The Thai Army has ordered a Thai nationalist group to cease the use of high-decibel loudspeakers, mounted on trucks, to blast patriotic songs into Cambodia, opposite Ban Nong Chan in Sa Kaeo province.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, the group complained that they were told to pack up on Friday, even though they had not completed the installation of the equipment, adding that they could not even play one patriotic song, the ‘Bang Rachan’.
They said that they do not complain about the cost of renting three trucks and the sound equipment, which was wasted, but their feelings are hurt.
Earlier, Gunnathat Pongpaiboonwet, better known as ‘Gun Jompalang’, a self-made crusader, also reluctantly suspended his blasting of the sounds of ghosts wailing and aircraft engines towards Cambodian settlers in Ban Nong Chan, in an attempt to scare them away, after this tactic was criticised by human rights activist Angkhana Neelapaijit as a form of psychological torture that could harm the relations between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Army Spokesman Maj-Gen Winthai Suvaree reiterated that Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kew, in Khok Sung district of Sa Kaeo province, are located on Thai territory and, as such, the Thai army has the right to undertake demining operations there.
He insisted that the two border villages belong to Thailand, even if the 1:200,000 scale map is applied, and adding that there is no point in the Joint Boundary Commission demarcating the border lines there.
