Noppadon releases map, claims success

POST REPORTERS

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama points to the area on the border where Preah Vihear temple is sited, showing that Thailand will lose no territory in approving the Cambodian map.

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama yesterday released the new map of the Preah Vihear temple compound, claiming success as Thailand had avoided losing any land to Cambodia.

However, scholars and critics still have doubts over whether the map would put Thailand at a disadvantage if the countries need to negotiate on an overlapping area along the border in the future.

The map was redrawn by Phnom Penh as part of a bid to nominate the ancient Hindu temple as a World Heritage site.

In a bid to alleviate concerns, Mr Noppadon said the new map was not the same as the earlier version, drawn up in 2006 and 2007, which caused a conflict over an overlapping area of 4.6 square kilometres at the border between Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.

The Foreign Ministry had opposed the old map and protested against Phnom Penh's solo bid to have Preah Vihear listed as a World Heritage site with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The agency agreed to delay its consideration until this year. Mr Noppadon said he decided to hold talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in Cambodia's Koh Kong province and Paris to convince Phnom Penh to redraw the map. Cambodia eventually agreed in May not to touch the overlapping land.

''If we had not handled it this way, Thailand would have risked losing some of its area,'' Mr Noppadon said after a ceremony to sign a joint statement supporting the new map with Sok An.

The National Security Council and the cabinet earlier approved the statement after the Royal Thai Survey Department inspected Preah Vihear and surrounding areas from June 9 to 11.

Royal Thai Survey Department chief Lt-Gen Daen Michuat said the temple and adjacent areas are between three and 30 metres from the Thai border.

This approval paves the way for Preah Vihear to be considered for listing by the World Heritage Site Committee between July 2 and 10 in Quebec, Canada.

Mr Noppadon said the government would hold further talks with Cambodia to solve the disputed area of 4.6 sq km of land. The two countries are required to inform Unesco of the outcome of the negotiations by 2010.

However, M.L.Walwipha Charoonroj, of Thammasat University's Thai Khadi Research Institute, urged civic groups to send a protest letter to Unesco.

Though the new map excludes the overlapping land, she said the Thai government should not rush to certify it because this may cause legal complications when the two countries negotiate on the disputed land in the future.

Former charter drafter Chuchai Supawong suggested senators petition the Constitution Court to look into the issue because the approval of the Cambodian map may violate the constitution.

Article 190 says any decisions which could affect Thai national sovereignty must be considered by parliament.