POST BAG From Cambodia with clarity

Bangkok Post
13/10/2009

Opinion

Re: "Hun Sen, Cambodia's agent provocateur?" (Bangkok Post, Oct 7) written by "pseudo scholar" Pavin Chachavalpong-pun. His article, which was written with ill will and malicious intent, contains many manipulative and baseless arguments against Samdech Techo Hun Sen, prime minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, as follows:

First, when the Thai soldiers entered Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda near Preah Vihear temple, Cambodia exercised maximum restraint and great tolerance because the country was about to hold elections. At the same time, Prime Minister Hun Sen wanted to avoid armed clashes between the two countries.

Second, undoubtedly Prime Minister Hun Sen is far from being an ''agent provocateur''. He is a statesman and a respected leader of Asean. He did not stir up nationalism, as the writer has wrongly accused. In fact, it was Thailand that initiated the problem and tried to exploit extreme nationalist sentiment in order to make political gains.

Third, if you know Prime Minister Hun Sen, he has never wanted to provoke an armed conflict with Thailand. There is, and has been, no reason whatsoever for him to engage in this act of provocation. The true reality is that Thailand was the one that started it all. No peace-loving nation on earth like Cambodia wants to make political gains by provoking armed conflict with its neighbours. Therefore, the recent tensions between the two countries began with the yellow-shirt protesters from Thailand who wanted to enter our Preah Vihear temple.

The Cambodian government simply wanted to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. With regard to the point of warning the Thais to stop ''trespassing on Cambodian land'', what Prime Minister Hun Sen really wanted was to protect Cambodia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to avoid any armed clash between the two sides.

Fourth, Prime Minister Hun Sen never said that he wanted Thailand to give up its Asean chairmanship. Again, this is another factual error. What he really said at the time was whether Thailand would be able to host the Asean Summit and other related meetings, given its domestic situation then. Of course, later the Asean Summit and other meetings in Pattaya were cancelled, in April of this year. What Prime Minister Hun Sen said was proved absolutely right and no one can deny this fact.

Fifth, there was no need for Prime Minister Hun Sen to use the Preah Vihear temple issue to increase his popularity because he is already popular, and his Cambodian People's Party won the election with more than a two-thirds majority.

Sixth, after Thailand had destroyed the Cambodian market inside our territory, the Royal Government of Cambodia had to demand that the former pay compensation to the Cambodian people who were affected by the destruction of the market on Cambodian soil. This is a normal process, and Thailand should comply.

Seventh, we all know very well that the opposition party in any country in the world usually does not have any good things to say about the government in power. So, do you really want to join the opposition party in Cambodia against the Royal Government of Cambodia?
Finally, the issue of ''love-hate relations'' could only take place in Thailand, certainly not in Cambodia. Everyone in the world knows that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia. Cambodia has no ''love-hate relations'' whatsoever.