By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama insists he maintained Thai sovereignty in dealing with Cambodia over the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.
The joint communique signed with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on June 18 did not terminate reservations about the international court's ruling made by former foreign minister Thanat Khoman 46 years ago, he said.
"The inherent right, if it really exists, as reserved by former minister Thanat, has not changed. No single word in the joint statement mentioned that right and the reservations held," he told the Parliament.
Sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple, ruled in favour of Cambodia by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, was a hot topic of debate in the Parliament after the opposition Democrat Party accused the government of causing a loss of sovereignty when it supported Cambodia in a unilateral application for World Heritage status.
Actively supporting Cambodia's application to Unesco meant recognition of Cambodia's sovereignty over the temple area, said Democrat MP Sirichok Sopha. "The ICJ ruled only that the temple was under Cambodia's sovereignty and Thailand was obligated to hand the temple ruins to Cambodia, not the base on which the ruins sit," he said.
Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said previous governments had not conceded Cambodian sovereignty over the base since the ruling.
Noppadon rejected the comment, saying the cabinet in July 1962, shortly after the ruling, agreed to hand the temple, together with 250 square metres of territory for the base, to Cambodia.
Abhisit and Noppadon exchanged words during the Parliament session yesterday over interpretation of the Cabinet's resolution on July 11, 2006.
Noppadon said all concerned Thai agencies interpreted that the then government agreed to hand the temple together with the base area to Cambodia while Abhisit said the base remained under Thai sovereignty.
As long as Cambodia did not claim anything beyond the then-handed-over area, Thailand lost nothing beyond what it lost 46 years ago, Noppadon said.
Cambodia's new map which was used in the application was cross-checked against the L 7017 map used by the Thai military to determine the Thai boundary, he said.
The joint communique made clear the inclusion of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage list shall be "without" prejudice to the right of the two kingdoms on the demarcation work of the Joint Commission for Land Boundary, Noppadon said.
Moreover, Unesco's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage's article 11 stated that: The inclusion of a property situated in a territory, sovereignty or jurisdiction over which is claimed by more than one State, shall in no way prejudice the rights of the parties to the dispute, he said. "We have three layers of legal protection over our sovereignty."
The joint communique signed with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on June 18 did not terminate reservations about the international court's ruling made by former foreign minister Thanat Khoman 46 years ago, he said.
"The inherent right, if it really exists, as reserved by former minister Thanat, has not changed. No single word in the joint statement mentioned that right and the reservations held," he told the Parliament.
Sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple, ruled in favour of Cambodia by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, was a hot topic of debate in the Parliament after the opposition Democrat Party accused the government of causing a loss of sovereignty when it supported Cambodia in a unilateral application for World Heritage status.
Actively supporting Cambodia's application to Unesco meant recognition of Cambodia's sovereignty over the temple area, said Democrat MP Sirichok Sopha. "The ICJ ruled only that the temple was under Cambodia's sovereignty and Thailand was obligated to hand the temple ruins to Cambodia, not the base on which the ruins sit," he said.
Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said previous governments had not conceded Cambodian sovereignty over the base since the ruling.
Noppadon rejected the comment, saying the cabinet in July 1962, shortly after the ruling, agreed to hand the temple, together with 250 square metres of territory for the base, to Cambodia.
Abhisit and Noppadon exchanged words during the Parliament session yesterday over interpretation of the Cabinet's resolution on July 11, 2006.
Noppadon said all concerned Thai agencies interpreted that the then government agreed to hand the temple together with the base area to Cambodia while Abhisit said the base remained under Thai sovereignty.
As long as Cambodia did not claim anything beyond the then-handed-over area, Thailand lost nothing beyond what it lost 46 years ago, Noppadon said.
Cambodia's new map which was used in the application was cross-checked against the L 7017 map used by the Thai military to determine the Thai boundary, he said.
The joint communique made clear the inclusion of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage list shall be "without" prejudice to the right of the two kingdoms on the demarcation work of the Joint Commission for Land Boundary, Noppadon said.
Moreover, Unesco's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage's article 11 stated that: The inclusion of a property situated in a territory, sovereignty or jurisdiction over which is claimed by more than one State, shall in no way prejudice the rights of the parties to the dispute, he said. "We have three layers of legal protection over our sovereignty."
6 comments:
This is not about settling border dispute but about getting the temple registers so that we can jointly developed for people on both sides of the fence.
However, if the opposition is concerned about the legal implication from registering the temple, I am sure we can add some clauses in the registration to prevent the registration from being used as evidence in the future against Thailand or something along that line. It is not a big deal. PM Samak Sundaravej did not gave anything to Cambodia.
Preah Vihear built by Khmer,belong to Khmer, Siam the theift just get away.No share, no excuse.
thailand, whether you still have emotional reaction to the court ruling or not and whether you agree with the court or not, it is irrelevant. you can not win with your argument with the court, and letting 46 years passed without any appeal, statue of limitation expired a long time agoo. nothing can help you case now. so, perhaps it is better to let cambodia do what we want to do with our preah vihear so that we may consider your proposal whether to jointly develop the areas that both countries shared so that all the local people will be happy living side by side. again, it is possible in my view to do this, however, if you continue to claim that preah vihear is yours or whatever, i can tell you, it will not help your case at all. so, give it up already as there are perhaps other ways thailand and cambodia can mend fences and share the profit of unesco together without thailand try to steal preah vihear from cambodia again. enough already. it should be simple to understand, but if thailand chooses the violate or unlawful way, then it is your choice as well but don't expect another to feel sympathetic for you if you don't get what you people want. it is not yours, period. the 1962 ruling is the law nothing deviates from that can be legal. god bless cambodia and all her beautiful khmer people.
The Chinese people in Thailand don't care about Hindu art, only the Khmer in Thailand does, especially when they built it.
5:22 AM are you the Mickey mouse that say that real Khmer is in Thailand?
Your king just brain washed all you and you just believe whatever he said.
Do you guys eat his shit for desert!!!
You guys are so hopeless, monkeys can do better than you!!!
If khmer in Thailand really care about Hindu art or our ancient temple,They should support not oppose.I believe that what their ancestors want.Because the ancient temple is belong to the kingdom of Cambodia,Not belong to Thailand,Please think about it.
Post a Comment