The Sunday Guardian, an Indian newspaper, has reported that Cambodian opposition figures in exile have allegedly coordinated with Thailand’s nationalist “Yellow Shirt” movement to undermine the government in Phnom Penh, citing leaked documents detailing plans for border unrest and anti-government campaigns.
Citing alleged internal documents shared anonymously with the paper, the report said the material consists of what appears to be an email dated 15 June, allegedly sent by Mu Sochua, a former Vice President of the court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) now living in exile, to diaspora activist Em Piseth, who leads the Global Cambodian Youth Network in Thailand. Attached to the message is a document titled “Bilateral Action Plan and Chairman’s Instructions.”
“The plan sets out proposals to ‘initiate strategic actions along the Cambodia–Thai border’ and to ‘amplify public discourse on territorial issues in sensitive areas such as Ta Moan Thom and the Preah Vihear Triangle region,’” the report said.
It added that, according to the alleged plan, Thailand’s Yellow Shirts were tasked to “mobilize forces for border operations to instigate disturbances” and to provide “systematic training… in violent confrontations, non-violent protests, and information warfare.”
The plan also calls for efforts to “strengthen grassroots networks to counter the Cambodian People’s Party government” and to coordinate with Thai activists to incite nationalist sentiment and “transform Cambodian–Thai disputes into legitimacy challenges to the Hun Sen family’s rule, aiming to ultimately overthrow it.”
Since fighting broke out between the two nations in July, former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his senior ex-CNRP allies have mocked and criticised Cambodian leaders and the army, while giving interviews to Thai media and posting on his social media networks.
Rainsy criticised the Cambodian army for missing targets when firing BM-21 rockets, while claiming the Thai air force used F-16 jets to hit military targets accurately — a statement that was strongly condemned by the Cambodian public.
–Khmer Times–
