodia and Thailand are peaceful neighbours, and it is safe to ignore the tiny minority trying to whip up enmity.