Monday, July 14, 2008

Push for Thais on Preah Vihear panel: Move to protect local [Thai] interests [not Preah Vihear's interest?], say officials

Monday July 14, 2008
Bangkok Post

The Foreign Ministry's Department of East Asian Affairs has suggested the government join the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to manage the Preah Vihear temple to help protect the country's sovereignty. Pisanu Suvanajata, the deputy director-general of the department, said sitting on the seven-nation committee, to be set up under the World Heritage Committee's (WHC) resolution, would benefit Thailand as it would provide a channel for Thailand to give its views on any conditions that would affect the country's sovereignty.

The WHC approved Cambodia's application to list the Hindu temple ruins as a World Heritage site and proposed a Thai representative sit on the seven-nation committee to safeguard and manage Preah Vihear.

Mr Pisanu said a Thai organisation or institute can join the ICC. The decision on whether Thailand would join the ICC was the duty of the chairman of Thailand's World Heritage Committee, Pongpol Adireksarn, to forward the matter to the cabinet for consideration, he added.

If the government agreed the country should join the ICC, it should decide before Feb 1, the deadline for the submission of documents to join the committee.

He said the ICC would not manage the 4.6 square kilometres of overlapping area. The department's deputy chief shrugged off threats by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to take criminal action against ministry officials over the Preah Vihear issue, saying the ministry had followed all legal procedures.

He said Thailand had not lost anything from the temple listing by Cambodia. Cambodia agreed to revise the diagram of the temple to apply for the World Heritage listing, which meant Cambodia recognised that there was an overlapping area.

Cambodia's action would legally benefit Thailand in future negotiations with Phnom Penh over the boundary demarcation, he said.

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit said the Foreign Ministry should handle the overlapping areas, while the military would take charge of the country's sovereignty.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in his weekly talk programme broadcast yesterday that Cambodia had the right to push for the listing of the temple ruins.

He said any government, including the Democrats, would have done the same as his government did and Cambodia would have eventually successfully listed its temple as a World Heritage site.

Mr Samak also said the Chuan Leekpai government had sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1997 to rescue the country from an economic crisis, under the condition that Thailand amend 15 laws, of which 11 had been done, and people labelled that move as selling the nation. Luckily, he said, Mr Chuan had managed to ask the Constitution Court whether the signing of the agreement with the IMF should be approved by parliament, but the court said it was not necessary.

In the Preah Vihear case, the court ruled that the signing of the joint communique must be approved by parliament despite the fact that it has never caused any loss to the nation, said Mr Samak.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is Cambodia's right to include Thailand to be seven-nation in ICC or not. Don't be fool.

Anonymous said...

These Siam just invite themselves to manage Preah Vihear.

No shame at all.

Thanks for the suggestion but we'll have to turn down your offer.

Anonymous said...

Preah Vihear's interest would be to be with it's true Khmer owner in Issan Province, not with fake Khmers in Cambodia.

Anonymous said...

Cambodia's action would legally benefit Thailand in future negotiations with Phnom Penh over the boundary demarcation

Anonymous said...

Our Khmer people in Cambodia is the owner of Preah Vihear temple, we don't need Siam tell us what we have to do after this temple was listed in world heritage. Cambodia know clearly what we have to do conserve this temple for human expecially for khmer people, not joint with the Siam thief.

No need you help with your evil idea(Thai called Siam)!!

From Ramy, Chunnam University, South Korea

Anonymous said...

Lol Khmer Isan????
Do you dar to claim youralf in front of Abhishit?

Anonymous said...

9:29 AM

We don't really give a damn about what the Siam government said.

Are you trying to make us agree whatever you want?

In your dream.

We just stick to 1907 and 1962, there is no overlapping zone mention in there, the land is clearly state to belong to Cambodia.

Anonymous said...

By the way Siam claiming a land that does not belong to you especially with a verdict from the ICJ, that is illegal from the start.

Anonymous said...

go home siem thieves! what makes you think cambodia needs you again? help assistance is never genuine, always wanted something in return. you know, if cambodia has no choice, we rather pick western countries and japan and china and so on; any rich country but thailand and vietnam is what cambodia hated the most for stealing our belongings like land, people, cultural heritage etc... thailand can go to hell now. karma is catching up with thailand and its siem thieves population. what goes around comes around, you siem thieve race. i hate thailand!!!

Anonymous said...

The Thai with their new map coming out of no where that illegal too.

Anonymous said...

No, Thai made map is acceptable in this region, only French made map is not recognized here.

Anonymous said...

10:43 am

Go lick Pumipon's lingus! Maybe he can spare you rice soup!

Anonymous said...

Hey dude, if you like French made map, just pack up and leave for Europe.

Anonymous said...

What/where/why/whem/ how is the Preah Vihea Temples in your sovereighty.

Unpractical Jokes.

Hey Siams. you have to sing away diappointment, a song: "I started A Joke".

Independent Observer.

Anonymous said...

i don't think so, anything to do with cambodia is very sensitive, especially when the siem thieves want to get involved in our affairs. go to hell, thailand. no thailand people in cambodian affairs, we don't want any siem in this, we have enough expert people on the committee already, one less siem is no problem for cambodia. go to hell, thailand!!!