16/12/2009
Bangkok Post
The first secretary to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, Kamrob Palawatwichai, is caught between a rock and a hard place over the Cambodian "spy" saga.
Some people are calling for his head while his colleagues are pressuring the government to support him.
Mr Kamrob's position has become even more tenuous since the release on Monday of Sivarak Chutipong, the Thai engineer who was arrested by the Cambodian government on a spying charge on Nov 12 and pardoned on Friday. But both the Foreign Ministry and Mr Kamrob have good reasons to keep their heads down.
Sivarak's mother, Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, has demanded Mr Kamrob publicly take responsibility for the arrest and conviction of her son.
The Cambodia Air Traffic Services engineer, on his return to Thailand on Monday, also demanded the diplomat tell the truth about why he wanted to know whether former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's jet had landed on Cambodian soil last month.
Since being expelled from Phnom Penh as persona non grata on Nov 12, Mr Kamrob and the ministry have kept silent to try to distance junior staff from being dragged further into the political quagmire by the opposition Puea Thai Party. "The whole incident is giving him nightmares," a ministry official said of Mr Kamrob.
The first secretary asked Sivarak for information regarding Thaksin's arrival in Phnom Penh on Nov 10 where he was to give a lecture as the newly appointed economic adviser to the Cambodian government. As an escapee from Thai justice after being sentenced to two years in jail over the Ratchadaphisek land purchase scandal, Thaksin is a target for the Thai government which wants him to serve out his sentence.
"If a fugitive is in any country, it is the responsibility of the diplomats based in that country to check arrival information in order to coordinate extradition with prosecutors," said ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.
Many officials at the ministry are worried that if Mr Kamrob were to say this publicly, it would give Puea Thai a chance to further politicise the issue in order to attack Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who has been hunting Thaksin since he came to office one year ago. Prior to that, he was a strong critic of Thaksin at People's Alliance for Democracy rallies.
Mr Kamrob, who was assigned by the ministry to look after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Thailand in October, is not the only one feeling the pressure from Sivarak's family. Mr Kasit is in a similar position with ministry officials who want him to come out to say something to protect Mr Kamrob.
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