AKP Phnom Penh, June 2, 2011 —The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will make a decision on Cambodia’s request for conservatory measures for the Khmer sacred Preah Vihear Temple within 40 to 45 days.Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation told reporters here this morning at Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from The Hague, Netherlands, where he attended the ICJ’s public hearing on the issue of Preah Vihear Temple on May 30-31.
“We have internationally recognized documents and maps to support this issue. […] Cambodia’s request is reasonable. The Court will make a decision accordingly,” he said.
During the two-day public hearing, Cambodia proposed to the ICJ to order Thailand to withdraw its troops from the Preah Vihear Temple area, to stop all actions affecting Cambodia’s right to preserve and protect the temple, and to ban Thai military activities at the disputed border area, i.e. to ban Thai’s aggression against Cambodia, said H.E. Hor Namhong.
The Thai side demanded the Court not to accept Cambodia’s request, he added.
The current general border situation is still fragile as Thailand does not respect the ICJ’s verdict of 1962 ruling that the Temple of Preah Vihear and its surrounding areas belong to Cambodia, said the Cambodian deputy prime minister, stressing that Cambodian forces are still on alert to prevent Thai aggression.
He further affirmed that Cambodia has not bought any weapon from Indonesia.
On April 28, Cambodia submitted a request to the ICJ for the interpretation of the Court’s verdict of 1962 on the case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear, and for conservatory measures for the temple.
By SOKMOM Nimul
2 comments:
Rama IV was obviously trying to symbolically reinforce his claim to Angkor, However, he was not successful. The work was stopped by furious Khmer attacking the Siam men who tried to take the stones away the Khmer were conscious about the temple as their “national” heritage; and their religious site, there was obviously a feeling of knowing about the temple belonging to them. Mongkut’s plan could not be carried out(from Siam history textbook).
Later on he sent a team of expert to survey Angkor Wat if they able to disassemble and assemble it back ,The team of Siam expert reported back to the king of impossible task of moving Angkor wat from Cambodia to Siam. Hence, he ordered the construction of a miniature replica of Angkor Wat. Even if that model was small, the king lifted its symbolic value sky-high by placing it in the compound of the centre of the kingdom’s power and potency, the Wat Phra Kaew which houses the royal palladium, the Emerald Buddha. At that time, the Thai-view of Cambodia was already that of a “savage country”. Thus, the Siamese did not acknowledge any Cambodian claim to Angkor.
This idea became more sophisticated during the time of military rule under Phibun. The ideological foundations of his fascist-leaning policies were laid by the Thai rhetoric thinker Luang Wichit Wathakan, whose officially sanctioned ideas about Thai nationalism have been pervasive until today. One of the theories he put forward was, that the Khmer of today have no connection to the ethnic group that built Angkor, which he termed khom. Although khom is simply derived from the ancient Thai word Khmer krom for “lowland Khmer”, Wichit used the old term to invent a new ethnicity to emphasize a clearcut break between Angkor and Cambodia. At the same time, he tried to incorporate the Khmer into the Thai race to raise popular support for upcoming military undertakings in Cambodia. In Wichits play Ratchamanu about a military commander who led an army against Lovek, the main character proclaims that the Khmer used to occupy the old khom territory and “came to be called Khmers. In fact, we’re all really Thai brothers”. He goes on to explain that “all of us on the Golden Peninsula are the same... [but remember] the Siamese Thais are the elder brothers [...]".
Although the ethnic continuity between the builders of Angkor and today’s Khmer is beyond doubt, Wichit was successful in enforcing Thai claims to Cambodia .
Thailand acting innocent argument is very impressive and sound very professional. However, it lack of fact/evidences to to back it claim. In the court room; it doesn't matter how well you speak English or how good you sing the song, the bottom line is fact. The court made the judgement based on fact not story telling or how well you sing. Cambodia on the other hand may not be good public speaker but it based the issues on fact. The evidence that Cambodia present to the court; it pretty much cement the case. Cambodia has enormous evidences against Thailand, What else Thailand could defense itself except to ask the court to drop the case. Thailand government needs to stop giving its people false hope to score point for the election. PAD should quit now because the government already recognized verdict 1962; the temple belongs to Cambodia. The question is the land; but again 1962, the court already ruled the land surrounding the temple belongs to Cambodia.
It Time for Thailand to tell the truth to Thai people sooner or later the truth will prevail it about the fact it doesn't matter how hard to bear the day Thailand bully it neighbor are numbers quit now better than was force to do it later on.
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