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The Nation(15/10/99)
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<font size=5><b>Thai-Burmese tensions kick-start clash in
Parliament<br>
</font></b><font face="arial" size=3>THE growing tensions between
Thailand and Burma were taken to the Parliamentary floor yesterday as
opposition lawmakers accused the government of not being competent enough
to bring the bilateral dispute to an end. <br>
Opposition MPs from the New Aspiration Party slammed Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, accusing them of mishandling
the dispute, but they offered no real solution of their own. <br>
The fact that Thai fishermen were still being kept out of Burmese waters
was testimony to the government's failure to solve the problem, the
lawmakers said. <br>
They criticised Surin, who cited diplomatic sensitivity for conducting
the session behind the closed doors, for not allowing the debate to be
broadcast so the public could decide for themselves. <br>
Tension between Thailand and Burma erupted in the past week with the
latter accusing Thai authorities of handling the recent hostage crisis at
the Burmese Embassy with ''kid gloves''. <br>
Moreover, Burma's generals were irked by the statement by Interior
Minister Sanan Kachornprasart that the five hostage-takers were just
''students fighting for democracy''. Rangoon ordered its border with
Thailand shut and cancelled all fishing concessions given to Thai
fishermen. Cross-border trade and fisheries industry had been at a
standstill since then. <br>
Yesterday's debate strayed off at a tangent with opposition accusing
Surin of lacking vision and following the footsteps of big powerful
countries. They said he had been using his position to promote himself at
an international forum, citing a report saying Surin was aiming for the
seat of UN secretary-general. <br>
Surin dismissed the allegations and took a jab at an NAP member whose
wife exploited her husband's position for financial gains. He did not
reveal the MP's name. <br>
''My Khunying [wife] doesn't go abroad looking for logging concessions
and I have never travelled abroad to request for any kind of concessions
for myself or for her,'' Surin said. <br>
Though Surin did not name names, it was understood that he was referring
to the wife of Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, leader of the NAP. She
allegedly was linked to attempts to seek a number of logging and
fisheries concessions by the Burmese military government during
Chavalit's various stints in the army and afterwards. Chavalit has close
personal connections with the Burmese military junta. <br>
Surin's statement infuriated the opposition, whose members demanded that
the foreign minister retract his statement. <br>
Speaking on his way back to Nakhon Phanom, Chavalit urged Thailand to
understand the feelings of the Burmese, who had been hurt by the
incident, and not to call them dictators every time a dispute surfaced.
<br>
Chavalit blamed Rangoon's anger on the Thai government's inconsistency in
the handling of the hostage crisis. ''You can not call them [the captors]
democratic student activists, after all, the circumstances already
pointed to them as terrorists,'' he said. <br>
The Nap leader said the government had to do its utmost to restore
bilateral ties since being Thailand's neighbour was a permanent, not
temporary, arrangement with Burma. <br>
He said Thailand's chronic problems with Burma had resulted from the
government's lack of understanding of its neighbour. ''I don't understand
why we had so many problems with Burma, unlike China or India, who also
share long borders with Burma but still manage to maintain good relations
with it,'' he said. <br>
Meanwhile, Gen Mongkhol Ampornpisit, supreme commander of the armed
forces, ordered all troops along the border to keep an eye out for the
five dissidents who had stormed the Burmese Embassy early this month, and
arrest them on sight. <br>
Mongkhol said he had told troops stationed along the border to seek
information on the whereabouts of the five. <br>
The Army's 1st and 3rd Regions, as well as Navy's 4th and 9th Fleets,
have been ordered to sharpen surveillance efforts amid reports that Burma
had dispatched army units to the border areas following the hostage
crisis, which ended after Thailand agreed to provide a safe passage for
the armed men. <br>
Recalling the 25-hour ordeal, police chief Gen Pracha Promnok revealed to
reporters that he had been caught in a tight situation -- he had to find
ways to end the siege as soon as possible, without risking the lives of
the Burmese diplomats who were being held against their will. <br>
Pracha said he had received a fax from the Burmese police chief asking
Thai authorities to ensure the safety of the diplomats. <br>
He showed it to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who made it clear that the
crisis should be solved through negotiations that had to be conducted in
a calm manner, he said. <br>
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