Convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's first foreign visitor since his release on early parole from Police General Hospital on Feb 18 was Cambodian Supreme Privy Council President Hun Sen.
Just three days after Thaksin was released, Cambodia's strongman right away paid a private visit to Thaksin at his home, known as Ban Chan Song La, on Feb 21.
Hun Sen said the two of them did not discuss politics but merely relived memories of 32 years of friendship. On his Telegram channel, according to the Khmer Times, Hun Sen said: "I came to visit my god brother at home in Bangkok". After the brief visit, Hun Sen flew back to Phnom Penh in his private jet.
Thaksin has been quiet about Hun Sen's visit. But Hun Sen's sudden visit is more than what meets the eye, given the business backgrounds of the men.
Critics were quick to speculate the meeting may have something to do with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Thaksin and Hun Sen in 2001 over the overlapping maritime area in the Gulf of Thailand, covering about 26,000 square kilometres, which has been left dormant ever since.
Speculation went viral on social media that the two men might have talked about the overlapping maritime area which, according to initial exploration, is believed to hold huge deposits of oil and natural gas, worth an estimated 5 trillion baht, according to the estimate of US oil company, Chevron, about 50 years ago.
Hun Sen, perhaps, wants to further enrich his family by exploiting the underseas resources rather than allowing them to be left untouched or brought ashore by the next generation of Cambodians who may be led by somebody else.
Two decades since the signing of the MoU, it appears he can't wait any longer.
So, what is Thaksin's response? He did not speak for himself as somebody else did the talking on his behalf. After all, he is still "gravely sick", as attested by doctors at the Police General Hospital.
Noppadon Pattama, former foreign minister during the Thaksin administration and now chair of the House foreign affairs committee, stood up for Thaksin, denying the reports as "pure imagination" by extreme nationalists.
He said the Thai government must stick with the MoU as the basis for negotiating with Cambodia over the overlapping maritime area. Mr Noppadon denied the government has ceded its territorial sovereignty to Cambodia by signing the MoU, which he argued was mutually beneficial to both countries.
Panthep Puapongphan, dean of the College of Oriental Medicine, Rangsit University, who claims to have studied the issue for over a decade, said the MoU puts Thailand at a disadvantage as it amounts to Thailand ceding sovereignty over the sea around Ko Kut island, which Phnom Penh claims is an overlapping area.
According to Mr Panthep, Cambodia unilaterally drew a maritime border line which overlapped with the Thai maritime area, including Ko Kut, and claimed the area belongs to Cambodia.
Before 2001, Thai governments had never recognised Ko Kut and the sea around the island, off Trat province, was an overlapping area.
Moreover, most of the overlapping area claimed by Thailand has already been carved into various blocs, and concession rights to explore and exploit natural gas and oil in the blocs were granted, mostly to the Chevron company, several decades ago.
The royalties promised to the Thai government may be small. More importantly, the government has no say in dictating the prices of oil or natural gas extracted from the concession blocs and sold to Thai firms, such as the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to fuel its power plants, or the PTT.
Lest we forget, the oil and natural gas extracted from the Gulf of Thailand by PTT Exploration Company or foreign oil firms for years has not benefited Thais as they are still paying high prices for electricity and petrol at gas stations.
While consumers have to bear the burden of oscillating oil prices and taxpayers' money being used regularly to subsidise electricity, PTT has fat profits each year for annual bonuses for its staff and management.
Worse still, the concessions granted to Chevron are without time limits and cannot be amended, unlike the concessions granted to ConocoPhillips by the Cambodian government, which have time limits. This is an indication of Hun Sen's business acumen.
This controversial issue, as well as a few other issues of public interest such as Thaksin's VVIP treatment, the land reform scheme and the digital wallet scheme, should provide the opposition parties, the Move Forward Party (MFP) in particular, with enough ammunition to seek a censure debate against the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
Unfortunately, though, the Move Forward Party appears to have backed off, claiming it is too soon for a censure debate as the government has only been in office since mid-August.
Does Move Forward's U-turn on the debate have anything to do with Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the de facto leader of the party, meeting Thaksin in Hong Kong on July 24 last year?
The Move Forward Party should not shy away from performing its role in opposition to protect the public interest.
It would be shameful for the party to not raise the issue of the overlapping maritime area in parliament.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.