This is a machine-translated version of an article originally published by Matichon, a major Thai-language national daily newspaper founded by a group of progressive writers in 1978.
At 2:00 p.m. on July 26th, at the Ministry of Culture, Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, held a meeting to follow up on the response and assistance measures of the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior to provide assistance to the injured and deceased in the affected areas of 4 provinces.
Later at 3:30 p.m., Ms. Paethongtarn announced that today she would like to reiterate and confirm the government’s statement that Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, in his capacity as acting Prime Minister, announced on July 25th about Cambodia’s actions. We consider them to be serious war crimes. I would like to emphasize again that the various methods are against the peaceful principles of international law and against the humanitarian principles that Thailand has always practiced. Cambodia also disagrees on this matter.
However, the violence is something that the government has always emphasized that it does not want to happen, and most importantly, the lives of our fellow citizens. This is what we hold on to and try our best to prevent bloodshed until the Cambodian side fired first on July 24, and many foreign news agencies have noted that it is evidence that has been published on social media that students in schools in Thai border provinces still went to school normally that day. Foreign media have noted that if Thailand knew that there would be shooting, it would have ordered them to stop studying. But did Cambodia know that this kind of shooting would happen that the students stopped studying? This is another observation.
Ms. Paethongtarn continued that even though she could not perform her duties as Prime Minister, she had been closely listening to the situation updates and was concerned and tried to follow up. On July 25, she met with the cabinet during the recording session, and asked about the situation with Gen. Nattapol Nakphanit, Deputy Minister of Defense, who emphasized that there was no need to worry about Thailand’s weapons and equipment, as we had them ready. The fact that we used the F-16 was considered a response because Cambodia had fired into a community with young children, which had an impact on their lives. This is what actually happened. The government, the military, and the security sector will continuously coordinate and carefully monitor every step of the way. Now, if you ask what will happen next, we will have to let the on-site team see what will happen next. But of course, we will try our best to protect our sovereignty because we never started it. We have always insisted for the past several months that we do not want violence, but when violence comes, we will not back down. This is what the government and the military talked about and emphasized that there was no need to worry, we will not back down and will fight with all our might.
Ms. Paethongtarn added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also presented evidence of Cambodia’s injustice, including violations of international legal treaties, human rights, and serious inhumanity, such as the planting of bombs, which previously involved soldiers from both Thailand and Cambodia jointly patrolling to search for old bombs but then stopped. Most recently, a soldier was injured in the incident, which an investigation found was a newly planted bomb, which is a violation of humanity and international law. No country would do something like this. There is complete evidence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed the world, and media in many countries have confirmed it. They believe what we say because Thailand has always told the truth about this matter and has always insisted on our position that we do not want violence. We do not want violence, and this is proof that Cambodia started this violence, 100 percent.
Ms. Paethongtarn said that from this situation, she supports Thai people to have unity in the nation. Today, we are fighting in the country to a certain extent, but today we must love each other and fight with people outside the country first. If the situation is peaceful, the conflict within the country can wait, but today we cannot wait. We all must cooperate from all sides and all sectors to support each other, which is the most important thing. She strongly believes that Thai people love each other very much.
Ms. Paethongtarn said that regarding the many accusations that the political path has tried to use incitement to create hatred, there is a connection that the two families are fighting each other, but do you remember what happened several months ago? She seriously cracked down on the call center gang by ordering through the Ministry of Interior to cut off water and electricity from the border of Laos and Burma, and it really worked. The number of call centers calling people has clearly decreased, and the estimated damages are very high. People who were deceived ended their lives or had money disappear from their accounts very quickly.
Ms. Paethongtarn said that Thailand, Laos and Burma have made an alliance to seriously take care of the call center gang. She was confused because at that time she was still in contact with Cambodia about personal relations and was informed by someone who said that he was angry that Cambodia was not consulted about this matter. So she called to talk privately, which at that time had not been recorded. She did not know whether it was a loss of benefits or not because solving the drug problem and suppressing the call center gang and online crimes are already the government’s responsibility. After talking, she found out that Cambodia was not happy that they were not invited to join. So she replied that she would add Cambodia to join, but Cambodia said no need to add, and that only two countries (Thailand and Cambodia) should do it. So she asked to proceed with bringing the matter to the cabinet meeting.
Ms. Paethongtarn added that when she looked back, she knew that it was an expression of dissatisfaction since then, but she did not think that this dissatisfaction was dissatisfaction with the suppression of the call center gang or not because she never knew any country that was dissatisfied. When the people were deceived and the government came to help, wasn’t that a good thing? Therefore, it made her feel that we must have conflicted with some interests or that this caused this kind of thing to happen. She was not sure, but she was confident that the government that came in, whether it used the Shinawatra family or not, would have to suppress this issue because it affected the Thai people. It is an important thing that must be suppressed, just like drugs. It is not possible not to do it.
When asked if the Prime Minister said that the Thai-Cambodian border problem cannot wait but the political problem can, does that mean that if the border problem is resolved, he will defuse the domestic political bomb himself? Ms. Paetongtarn explained that she meant that she had always looked for opportunities to hurt the political opposing side. She understood politics because she used to be the opposition and now she is the government. She understood that there are competitors in every area, but she would like to invite everyone to protect each other first because we are all Thais. It is good that we protect ourselves first and show them that our country is strong because no matter what happens, we report everything. However, it is also difficult to find information from Cambodia because they can control all the media or not. They can control everything in their country or not. It is different because in reality, democratic countries do not control the media or anything like that. But she would like to say that she asks everyone to report things that are beneficial to the country as much as possible. She wants everyone to cooperate. It is not about politics anymore. The political opposing side, the opposition, the government, have always fought each other. It is normal for every country. But we must not fight each other. We must be strong to fight the countries that we used to think of as friends. We must fight there.
The Cambodian media presented the image of the Prime Minister and Lt. Gen. Boonsin Phadklang, Commander of the 2nd Army, asking the people of both countries to remember that these two people were the cause of the war. The Prime Minister asked back whether we will believe in what Cambodia is proposing for a long time. For example, in his case, he posted a clip and then said that he did not release it. He might have posted a picture of a beautiful woman but said that he did not post it. He did not do it and then said that he did not do anything. He already has a nickname: Cambodia has a nickname that the whole world has given him. Before the Prime Minister shook his head and denied, “I did not give him that nickname.” It is well known that it is like that. So I think we have to be confident. Do not think that we have to use emotion, that it must be because of this person or that person. It happened because of Cambodia and it happened because we cracked down on call centers. It is clear. But we should not make it unclear. It is up to us. I am very confident. If it were not the Shinawatra family who came to do it, we would have to crack down on call centers and crack down on drugs and vices as well. Because this is what the government must do. Before emphasizing that he does not regret cracking down on call centers because it helped a lot of people. Every security unit has done their best to do this, putting all their effort and effort into it, and it really worked. I think it is not just our country that is upset about this. Every country thinks like this, except for countries that have lost their benefits.
When asked if this time it was considered that “Shinawatra” was badly hurt, the Prime Minister confirmed that he did not think “Shinawatra” was badly hurt in this matter at all because we were doing it for the country. Being politically twisted, being falsely accused, I would like to stop this matter first because it is not true. Since the time when Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra was Prime Minister, personal relations were very good. But when problems arose, Mr. Thaksin put the country’s matters first anyway. There was no saying that they were friends and would not hurt each other, but the country’s matters had to come first.
Regarding the opposition party’s proposal to bring the case of Samdech Hun Sen to the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, the Prime Minister said that it was a good thing that all parties had suggested international issues, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to consider whether there was anything appropriate or something that should be done. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was coordinating this matter, and he had received a report from the minister. He was concerned and had spoken to him on the phone, but for the current plan, he asked Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, who was acting as the Prime Minister, because he had to answer only about the Ministry of Culture. However, this time, he was only emphasizing the message of the acting Prime Minister, who made a statement yesterday, and explaining what happened while he was acting as Prime Minister. However, after this, it would not be appropriate to say anything.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also refused to answer questions about whether the Thai-Cambodian border clashes would be prolonged, as the clashes have now expanded to the eastern region in Sa Kaeo and Trat provinces.
