Friday, 25 July 2008

Senate panels outline temple stance

Fri, July 25, 2008
By THE NATION

The Senate's six committees yesterday issued a five-point statement outlining its stance on the Preah Vihear temple issue.

The statement said:

1. The six committees are of the opinion that there is no overlapping border in the area adjacent to the temple. The area is completely Thai territory as per the 1904 and 1907 Franco-Thai Treaty to demarcate the border.

2. The government must proceed to nullify the June 18 joint communique with Cambodia on grounds that the document was deemed unconstitutional. Otherwise Cambodian authorities might cite the document to claim sovereignty over the temple and its adjacent 4.6-square-kilometre area should the case be argued in the International Court of Justice.

3. The 1964 ruling by the International Court of Justice addressed only Cambodian sovereignty over the temple and did not touch on border demarcation.

4. Since Cambodia proceeded unilaterally to register the temple as a World Heritage site which did not cover the adjacent area, the six committees deem it unjustified for the formation of a six-nation committee to manage the area.

5. Thai authorities should expedite to evict buildings encroached in the 4.6-square-kilometre area.

Senator Rosana Tositrakul said that after Parliament reconvenes, the six committees will push for the formation of an extraordinary Senate panel on the temple.

She voiced suspicion that certain elements within Unesco might have an ulterior motive on the sovereignty issue relating to the temple.

Thailand has accepted the watershed for border demarcation while Cambodia has used the French-drawn map to claim the temple and its adjacent area, she said.

The listing of the temple by the World Heritage Committee is very suspicious because this has happened as if some elements want to force the Thai-Cambodia borders to be redrawn, she added.

Should the French-drawn map be accepted a basis for demarcation, the entire border would shift to impact on the overlapping offshore area in the Gulf of Thailand, she said. The area is a potential site for natural-gas exploration.

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