Friday June 20, 2008
Bangkok POST REPORTERS
The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs will petition Unesco's World Heritage Committee to postpone the registration of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site. Committee chairman Pikulkaew Kririksh said the panel believed the Foreign Ministry has breached the constitution, which requires the House's approval for any agreement which affects the country's territory.
The ministry lacked transparency in dealing with the issue, she said.
In the interests of national security and preserving bilateral relations, the committee suggested the registration of all parts of the ancient ruins - the temple complex, ancient structures and the natural surroundings.
In so doing, Thailand should register its part of the temple compound with Unesco. The dual registration would guarantee Thai leverage in negotiating the overlapping maritime area claimed by both sides, she said.
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama denied claims that Thailand, by supporting Cambodia's nomination of the temple, had ignored the 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which gave only Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia and not the border area next to it.
Thailand only supported the registration of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site, he said. The kingdom had never accepted the borderline fixed by Cambodia in 1962.
The temple was not a subject in negotiations on the border demarcation between the two countries, Mr Noppadon said.
Thailand had protested to Cambodia about the construction of houses in disputed areas near the temple, he added.
Mr Noppadon said the adjacent area of 4.6 square kilometres was in an overlapping zone where the ownership between Thailand and Cambodia had yet to be determined.
Cambodia has cited the 1904 France-Siam agreement to claim ownership of the area, while Thailand bases its border on the watershed line.
The joint statement agreed between Thailand and Cambodia on the nomination of the temple was not regarded as a bilateral agreement and did not need parliamentary approval, he said.
The Foreign Ministry and its Treaties and Legal Affairs Department could answer all allegations, he said.
The military confirmed that Thailand had not lost any territory in its move to support the nomination of the temple.
The eviction of Cambodian people from the disputed areas will be carried out under a joint management plan in the next two years.
Mr Noppadon said he would open a website, www.thaitruth.info, to reveal the truth and fiction behind the Preah Vihear controversy.
In Si Sa Ket province where the temple partially sits, residents began a ''Dharma walk'' yesterday in a campaign to safeguard the Thai part of the ruins, and to push for the eviction of Cambodian people encroaching on the Thai-owned temple stairways.
The 100km walk will end in a rally on Sunday.
The ministry lacked transparency in dealing with the issue, she said.
In the interests of national security and preserving bilateral relations, the committee suggested the registration of all parts of the ancient ruins - the temple complex, ancient structures and the natural surroundings.
In so doing, Thailand should register its part of the temple compound with Unesco. The dual registration would guarantee Thai leverage in negotiating the overlapping maritime area claimed by both sides, she said.
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama denied claims that Thailand, by supporting Cambodia's nomination of the temple, had ignored the 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which gave only Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia and not the border area next to it.
Thailand only supported the registration of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site, he said. The kingdom had never accepted the borderline fixed by Cambodia in 1962.
The temple was not a subject in negotiations on the border demarcation between the two countries, Mr Noppadon said.
Thailand had protested to Cambodia about the construction of houses in disputed areas near the temple, he added.
Mr Noppadon said the adjacent area of 4.6 square kilometres was in an overlapping zone where the ownership between Thailand and Cambodia had yet to be determined.
Cambodia has cited the 1904 France-Siam agreement to claim ownership of the area, while Thailand bases its border on the watershed line.
The joint statement agreed between Thailand and Cambodia on the nomination of the temple was not regarded as a bilateral agreement and did not need parliamentary approval, he said.
The Foreign Ministry and its Treaties and Legal Affairs Department could answer all allegations, he said.
The military confirmed that Thailand had not lost any territory in its move to support the nomination of the temple.
The eviction of Cambodian people from the disputed areas will be carried out under a joint management plan in the next two years.
Mr Noppadon said he would open a website, www.thaitruth.info, to reveal the truth and fiction behind the Preah Vihear controversy.
In Si Sa Ket province where the temple partially sits, residents began a ''Dharma walk'' yesterday in a campaign to safeguard the Thai part of the ruins, and to push for the eviction of Cambodian people encroaching on the Thai-owned temple stairways.
The 100km walk will end in a rally on Sunday.
9 comments:
Thailand has no right to claim Preah Viheahr Temple.The decision was made in 1962 by the internatioal court. If we give in, Thailand will claim cooperative ownership. Cambodia will lose. This is time to stand firm because we have legal document from 1962. Thailand did not protest than and they cannot protest now. We lost a lot of land and hundreds of ancients temples and many precious artifacts to thailand. They want everything from us. They have no shame. They will use every trick to get the upper hand.
Listen Ah Siems Kapick, Preah Vihear is by the Khmer, of the Khmer, and for the Khmer. Now else don't you understand. Even your Siem name of the temple itself is a transliteration of the Khmer name of Preah Vihear, you shitheads! Ah Siems are just a bunch of dirty race of land thieves and grabbers.
I wondr that does UNESCO (a UN body) is under Thai governemnt influence or not. I think UNESCO has righ to docide everythings according to law.
Dear beloved Brothers and sisters, do we should sign an online pettition and submit to UNESCO to list Preah Vihear temple as world heritage? if this temple is listed by UNESCO, we can keep our land safty.
The 1962's trial was a mistrial. There were too much French interferences, influences, and abusive power. The temple can't belong to Cambodia. It was built by the Khmer-Thai.
don't understand either how could the thia people live with thes facts khnowing that stealing others land is wrong. do they want to be humiliated of their stupidity spirit.
Khmer king built preah vihear,khmer king and Thai king are related so let join ownership.
Hey 11:23 AM dumb ass...
Preah Vihear was built by the Khmers in the 11th century. The first Thai kingdom of Sukhothai did not exist until the 13th century. The ICJ ruling of 1962 was fair to Cambodia...UNESCO should based it's world heritage listing according to international law...not under Bangcock's influence! God bless Cambodia! May the Thai villains dissolve into ashes.
True, is UNESCO Thai agency or what? With all kind of proofs and evidences regardless the claim from the stupid Thai the temple shouldn't be a bargain or negotiatable with the stuid Thai? Man, HUN SEN come on! show your strenght toward them. Don't just be strong among us Khmer. Show them or at least stare at them with your crossed-eye they will be scare. Or tell them that when your were KR soldier you ate livers now you don't mind that you going to eat Thai livers. Go doggy go!!!!!!!!!!!!
i hope the unesco official don't yield to the thai illegal demand on a sovereigned cambodia. i hope they know right from wrong. plus, cambodia feel it doesn't matter listing or not, it's still a cambodian property. that said, i do have strong feeling that unesco will protest the thai and tell them that it's not their temple, and to go ahead to register preah vihear in order to safe it from further damage from nature.
PS: unesco can use the 1907 treaty and the 1962 court ruling to decide on their own as well without the pad thais interference. that's why cambodia is calmed about it. god bless cambodia
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