Out of the frying pan into the fire?

Bangkok Post Spy or Tool
The B-grade spying soup opera ended abruptly in the same amazing fashion that it started with the convicted Thai spy now out of jail and due to fly home this evening, but this doesn't mean the end of the show, as the Puea Thai Party is intent to making use of him for political gain.

In a news blog on Friday, Khmerization, the whole drama was played out like a soup opera on prime time television.

In the blog, the script was written and directed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen himself.

According to the script, the Puea Thai party was supposed to play the hero’s role in securing the release of Mr Sivarak, who was found guilty of spying on former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and by the Cambodian court last Tuesday and sentenced to seven years imprisonment and a 10 million riel fine (about 82,500 baht).

It went on to say the drama was a political and diplomatic game set up to canvass political support back home for Hun Sen and for used as a diplomatic cudgel against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in retaliation for his action against Cambodia over the appointment of Thaksin as the government's economic adviser.

I could not agree more with the opinion expressed in Khmerization.

As earlier predicted, the whole drama, beginning with Mr Sivarak’s arrest and the charges against him, the replacement of his defence lawyer who was appointed by the Thai Foreign Ministry, the conviction by the Cambodian court, the withdrawal of his bail request and, the final act, the royal pardon for his freedom -- it was all scripted.

Whether it was scripted and directed by Hun Sen as claimed by Khmerization is beyond my knowledge.

But, somehow, the hero part for Puea Thai did not play out as scripted, probably because of a problem in coordination from the Cambodian side. Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni granted a swift royal pardon for Mr Sivarak on Friday, three days after his conviction, while, in Bangkok, Puea Thai MPs were still unable to submit their letters seeking royal pardon.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thaksin played a role in winning Mr Sivarak’s freedom by calling Hun Sen and asking for leniency. He added that Puea Thai chairman Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Mr Sivarak’s mother, Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, had submitted a request for a royal pardon to Hun Sen, who forwarded it to King Sihamoni.

Surprisingly, only a handful of Puea Thai members were on hand to attend a brief ceremony for the release of the convicted spy at Mr Hun Sen’s residence this morning. These included party spokesman Prompong Theparit and members of Mr Sivarak’s family. Gen Chavalit was conspiculously absent and thus missed the media limelight.

Even Thaksin, who flew into Phnom Penh on Sunday and met Mr Sivarak at the prison, was not seen at the ceremony. He was reported to have given a lecture to Cambodian businessmen and officials.

Given the recent opinion polls by Abac and Suan Dusit, which showed that more than half of the respondents believe the spy drama was just a political game, the Puea Thai Party might have realized that it would be too embarrassing to claim full credit for Mr Sivarak’s freedom.

Maybe this is why the party’s heavyweights avoided the photo-shoot which attended his release.

But the script writer and director of this soup opera, as Khmerization suggested, could not afford to miss out such a rare chance to bathe in the local and international media limelight.

As for Mr Sivarak, being out of jail does not necessarily mean the end of his misfortune. The Puea Thai Party appears intent on capitalising on his misfortune to discredit the Abhisit government, particularly his relationship with Kamrob Palawatwichai, the Thai diplomat to whom he gave the information on Thaksin's flights.

Indebted to the party for his freedom, he seems to have little choice but to go along with the show.