Thais protest over Preah Vihear deal

More than 5,000 Thais took to the streets on 18th June.

Just as the simmering controversy over the hilltop Preah Vihear temple seemed set to die down, a new agreement between Thailand and Cambodia appears to have ignited a flammable situation in Thailand.
With coup rumors again rife in Thailand, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) are to march on Government House in Bangkok seeking to force the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet, who have been running the country for less than six months. A recent agreement over the potential listing of the hilltop sanctuary as a World Heritage Site has sparked allegations of corruption in the Thai government.
Thailand and Cambodia on Wednesday signed a joint communiqué concerning the Preah Vihear temple behind closed doors, after the Thai cabinet endorsed a new map drawn by Cambodia delineating the borders of the historic site Tuesday.
The new map will be the cornerstone of Cambodia’s presentation to UNESCO experts at a meeting in Quebec, Canada next month.
After the signing, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and other senior officials told reporters that the new map delineating the temple ruins “did not affect each country’s rights on surveying and demarcating the common border.”
Pen Ngoeurn, an advisor to the Cambodian Council of Ministers, on Thursday noted that the map drawn “registers only the temple. The Thai government does not oppose Cambodia’s bid to register Preah Vihear temple on the World Heritage List.”
Chuch Phoeurn, secretary of state for the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, played down concerns Thursday, saying that negotiations had been “positively fruitful.”
“From now on there will be no more obstacles because the two governments have officially signed the communiqué to inscribe Preah Vihear temple on the World Heritage List as planned,” he said.
Pen Ngoeurn declined to comment on Thai demonstrations against their government’s decision to back the Cambodian bid, saying it was an internal affair of the Thai government. “Cambodia always respects the internal policies of other countries. We will not interfere in the Thai demonstration,” he added.
However, it is clear that, as growing dissent raises concerns over another possible coup in Thailand, the Thai government’s decision to support Cambodia’s bid to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site has been seen there as part of a sinister business deal, typical of the Thaksin era, DPA reported.
Matters are not helped by the fact that Noppadon Patama is Thaksin’s former lawyer and one day after he disclosed the country’s support for Cambodia’s Preah Vihear bid, Thaksin announced plans to build a casino-hotel complex on Cambodia’s Koh Kong island.
Preah Vihear is a sensitive issue for most Thais. The magnificent Hindu temple was the source of a border dispute in the 1950s that ended up in the International Court in The Hague. The court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia.
Noppadon’s approval of the Cambodian claim should pave the way for the temple’s listing at the July 2 UNESCO meeting, a result that will undoubtedly provide a publicity boost for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s CPP party in the July 27 parliamentary election, DPA reported.
“It looks like Thailand decided to help Hun Sen in the elections,” said Kraisak Choonhavan, a member of the opposition Democrat Party.
“The government’s way of handling this has created the suspicion that personal gains are more important than national gains,” added Kraisak.
Still, Noppadon was adamant the two countries will jointly submit a management plan for overlapping areas to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for consideration by Feb 1, 2010.
He stressed the new map does “not violate even an inch of Thai territory” and that there is no hidden agenda.
Noppadon denied allegations that Thai approval of the map will assist Thaksin in oil investments in Cambodian territorial waters.
Lt. Gen. Dan Meechooarth, director of the Supreme Command’s Royal Thai Survey Department, said his department has been surveying the disputed area over the last few decades, and assured that Cambodia is not encroaching on Thai territory in its application for Preah Vihear to be listed as a World Heritage site.
Veerasak Footrakul, permanent secretary for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said a tripartite committee will be appointed to discuss supervising the un-demarcated 4.6 square kilometers.
(The Mekong Times, Xinhua & DPA)