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The Star
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
‘Godbrothers' fallout hangs over Thai-Cambodia truce
PHNOM PENH: Thailand and Cambodia on Thursday (Aug 7) agreed to a set of measures to help maintain peace along their border after clashes last month killed more than 40 people and displaced 300,000. But left unresolved is a clutch of personal and political rifts that sparked the worst fighting between the South-East Asian neighbours in several decades. Officially, the tipping point for the deadly clashes lay in border disputes over colonial-era maps and contested temples. But a deeper cause was the unraveling of a long-standing alliance between Thaksin Shinawatra - the power behind Thailand's ruling party - and Hun Sen, Cambodia's former prime minister and enduring power broker. During good times, they called each other "godbrothers.' Analysts have pointed to a combination of factors rather than a single turning point for the sudden flare-up in border clashes, which saw the use of fighter jets, rockets and heavy artillery. One key driver of the Hun Sen-Thaksin rift has been Thailand's crackdown on the so-called "scam compounds' in Cambodia - industrial-scale operations that researchers say benefit some officials within Phnom Penh's government and that both the US and China have pushed Bangkok to rein in. The eruption in border violence last month had its origins at least as far back as February, when Thailand began cracking down on cybercrime operations in neighbouring Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Thai authorities had been building a case against sprawling operations based in Cambodian border towns, particularly Poipet, months before a skirmish on May 28 killed a Cambodian soldier. Around the same time, a Thai bill to legalise casinos, which was later shelved, posed a threat to Cambodia's casino-dependent frontier economy. Lim Menghour, director general of the National Assembly of Cambodia, cited the border closures and threats of cutting off electricity and internet access during a weeks-long border standoff after the May incident as stoking tensions. Further straining ties between the two countries - and their ruling families - is a failed bid to develop oil and gas projects in offshore waters claimed by both. The venture has long been a goal for Cambodia but remains politically untenable for any Thai leader. "There's definitely a lot of financial interests at play,' said Ou Virak, president of Phnom Penh-based thinktank Future Forum. "It's not just purely nationalism, borders and temples. I would say it's a combination of things.' Thai-Cambodia tensions trace back to the colonial-era treaties that defined their boundaries and the resulting maps that laid them out differently. The sovereignty of several areas remains points of contention decades later, and various efforts to demarcate the boundary have yet to yield results. The latest clash was an attempt to drag the boundary dispute to the International Court of Justice, according to Russ Jalichandra, Thailand's vice minister for foreign affairs. Bangkok doesn't recognise the court's jurisdiction, since it ruled in 1962 that the contested temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia. "They needed to create an incident to draw the world's attention. That's their motive: to manufacture a situation,' Russ said, adding that a mix of other underlying grievances likely angered Phnom Penh. "The policy to crack down on online scams in Cambodia surely affects them directly. And frankly if we go ahead with the entertainment complex project, it will be hard for them to compete with us.' Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona did not immediately respond to a request seeking comments. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thai prime minister and Thaksin's daughter, specifically called out the crackdowns as the reason the fighting started. "I took serious action against call centre scams, and it produced real results,' she said at an event in Bangkok July 26, two days after the border clashes fully erupted. "The number of scam calls targeting the public dropped significantly, and the estimated financial damage was immense.' The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has identified Cambodia as a key hub in a South-East Asian scam network generating US$37 billion annually. Cambodia's cyber scams alone produce up to US$19 billion - about 60 per cent of its GDP, according to UK-based Humanity Research Consultancy. UN investigators have flagged several major scam compounds operating near the Thai border, particularly around Poipet in Banteay Meanchey province, a key crossing point. Thai police have traced illicit financial flows from that area to the Huione Group. A cousin of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Hun To, was listed as a director of the group's online banking arm. Hun To has denied his business has been involved in cybercrime. The reports also highlight the role of Cambodian elites in enabling the scam industry. Among them is Ly Yong Phat, a tycoon and US-sanctioned adviser to Hun Sen. In July, Thai authorities issued an arrest warrant for another of Hun Sen's longtime allies, Kok An, accusing him of backing scam centres in Poipet and earning him the nickname "Godfather of Poipet.' The relationship frayed further this year. After the May 28 tussle, a leaked phone call between Hun Sen and Paetongtarn - in which she seemed disparage her own army and defer to the Cambodian leader - triggered her suspension and exposed the fragility of the Shinawatra family's political return. Days after the phone leak, during a three-hour Facebook livestream, Hun Sen accused Paetongtarn and her father Thaksin of "betrayal,' insulting his son, the current prime minister, and of using the crackdown on cybercrime call centres as a pretext for "aggression' along the border and closing it. That was in contrast to warmth between the two families that was on display early last year when Hun Sen beamed alongside Thaksin for photos in Bangkok - a symbolic reunion after the former Thai leader returned from 15 years in exile. Paetongtarn's political opponents seized on the closeness between the two leaders as a sign that Thaksin might have cut a deal with Hun Sen behind closed doors that involved the loss of Thai territory, including the island of Ko Kut near the overlapping claim area in the Gulf of Thailand, said Sebastian Strangio, author of the book Hun Sen's Cambodia. The tensions over maritime boundaries "then migrated to the land border in the early part of this year, creating the conditions for last month's outbreak of fighting,' he said. - Bloomberg
The Star
28-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Vietnam's rising role in Asean lauded by New Zealand ambassador
HANOI: As Vietnam marks 30 years of membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Monday (July 28), New Zealand's Ambassador to Vietnam Caroline Beresford praised the country's pivotal contributions to regional unity and global economic integration in a recent interview with Vietnam News Agency. Since joining Asean in 1995, Vietnam has emerged as a key player in uniting the bloc and deepening its ties with external partners, Beresford said. Its brainchild, the Asean Future Forum (AFF), has quickly become a leading strategic dialogue platform for shaping the bloc's outlook, bringing together leaders, scholars, and business and civil society representatives. The forum, she noted, exemplifies Vietnam's commitment and proactive spirit in promoting dialogue and cooperation with partners. Beresford tied Vietnam's efforts to Asean's current priorities under the Asean Community Vision 2045: 'Our Shared Future', which envisions a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific with Asean at its core - a goal New Zealand strongly backs. Speaking on Vietnam's role in strengthening Asean-New Zealand relations and Asean's engagement with other partners, Beresford pointed to Vietnam's considerable contributions. As Asean Chair in 2010, Vietnam hosted the second Asean-New Zealand Summit in Hannoi. A decade later, during its 2020 Asean chairmanship, Vietnam overcame the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic to successfully hold the Asean-New Zealand Leaders' Commemorative Summit virtually marking the 45th anniversary of their dialogue relations, paving the way for the launch of negotiations to upgrade the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) in early 2021. She also hailed Vietnam's close coordination in the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between New Zealand and Asean, expected by the end of 2025, a milestone in the 50-year Asean-New Zealand relationship. Expressing commitment to deepening engagement with South-East Asia, Beresford wished to continue upholding effective cooperation with Asean in trade, economic integration, maritime security, education-training, peace initiatives and knowledge-sharing with future business leaders. She expressed particular anticipation for the upcoming Asean-New Zealand Young Business Leaders Initiative (YBLI) Summit to be held in Danang and Hue, which will bring together 120 young entrepreneurs from both sides. Congratulating Vietnam on three decades of Asean membership, the ambassador noted the country's remarkable economic progress. Since joining Asean in 1995, its GDP has ballooned 20-fold, placing it among the world's 40 largest economies, she said. With its dynamic development, status as a manufacturing hub, and network of 17 free trade agreements, including those with Asean and New Zealand, Vietnam is emerging as a key driver of global and regional economic integration. Beresford underlined the country's growing influence, particularly as it prepares to assume key regional leadership roles: Chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission in 2026 and host of the Apec Economic Leaders' Meeting (Apec) in 2027. She expected that Vietnam would continue to play a vital role in shaping Asean's strategic directions and contributing to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. She stressed Vietnam's potential to steer the region toward digital transformation, green growth, and enhanced connectivity, building on its strengths as a young, dynamic, tech-savvy and industrious nation. New Zealand remains committed to partnering with Vietnam and Asean on this shared journey of cooperation and progress, she concluded. — Vietnam News/ANN
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
University launches cutting-edge degree to equip students for global challenges: 'The world is changing around them'
It started with a survey. Conducted by Future Forum, the survey found that 72% of 14- to 18-year-olds in the U.K. desired more thorough climate education. The University of Sussex was quick to respond. Starting in 2026, it will be offering the United Kingdom's first bachelor's degree for climate justice. It aims to educate students on "climate politics, activism, and environmental human rights," per the Guardian. Formally named the Bachelor of Arts in Climate Justice, Sustainability, and Development, the degree aligns with the university's existing values. It has a forest food garden on campus, which, according to the Students' Union, "mimics a young forest with a number of edible plants" and will be incorporated into prospective students' coursework. Tending to the garden is just one portion of the program's more practical education. Will Lock, an anthropology lecturer and degree co-convenor, teaches an environmental justice module focused on public communication. He told the Guardian, "Rather than having a 5,000-word essay at the end of the module, we have a podcast that students are working on in groups … " The goal is to help students explain complex case studies to wider audiences outside the climate sphere. This module will also be incorporated into the new degree. The University of Sussex is taking notes from Future Forum's survey. Students criticized current climate education in U.K. secondary schools, claiming that the general stats and science they learned seemed too far removed from their own lives. They wanted more hands-on courses that showed climate education's relevance in their day-to-day. Lock saw where they were coming from. "Now the world is changing around them, and it feels urgent … " he told the Guardian. "They feel like they want to be involved." In a world where extreme weather events are rapidly intensifying and endangered species are near total collapse, it's easy to feel hopeless. The University of Sussex isn't the only institution using climate education as a solution. In an interview with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Professor Fernando Reimers, author of the book "Education and Climate Change," said, "Too many of our youth experience unproductive and debilitating anxiety about climate change." He cited climate education as a necessary component of cultivating hope. How often do you feel hopeful about the future of the planet when you read news stories or watch entertainment content? Often Sometimes Rarely Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. On a more practical level, it will also train students for the changing job market. The University of Sussex's renowned Development Studies Association found that those with "green skills" were more likely to find jobs than those without. It calls this education "crucial for policymakers, NGOs, activists, and businesses." The University of Sussex is proud to be at the forefront of this growing field. One proud alumnus, upon learning about the new degree, said he wasn't surprised. "This is awesome!" Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
