Thursday, February 4, 2010

OPEN-LETTER TO UNESCO’S DIRECTOR GENERAL

Dear Madam Director General,
I am writing to refer to ML. Walwipa Charoonroj of Thammasat University’s letter recently submitted to you in which she called on UNESCO to invalidate the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List.

In response to her ill-willed and illusory allegation she argued in her letter, I would like to solicit your kind consideration for the following tangible evidence:
1-with relation to the frontier line between Cambodia and Thailand at the areas adjacent to the Temple of Preah Vihear as has been raised by ML.Walwipa, I wish to kindly inform you that the Annex I map ( Dangrek-Commission of Delimitation between Indochina and Siam ) which was the result of the work of the Franco-Siamese Mixed Commission, set-up by the Franco-Siamese Convention of 1904 and the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907, was recognized and used by the ICJ to issue the verdict on the sovereignty of Cambodia on the Temple of Preah Vihear on 15 June 1962.

It is worth noting that the Annex I map was also recognized at the time by the government of the kingdom of Siam. In this connection, the ICJ found that the map was seen by Prince Devawongse, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, Minister of the Interior and even by the Governor of Khukhan province. In addition,” Prince Damrong thanked the French Minister in Bangkok for the maps and asked him for another fifteen copies of each of them for transmission to the Siamese provincial Governors.”

It is also advisable that ML.Walwipa should not forget that the MOU between the Government of Cambodia and Thailand of 14 June 2000 has recognized this map as the official document for the survey and demarcation work of the Cambodian-Thai Joint Commission on Demarcation of Land Boundary (JBC).

Hence there are legal frameworks that codify the international boundary between our two countries.

But ML.Walwipa has always chosen to ignore this undeniable evidence because of her self-centered illusion, prejudice and misperception of Cambodia.

2- as for her reference to the decision of Thai administrative court to revoke the Thai-Cambodia Joint communiqué on the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear, everyone can easily understand that it is purely internal affair of Thailand or only a game of the current Thai politics. Thai courts do not have any jurisdiction over the frontier of Thailand .Even the former chairperson of National World Heritage committee of Thailand, Mr Pongpol Adireksan did not agree with what ML.Walwipa has asserted and said that the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear on the WHL would not be
affected by the verdict of Thai court.

3-ML.Walwipa is right to assume that the ICJ does not have any jurisdiction over third country or IOs like UNESCO. Although she is totally wrong to state that UNESCO needs to have Thai “authorization” before listing the Temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage, because the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear on the WHL is under the sole sovereignty of Cambodia and UNESCO, provided that, according to the ICJ’s judgment, “the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia”. Since then, a half century on, Thailand has recognized this ICJ’s verdict and in fact withdrew its occupation forces from the Temple and its vicinity. Cambodia re-occupied and controlled the Temple and its surrounding areas without any complaint from Thailand. Where upon the issue of the Temple of Preah Vihear was completely finished.

As has been said, people might ask what are the motives behind ML.Walwipa’s opposition to the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear on the WHL even though she unquestionably knows that the Temple is under the sovereignty of Cambodia.

Everyone here in Cambodia is seriously hurtful by any action of the kind that is deeply offensive. As a woman of intellect amongst the elites of the old oligarchy, she should be honest enough to accept the objective reality of the history and should not be involved in this shameful and grotesque arrogance vis-à-vis Cambodia. But ML.Walwipa and these elites have opted not to abide this moral and legal obligation because of their old prejudice and selfimage of superiority over Cambodia. To the detriment of upholding a lasting good neighborly relationship, they reinvigorate their old strategy which is to weaken Cambodia by maintaining a state of hostility in order to undermine its capabilities. In the past, as a result of the steady decline of the Khmer Empire and the growing power of Siam from the midfifteenth century onward, Siam used this weaken-strategy by invading and putting the country as its tributary or vassal state.

Thus, in 1794” the provinces of Battambang and Siemreap, constituting almost one-third of Cambodia, were put under the direct supervision of Bangkok in order to weaken that Kingdom” (ref: Bunnag,Tej-The Provincial Administration of Siam 1892-1915).

Dear Madam Director General, I believe that it is not time to return to the old thinking in this growing interdependence world. I firmly believe that it is indeed high time not only to ponder but also to act together, Cambodians and Thais, including the whole people of ASEAN countries, in order to prevent and to dissipate hostilities and conflicts amongst themselves which are in conformity with UNESCO’s objectives in building ” a new universal ethics of living together”.
Finally, I would like to thank Madam Director General for your kind attention in this matter and to avail myself of this opportunity to extend to you the assurance of my highest consideration.

Phnom-Penh, February 4th, 2010
ENG YENG
International Relations Institute of Cambodia, Phnom Penh