By Sam Sotha
On Wednesday, December 30, 2009, the Thai Central Administrative Court ordered the revocation of a resolution passed by the Samak Sundaravej cabinet, which had approved the Thai-Cambodian joint communiqué supporting Cambodia's bid to list the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Court ordered the revocation of the communiqué as requested by the petitioners: Nitithorn Lamlua, a lawyer for the People's Alliance for Democracy, and eight other lawyers who had filed a petition with the Court. In fact, the Thai people, including the chairman of the Thailand Heritage Committee and especially Mr. Abhisit Government themselves, were already well aware of the fact that the World Heritage Committee (WHC) had given heavy consideration to the report of the International Council for Monuments and Sites as a basis for making the decision.
In the same line with the group’s petition addressed to the Court, the article of Bangkok Post, published on June, 20, 2009 mentioned that the Abhisit government has already defended its renewed ridiculous campaign against Cambodia's listing of the Temple of Preah Vihear.
To have a better understanding of this issue, let us go back to monitor the scenario as Mr. Abhisit told the world that the diplomatic row escalated an already simmering tension between Thailand and Cambodia. Abhisit said it was triggered on 23 October 2009, when Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Hun Sen appointed Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra as Cambodian Government Economic Advisor and the refusal of Cambodia to extradite Mr. Thaksin to Thailand.
“Twisting the truth and not being sincere to your neighbors is karma (a sin), according to Buddhists teaching.”
• 8 July 2008, the WHC decides to list the Temple of Preah Vihear in the World Heritage site (the main point to start)
• 15 July 2008, Thailand, in act of provocation, sent troops into the Cambodian territory around the Temple of Preah Vihear. During this incursion, Thai troops had also stepped on landmines
• 3 October 2008, Thai’s troops skirmished with the Cambodia armed forces when approx. 30 Thai troops moved deep into Cambodian territory
• 6 October 2008, at around 10h00, an estimated 100 Thai troops intruded deep into Cambodian territory again. At approx. 10h20, two of them stepped on landmines
• 15 October 2008, at approx. 14h15, Thai troops commenced launching attacks on Cambodian troops at three separate points deep inside Cambodia territory
• 21 December 2008, the fighting which lasted for about an hour, resulted in at least two Cambodian soldiers losing their lives and wounded eight soldiers on both sides
• 3 April 2009, renewed fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces left at least 3 Thai soldiers and 2 Cambodian soldiers dead.
A sequence of tensions had and continues to flare up: A direct consequence of a man-made problem, obviously stirred by Abhisit and Kasit and some Thai ultra nationalists who were apparently trying to divert the course of history and the international legal justice system.
Thailand’s ignorance, which in the first place opposed the application and then challenged the listing decision of the World Heritage Committee, deserves more analysis on how to behave properly. Just little over 2 years (15 June 1962), before Abhisit was born in Newcastle, a city in Britain on 3 August 1964, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its Judgment on the Temple of Preah Vihear Case, filed by Government of Cambodia and in the appendix attached with the Annex I map, which cited clearly the frontier line between Cambodia and Thailand, in the Dangrek section, which is marked on the map of the Commission of Delimitation between Indo-China and Siam (Annex I map to the Memorial of Cambodia).
Before coming to its conclusion, the Court in its advisory opinion on 15 June 1962 cited Cambodia’s Application with respect to the relevant provision of the Convention of 13 February 1904, which regulated the frontier in the eastern Dangrek region.
“Article I: the frontier between Siam and Cambodia states, on the left shore of the Great Lake, from the mouth of the river Stung Roluos, it follows the parallel from that point in an easterly direction until it meets the river Prek Kompong Tiam, then turning northwards, it merges with the meridian from that meeting point as far as the Phnom Dangrek mountain chain. From there it follows the watershed between the basins of the Namsen and the Mekong, on the one hand, and the Nam Meun, on the other hand and joins the Phnom Padang chain, the west of which it follows eastwards as the Mekong. Upstream from that point, the Mekong remains the frontier of the Kingdom of Siam, in accordance with Article1 of the Treaty of 3 October 1893”.
The reports and maps drawn by the mixed commission of Franco-Siamese were available in FebruaryMarch 1907. In addition, the two governments had entered into negotiations for a further boundary treaty. This treaty was signed on 23 March 1907 and provides for exchange of territory and a comprehensive regulation of all those frontiers not covered by the 1904 Convention. The Court thought there can be no reasonable doubt that the delimitation of the frontier line was based on the work of the surveying officers of the Dangrek sector.
The Annex I map is called: “Dangrek - Commission of Delimitation between Indo-China and Siam,” and follows from the proceedings which found that the Siamese authorities had in due course, received the Annex I map and that they accepted it (the line it indicated). The Court has further stated that “Thailand has, for fifty years, enjoyed such benefits as the Convention of 1904 conferred on her, of only the benefit of a state frontier.”
The International Court of Justice however considered that Thailand in 1908-1909 did accept the Annex I map as representing the outcome of the work of delimitation, and hence recognized the line on that map as being the frontier line, the effect of which “is to situate Preah Vihear in Cambodian territory”.
Then, the Court voted:
1. “finds that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia”; finds in the consequence,
2. “that Thailand is under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.”
3. “that Thailand is under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any objects of the kind specified in Cambodia’s fifth submission which may, since the date of occupation of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the Temple area by the Thai Authorities”
Isn’t the above excerpt of the ICJ enough to teach Abhisit, his government and a small group of Thai ultra-nationalists the lessons of international law? Now as far as the small group of Thai chauvinists including Mr. Abhisit is concerned, they should realize that the whole world - even the Thai people from every walk of life, literate or illiterate, knew well that Preah Vihear and its surrounding area belonged to Cambodia.
The Temple of Preah Vihear is the property of the Kingdom of Cambodia!!! The Cambodian people will never forget the lessons of history; otherwise, they will be condemned to live it again.
Another excerpt from the article of Mr. Derek Tonkin, British Ambassador to Thailand from 1986-1989 and then secretary at the British Embassy in Phnom Penh from 1961-1962, published in the Phnom Penh Post on 13 November 2009...“When the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 by nine votes to three that the disputed Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in Cambodian territory and not in Thai territory, passions for a time ran high in Thailand, but in due course the Thais accepted the ruling. When [then] Prince Sihanouk visited the Temple Preah Vihear in January 1963, bounding up the 525-meter-high cliff in less than an hour, he made a notable gesture of conciliation by announcing that all Thai citizens would be welcome to visit the temple without visa, and that Cambodia would not insist on the return of any antiquities that might have been removed”.
At this point, Mr. Abhisit must learn the humility and sincerity of the Cambodian leader towards the Thai people. But why doesn’t Abhisit or his government and a small group of Thai people accept the international court ruling?
Who Contributed to the flaring-up of tension?
Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva announced on Wednesday, 24 June 2009 that Bangkok would use the World Heritage Committee’s 33rd session to challenge the validity of its July 2008 decision to list the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. How dare Mr. Abhisit, a graduate from Oxford, protest against UNESCO (one of the United Nations specialized agencies) decision?
Abhisit sent his envoy to the 33rd session of the Committee meeting in Seville, Spain from 22-30 June 2009, but was unceremoniously and shamefully denied the floor to present arguments against WHC.
The UNESCO decision made on its 32nd in Quebec, Canada, on 8 July 2008 thus stood the Thai challenge.
Thailand, Abhisit and Mr. Kasit Piromya need not raise the issue to other senior leaders of ASEAN or world leaders about the rising tension between Cambodia and Thailand as this was obviously caused by Abhisit, his government and a group of hardcore politicians along with a group of Thai ultranationalists. They must disengage from this outrageous provocation and go back to where they come from, keep their family well and teaching their children not to be greedy, love their neighbors and not to steal other people’s belongings so that the next Thai generation could learn the truth and remember that the Temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia and the surrounding area of the temple is situated well inside the sovereign territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia. By these simple acts, Thais and Cambodians will be able to live peacefully and happily and carrying out business together without interference from such hypocritical politicians like Abhisit and his cronies.
Furthermore, continuing to put pressure on Cambodia to extradite Mr. Thaksin and terminating the MOU and other bilateral development projects, will do more harm than good to Thailand. These are acts designed specifically as desperate attempts at populism and increasing misguided sentiments to raise tension within Thailand itself which would further deepen its internal rift, thus leading to the inevitable collapse of the Abhisit Regime.
* * *
Mr. Sam Sotha is the author of the “In the Shade of A Quiet Killing Place”, His Personal Memoir.
About the book visit the www.heavenlakepress.com
On Wednesday, December 30, 2009, the Thai Central Administrative Court ordered the revocation of a resolution passed by the Samak Sundaravej cabinet, which had approved the Thai-Cambodian joint communiqué supporting Cambodia's bid to list the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Court ordered the revocation of the communiqué as requested by the petitioners: Nitithorn Lamlua, a lawyer for the People's Alliance for Democracy, and eight other lawyers who had filed a petition with the Court. In fact, the Thai people, including the chairman of the Thailand Heritage Committee and especially Mr. Abhisit Government themselves, were already well aware of the fact that the World Heritage Committee (WHC) had given heavy consideration to the report of the International Council for Monuments and Sites as a basis for making the decision.
In the same line with the group’s petition addressed to the Court, the article of Bangkok Post, published on June, 20, 2009 mentioned that the Abhisit government has already defended its renewed ridiculous campaign against Cambodia's listing of the Temple of Preah Vihear.
To have a better understanding of this issue, let us go back to monitor the scenario as Mr. Abhisit told the world that the diplomatic row escalated an already simmering tension between Thailand and Cambodia. Abhisit said it was triggered on 23 October 2009, when Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Hun Sen appointed Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra as Cambodian Government Economic Advisor and the refusal of Cambodia to extradite Mr. Thaksin to Thailand.
“Twisting the truth and not being sincere to your neighbors is karma (a sin), according to Buddhists teaching.”
• 8 July 2008, the WHC decides to list the Temple of Preah Vihear in the World Heritage site (the main point to start)
• 15 July 2008, Thailand, in act of provocation, sent troops into the Cambodian territory around the Temple of Preah Vihear. During this incursion, Thai troops had also stepped on landmines
• 3 October 2008, Thai’s troops skirmished with the Cambodia armed forces when approx. 30 Thai troops moved deep into Cambodian territory
• 6 October 2008, at around 10h00, an estimated 100 Thai troops intruded deep into Cambodian territory again. At approx. 10h20, two of them stepped on landmines
• 15 October 2008, at approx. 14h15, Thai troops commenced launching attacks on Cambodian troops at three separate points deep inside Cambodia territory
• 21 December 2008, the fighting which lasted for about an hour, resulted in at least two Cambodian soldiers losing their lives and wounded eight soldiers on both sides
• 3 April 2009, renewed fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces left at least 3 Thai soldiers and 2 Cambodian soldiers dead.
A sequence of tensions had and continues to flare up: A direct consequence of a man-made problem, obviously stirred by Abhisit and Kasit and some Thai ultra nationalists who were apparently trying to divert the course of history and the international legal justice system.
Thailand’s ignorance, which in the first place opposed the application and then challenged the listing decision of the World Heritage Committee, deserves more analysis on how to behave properly. Just little over 2 years (15 June 1962), before Abhisit was born in Newcastle, a city in Britain on 3 August 1964, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its Judgment on the Temple of Preah Vihear Case, filed by Government of Cambodia and in the appendix attached with the Annex I map, which cited clearly the frontier line between Cambodia and Thailand, in the Dangrek section, which is marked on the map of the Commission of Delimitation between Indo-China and Siam (Annex I map to the Memorial of Cambodia).
Before coming to its conclusion, the Court in its advisory opinion on 15 June 1962 cited Cambodia’s Application with respect to the relevant provision of the Convention of 13 February 1904, which regulated the frontier in the eastern Dangrek region.
“Article I: the frontier between Siam and Cambodia states, on the left shore of the Great Lake, from the mouth of the river Stung Roluos, it follows the parallel from that point in an easterly direction until it meets the river Prek Kompong Tiam, then turning northwards, it merges with the meridian from that meeting point as far as the Phnom Dangrek mountain chain. From there it follows the watershed between the basins of the Namsen and the Mekong, on the one hand, and the Nam Meun, on the other hand and joins the Phnom Padang chain, the west of which it follows eastwards as the Mekong. Upstream from that point, the Mekong remains the frontier of the Kingdom of Siam, in accordance with Article1 of the Treaty of 3 October 1893”.
The reports and maps drawn by the mixed commission of Franco-Siamese were available in FebruaryMarch 1907. In addition, the two governments had entered into negotiations for a further boundary treaty. This treaty was signed on 23 March 1907 and provides for exchange of territory and a comprehensive regulation of all those frontiers not covered by the 1904 Convention. The Court thought there can be no reasonable doubt that the delimitation of the frontier line was based on the work of the surveying officers of the Dangrek sector.
The Annex I map is called: “Dangrek - Commission of Delimitation between Indo-China and Siam,” and follows from the proceedings which found that the Siamese authorities had in due course, received the Annex I map and that they accepted it (the line it indicated). The Court has further stated that “Thailand has, for fifty years, enjoyed such benefits as the Convention of 1904 conferred on her, of only the benefit of a state frontier.”
The International Court of Justice however considered that Thailand in 1908-1909 did accept the Annex I map as representing the outcome of the work of delimitation, and hence recognized the line on that map as being the frontier line, the effect of which “is to situate Preah Vihear in Cambodian territory”.
Then, the Court voted:
1. “finds that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia”; finds in the consequence,
2. “that Thailand is under an obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.”
3. “that Thailand is under an obligation to restore to Cambodia any objects of the kind specified in Cambodia’s fifth submission which may, since the date of occupation of the Temple by Thailand in 1954, have been removed from the Temple or the Temple area by the Thai Authorities”
Isn’t the above excerpt of the ICJ enough to teach Abhisit, his government and a small group of Thai ultra-nationalists the lessons of international law? Now as far as the small group of Thai chauvinists including Mr. Abhisit is concerned, they should realize that the whole world - even the Thai people from every walk of life, literate or illiterate, knew well that Preah Vihear and its surrounding area belonged to Cambodia.
The Temple of Preah Vihear is the property of the Kingdom of Cambodia!!! The Cambodian people will never forget the lessons of history; otherwise, they will be condemned to live it again.
Another excerpt from the article of Mr. Derek Tonkin, British Ambassador to Thailand from 1986-1989 and then secretary at the British Embassy in Phnom Penh from 1961-1962, published in the Phnom Penh Post on 13 November 2009...“When the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 by nine votes to three that the disputed Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in Cambodian territory and not in Thai territory, passions for a time ran high in Thailand, but in due course the Thais accepted the ruling. When [then] Prince Sihanouk visited the Temple Preah Vihear in January 1963, bounding up the 525-meter-high cliff in less than an hour, he made a notable gesture of conciliation by announcing that all Thai citizens would be welcome to visit the temple without visa, and that Cambodia would not insist on the return of any antiquities that might have been removed”.
At this point, Mr. Abhisit must learn the humility and sincerity of the Cambodian leader towards the Thai people. But why doesn’t Abhisit or his government and a small group of Thai people accept the international court ruling?
Who Contributed to the flaring-up of tension?
Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva announced on Wednesday, 24 June 2009 that Bangkok would use the World Heritage Committee’s 33rd session to challenge the validity of its July 2008 decision to list the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. How dare Mr. Abhisit, a graduate from Oxford, protest against UNESCO (one of the United Nations specialized agencies) decision?
Abhisit sent his envoy to the 33rd session of the Committee meeting in Seville, Spain from 22-30 June 2009, but was unceremoniously and shamefully denied the floor to present arguments against WHC.
The UNESCO decision made on its 32nd in Quebec, Canada, on 8 July 2008 thus stood the Thai challenge.
Thailand, Abhisit and Mr. Kasit Piromya need not raise the issue to other senior leaders of ASEAN or world leaders about the rising tension between Cambodia and Thailand as this was obviously caused by Abhisit, his government and a group of hardcore politicians along with a group of Thai ultranationalists. They must disengage from this outrageous provocation and go back to where they come from, keep their family well and teaching their children not to be greedy, love their neighbors and not to steal other people’s belongings so that the next Thai generation could learn the truth and remember that the Temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia and the surrounding area of the temple is situated well inside the sovereign territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia. By these simple acts, Thais and Cambodians will be able to live peacefully and happily and carrying out business together without interference from such hypocritical politicians like Abhisit and his cronies.
Furthermore, continuing to put pressure on Cambodia to extradite Mr. Thaksin and terminating the MOU and other bilateral development projects, will do more harm than good to Thailand. These are acts designed specifically as desperate attempts at populism and increasing misguided sentiments to raise tension within Thailand itself which would further deepen its internal rift, thus leading to the inevitable collapse of the Abhisit Regime.
* * *
About the book visit the www.heavenlakepress.com