Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra has called for an end to criticism of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 44, which Thailand signed with Cambodia during his premiership 23 years ago, arguing that it is not yet a final agreement.
Thaksin insisted that opponents of the issue should not get overly excited, adding, “Some of them know nothing about it but are quick to criticise it.”
He was responding to widespread media reports about the controversy surrounding the MoU, which may lead to a potential sovereignty dispute over Kut Island.
The opposition Palang Pracharath Party last week demanded that the government scrap the document and negotiate a new deal, arguing that it would disadvantage Thailand in negotiations for the joint development of the overlapping claim area.
The party also claim that the document amounts to Thailand’s recognition that the seas off Trat Province and around Kut Island belong to Cambodia, and that Thailand granted Cambodia special privileges to determine the continental shelf border line as it saw fit, without adhering to international law.
Asked about a possible conflict of interest, due to his close relationship with Cambodia’s former PM Hun Sen, Thaksin claimed that it is a separate issue.
He cited an example from his time as prime minister, when the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh was attacked and burned down in 2003.
“I sent a plane to evacuate Thai people from Phnom Penh when that happened. At that time, Hun Sen and I were very close friends, but the country’s interests came first, which was a separate issue from the friendship,” Thaksin said.
His enduring relationship with Hun Sen was developed during their time in power. After Thaksin was ousted by a coup, Hun Sen, then prime minister of Cambodia, appointed Thaksin as his economic advisor in 2019.
In August last year, Thaksin and his sister, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, attended Hun Sen’s birthday party in Phnom Penh, shortly before Thaksin ended his decade-long self-imposed exile and returned to Thailand.
In February, Hun Sen, now Cambodia’s Supreme Privy Council president, visited Thaksin at his Bangkok residence, shortly after Thaksin was released on parole, making Hun Sen his first foreign visitor following his return.
