[Thai] Military urges reversal of Cambodia support

Monday, July 14, 2008
TNA

The Foreign Ministry should inform Cambodia and all concerned countries and organisations that Thailand is revoking the joint communique issued to support Cambodia's bid to register the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site, Supreme Commander Boonsang Niempradit said.

Speaking after a seminar with with academics and others with an interest in the temple dispute, Gen Boonsang said measures taken to cope with the disputed areas surrounding the temple are the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry.

The army is responsible for taking care of the country's sovereignty only, he said.

He said any actions on the matter must be taken transparently and with public acknowledgement.

Because of this, the ministry should prepare easy-to-understand documents to clarify all issues the public had doubted.

Pisanu Suvanajata, the deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of East Asian Affairs, suggested the government should join the seven-nation International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to manage the Preah Vihear temple to help protect the country's sovereignty.

Thai involvement would benefit the country as it would be able to air its opinions concerning the national sovereignty, he said.

Feb 1 is the deadline for the submission of documents to join the committee to be set up under the World Heritage Committee's resolution.

Push for Thais on Preah Vihear panel: Move to protect local [Thai] interests [not Preah Vihear's interest?], say officials

Monday July 14, 2008
Bangkok Post

The Foreign Ministry's Department of East Asian Affairs has suggested the government join the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to manage the Preah Vihear temple to help protect the country's sovereignty. Pisanu Suvanajata, the deputy director-general of the department, said sitting on the seven-nation committee, to be set up under the World Heritage Committee's (WHC) resolution, would benefit Thailand as it would provide a channel for Thailand to give its views on any conditions that would affect the country's sovereignty.

The WHC approved Cambodia's application to list the Hindu temple ruins as a World Heritage site and proposed a Thai representative sit on the seven-nation committee to safeguard and manage Preah Vihear.

Mr Pisanu said a Thai organisation or institute can join the ICC. The decision on whether Thailand would join the ICC was the duty of the chairman of Thailand's World Heritage Committee, Pongpol Adireksarn, to forward the matter to the cabinet for consideration, he added.

If the government agreed the country should join the ICC, it should decide before Feb 1, the deadline for the submission of documents to join the committee.

He said the ICC would not manage the 4.6 square kilometres of overlapping area. The department's deputy chief shrugged off threats by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to take criminal action against ministry officials over the Preah Vihear issue, saying the ministry had followed all legal procedures.

He said Thailand had not lost anything from the temple listing by Cambodia. Cambodia agreed to revise the diagram of the temple to apply for the World Heritage listing, which meant Cambodia recognised that there was an overlapping area.

Cambodia's action would legally benefit Thailand in future negotiations with Phnom Penh over the boundary demarcation, he said.

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit said the Foreign Ministry should handle the overlapping areas, while the military would take charge of the country's sovereignty.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in his weekly talk programme broadcast yesterday that Cambodia had the right to push for the listing of the temple ruins.

He said any government, including the Democrats, would have done the same as his government did and Cambodia would have eventually successfully listed its temple as a World Heritage site.

Mr Samak also said the Chuan Leekpai government had sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1997 to rescue the country from an economic crisis, under the condition that Thailand amend 15 laws, of which 11 had been done, and people labelled that move as selling the nation. Luckily, he said, Mr Chuan had managed to ask the Constitution Court whether the signing of the agreement with the IMF should be approved by parliament, but the court said it was not necessary.

In the Preah Vihear case, the court ruled that the signing of the joint communique must be approved by parliament despite the fact that it has never caused any loss to the nation, said Mr Samak.