BANGKOK, March 29 (Bernama) -- The debate on the long-delayed approval of the minutes of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation of Land Boundary (JBC) suffered another setback Tuesday, when the parliament adjourned the matter to next Tuesday, due to lack of quorum.
This means the joint Thai parliamentary sitting will debate the minutes just two days before the proposed JBC meeting to take place in Bogor, Indonesia on April 7 and 8.
There were only 262 Members of Parliament and senators during Tuesday's debate on the matter, 15 short of quorum.
The government has asked parliament to endorse three documents drafted from previous JBC meetings in 2008 and 2009 between the two countries on border demarcation.
Last Friday, the parliament failed to debate the matter in the morning as planned due to lack of quorum but did not reach any conclusion when the quorum was met in the afternoon, thus postponing the debate to Tuesday.
The border dispute involved both nations claiming an area of 4.6sq km, surrounding the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihar Hindu Temple, as the area has yet to be demarcated, including access routes to the temple.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple was located in Cambodia, and it was listed as a world heritage site by Unesco in 2008.
Four clashes were reported at the border - July 15, 2008, a week after the inscription of the temple on the world heritage site on July 8, 2008, October 2008, April 3, 2009 and the latest on Feb 4, this year.
The Thai-Cambodia JBC is an important mechanism used by both countries for border demarcation efforts based on the memorandum of understanding signed in 2000.
However, the JBC meeting could not move forward as the Thai Parliament has yet to endorse the previous three minutes of JBC meetings.
Thai multi-colour pressure groups are against the approval of the matter as they claim Thailand would lose its territory, and also tantamount to the Thai Parliament admitting that Thai soldiers had encroached on the Cambodian territory as detailed in the minutes.
The group had earlier submitted letters to parliamentarians asking them not to approve the three documents.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had said that the parliament's endorsement would not cause the country to lose any territory to Cambodia.
"If we did not do anything and allowed Cambodia to claim that Thailand has not sincerely tried to hold talks through bilateral mechanisms, could you guarantee that in the future international organizations will not intervene in disputes between Thailand and Cambodia," said Abhisit.
This is probably the last parliament session as the house is expected to be dissolved by first week of May, paving way for the general election.
At the height of the recent border tension, both nations referred their case to the United Nations Security Council while Asean extended its hand in facilitating efforts to reduce tension.
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