Monday, 7 July 2008

Unesco likely to list Preah Vihear temple

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Mon, July 7, 2008

It is likely that the World Heritage Committee will agree to list the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site following Thailand's failure to delay the decision, the head of the Thai delegation at the meeting in Quebec said Monday.

Pongpol Adireksarn, chairman of Thailand's World Heritage Committee, the committee agreed that the temple "represented a masterpiece of human creative genius" which is one of six criteria to judge its "outstanding universal value", said The temple might not have to pass all six qualifications because one criterion is enough, he said.

The final decision will be known tomorrow morning Bangkok time.

As Cambodia insisted on a sole application, in accordance with the International Court of Justice's ruling in 1962, the objection raised by Thailand was invalid, he said.

The committee acknowledged the Thai concerns about the temple's outstanding universal value and the Thai Administrative Court's injunction, but it cannot delay any more since the application has been pending for two years, he said.

Cambodia has been keen to convince the 21member committee since Phnom Penh officials took the members to see the site.

"We had some problems after the 2006 military coup, since many democratic countries such as the United States gave full support to Cambodia for political reasons," Pongpol said via telephone from Quebec.

Thailand and Cambodia locked horns over the proposal to list the temple as a World Heritage site after Phnom Penh declared ownership of a 4.6 square kilometre overlapping area claimed by both sides.

The dispute was settled when Cambodia agreed to list only its part of the temple in the application, but there was opposition and street protests in Thailand over the sovereignty issue.

The protesters asked the Administrative Court to overturn the Cabinet resolution - which endorsed a joint communiqu signed by Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and Cambodia's deputy prime minister Sok An in support of the application - and the Constitution Court to rule if the communiqu is unconstitutional.

Pongpol said the listing of Preah Vihear has nothing to do with Thai sovereignty as Cambodia proposed only its own area, not the overlapping area.

"We did not lose any territory. The Foreign Ministry - both under the previous government and this government - has done a good job in protecting our sovereignty," Pongpol said.

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