Spy farce turns into a comedy of errors

By Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation

Published on December 16, 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

I SPENT the last 24 hours trying to figure Hun Sen out. I failed. The sugar daddy smile, the warm handshake, the photo session - in fact, the overall treatment of pardoned Thai "spy" Sivarak Chutipong was simply out of this world. It was the closest real-life diplomacy has ever come to Mr Bean.

I stand by my previous assertion that if this was a set-up, it must have started after Sivarak's arrest, and the man must have played no part in it. Cambodia was damned serious when it held him on spy charges and expelled a senior Thai diplomat, and it should not be forgotten that Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya rushed back from Singapore upon hearing about the incidents.

To add to the suspicion that the Thai side had a skeleton in the cupboard, First Secretary Kamrob Palawatwichai has never been allowed to talk to the media since being sent home.

While it is understandable to save Kamrob, a proclaimed poor speaker, from incriminating himself diplomatically, sequestering him away is a bad idea. No matter how terrible his stage fright is, a first secretary of an embassy should at least be able to remember a couple of lines. "I'm a Thai official stationed in Cambodia, and Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai fugitive wanted by my government. If you were me, wouldn't you be curious about whether he had actually landed and where he plans to go next?" You know, something like that.

By shielding Kamrob, the Thai Foreign Ministry played into Cambodia's and Thaksin's hands. Phnom Penh used the conspicuous silence to justify its espionage claims, the swift legal action, and the seven-year imprisonment verdict on Sivarak. Thaksin, on the other hand, was allowed to recover from the politically damaging charges that he was the main reason why Sivarak had been arrested.

More importantly, though, putting Kamrob in virtual hiding meant the Foreign Ministry missed a great opportunity to convey a strong message to the Thai public that he was simply doing what any diplomat in his situation would have done. "I'm sorry that in doing my job I have caused Sivarak and his family so much misery, and I hope our government does the best it can to help him" would have sufficed.

Instead, the Foreign Ministry took it all in, and thus failed to nail a very important point that Cambodia was as much, if not more, to blame for the "spy" saga. Kamrob represented all the great difficulties that arise when one country decides to adopt a "criminal" from a neighbouring country it has diplomatic relations and an extradition treaty with.

The Thai ministry has made a mistake, but now has Hun Sen to thank for what looks like a narrow escape. For someone accused of endangering Cambodia's national security and sentenced to seven years in jail, Sivarak's pardon as a spy within 24 hours of his conviction must have set a few world records. But the speed with which the Cambodians raced to set him free has paled in comparison with his send-off ceremony.

The photos could easily be mistaken for ones taken from a high-profile engagement or wedding ceremony, with Sivarak being a shy groom and Hun Sen a proud father-in-law. What was the Cambodian leader thinking, allowing a "spy" who had just been sentenced to seven years to be that casually close to him? The man could have fatally stabbed him with a poison pen or one arm from a pair of eyeglasses.

Thaksin was not in the photos, but I bet he was nearby, a gleeful observer who was feeling like a hero.

Which brings us to another big irony. Cambodia made such a big fuss out of Sivarak's alleged attempt to discover Thaksin's whereabouts, but it has shown no qualms about putting the convict within striking distance of a man whose location he is not supposed to know. And if you look at other pictures carefully, the others at the wedding - sorry, send-off ceremony - must be a who's who in the I-know-Thaksin's-next-stop list. How could Sivarak ever be allowed to mingle with them?

I can only hope it didn't get more bizarre than this behind the scenes. In those photos, jubilant Hun Sen looked completely capable of letting slip something like, "Come back to visit us sometime, son. What? Oh, January 2 is perfect because Thaksin will return to Cambodia on that day. His plane will land around 11pm and we plan to tee off at four. Do you play golf, by the way?"