Bangkok Post
EDITORIAL
The government's appeal to the extreme political groups to stay away from the Cambodian border could have carried more weight if the ministers themselves had been calmer. Both Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy for security, Suthep Thaugsuban, helped to fan rumours and fantasy over the visit of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen to disputed border areas.
What was at most a minor kerfuffle over the Khmer leader's border tour turned into tension that at times seemed close to hysteria.
On the second day of Hun Sen's tour, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep appeared on television to issue what he claimed was an even-handed appeal. He hoped both the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) would stay away from the border. Their presence could worsen relations and heighten tension. A small group of yellow shirts, in fact, had travelled to a separate border region, near the Poipet-Aranyaprathet crossing, in late January. Officials said the group had attempted to plant border markers as a symbolic protest, but were turned back by Thai troops.
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