Critics urge govt to concede defeat on border dispute
As a working group strives to find a way to deal with the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) definition of the promontory housing Preah Vihear Temple as Cambodian territory, opposition and conservative figures are pushing the government to confess tha
The working group comprises officials from agencies including the Thai military and the Royal Thai Survey Department, which oversees maps and discusses boundary definition with neighbouring countries. They will study the situation and offer options to the government as it decides how to handle the court judgement and negotiations with Cambodia.
Critics of the ruling say, however, that the Thai public should not be hoodwinked by the deployment of the working group. They assert that graphics prove that the court judgement has resulted in the loss of Thai territory.
The definition of the promontory was the topic of debate between Ambassador to the Hague Virachai Plasai and opposition MP Sirichok Sopha in Parliament on Wednesday night.
By Sirichok’s estimation, Thailand could lose anything from 0.3 to 2 square kilometres of area adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple.
The ICJ ruled on Monday that Cambodia had sovereignty over the promontory of Preah Vihear. The court offered a definition of the promontory in its judgement but did not display any map or graphic as illustration.
To Virachai’s chagrin, Sirichok used the lines in a 1:200,000-scale map to define the promontory. The lines in this kind of map, according to the court, are difficult, if not impossible, to translate into real geographic terms. “We spent years proving the illegitimacy of the lines in a 1:200,000 map in court, but Khun Sirichok suddenly believes he has re-established it,” Virachai said in Parliament.
“World-leading experts we are consulting with have not yet defined the promontory in accordance with the court judgement, but Khun Sirichok has managed to do so in only 48 hours, and bring his findings into Parliament.
“Let the Parliament record that this redefinition is the personal opinion of a Thai MP and has no binding on the Thai government or Thailand as a country,” he said.
In another development, the Phra Viharn National Park in Si Sa Ket, next to the Preah Vihear temple, will reopen to the public tomorrow after being closed since November 4 for safety reasons.
