By Thanong Khanthong
The Nation
It is a mistake for Thailand to appear before the court and put its argument. Thailand is not a member of the World Court, and it therefore has no obligation to follow the Court's orders. (sic!)
A high-level Thai military officer supervising the Thai-Cambodian border has pointed out that the International Court of Justice's orders on Monday have put Thailand at a disadvantage in the territorial dispute with Cambodia (see http://www.oknation.net/blog/kobkab/2011/07/19/entry-1.)
Of the six orders announced by the International Court of Justice, four go against Thailand's interests, the military officer who asked not to be named said.
Moreover, the ICJ has gone beyond Cambodia's provisional requests in issuing orders. Cambodia requested in April that the ICJ, known as the World Court, issue 1) injunctions for Thailand to withdraw its troops from the disputed site, 2) a ban on all Thai military activity in the area surrounding the Preah Vihear/Khao Phraviharn temple, 3) an order for Thailand to refrain from any act or action which could interfere with its rights.
Let us go through the court orders one by one.
The first court order says Thailand and Cambodia shall immediately withdraw their military from the provisional demilitarised zone indicated. The Thai military officer commented that Thailand loses on this first count because its legal team argued in the court that Cambodia's provisional requests for the withdrawal of Thai troops from the border area must be thrown out.
But the ICJ insisted on its jurisdiction and competence by taking up the 50-year-old case again as requested by Cambodia.
The second court order directed both sides to refrain from any military presence within the designated zone and from any armed activity directed at the zone.
The Thai military source said Thailand and Cambodia have a draw on this count.
The third court order said Thailand shall not obstruct Cambodia's free access to the temple or provision of fresh supplies to its non-military personnel in the temple.
The Thai military source said this order amounts to a breach of Thai sovereignty because Cambodia would be allowed to build roads and facilities on Thai soil to gain access to the Khao Phraviharn temple.
He stressed that the key to the court ruling lies in this order. For Cambodia has already encroached on the overlapped 4.6 square kilometres by building a road to the Khao Phraviharn temple for a distance of 1.8 kilometres.
The fourth court order said both parties should continue cooperating within Asean and allow appointed observers access to the provisional demilitarised zone.
The Thai military source said this went beyond Cambodia's provisional requests. Besides, Thailand would like to have bilateral talks with Cambodia over the border territories rather than engaging a third party.
The fifth court order said both parties should refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the court or make it more difficult to resolve.
And the sixth order said each party must inform the court as to its compliance. The Court shall remain apprised of matters which form the subject of the order.
The Thai military source said the fifth and sixth court orders also went beyond the provisional requests of Cambodia.
A question should thus be raised over the jurisdiction of the World Court and its competence in reviewing and issuing orders in response to Cambodia's provisional requests. Moreover, the World Court issued orders that went beyond the requests of Cambodia. There is a risk that Thailand would lose territory if it were to play by these World Court rules.
Thailand had earlier decided to withdraw from Unesco's World Heritage Convention when it appeared that Unesco was tilting in favour of approving the Cambodian proposal of a World Heritage management plan for Khao Phraviharn. Implementing the proposed management plan would amount to inviting outsiders to manage Thai territory.
It is a mistake for Thailand to appear before the court and put its argument. Thailand is not a member of the World Court, and it therefore has no obligation to follow the Court's orders.
8 comments:
i am a foreigner, a barang, but i even i know that the temple`s real name is PREAH VIHEAR. i am sick and tired of reading khao prah viharn in all these stupid thai "newspapers".
To Mr Sam Rainsy,
Did you sue Hun Sen as you said to us Cambodian people through Radio and media?
If you are genuine please provide us the evidences that you had sued Hun Sen as you said so far.
Show us the real evidences so far that you sue Hun Sen through KI Media, Mr Sam Rainsy.
Thanks
Thais are the whore or cancer of the southeast asia, in W1 and WII they allowed the white west to use their country as a base to attack all asian nations including USSR and so be more prepare this time for all asian to return their payback time...
For khmer people trust no one but pray for the best. The CJC could be another white west who once attack on all asian nations pretending to be on our side but in fact they are not, if so why order both nation to get out of the dispute area when it belongs to khmer all along??????/ So, cautious everyone. the best we can do is to pray to God and let the wicked be vanished from the end of the earth, Amen...
correction: ICJ
It is a uniqure distint nature of every country on this planet.
Once the interest of the country is threatened, that country will natural react to what its perceived the threat. Thailand expressed Thais' contempt to ICJ's ruling as they viewed the ruling cut off Thai's interest whether that interest really belong to Thailand or not but because Thais think it is them.
The main point is how Thai can snug or maneuver self through diplomacy and military to get what the Tai wants is the different matter. Each country is unique and capable of dealing with a given situation when arises.
Some countries in the world got things that are not beleong to them and wwere able to get away from the rule because they are strong and/or smart.
Is Thailand one of them????
We already witnessed our neighbor to the East got what they are not entitled from us.
Thailand is a country of wild animal or what that they don't need the court to resolve, but want only figthing?
everything came out fo the siem pad thugs mouths and brain is so ignorant and stupid! thailand is a member of the UN, right? then get used to it, ok! the law is the law, stop trying to violate the law, ok, siem thugs! go back to nanchoa province of china already, ok! give all all of our khmer provinces back to cambodia, ok!
The word Prah Viharn is in Thai
pronunciation;in Khmer sound is
Preah Vihear(ព្រះវិហារ).The last
spelling word (R in Khmer,but
sound N in Thai).
Cambodians should learn Thai,Lao,
and Vietnam(read,write,and speak).
Khmer empire had 1,000,000 km2
square.How many Cambodia has now?
He has 181,035 km2 square.
The whole Thailand belonged to
Khmer empire.
Vietnam took Khmer land 68,965 km2
square.
The whole Lao land belonged to Khmer empire.
The half Burma belonged Khmer
empire.
Why?
Cambodians loved to fight each
other,even on KI Media.
The other thing,they loved to do
is depend on Thai or Vietnam.
Sihanouk depended on Vietcong to
get power back from Lon Nol.
Now Hun Sen is depending on Yuon.
He gave Koh Tral,Sea water,land
along the border to Vietnam.
Will he give Thai?
If Thaksin would go back to work
his sister(Yingluck),Hun Sen would
give sea water to Thai and oil well in Khmer-Thailand sea coast.
Khmer never gained,he always lost
the game to Thai and Vietnam.
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