Thailand is on top and Cambodia is at the bottom: The 1:200000-scale map made by France and agreed by Thailand in 1908 shows that the entire Preah Vihear temple was located well within Cambodian sovereignty.By THE NATION
Published on January 28, 2011
Abhisit talks tough after PAD raises issue during protest outside his office
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that Cambodia had no right to rise its national flag over the disputed border area adjacent to the Preah Vihear Temple.
"If there is such flag, it needs to be taken down," Abhisit told reporters, but noted that he did not know where exactly this flag has been raised.
Abhisit made the comment after the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) raised the issue while protesting outside the Prime Minister's Office.
Cambodia agreed earlier to removed two stone tablets at Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, which indicated that the area belonged to Cambodia and had been invaded by Thai troops in 2008
Abhisit said Cambodia did not have the right to declare sovereignty in the area, because Thailand was also claiming the land.
The two countries have been at loggerheads over areas adjacent to Preah Vihaer for long time, though the boundary in the temple's vicinity has not yet been demarcated.
Preah Vihear, as ruled by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, is situated in a territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia, but Thailand is arguing that it owns the 4.6 square kilometres area surrounding the temple, and the land the stone ruins are standing on.
Cambodia, meanwhile, claims that the 1:200000-scale map made by France showed that the Preah Vihear and its vicinity were on the Cambodian side. The ICJ used this map for its ruling.
The PAD is mounting pressure on Abhisit's government, demanding that it scrap the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on land-boundary demarcation signed with Cambodia since 2000 and use force to evict the Cambodian community living in the area.
The group first got angry when Phnom Penh managed to get a World Heritage Site inscription for the temple in 2008. The group, along with Abhisit as opposition leader, accused the then-government of Samak Sundaravej of supporting Cambodia's application for the status.
When Abhisit took office with PAD's blessings in late 2008, he maintained his position to oppose Cambodia over inscription. He stood strong against Preah Vihear's management plan proposed by Phnom Penh on grounds that the conflict over the temple's surrounding area had not yet been settled.
Abhisit told reporters yesterday that the ongoing conflict with Cambodia would be a good excuse for him to continue blocking the Preah Vihear management plan.
However, his plans to settle the boundary disputes are different from those of the PAD. He believes that the joint-boundary mechanism set up in accordance with the 2000 MoU could work to end the problem. The PAD said the MoU, which was signed under the Democrat-led government with Chuan Leekpai at the reins, would never work because it recognised the French map that indicated the area belonged to Cambodia.
4 comments:
PAD nationalistic tone that seems only cares about protecting the so called Thai territory lost to Cambodia is in fact just part of a big scheme which this group devise to act against Khmers as a whole.By that it means eqaully to a policy of ethnic cleansing.PAD wants to create war that would kill Khmers in Cambodia as well as minority Khmers living along the Cambodian-Thai border.Therefore if war ever brake out I urge Khmer troops to struck fast and move on quickly to Bangkok to kill all PAD members then we would call that region Bangkor to rhyme with our Angkor instead of Bangcock.
I just want to remind our khmer leader not to trust this thai PM
and not to be too cozy with him
because of his devil dirty trick toward our belove khmer nation.
LOVE KHMER
Just look at this map drawn by France-Siamese Commission in 1908. This one has been accepted by the Thai up until 1962. As can be seen here, the Thai tried to redraw the map to claim the area shaded in green. Khmer leaders must fight hard to protect this parcel of land. We must make noises, not stay silent, so the world can hear our cry for help.
The Thais accepted the border drawn by the France-Siamese commission in 1907-1908. That's it guys! You ratified the border mapping then, you therefore openly admitted the so-called disputed territories were 100% Khmer. Cambodia was under French administration then but when the Frenchmen left, they granted newly independent Cambodia with all of the territories that made up the French Protectorate on Cambodia and that included the lands that the Thais are now asking for. Thai government should be ashame of such a high level of bad faith!
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