By THOMAS FULLER
The New York Times
BANGKOK — The top judicial body of the United Nations on Monday sought to defuse tensions at a Southeast Asian flash point, ordering Cambodia and Thailand to withdraw troops from a disputed temple and establishing a demilitarized zone along their mountainous border.
The two countries have fought each other numerous times in recent years near Preah Vihear, an ancient hilltop temple that stirs nationalist sentiments in both countries.
The court order to “immediately withdraw” military personnel from around the temple was an international legal obligation “with which both Parties were required to comply,” according to a statement released by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Judges at the United Nations court ruled, 11 to 5, in favor of the withdrawal and established a demilitarized zone approximately 4.5 miles by 2.5 miles.
Thailand’s acting foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, told reporters in The Hague that the Thai government would comply with the order. “We are satisfied that the withdrawal of troops is applicable to both Cambodia and Thailand,” he said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Cambodia’s foreign minister, Hor Namhong, praised the decision, Reuters reported. “This map means there will be a permanent cease-fire,” he said. “It will be tantamount to the cessation of aggression of Thailand against Cambodia.”
Despite the ruling, a resolution to the conflict still seems far off.
The long-running border dispute has been poisoned by domestic politics in both Thailand and Cambodia. One political faction in Thailand accused the other of selling out to Cambodia, a historical rival.
Yet protests by Thai nationalists failed to gain traction and petered out earlier this month. And Suwit Khunkitti, a Thai government minister who had based a recent election campaign on Thailand’s rights to the temple, failed to win a seat in the July 3 election.
Mr. Suwit, the acting minister for natural resources and the environment, said Monday that he disagreed with the verdict and that Thailand did not “have to follow it if it is a violation of the country’s sovereignty.”
The court on Monday also said it would pursue a “request for interpretation” on a previous judgment over the crucial question of who controls the temple and, possibly, the surrounding area. In the meantime, the court said, observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should be allowed into the demilitarized zone.
Thailand’s July 3 election has held out hope for a détente between the two countries. The victory of the party allied to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister, were welcomed by the Cambodian leader, Hun Sen, who once hired Mr. Thaksin as his economic adviser. But that election result has yet to be confirmed by Thailand’s election commission and is being challenged in the courts.
The dispute over the temple has its roots in the period when French colonizers controlled what is modern-day Cambodia. In the early 1900s, French surveyors traced the border line along the watershed of the Dangrek mountain range, but deviated from the watershed at Preah Vihear, placing the temple inside Cambodia. It was an awkward demarcation because of the temple’s location on a bluff more easily accessed from Thailand.
But Thailand’s government made no protest at the time and used the French maps as their own, according to a judgment by the International Court of Justice in 1962. That judgment established that the temple should be inside Cambodian territory. But the ruling did not address the sovereignty of the land surrounding the temple, which is the subject of the ongoing dispute.
26 comments:
The court ruled on a safer route --Which is good. I think it's leaning on the advantage of Cambodia. I am happy. It is the Thai who never want to withdraw their troops and allow any outside observers. Let me briefly summarize 3 points that court made:
1) It unanimously reject Thai's request to throw away the case.
2) 11 to 5 votes to withdraw both military personnels from area.
3) The Court also stated, by fifteen votes to one, that Thailand should not obstruct Cambodia’s free access to the Temple of Preah Vihear, or prevent it from providing fresh supplies to its non-military personnel; it said that Cambodia and Thailand should continue their co-operation within ASEAN and, in particular, allow the observers appointed by that organization to have access to the provisional demilitarized zone, and that both Parties should refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.
The court order is fair enough for both sides to accept it. So the new Thai government should make a permanent peace with Cambodia. And Cambodian government should do the same as it does with Vietnam.
...but if Cambodia withdraw its troops, will the Thai thieves not
try to sneak in again? I do not trust the Thai hypocrites.
Its about time. Why so long to make a simple decision?
Yes, where is the issue and decision with border with vietnam?
And the illegal vietnamese immigrants in cambodia?
in short, the court has helped to "difuse" the tension by pointing out to the existing law. thank god for the rule of law on this planet. can you imagine our planet without the rule of law? we'll all be no different from the animals world out there, really! god bless cambodia.
in any court case, there's always one or two who are not in favor of it, however, the majority vote is what makes the court fair in providing justice for the victim, in this case cambodia.
PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE = BUILT BY KHMER, OWN BY KHMER AND WILL REMAIN KHMER
KHMER PEOPLE CAN CONTINUE TO ACCESS A TEMPLE THAT IS RIGHTFULLY THEIRS AND CONTINUE TO HAVE ACCESS AND POPULATE THE AREA AS THEY PLEASE.
BARACHEY TO SIEM ALWAYS....'SIEM REAP' ALWAYS! :)
ดินแดนสุวรรณภูมิเป็นของขะแมร์เป็นนิรันดร์
โจรสยามจะพินาศสาบศูนย์...เหมือน "เสียมราบ"
พระบารมีพระวิหารจะอยู่ในขะแมร์ตลอดกาล
ไชโย กัมพูชา มหาประเทศ!....
The New York Times stated that
" It was an awkward demarcation because of the temple’s location on a bluff more easily accessed from Thailand".
As I'm khmer, I do not like this statement.
New York Times is not NEUTRAL.
Thanks to United Nations for the good stand for paese in the region.
some of the western countries out there seemed biased and ignorant or have something against cambodia all along! they all seemed to side with thailand's illegal claim in their public but biased opinion. i think the reason is simple because thailand is well known in the world and has good reputation in the world compared to cambodia which is only known to the world recently because in the past, she is known only as the killing fields, the commmunist, the dictator, etc, etc... it goes to show there are some ignorant people all over the world, really! and don't forget those opinionated people are probably traveled and visited thailand more than they visited cambodia. they are biased, to put is bluntly, ok!
they do not know the law or the international treaty of 1907! i'm sure the court knew and ruled in favor of cambodia because of the law, not based on biased opinions like we read everywhere, you know!
so public opinion does not matter as much as the court of law, really! so don't worry cambodia, the law is on our side. just keep on educating the public out there, though as they seemed not understand the law at all, really!
there's a lot of injustice against cambodia, that's why this case ended up in court, simple as that, really! the law is law, no buts or ifs about it, you know! get used to it, the law, ok!
I hope we don't just protect our land from Thailand just so we can give it to Vietnam eventually.
the human beings are emotional creatures, thank god for the rule of law; that sums it all up, really!
don't worry, my dear, cambodia is not giving any land including territory to vietnam. nowadays, there are law against that illegal acitivity, you know! good for bringing it up, though! we are aware of it!
The only thing we (Cambodia) worry is illegal immigration that flow from Vietnam into Cambodia everyday, every hours and Hun Sen does nothing. This is serious jeopardizing our Khmer race. We will be the minority and will not have enough voice to elect our representative and leaders in near future. Even in US, they are really concern about this issue. Why can we??
Please think twice!
The New York Times intentionally
forget that the whole Siam or Thailand used to be part of the Khmer Empire and the temple of Preah Vihear was built approximately at the Empire center
in another word watershed or not that's not important.
i know, we know from history that khmer rulers then usually picked a location for their important temple building in the area in the center of the empire for safety reason. so all the temple ruins we see today are actually the center of all of the khmer empire! the new york times, too, needs to be educated about the khmer empire history, etc, really! it is uneducated for them to be biased and not knowing the fact in history, etc, you know! the people wrote wrote the article probably knew nothing about cambodia and the cambodian history. they have something against cambodia called bias or prejudice against cambodia, it sounded!
my dear, strengthen the khmer immigration law to prevent our paranoia of illegal viet/youn coming across the border to live in cambodia for free! like in the US, they have good immigration law so illegal mexican or what have you cannot enter the US illegally to live, work, etc... i think khmer people should demand our gov't to strengthen our khmer immigration law to make sure no illegal is allowed to live or work in cambodia without proper documents, etc, etc..., really! again, we are talking the rule of law in cambodia. we have to, or viet/youn will take advantage of us! be smart, cambodia. use the rule of law from now on, ok! god bless.
you bet, cambodia has changed a lot since the KR era, you know! we now can make new law to accommodate our people and citizens, you know! we love the rule of law like in the free world, really! who say cambodia and khmer people can't change? if you can change, we can change, too, you know! cambodia will always be cambodia, really!
get used to it, my dear!
All Kaun Khmer
I live here in Cambodia as common people day in day out. From this ICJ verdict and other things, it is time to look now ourselves: who we are?
The ECCC, the ICJ, the World Bank... we are dealing with these International institutions. Instead of cooperating with them, Hun Sen government rejects them, denies them, bullies them (case of Christophe Peschoux)... and when ugly Thai neighbors came over by force, we asked them help. We have tarnished the image of our country, how can they give us sincere judgement?
We have got to rebuild the reputation of our country. Hun Sen should know that he is going for long time again to be at the helm of Cambodia boat: oppositions are weak and practically in disarray, Hun Sen continue to use threats and rich cronies to stay in power. Instead of giving people the right to speak out, instead of giving young Cambodian adequate education, instead of getting rid of corruption, instead of playing transparency in resources management...(long list to write down), Hun Sen sends his son to military school (to lead also his praetorian guards), Hun Sen asks the Vietnameses protection 9in exchange of Khmer land and the good living of Vietnameses in Cambodia), Hun Sen asks the Chineses to pour in money ( to avoid bankruptcy of Cambodia) . All these are wrong. But Hun Hen has ability and power to reverse and to correct his errors.
Samdech Cho, I beg your kindness, please look at you, please give Cambodia respected image. The international community looks at us, please give Cambodia chance to catch up with its 21st century development.
Notice the lone idiot jugde and what country she is from. It is a same.
That one judge married to a Thai woman.
She would not let him bang if he made a decision in favor of Cambodia.
you kidding me, of all the countries in the world, the judge from america voted against in favor of cambodia? wow! unbelieveable! however, i do not think it's all of america that this one judge represent though, because i know lawyers or judges in america are considered individual, not representing america. the only one that really represent the entire america is the US military personnel, you know. anyway, it sounds like this one lonely judge must've something against cambodia like personal bias or political bias or what have you. but i can say she is definitely not representative of the whole america as a nation and people, though! we can't assume culprit by association in this case, it's really an individual judge, not the whole america, really! anyway, cambodia say shame on this one judge for sided with the injustice. and she preaches to the world? amazing, indeed!
the judge must've interest in thailand for her to side with injustice. we know it is injustice when siem pad thugs continually defy the international law and broke the law and show contempt of court. just because siem's bumibol was born in the USA, doesn't mean america should side on the injustice side? what a pity!
Now it is time for the International Court of Justice to look into the Vietnamese Encroachments into Cambodia's Teritory on the Eastern Part of Cambodia and rule on the issue as well.
The stupid ding bat bitch who voted against Cambodia in all counts was Judge Joan e. Donoghue who joined the icj panel in September 2010...she either got bribed by the Thai government or got laid by a Thai lady boi in Pattaya to have such an arrogant biased view regardless of the facts.
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