Mother wants Pheu Thai to help free her son

It came as a big slap on the government's face when Simarak Na Nakhon Phanom, mother of Siwarak Chutipong - a Thai national being detained in Cambodia - asked the opposition Pheu Thai Party for assistance yesterday.

She complained that the Foreign Ministry was being too slow in getting her son out of prison.

She went to the party headquarters yesterday to ask former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama to help free Siwarak, who is being held on charges of spying on former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's flight schedule.

"The Foreign Ministry is too slow and my son and I can't wait. I will do anything to get him out," Simarak told a press conference.

Noppadon said he had used his connections in Phnom Penh to help Simarak visit her son again in a couple of days.

Simarak also thanked Thaksin for offering to help her son even though he had done something bad against the former PM.

Siwarak admitted that he had passed Thaksin's flight information on to a Thai diplomat who later was expelled from Cambodia, but Simarak said her son did not know that Thaksin was on the plane.

Siwarak was arrested on November 12 while Thaksin was in Phnom Penh to deliver a speech on economy. His visit intensified tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, especially since Bangkok was already angry with Cambodian PM Hun Sen for appointing Thaksin as his economic adviser. Simarak also called on Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, asking for help yesterday.

Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister, said he understood that Simarak is a mother and would do anything for her son.

"But the Foreign Ministry is doing what it can to help her, too," he said.