The Thai army has accused Cambodia of carrying out a coordinated propaganda campaign, aimed at discrediting Thailand through the spreading a fake news story claiming that a group of Thai para-military rangers had illegally abused 13 Cambodian workers in a border area opposite Cambodia’s Battambang province.
Army Spokesman Maj-Gen Winthai Suvaree noted that the campaign on November 17 and 18 appeared to be systematic and coordinated, as it involved several Cambodian agencies, among them the Labour Ministry, the Culture Ministry, labour unions and the Cambodian Human Rights Commission.
He said the Thai Defence Ministry ordered the Burapha Task Force, which is responsible for overseeing the border situation in Sa Kaeo province, opposite Battambang province, and the Chanthaburi-Trat Task Force, which is in charge of overseeing the border in Trat and Chanthaburi provinces, to investigate whether any Thai ranger unit had engaged in such illegal activities.
He also pointed out that the Cambodian agencies used the same set of raw information against the Thai rangers, without bothering to check the facts first.
Winthai said that the investigations by the task forces did not find any evidence that a Thai ranger unit had committed the offences, adding he suspects the coordinated fake news campaign was intended to divert international attention from the transnational scam activities in Cambodia and the latest landmine explosion, in which one Thai soldier was maimed.
Making use of the fake news, the Cambodian government has urged various international organisations, such as the International Labour Organisation and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, to investigate the claims.
The Cambodian Interior Ministry also issued a statement advising its citizens working in Thailand and who want to return to Cambodia to do so via the border checkpoints and to inform Cambodian border officials, to prevent a repeat of the alleged mistreatment by Thai rangers.
Winthai insisted that Thai rangers are disciplined and respect human rights, adding that the accusations were fabricated with the complicity of some of the alleged victims.
Such accusations should be supported by evidence, said the spokesman, adding that Thailand will never accept such a hostile attitude from Cambodia and urged Cambodia to demonstrate sincerity and honesty in efforts to resolve the border conflict between the two countries.
