A couple of days ago, I read the news about the Thai engineer, who had been prosecuted by Cambodian government for spying, was pardoned by Cambodian king, from ‘Cambodian Monarch Pardons Thai Held as Spy’, The New York Times.
Actually, Thai and Cambodian government have had some trivial conflicts for a long time, but it seems to be worse after Thaksin went into exile. Mr Siwarak was convicted of spying by sending the flight information of Thaksin’s arrival to Thai diplomat who was eventually exile from Cambodia. He’d been sentenced to 7 years in jail and fined around 100,000 baht. Strangely, his mother says that she’d seek help from Thasik and his nominee party in Thailand rather than Thai government. Soon after a verdict, the king who is apparently a puppet of Mr Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia, pardoned Mr Siwarak for his crime. Certainly, the pardon was granted before Thai government’s request. Then, who has mercy? The answer is Hun Sen, Thaksin and the nominee politicians. After the pardon, Mr Siwarak was treated too well for a convict who had commit a crime that seriously harms the security of Cambodia as they claimed. He was invited to Hun Sen’s place and allowed to continue to work in Cambodia, which was very different from my expectation that he will be exciled immediately. Pheu Thai Party, opposition party, use this situation to demonstrate that Thai government has no power, But Thailand do need a hero like Thaksin as he was coming back. More than that, Hun Sen also use this case to discredit Thai government for such crime. But this role play was so lame that almost everyone can notice. It’s like a game of politician as people are their tools or victims, so far, we don’t know they are parts of this show or not.
I thought it was a rather comical farce; it's certainly entertained everyone and grabbed the headlines for a while.
ReplyDeleteI think Q is right that it was done to discredit the Thai government, and perhaps also to suggest other parallels with the Thai justice system.
I can't believe that anyone could seriously believe that Siwarak was ever a threat to Cambodia's national security. But "national security" is a popular excuse for governments to act unjustly. When governments, armies and police talk about "national security", it usually means that they are going to do something seriously unjust against their own citizens.
As Q comments, "It’s like a game of politician" where the citizens "are their tools or victims".