Hun Sen was quoted in the Cambodian media the other day as stating that he may not attend the ASEAN Summit although a spokesman has now confirmed he will go, apparently after receiving a phonecall from Abhisit requesting that he attend.
Not much of the details have filtered into the media and you are left wondering about his interview with Yoon as reported in The Nation:
His political activism placed him in a bad light with Cambodia after he voiced objection to the then Samak Sundaravej government’s endorsement of Phnom Penh’s unilateral bid to put the Preah Vihear ancient Hindu temple on Unesco’s World Heritage list.
Kasit expressed hope that Hun Sen and other Cambodian leaders, all seasoned politicians who were once freedom fighters, would understand he was fighting for a cause and that they would not bring “domestic matters” into bilateral relations.
Kasit recalled the time he debated Hun Sen at the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement as a Thai diplomat. In spite of the difficulties and challenges in bringing about a peaceful resolution to Cambodia, he said, his encounter with the then Khmer faction leader ended in good terms.
Kasit said: “I walked up to Hun Sen, shook his hand and told him Thailand looked forward to working with him in the coming future.”
Now, the Abhisit government would like to strengthen bilateral ties with Cambodia to a new height, he added.
BP: The thing is that is that it was not simply him voicing his objection which placed him in a bad light with Cambodia. It is that he went on Thai TV and personally insulted Hun Sen. Video is here and here. He says Hun Sen is บ้า (crazy) บ้าๆบอๆ (dotty, mentally unbalanced) and a กุ๊ย (tramp, vagrant). He also says that Hun Sen doesn’t want good relations with Thailand and speculates that he is the ขี้ข้า (slave) of Thaksin or he has an evil mind (จิตใจชั่วร้าย). It should be noted he made these statements when he was the shadow Deputy PM.
btw, when he is not flinging insults, he actually makes some good points about internal Cambodian politics and international relations. Some of the insults he repeats frequently
h/t Mr Wrigley whose Thai political blog looks promising with plenty of useful quotes and some biographies of political figures.