P Penh must remove flag: PM

[Coss]

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.

 

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[Old Hippie]

 

 

 

 

 

This Flag? This Temple? Last I heard, it was Cambodian land...

[Flashermac]

Just like an LT with a map ... "over the disputed border area [color:red]adjacent to the Preah Vihear Temple[/color]."

 

Adjacent means [color:red]OUTSIDE[/color] of the temple. :content:

 

 

Thailand got screwed by the World Court. Read the stunning dissent written by the Australian justice on the court. He showed how the map was clearly wrong and the ruins are unquestionably on the Thai side of the natural watershed, which was what the map was intended to represent. But the majority - incorrectly, the minority insisted - decided it didn't matter if the map was wrong. A map was a map, so they awarded the temple to Cambodia (even though it can only be reached from Cambodia by climbing up a sheer cliff). But since both sides had agreed to abide by the court's decision, the Thais had to bite the bullet and hand it over. (It was under Thai control at the time and had been for years. Rather than haul down the flag, the Thais dug up the flag pole and carried it away with the flag still flying.)

 

What is still under dispute is the land next to the temple, land the World Court said nothing about. It is more or less useless scrub jungle, but without it Cambodia is hard put to do anything with an ancient temple ruin sitting on top of a cliff. Hun Sen wants to use the temple as an added attraction to a gambling casino he plans to build in the jungle on the plains far below the cliff - with a cable car to run gamblers up the the ruins to pretend they are interested in cultural stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Hippie]

First off, I believe the french were involved? so, 2nd, it was bound to be fucked from the start...ok, Thailand got fucked, and didn't really give a shit for how long? when the need for Thai nationalistic crap arose...so did the dispute with Cambodia over Prah Vineer!

 

Going to the original decision, Thailand lost, plain and simple, they got fucked, partially, if I read right some time back, because they didn't prepare, or look at the map before hand, and just counted on the frogs to do right...the frogs did do right, but they did it by Cambodia...and the world court fucked Thailand...

 

That was the decision, and well, the Thais have to live with it...unless HunSen gets bought off by his buddy Thaksin should he ever get back in...maybe this round? and sells it back to the Thais for a song...

[Flashermac]

The Thais had contolled the temple even after the map was drawn and the Froggies apparently knowingly drew it wrong because they thought they'd like the temple. The Thai government's view was - "We've got it, so to hell with any French map."

 

As I've read of it, the Thais agreed to present the dispute to the World Court with the understanding that the judgment be rendered on the basis of the natural watershed. Quite simply, if rain falling on a part of a mountain flows into Cambodia, the land is Cambodian. If it flows into Thailand, it belongs to the Thais. Almost the entire area of the temple ruins are thus on the Thai side of the border. The Froggish surveyors instead had drawn a straight line across the area and given it to themselves. The Cambodians claim was that Thailand had not formally protested against the map error until Cambodia started demanding "its" temple back. They said, "too late ... it's ours now and we want it."

 

The court's majority agreeds with the Cambodians (backed heavily and influentially by the Frogalais). The minority argued there was no time limit on correcting obvious errors and it didn't matter if the map was wrong. It was wrong in many respects, and this was just one of them. As I see it, the Cambodians got hot shot lawyers to work for them. The Thais tried to do it mainly by themselves. Still, the court agreed to make a decision on one basis and then rendered a decision based on something else.

 

As to Takky and that area, one of the reasons he was overthrown allegedly is that he seemed to be trying to make a deal with Wun Sen - allowing Cambodia to have whatever hunks of border jungle he wanted in return for concessions on the disputed undersea gas fields along the Thai-Cambodian border. And guess who was going to get the right to exploit those gas field.

 

 

 

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

...As to Takky and that area, one of the reasons he was overthrown allegedly is that he seemed to be trying to make a deal with Wun Sen - allowing Cambodia to have whatever hunks of border jungle he wanted in return for concessions on the disputed undersea gas fields along the Thai-Cambodian border. And guess who was going to get the right to exploit those gas field.

 

 

 

 

Flash...the operative word above is "allegedly". Not sure who alleged this, but I think it's bullshit. And for one reason: if you were Hun Sen, already possessor of Angkor Wat, would you trade what is (relatively speaking)a pile of rocks for an oil field? I hope you say "no". 55555

 

HH