Thin grounds for [Thailand's] World Heritage stance

May 25, 2011
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti needed to do more homework before negotiating with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in Paris today over the world heritage management plan for Preah Vihear.

Otherwise, his stance seeking to delay Cambodia's plan would have made Thailand look bad, if not making it the bully of Southeast Asia.

Suwit planned to propose a further delay of the World Heritage Committee's consideration of the Preah Vihear management plan. The minister reasoned that Thailand had only recently received the plan, and a detailed study needed to be made with caution. The management plan apparently involved trespassing into Thai territory, he said.

The two reasons were not convincing enough to back up the Thai proposal to delay the management plan.

Cambodia's National Committee for World Heritage issued a statement on Sunday arguing against Suwit's position and saying that the Preah Vihear management plan was submitted to the World Heritage Centre in January 2010. It said the document was made available to all members of the World Heritage Committee, including Thailand, which was then vice chair during the final session of the committee's meeting in Brasilia, it said.

In fact, minister Suwit himself signed a note agreeing with Sok An on the sidelines of last year's Brasilia meeting, supporting the World Heritage Committee's consideration of the Preah Vihear management plan in its 35th session this year. The Thai minister needed a reasonable explanation of why he was reversing that position.

The World Heritage Committee - as indicated in Decision 34 COM.7B.66 - has already decided to consider the documents submitted by the state party (Cambodia) in its 35th session this year. The session will be held in Paris from June 19 to June 29, 2011. Suwit also needed a good explanation of why the committee should again postpone its consideration of the Preah Vihear management plan.

In a meeting on Monday in which Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva sought to wrap up his government's position on the Preah Vihear, an official from Thai Royal Survey indicated that Cambodia's Preah Vihear management plan trespassed into part of Thailand's claim over 4.6 square kilometres of disputed area adjacent to the Hindu temple.

Abhisit suggested that Suwit use this issue to back up the proposal to delay consideration of the plan. But the issue is too technical and easy to settle, if the plan is considered in this session.

Cambodia has repeatedly confirmed, since the temple was listed in 2008 as a World Heritage site, that it would not take the "disputed area" as a buffer zone for Preah Vihear.

The World Heritage Committee's decision 33COM/7B.Add, made at its 33rd session in Spain in 2009, made clear that "the buffer zone proposed by the state party (Cambodia) does not include the areas to the north and the west of the temple which are subject of a territorial dispute with Thailand."

Cambodia's management plan for Preah Vihear, submitted to the committee last year, confirmed that the management zone would include only the inscribed property (the sandstone temple) and a buffer zone identified only in the "revised graphic plan of the property".

So, if Thailand has found that the plan claims a management area beyond the agreed location, Suwit should ask that Cambodia be limited only to what is detailed in the World Heritage Committee's decision. It makes no sense to propose a further delay of the committee's consideration to the plan just because of a technical problem.

Of course, Thailand has the right to protect its sovereignty over the territory, but it should be kept in mind that this country has never exercised that right beyond the territory it really holds.