Published: 13/12/2009
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
It was, as Bangkok Post columnist Veera Prateepchaikul put it, "a well-scripted drama", and the government had no lines. Sivarak Chutipong, the Thai accused of spying, had no choice but to play his own silent part: Fire his first lawyer, go to court, receive his pre-determined "guilty" sentence, be respectful, go back to his cell at the unspeakable Prey Sar prison and wait for the gracious King Norodom Sihamoni to grant his pardon.
In this drama, Sivarak's mother Simarak na Nakhon Phanom appeared as the tragic figure.
The prosecutor, Sivarak and Mrs Simarak all fingered a senior Thai diplomat at the embassy in Phnom Penh as the key figure in the case. First secretary Kamrob Palawatwichai was identified by all three as asking Sivarak for Thaksin's flight plan. But Mr Kamrob was kicked out of Cambodia and has not appeared in any of the public events surrounding the trial - and of course could not have been at the trial even if he had wanted.
Still, ''Where is Kamrob?'' sobbed Mrs Simarak immediately after the verdict. She called on the diplomat to ''act responsibly'' for getting her son in trouble.
Mrs Simarak, weeping over the fate of her son, bitter at the former first secretary, finally turned to the only obvious middleman.
On cue, Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh strode in, ready to invoke the name of party icon Thaksin Shinawatra and speak to the Khmer authorities about Sivarak. By coincidence, in fact, Gen Chavalit already had prepared a letter to Hun Sen, asking for help.
The foreign ministry found itself basically unable to help. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, from the beginning, has been the very personal target of Hun Sen, for remarks he made as a yellow shirt supporter.
The ministry hired a lawyer for Sivarak _ and he was fired by his client for botching the case. The ministry was waiting for a copy of the court verdict to study its options while Gen Chavalit already had his amnesty appeal ready.
Cambodia wanted a few days, maybe a few weeks, to let everyone stew, but the stage was clearly set and, as this column wrote two weeks ago, the point is near where Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterates he has no quarrel with Thailand, only with the government, and Cambodia ''takes its propaganda gains, releases the 'spy' and calls the whole thing off''.
No comments:
Post a Comment