13-12-2009
Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Has the tension eased between Thailand and Cambodia? Yes. Is the diplomatic row between the neighbouring countries nearer to a solution? Probably not. Cambodia's royal pardon, granted to the convicted Thai "spy" so swiftly after a Phnom Penh court sentenced him to seven years in prison, seemed as politically motivated as the man's arrest itself, and it has left both countries' volatile relationship as unpredictable as ever.
The pardon was given by the person least visible and audible in the diplomatic uproar. King Norodom Sihamoni has been a distant watcher at best, as Bangkok and Phnom Penh brought their stormy ties to near breaking point with one controversial retribution after another. Yet it took him less than 24 hours to decide that a man found guilty of endangering Cambodia's national security can immediately walk free. We don't know how the pardon-seeking process works in Cambodia, but in most other countries it should involve committees, opinions from people who matter and a lot of consultations.
However, the amazingly prompt process can only be good for the convict and his family. Thai engineer Sivarak Chutipong was simply someone caught in the middle of a very intricate diplomatic and political rivalry. He has been quickly released, despite being made to look like one of Cambodia's biggest security threats, because nobody wins if he had to stay on in jail.
His ordeal has embarrassed the Abhisit Vejjajiva government and also put new dents in Thaksin Shinawatra's ebbing popularity. It's debatable who should bear the bigger blame for his plight, but both sides played big parts in events leading to his arrest. Thaksin's decisions to take up Cambodia's appointment as an economic adviser and come to Cambodia following an invitation that he could have easily declined made the Bangkok government curious about his movements - and the rest is history.
Thaksin's situation was then further complicated by the revelation that Sivarak's mother was a sympathiser of the red shirts (a group supporting ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra). A Thai citizen ending up in jail because of him was politically bad enough, so the red-shirted connection meant that he could not stand idly by and watch him wither in a Cambodian cell. Thaksin's Pheu Thai Party's scrambling to spearhead the pardon campaign was not as much of a ploy to discredit the Democrats as an effort to help Thaksin bounce back from the setback.
The Democrats' situation wasn't better. Despite the government's denial that Sivarak was snooping for Thaksin's travel data following a request from the foreign ministry, few believed the man was acting on his own. It didn't matter whether the information the man obtained was highly classified or not. Politics is about perception, and if the government was perceived to be responsible for Sivarak's arrest and the heavy penalty, that would be very difficult to change. So, whether the credit goes to Thaksin, or Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, or the Pheu Thai Party, now that Sivarak has been pardoned, the Democrats should feel relieved.
The Phnom Penh government, meanwhile, had nothing to gain from Sivarak languishing in its jail. And like Thaksin, Prime Minister Hun Sen saw his own situation compromised by the red-shirted connection of Sivarak's mother. The Thai man could not be acquitted, since that would have made a mockery of his arrest, but Hun Sen's ties with Thaksin and the need to prevent the badly cracked relationship with Bangkok from being completely shattered, dictated that the convict had better be freed.
So, it seemed like a ceasefire on the surface, but perhaps Sivarak has been pardoned so the warring parties could move down their collision course without an unpredictable political baggage that was helping nobody. What lies ahead for Thai-Cambodian relations still depends on the very same factors that got Sivarak into trouble in the first place. And it will take something bigger and more significant than the world-record speedy pardon to bring everything back to normal.
0 comments:
Post a Comment