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The noisy row between Thailand and Cambodia over fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra continued to dominate the front pages, as Thaksin's comments on the monarchy reported in an interview with The Times further inflamed passions.

The spat which began a week ago when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen offered a safe haven for Thaksin and then appointed him economic adviser intensified into the downgrading of diplomatic relations. The Thai government early this week recalled its ambassador in Phnom Penh, saying Hun Sen had interferred in Thailand's internal affairs. Phnom Penh immedlately responded in kind.

Bangkok also began reviewing all its legal obligations with Cambodia. One of the first casualties will be the 1.4 billion baht grant provided by Thailand for the construction of a road in Cambodia. But the Thai government has repeatedly stated it will not shut the border with Cambodia.

The already heated relations nosedived on Wednesday when Thailand’s formal request for Thaksin’s extradition was flatly rejected by Phnom Penh.

One day later, Phnom Penh expelled the first secretary at the Thai embassy, Kamrob Palawatwichai. In quick response, Bangkok also told the first secretary of the Cambodian embassy to leave within 48 hours.

"The Thai diplomat has executed work in contradiction to his position," Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said on Thursday, but refused to give further details.

On Friday, Cambodian police announced a Thai mechanic had been arrested on Wednesday on espionage charges, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sivarak Chotipong, 31, employed by Cambodia Air Traffic Services, had allegedly passed Thaksin's and Hun Sen's travel details to Thai authorities, Xinhua reported.

It was not known if the two incidents were linked, but the abrupt expulsion of the Thai envoy did coincide with Thaksin’s lecture to Cambodian state officials and businessmen in Phnom Penh as he began his job as Cambodia’s economic adviser after arrivingn by private jet on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen seemed bent on fuelling the tense bilateral conflict. In a press interview on Nov 9 upon his return from the Mekong region summit in Tokyo, he poured scorn on Thailand, the Thai judicial system, the Thai military and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva - whom he likened to a thief for stealing the seat of power (from Thaksin).

While the two governments are engaged in diplomatic tie-for-tat, the Thai and Cambodian armies maintained their distance from the feuding. The border remains calm with not troop reinforcements - only a Camboldian promise to withdraw a paratroop unit.

Aside from provoking uproar at home on his arrival in Phnom Penh, Thaksin sparked off widespread umbrage over his reported interview with The Timesonline website, which touched on the monarchy in a manner deemed as offensive to the highly respected institution.

Thaksin denied he intended to offend the monarchy and accused Timesonline of twisting his words. Thaksin also offered an apology in his Twitter column.The Times posted a transcript it said was approved by Thaksin's interpreter.

The government was not amused and asked its legal people if lese majeste charges could be brought against the fugitive.

Fired up by what they viewed as the provocative actions of Thaksin and Hun Sen, the People’s Alliance for Democracy announced a mass demonstration of "people power" in support of the monarchy and against Thaksin and Hun Sen this Sunday afternoon at Sanam Luang.

While the Abhisit government is busily fending off assaults from Thaksin and Hun Sen, its power base in the parliament appears to have weakened to an extent that the coalition alliance may be threatened.

The debate in the parliament on the controversial Thai-Cambodian border committee’s minutes on Monday was abruptly adjourned for lack of a quorum. Bitter bickering between government and opposition MPs in the parliament the following day also forced an adjournment.

House meetings are frequently stopped while a call is made for a quorum, and then adjourned for the simple reason too few MPs are present in the building or they don't bother to respond.

Political observers warn that this is a dangerous sign for the government’s political stability, and also unbecoming of the standards expected of MPs elected to represent the people in the parliament.

The curtain has finally fallen on one of the country’s most infamous corruption cases – the multi-billion baht Klong Dan water treatment project in Samut Prakan. The Dusit district court sentenced former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame and ten other people to three years imprisonment for colluding to sell land at inflated prices to the Pollution Control Department for the project and of wrongfully issuing land titles to public land sold to the project.

Vatana was earlier given a 10 year jail sentence after he was found guilty by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on related charges. He jumped bail before verdict was delivered and he wasn't in court when the latest verdict was anounced on Thursday. He is believed to be in Cambodia, where he has casino interests.

The Election Commission on Tuesday decided to extend by another 30 days its probe into the donation scandal surounding the prime minister's Democrat Party.

EC secretary-general Sutthipol Thaweechaikarn said the EC has yet to question Mr Prachai Liewpairat, the former top executive of TPI Polene, who is accused of donating 258 million baht to the Democrats via the Messiah Business and Creation Company. The limit on indicvidual and company donations is 10 milion baht.

He said that EC could not question Mr Prachai on Oct 27 because he informed them he was abroad on business. He was warned the EC would issue a summons for him to show up and testify in Novembner, as he has promised. If he failed to attend, he faced a six-month jail term and/or a fine of 10,000 baht.

The opposition Puea Thai party suspected the EC was dragging its feet and prolonging the case to help the Democrats.

Former prime minister Anand Panyayachun accepted the job of chairing the four-party panel set up to investigate and resolve the Map Ta Phut industrial estate pollution dispute between local resident and investors which lead to the Administrative Court suspending work on 76 new factories.

The affected residents took the case to the court accusing the factories at Map Ta Put of discharging pollutants into the environment and causing them health problems. The Administrative Court ruled in favour of the villagers by suspending all the construction work, affecting projects worth altogether about 400 billion baht.

A final decision rests with the Supreme Administrative Court.

13/11/09
Bangkok Post