‘Nothing Lost’ In Preah Vihear Temple Deal

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  THE TEMPLE OF CONTROVERSY: Thai Buddhist monks walk up to the Preah Vihear temple near Thai border in Preah Vihear province, some 543km north of Phnom Penh. (Photo courtesy: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/ AFP)

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Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama insists he maintained Thai sovereignty in dealing with Cambodia over the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.

The joint communiqué signed with Cambodia’s deputy prime minister Sok An on June 18 did not terminate reservations about the international court’s ruling made by former foreign minister Thanat Khoman 46 years ago, he said.

“The inherent right, if it really exists, as reserved by former minister Thanat, has not changed. No single word in the joint statement mentioned that right and the reservations held,” he told parliament.

Sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple, ruled in favour of Cambodia by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, was a hot topic of debate in the Thai parliament after the opposition Democrat Party accused the government of causing a loss of sovereignty when it supported Cambodia in a unilateral application for World Heritage status.

Actively supporting Cambodia’s application to Unesco meant recognition of Cambodia’s sovereignty over the temple area, said Democrat MP Sirichok Sopha. “The ICJ ruled only that the temple was under Cambodia’s sovereignty and Thailand was obligated to hand the temple ruins to Cambodia, not the base on which the ruins sit,” he said.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said previous governments had not conceded Cambodian sovereignty over the base since the ruling.

Noppadon rejected the comment, saying the Cabinet in July 1962, shortly after the ruling, agreed to hand the temple, together with 250 square metres of territory for the base, to Cambodia.

Abhisit and Noppadon exchanged words during the Parliament session over interpretation of the Cabinet’s resolution on July 11, 2006.

Noppadon said all concerned Thai agencies interpreted that the then government agreed to hand the temple together with the base area to Cambodia while Abhisit said the base remained under Thai sovereignty.

As long as Cambodia did not claim anything beyond the then-handed-over area, Thailand lost nothing beyond what it lost 46 years ago, Noppadon said.

Cambodia’s new map which was used in the application was cross-checked against the L 7017 map used by the Thai military to determine the Thai boundary, he said.

The joint communiqué made clear the inclusion of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage list shall be “without” prejudice to the right of the two kingdoms on the demarcation work of the Joint Commission for Land Boundary, Noppadon said.

Moreover, Unesco’s Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’s article 11 stated that: The inclusion of a property situated in a territory, sovereignty or jurisdiction over which is claimed by more than one State, shall in no way prejudice the rights of the parties to the dispute, he said. “We have three layers of legal protection over our sovereignty.” (By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE In Bangkok/ The Nation/ AsiaNews)

( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of MySinchew )