PUBLISHED: 3 Nov 2024 at 05: 38
Next week, activists are organizing rallies in Bangkok and Trat that will demand that the government understand its placement on the Thailand-Cambodge Koh Kut beach debate.
The Network of Students and People Reforming Thailand’s head, Pichit Chaimongkol, announced on Twitter that the team would hold a protest in front of Government House on Tuesday to protest any attempt to lose place to Cambodia.
We wo n’t lose Koh Kut, according to the Pheu Thai-led government. Can we consider them”? he wrote.
In order to inform the public about the Koh Kut dispute, Supitnattha Rangkatekaew, a part of the Vocational Student Group Protecting the Monarchy, said the group will keep a meeting on Saturday in front of the municipal house in Trat’s Muang area.
Phairat Soysang, the head of Koh Kut area, warned against presentations on the island itself, noting that protests had hurt hospitality, which is the region’s primary source of income.
He added that Koh Kut attracts more than 300,000 Thai and international visitors annually, bringing in many billion ringgit in revenue.
Tourism on the island is slowly recovering after the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, Mr Phairat said, stressing that Koh Kut belongs to Thailand under the 1907 French-Siamese agreement.
Koh Kut gained notoriety when Palang Pracharath Party ( PPRP ) leaders held a press conference on Wednesday to protest discussions regarding the joint development of oil and gas resources in the Gulf under the 2001 MoU framework, which they claim could lead to Thailand losing territory.
They stated that the PPRP may write to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in an opened letter to urge her to block these discussions. The MoU was initially signed under her husband’s government, led by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, former finance minister and PPRP chair of an intellectual commission, argued the MoU includes a regional state by Cambodia that contradicts the 1907 French-Siamese agreement, rendering the MoU itself unlawful. The state asserts that no discussions have already begun.
Thailand’s state has assured Koh Kut that it will not fall to Cambodia. Phumtham Wechayachai, the government’s defense minister, declared that it would make every effort to protect Thai province.
Noppadon Pattama, a Pheu Thai Party listing MP, said the 2001 MoU, signed by then-foreign secretary Surakiart Sathirathai, established a model for negotiating sea places in the Gulf of Thailand claimed by both countries.