Anonymous leak alleges Cambodian exiled leaders plotted border unrest with Thailand.
New Delhi: Alleged internal documents, shared anonymously with The Sunday Guardian over a period of one month, claim that Cambodian opposition figures in exile have coordinated with Thailand’s nationalist “Yellow Shirt” movement to destabilise the government in Phnom Penh. Their authenticity has not been independently verified.
The material consists of what appears to be an email dated 15 June 2025, allegedly sent by Mu Sochua, a former minister 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.” 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.”
On the Cambodian side, the plan 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.”
A section marked “Chairman’s Instructions” requests the creation of activity bases in Thailand, preparations for training initiatives, and the implementation of “strict cybersecurity and data privacy measures to prevent information leaks.”
The accompanying email, if genuine, would show Sochua writing to Piseth in connection with these efforts. Both were contacted for comment.
In her response, Sochua said that she has not shared any documents with Piseth. “I checked my ‘sent’ emails. Nothing was sent from me to Em Piseth. I also checked my documents. There’s no such document in my records. I can confirm the email did not come from me. As I said earlier, I don’t have this person’s email and I do not have any documents related to the information you provided me. I consider the attachment as fabricated.”
No response was received from Piseth till the time the story went to press. The source who provided the material did not disclose their identity.
Sochua and Piseth’s organisations have had documented links in the past. In March 2024, the Global Cambodian Youth Network and the Khmer Movement for Democracy announced a memorandum of understanding, which they posted on Facebook, pledging cooperation on youth leadership training. That MoU did not reference Thailand or border disputes, but it confirms that the two groups had already formalised cooperation on training activities before the current leak surfaced.
The reference in the documents to the “Hun Sen family regime” touches on Cambodia’s central political reality. Hun Sen ruled the country for nearly four decades before handing power in 2023 to his eldest son Hun Manet, who is now prime minister. Hun Sen remains Senate President and is widely regarded as the most powerful figure in Cambodian politics. Supporters describe the handover as continuity and stability, while critics call it dynastic rule.
The leak comes amid renewed border tensions, particularly over Ta Moan Thom, a temple claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand. Hun Manet has accused opposition leaders abroad of conspiring with foreign actors to stir unrest, while pro-government outlets warn of a “color revolution.”
An uneasy ceasefire was reached between the two countries on 28 July.
In Thailand, the political stage is equally unsettled. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, was removed by the Constitutional Court on 29 August after only a year in office, on the grounds of an ethics violation linked to a leaked June phone call with Hun Sen. In that call she allegedly disparaged her own military’s conduct in the border dispute.
Her removal followed weeks of nationalist protests spearheaded by the Yellow Shirts, a royalist and conservative movement long hostile to the Shinawatra family and instrumental in previous efforts to bring down their governments.
While a ceasefire is in effect since 28 July between the two countries, things remain volatile. Thailand has, till now, refused to release at least 18 Cambodian soldiers who were detained after the ceasefire had come into effect.
Earlier this week, the Thai army, accompanied by heavy machinery, entered parts of Cambodia’s sovereign territory and laid barbed wires despite strong objections from Cambodian troops, National Defense Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said. This came after Cambodia organized a visit by foreign military attachés to those locations to demonstrate the areas that are within Cambodia’s territory.
