My Brief Rebuttal to Abhisit’s Letter to UN

Abhisit Vejajiva and Pang Sokheoun

MY BRIEF REBUTTAL TO ABHISIT’S LETTER TO UN

Wednesday, August 11, 2010
By Pang Sokhoeun
On the web at The Son of the Khmer Empire

Below is my brief rebuttal to Abhisit’ letter countering Hun Sen sent’s letter to UN complaint on Thailand’s threat of war which will be rebutted from point to point. So please follow me:

• Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tells the United Nations that letter of Cambodia’ Prime Minister Hun Sen to the UN concerning Preah Vihear controversy is “misquoted, taken out of context and misunderstood.”

Doesn’t Thailand have any law to guarantee press, media in order to secure freedom of press, expression and at the same time to secure social and political order, reliable information, reputation, and culture? Hun Sen often quoted his sources from the Nation and Bangkok Post which are the pro-Abhisit’s media and Abhisit always accuses him of being misinformed and misunderstood. So if it is misquoted, it is not Hun Sen’s mistake, but it must be the media that disseminate the wrong information with purposes and they must be held responsible for their crimes as stated by Thailand’s Constitution, Article III pertaining to the Rights and Liberties of the Thai People in Section 36. Or Abhisit must ask them to publish correction for it is a very sensitive issue. But he always fails to do so.

• Abhisit said in his letter signed on August 10 to Vitaly Churkin, President of the United Nations Security Council, that the current border problem between both countries arises from Cambodia’s encroachment of Thailand’s territory in violation of international law.

Please tell us which international law have we violated? Which map is used to prove that we are encroaching thailand’s territory? Please send the evidence, but not just bla bla bla. For Cambodians we make clear that Thailand is the one that encroaches on Cambodian territory by adopting only its unilateral drawn map ( here) after the 1962 verdict of ICJ 1962 and ignoring the Annex I Map ( here) of the 1908 Siamese-French map signed by Thailand and used by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 1962.

• Cambodia’s intrusion also violated the Article 5 of the Memorandum of Understanding on boundary demarcation signed by Thailand and Cambodia in 2000 which states: “To facilitate the effective survey along the entire stretch of the common land boundary, authorities of either Government and their agents shall not carry out any work resulting in changes of environment of the frontier zone, except that which is carried out by the Joint Technical Sub-Commission in the interest of the survey and demarcation.”

Here Abhisit is right to mention the article five, but he forgets to mention the article I of the 2000 MoU which in its spirit states that all the border surveys and demarcations on land boundary must be done basing on Siamese-French 1904 and 1907 treaties. Therefore, there must not be those so-called 4.5 disputed areas for those lands are geographically located in the Annex I map signed in 1908 basing on these treaties. And to commit so, he is clearly held responsible for encroaching Cambodian territory.

• “I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that my remarks as appeared in the said letter were misquoted, taken out of context and misunderstood,” according to the letter.

Again we want to ask everybody who loves the truth and feel shame that how many more times he is going to use these alibis to counter his opponent when his words inflame the conflicts and he is held responsible for? He irresponsibly uses these words again and again as proved here. And those publishers are still free and not held responsible for their crime against the law if they have misquoted him and disseminated the misinformation. So how can Thailand preach laws to other nation while it doesn’t even practice or respect its own laws?

• It has been Thai government’s intention to solve the land boundary problem with Cambodia through the implementation of the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding on the Survey and Demarcation of Land Boundary (MOU) between Thai and Cambodia.”The MOU serves as a framework for negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia in relation to the land boundary. Thailand therefore expects strict adherence to the MOU.”

In this case, Thailand itself illegitimately violates the 2000 MoU. As we still remember, the cause root of sending troop to invade Prasat Preah Vihear stemmed from: (1) Thailand’s failure to object Cambodia’s application for Prasat Preah Vihear’s inscription as World Heritage Site which officially listed on 8 July 2008 and (2) Thailand’s claim that it sent its troops into the areas in order to protect its sovereignty and the three arrested Thai protesters from extremist PAD who slipped through hundreds of Thai border soldiers and policemen into Cambodian territory near Prasat Preah Vihear on 15 July 2008 . However, if Abhisit of Thailand is committed to solving the border conflicts through the spirit of MoU, Thailand would have not sent its troops to encroach Cambodian territory around Prasat Preah Vihear, or Thailand would have withdrawn its troops after the three arrested Thai nationals released by the Cambodian authority three hours after the arrest. Or to be inline with the neighborly and diplomatically friendship, cooperation, respect, and the principles of the 2000 MoU, Thailand would have sent its delegates/official representatives to diplomatically negotiate with Cambodian authority in order to secure the arrested Thai nationals released, but not by sending troops to take the negotiation role which is in fact a threat of invasion and war which is clearly violating articles 2.3 and 2.4 of the UN Charter and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia on Charter I : Purpose and Principles on article I and II and Chart IV: Pacific Settlement of Disputes.

• “Therefore, I instructed both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense to closely coordinate with one another and with their Cambodian counterparts, including through the General Border Committee (GBC) and the Regional Border Committee (RBC),” he said in the letter.

This is just a trick , to save face, and it never works because the Thai Cabinet and Parliament are all the obstacles to these ministries and institution to fulfill their tasks by delaying debate and endorsement. Actually, the Joint Border Committees (JBC) of the two countries were created under the spirit of the 2000 MoU in order to conduct border survey and demarcation, but so far how many documents of border agreements prepared by the JBC of the two countries received the endorsements from those troubled Thai Cabinet and Parliament? None!

• Thailand also adhered to the purposes and principles of the UN’s Charter and the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 concerning the Temple Case.

What is the UN’ charter/article he is referring to? Please make us clear. We also would like to ask him to explain us how he is adhered to the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 1962 concerning the Prasat Preah Vihear case. Legally, if he is to adhered to the verdict of IJC 1962, he must not say that those 4.5 sq km are disputed areas or Thai territory, because the decision of IJC 1962 clearly places them under Cambodian sovereignty under the Annex I map.

• “It is Thailand’s conviction that any differences between countries shall be settled by peaceful means,” according to the letter.

It is clearly wrong because the troops on both sides are confronting each other days and nights, and have already had some armed clashes led to some dead and injured from both sides since Thailand has sent its troops to invade Cambodian on 15 July 2008. So how can he call this as the PEACEFUL MEANS? He is just flip-flopping to save his face again.

• Abhisit said in the letter; “I also informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2009 about the problem that occurred because of the inscription by Cambodia of the Temple on the World Heritage List in 2008, while the surrounding area is in Thailand’s territory.”

Why is the problem caused by the inscription of Prasat Preah Vihear? It has nothing to do with Thailand because the temple belongs to Cambodia. Why does he again claim that the surrounding lands are in Thailand’s territory while he reassures that he accepts the verdict of IJC 1962 and the 2000 MoU? It is ridiculous and so self-contradicted.

• Despite the ongoing dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over the temple, they maintained close relationship under many bilateral and regional frameworks.

Cambodia just follows/ responses to the Thai side and in fact Thailand will never dare to threat border closure or cut other diplomatic cooperations for it will cost Thai interest in Cambodia. With this, Abhisit must thank Hun Sen for his patience towards Thailand’s aggression because Cambodian people are not in the good term with the present relation regarding to Thai interference and encroachment and the border resolutions with Thailand. And for sure we Cambodians need multilateral party resolution on the border conflicts.

NOTE: I also sent this to UN Security Council, Thai MFA, Cambodian govt and other related orgs.