A Thai MP spent a lengthy period in parliament this week lambasting Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha over his relationship with the Myanmar junta and his handling of refugees and an intruding Myanmar fighter jet that recently strayed over Thai territory.

Padiphat Santipada, a member of Phitsanulok for the Kao Klai Party, spoke in a no-confidence debate on Thursday in Thailand’s parliament over what he claimed was the Thai prime minister’s mishandling of Thai-Myanmar relations on ethical and humanitarian grounds.

Padiphat’s criticism was triggered by the Thai government’s reaction to the intrusion into Thai air space on 30 June by a Myanmar fighter jet and their handling of the Karen refugees who have been fleeing fighting in Karen State to attempt to take refuge in Thailand.

Speaking in the Thai parliament in Bangkok, the MP strongly criticized the Thai government and army over their handling of Thai-Myanmar affairs. Thai PM Prayuth is both premier and Minister of Defence.

Padiphat criticized the Thai premier for the encroachment of the Myanmar air force jet fighter and how the Thai authorities pushed back refugees from Myanmar. He quoted refugees expressing their dismay over the danger posed by being sent back and the possibility they could fall into the hands of the Myanmar junta, as explained to the NGO Fortify Rights Myanmar.

The refugees run away from the civil war to Thailand and face the potential of human trafficking and the “tyrannical Thai authorities,” he said, quoting from the NGO report.

“Their fate is not as bad as the Rohingya, but different,” Padiphat said, adding that they run away from the Myanmar junta leader “Min Aung Hlaing to face Prayuth.”

Padiphat said Thai policy concerning Myanmar was shameful, quipping that Prayuth and Min Aung Hlaing were like twins.

“These two twins do not care about human rights, investment, trade and economy,” he said.

Thailand was failing to act responsibly in the international community, failing to be a key actor to help solve the Myanmar crisis, Padiphat added.

Thailand is one of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that has been attempting, under the chairmanship of Cambodia to seek a solution to the Myanmar crisis, though a five-point agreement signed by the members including Myanmar.

Critics have rapped the ASEAN chair for their failure to make progress in reigning in Myanmar and bring peace to the troubled country – a crisis generally viewed as a black mark on the regional bloc.