Conduct most unbecoming

Bangkok Post Editorial Published: 12/11/2009 at 12:00 AM

Cambodia is pushing relations with Thailand to the brink by formally refusing to extradite fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been found guilty by a Thai court on a conflict of interest charge and sentenced in absentia to two years in jail.

It is quite clear Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen values his friendship with Thaksin more than his country's relations with Thailand. From his latest comments to members of the press at Pochentong Airport on Sunday, it is obvious that Hun Sen is determined to play the Thaksin card to the fullest and to intensify his ascerbic criticism of Thailand. It would be no exaggeration to conclude that the Khmer leader holds our country in utter contempt. Hun Sen did not mince words in showing his disapproval of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai legal system and the Thai military.

Regarding Mr Abhisit, the Cambodian prime minister basically called the Thai PM a kid and a thief. He accused Mr Abhisit of "stealing things" from other people - apparently referring to the defection of Newin Chidchob and his followers from the pro-Thaksin People Power Party to form the coalition government with the Democrat Party.

Apart from offering one-sided views regarding the state of politics in Thailand, Hun Sen went so far as to dare Mr Abhisit to dissolve the House and call a fresh election. The open and defiant manner in which Hun Sen said this raises a serious question: since when has Thai parliamentary affairs been part of the Cambodian leader's business?

The worst part of his soliloquy, however, was when Hun Sen offered the opinion that the Thai justice system was not worthy of respect. As a leader of government, Hun Sen must know such an utterance about another country is most unbecoming. So, what objective could he have in mind?

As a shrewd politician and the longest-serving prime minister in this region, Hun Sen must have carefully calculated the positive and negative consequences of this game of brinkmanship he is playing with Thailand. Certainly there is no denying the Cambodian leader is playing a dangerous game. Relations between the two countries are now at an all-time low, since the 2003 burning of the Thai embassy and other Thai properties in Phnom Penh by angry Khmer crowds. Indeed, further provocation may worsen the situation and drag the two countries into a violent confrontation.

Hun Sen may think relations can be restored once there is a regime change in Thailand, preferably one that would be more accommodating towards Cambodia. If his brinkmanship game is solely meant for the benefit of Cambodia despite the risks involved, then Hun Sen might even be praised for putting the national interest first. However, the strongman should remember that people's feelings are harder "to fix" than formal relations. It is this degradation of feelings on the ground that is the most dangerous of all.

Considering what Hun Sen was spouting, it is shocking that Thaksin, a former prime minister, can now stand by his side and receive the insult to his own country and people without any sense of shame or guilt. But the fugitive has chosen to play along with Hun Sen like comrades-in-arms who share common interests.

Bearing in mind Hun Sen's game of goading, Thailand must exercise every caution not to be led into a trap. Any response to Phnom Penh's rejection of Bangkok's extradition request must be carefully considered. And we must prepare against Thaksin using Cambodia as a springboard to further destabilise his own motherland.