Local Paper Says Thailand Orchestrates Border Trespass Incident To Gain Political Mileage

Bangkok 1 January 2011

The arrest of seven Thais including a Bangkok MP over the recent border trespass incident-- subsequently charged with illegal entry and entering a Cambodian military base with ill-intent -- has led to media speculation that Thais had orchestrated the border incident to gain political mileage in its upcoming elections (Nokorwat news in Khmer language). The article adds that those Thai detainees are a tool used by Bangkok politicians to achieve their political ambitions.

The paper also calls the border trespass incident an “old tactic, new incident”, saying that Thailand will use the incident to serve its political ambition. It specifically pointed out how Abhisit’s government would exploit the latest border issue for political purposes ranging from effort to win support from Thai voters in the next elections to trying to achieve its “aggression ambition” by creating so-called overlapping or disputed border areas, which Cambodians believe that such areas do not exist as per verdict on the Preah Vihear case handed down by the World Court in 1962.

The same paper’s commentry argued that the newly deployed Thai troops “armed to the teeth” a long the border areas -- to ostensibly prevent the Thai protesters from going to the border areas to protest and casue “problems” -- is said to be Thailand’s old ploy or tactic to allow its military the opportunity to set up positions permanently to achieve both political and aggession objectives.