Thailand ready to abide by UN court's ruling over temple

Dr. Panitan Wattanayagorn

July 19, 2011

ABC Radio Australia

The United Nations' highest court has ordered Thailand and Cambodia to immediately withdraw their troops from the disputed border regions around the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn, spokesman for Thai Government
Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

DR PANITAN: We welcome the court decision, in regards of asking the Cambodia troops to withdraw from what the court called the demilitarised zone, that's what we've been asking Cambodia to do all along.

LAM: But Bangkok did not want the International Court of Justice to proceed, to begin with, so is Thailand disappointed with this decision?

DR PANITAN: We are a good member of the United Nations. We will follow the good practice that we have been adopting since we became a member of the UN. But we also need to follow internal procedures, based on our Constitution. Rulings must also be worked out by the internal committees of Parliament, the Parliament that will come in the next few weeks.

LAM: Well, the Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya says that Bangkok will honour the ICJ ruling but will hold more talks with Phnom Penh over its claims - why was this not done before? What's changed since Indonesia's foreign minister Marty Natalegawa tried to act as mediator a few months back?

DR PANITAN: I think we er.. it is quite clear that in order to implement measures in the areas, Cambodia and Thailand need to sit down properly, using existing mechanisms. Today, we welcome that aspect. The implementation of the court ruling will require Cambodia to sit down with Thailand under a framework, in order to effectively create these measures.

LAM: So is Thailand happy to allow observers from the ten-nation ASEAN bloc, to the demilitarised zone, to effectively work as observers there. Is Thailand agreeable to this?

DR PANITAN: Well, once we agreed in principle already, to allow the observers to come to the designated areas in the beginning, but of course, due to differences in terms of technicalities, the observer team could not be in Thailand in the past, but today, we welcome that decision, in order to implement these measures. We will need to work closely with ASEAN.

Foreign minister Kasit Piromya has already despatched a deputy permanent secretary to talk with the Indonesian foreign minister in order to look into some of these measures, that could be implemented in the next few weeks.

LAM: Well, some 85,000 civilians, mainly Cambodians, fled the region, during the fighting back in April. Will Thailand and Thai authorities lend a hand to ensure that these civilians return to their homeland, back to Cambodian territory?

DR PANITAN: We have been helping people who have been affected by fighting in our neighbouring countries for the past few decades. That's when Thailand adopted a humanitarian aspect of policies concerning these people. We're also concerned about our own people, who've been affected by the troops who were stationed along the Thai-Cambodian borders. We welcome the withdrawal of the Cambodian troops in those areas, so that Thais could return to their homes peacefully also.