Former protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul’s group is threatening fresh demonstrations against the government because it has not responded to their demand to revoke a 2001 memorandum of understanding with Cambodia on overlapping territorial claims in the Gulf of Thailand.
They insist the MoU poses a risk to Thai sovereignty over part of its territory and marine resources.
Mr Sondhi and a group of followers arrived at the Government House complaints centre on Tuesday, when their 15-day deadline expired for the government begin the revocation of the 2001 agreement and a 2001 joint communique between former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his then Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen.
The MoU relates to the sharing of resource development.
The Sondhi group insists the MoU and the communique could be interpreted as Thailand acknowledging Cambodia’s marine territorial claim, which overlaps Thai claims and rights to marine resources in the Gulf.
Mr Sondhi said the deadline had now passed and the government continued to take no action on the issue.
His group earlier asked the government to request the Constitutional Court to rule if the MoU was constitutional and to arrange public forums to give more people their say.
The government’s continuing inaction could damage the national interest and his group would take action to protect Thai sovereignty, Mr Sondhi said.
Parnthep Pourpongpan, who accompanied Mr Sondhi, said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra had promised to discuss the matter with Mr Sondhi, but failed to do so. She had also rejected the proposed public forum, saying that
opponents already had the complaints centre at Government House, according to Mr Parnthep.
The government’s only response had been to acknowledge their opposition, Mr Parnthep said.
“Does the lack of response mean that there is interest in our street demonstrations?” he said.
Mr Parnthep said his group planned to rally outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parliament and Royal Thai Navy headquarters early next year, to pressure the government into a positive response.
“The matter is already on people’s minds,” he said.
PM asks for patience
Ms Paetongtarn said on Tuesday that the government was not ignoring concerns expressed about the 2001 agreement, and was sounding out opinions on the issue from as many parties as possible.
Asked why the government had refused to hold a public forum, she said several details involve sensitive information that should not be made public for now. Discussing them could put Thailand at a disadvantage when it next negotiates with Cambodia on the overlapping maritime claims, she said.
She urged members of the public to be patient, relax and be assured that the government had never ignored their opinions.
“We haven’t been idle. We’ve been consulting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other parties about this issue all the time,” she said. “In-depth discussions are going on. And since this is a rather sensitive issue we need to be extremely prudent.”
