PAD [Thai] border demands fall on deaf ears

Court dismisses call to quash memorandums

2/11/2010
Bangkok Post

The Central Administrative Court has thrown out complaints lodged by the People's Alliance for Democracy against the government's plans to reassess the demarcation of the border with Cambodia.

PAD leaders filed a petition with the court on Friday asking it to revoke a memorandum of understanding reached with Cambodia in 2000 and to call for an injunction against three other memorandums based on the original memo.

The PAD argued that parliamentary endorsement of the three latter memos, which were signed last year and in 2008 by the Joint Boundary Commission, would result in a significant loss of territory.

The government will table the three memos in parliament today.

The PAD is expected to rally today in front of parliament following the court's rejection of its complaints.

The court ruled the cases were outside its jurisdiction as the government and parliament were exercising their constitutional right to put the memos forward for approval.

PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said the alliance would appeal the verdict as the group believed the memos and related documents would harm the national interest.

"We will consider bringing the case to the Constitution Court if the House endorses the agreements and other related documents," Mr Suriyasai said after learning of the Administrative Court's ruling.

He said there would be fewer PAD demonstrators than at past gatherings because of flooding. He estimated the crowd could reach "several thousand".

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Kasit Piromya called on the PAD to be rational with its nationalism.

Mr Kasit, who stood united with the PAD to call for the expulsion of the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, said he had met the group's leaders more than 10 times to discuss the problem but with no result.

"PAD seems to always go back to its own conclusion that the government is giving up our land to Cambodia," Mr Kasit said.

"I would like them to speak the truth to the public."

The PAD said the JBC memorandums were based on the original 2000 memo which recognises a French map of 1:200,000 scale, which puts Thailand at a disadvantage. The JBC was formed under the 2000 agreement to implement joint memos to solve the dispute.

Mr Kasit said the government's stance on demarcation was based on the watershed line, not the map.

The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation said yesterday it had assigned police to coordinate with PAD leaders to monitor today's rally to ensure participants toe the line.

CRES spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said rally organisers must be made aware of what their limitations are when holding a rally while emergency rule was in effect. He said he was confident the situation would remain under control and said authorities would take swift action if the law was breached.

PAD spokesman Panthep Pongpuaphan said he was unsure of how many supporters would attend the rally.

"Our understanding is that many of those having shown up at our previous rallies may not come as they are either supporters of the Democrat Party or are affected by flooding," he said.

Five PAD leaders will be present at the rally, he said. The group leaders will determine the PAD's next move later today after parliament's decision on the memos is made.