By Allen Myers, Phnom Penh
Posted by The Nation
PM Abhisit is working overtime to prevent international observers seeing what his troops have been and are doing. But can he hide them from the Buddha?
Who, if anyone, is in charge of the Thai Air Force?
Is it the Thai Defence Minister? Someone else in the government? A military commander? The yellow shirts? The question arises because all of these people, and more, seem to be issuing orders to Thailand’s Air Force and/or explaining its actions. And mostly they disagree with each other.
Let’s start with the yellow shirts. Although they put PM Abhisit into office by occupying the Bangkok airport, they are upset with his inability to disband Unesco, overrun Preah Vihear or convince the rest of the world that Thailand is the only country that has any heritage worth mentioning.
On February 3, there was a yellow-shirt demonstration in Bangkok led byMajor-General Chamlong Srimuang. According to The Nation, Chamlong called on the Thai government “to withdraw Thailand from membership of the World Heritage Committee, disavow 2000′s memorandum of understanding on bilateral border demarcations” with Cambodia and to “send F-16 fighters flying over the controversial spots along the Thai-Cambodian border“. The report continued: “The Thai Air Force could be used in lieu of ground or naval forces against the Cambodians, who only have some dilapidated MiG-21 fighters.”
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