Thailand protests Myanmar slur against monarchy
Thailand protests Myanmar slur against monarchy
BANGKOK (DPA): Thailand on Thursday issued a strongly worded
protest against Myanmar's leading state-run newspaper for
publishing an article that was deemed insulting to the much-
revered Thai monarchy.
In what Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai described
as "strong diplomatic action," the Thai embassy to Yangon was
ordered to issue the protest against an article printed in the
New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a government mouthpiece, to
Myanmar's foreign ministry.
The article, published on Monday, reportedly attacked one of
Thailand's most revered monarchs for signing a trade treaty in
1855 with Britain, claiming the treaty had subjugated Thailand to
the former colonial power.
Thais are extremely proud of the fact that they were never
colonized, unlike all their neighbors in Southeast Asia which
fell to either the British, the French or the Dutch in the 19th
century.
The New Light of Myanmar article, entitled Never been
enslaved, but real slave, was part of series of opinion pieces
published in the daily newspaper over the past week that have
attacked Thailand as a "bad neighbor" and criticized Thailand's
national character.
"Flawed by ingrained prejudice and total disregard for
historical accuracy, the articles have gone beyond the accepted
bounds and norms of behavior by thoughtlessly affronting the most
revered institution of the Thai nation and people," said
Thailand's "Aide Memoire" diplomatic note to Myanmar.
It added, "The Royal Thai Government, therefore, protests
against the Government of the Union of Myanmar in the strongest
terms for the publication of the profane articles in the state-
run newspaper."
The Thai note urged Myanmar to "cease the on-going campaign by
Myanmar state-run media organizations to publish hostile articles
and reports designed to incite hatred between the two peoples."
The protest came three days after Myanmar troops reportedly
fired five artillery shells into a royal agricultural project set
up by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in northern Thailand.
The shells landed on Tuesday in a plum orchard that is part of
the Royal Project at Doi Angkang in Chiang Mai, 650 kilometers
north of Bangkok and just one kilometer from the Thai-Myanmar
border.
The project was set up more than a decade ago by the king as
part of a crop substitution project for hilltribe people formerly
growing opium in the area.
Thai-Myanmar relations have reached a historic low this year
as a result of several incursions and artillery clashes along
their shared 2,400-kilometer-long common border.
Thailand has blamed the Myanmar junta for turning a blind eye
to the illicit production of massive amounts of methamphetamines
by its ally the United Wa State Army. Yangon has accused the
Thais of supporting the Shan State Army in its five-decade-old
insurgency against Myanmar troops.