A Change of Guard

សូមស្តាប់វិទ្យុសង្គ្រោះជាតិ Please read more Khmer news and listen to CNRP Radio at National Rescue Party. សូមស្តាប់វីទ្យុខ្មែរប៉ុស្តិ៍/Khmer Post Radio.
Follow Khmerization on Facebook/តាមដានខ្មែរូបនីយកម្មតាម Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/khmerization.khmerican

Monday 14 March 2011

Indonesia talks will not produce good results from Cambodia: Cambodian analysts


By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Many Cambodian analysts are very pessimistic about the upcoming meetings of the Cambodian-Thai Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) and General Border Committee (GBC) in Indonesia on 24-25 March to resolve the Cambodian-Thai border conflict.

Mr. Rong Chhun (pictured), head of Cambodian Watchdog Council, said on Sunday that the upcoming JBC and GBC meetings in Bogor will not end the Cambodian-Thai border dispute because Asean, especially Indonesia, does not have sufficient powers to end the conflict. "They (Thailand) have too many tricks because they have the ambition to invade (Cambodian territory) and they want to drag the border situation and link it to their internal domestic politics", he said.

He said the best option for Cambodia is to take the conflict to the International Court of Justice and ask it to re-interpret the 1962 verdict which adjudicated to give ownership of the temple and the surrounding lands to Cambodia.

Dr. Sok Touch, a political scientist from the Royal Academy of Cambodia, echoed Mr. Rong Chhun's sentiment. "The last resort is to lobby all the countries that are sympathetic with Cambodia because Cambodia has chosen to take a legal option. But it contravenes our foreign policyt which states that 'we don't make friends and we don't have enemies' (don't take sides). China, which is one of the superpowers, has also chosen this path, as well as the United States, which makes it hard to convince the Asean to be Cambodia's partner and be Cambodia's witness in the complaint against Thailand to the United Nations because these countries have too much interests in Thailand", he said.

However, Mr. Var Kimhong, chairman of Cambodian Border Commission, said that the Indonesian meeting will enable Cambodia to present its documents and put its case on the negotiating table for the searches for old border posts. "We have many issues that we must put on the negotiating table which we have not done up until now, such as producing topographic and aerial maps along the border to aid in the demarcation process", he said.

Cambodia and Thailand had planted 73 border posts after the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907. At this present time, 48 posts had been found, 33 had been agreed on their locations, but the locations of 15 posts are still in dispute and another 25 posts have not been found yet.

Indonesia has proposed to host the Cambodian-Thai meeting in Bogor from 24-25 March to try to resolve the ongoing Cambodia-Thai border conflict. Cambodia has positively responded to the Indonesian proposal, but Thailand is non-committal.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with Mr. Rong Chhon! This meeting coming up will not do any good...Its wasting time, and Thailand will keep taking advantage in this meeting again, buying Time!!!

Anonymous said...

Asean Team should moved their ass quickly...before more people died at Thai/Cambodian border! I wonder why Asean still hesitated?