Caught in the crossfire between Cambodia and Thailand

Convicted of spying earlier this month, Sivarak Chutipong became the latest casualty in the political drama between Cambodia and Thailand.

James O'TooleDecember 25, 2009 09:44Updated May 30, 2010 12:17

Sivarak Chutipong speaks to media after a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Dec. 14, 2009. Sivarak, a Thai engineer working for Cambodian air traffic control who had been found guilty of spying for leaking fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra's flight details to the Thai embassy, was ultimately pardoned after a request to Cambodia's king from Thaksin. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — It has been an eventful six weeks for Sivarak Chutipong.

When he left for work on Nov. 10, the 31-year-old Thai native was an anonymous expatriate who had lived and worked peacefully as an airport engineer in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh for seven years. In the weeks since, he has met prime ministers, been pardoned by a king, and seen his picture splashed across the front pages of newspapers, caught up in the latest round of feuding between his native country and his adopted home.

Sivarak was convicted of spying in a Cambodian court earlier this month after relaying the flight information of fugitive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Thaksin arrived in Cambodia on Nov. 10 for an intensely controversial visit, the fallout from which has attracted international attention and dominated news coverage in Thailand and Cambodia ever since.

Never exactly role models for peaceful co-existence, relations between Thailand and Cambodia have been especially strained since last year, when disagreements over territory surrounding an 11th-century temple near the Thai-Cambodian border erupted in a series of military clashes that left at least seven dead. Neither country’s leaders have been shy about exploiting this antagonism for domestic political points, and Sivarak’s arrest and Thaksin’s visit allowed Cambodia to take up the nationalist offensive against the government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, as officials in Phnom Penh accused Bangkok of orchestrating an espionage plot and disrespecting Cambodian sovereignty.

A bitter rival of the Abhisit administration, Thaksin is the only elected Thai prime minister to have served a full term in office, scoring overwhelming victories in 2001 and 2005. In 2006, however, he was ousted in a military coup and later indicted on corruption charges. He went into self-imposed exile last year to avoid a two-year jail term and has been globe-trotting ever since.

Abhisit was incensed by Thaksin’s arrival in Cambodia, the closest the former leader has come to his homeland since going into exile. While Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has referred to Thaksin in recent weeks as his “eternal friend,” their relationship is evidently forward-looking; in 2003, when Thaksin was still in power, Hun Sen caused a diplomatic crisis by egging on anti-Thai rioters who subsequently burned down the neighboring country’s embassy and attacked the Phnom Penh offices of Shin Corporation, owned by Thaksin’s family.