THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Shades of an old conflict in KKFC heritage attempt

Shades of an old conflict in KKFC heritage attempt

History sometimes repeats itself. Thailand needs to recall its conflict with a neighbouring country, as the same issue is recurring but now on the opposite border after Myanmar opposed a Thai proposal to list the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC) as a w

The mood and sentiment might be different but the logic is exactly the same as when Thailand blocked Cambodia’s proposal to list the Hindu Temple of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site in 2008.
During a meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Turkey from July 10 to 20, the Myanmar delegation wanted the committee to delay the Thai proposal since the area apparently overlaps territory under the sovereignty of Myanmar.
Everybody knows, including Thai officials at the Foreign Ministry, that world heritage status in areas where boundaries are unclear has no bearing on sovereignty rights.
Paragraph 3 of Article 11 of the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage makes that point clear. The article states: “The inclusion of a property in the World Heritage list requires the consent of the state concerned. The inclusion of a property situated in a territory, sovereignty or jurisdiction over which is claimed by more than one state shall in no way prejudice the rights of the parties to the dispute.”
For the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Committee, territorial conflicts could undermine the spirit of world heritage as happened during the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia between 2008 and 2010. The committee told delegates of the two countries to settle the issue in a timely fashion. Thanks to the Turkish coup attempt, however, the committee decided to postpone the meeting to October.
However, the Thai team might need to do more homework. The explanation that the designation has nothing to do with sovereignty over the territory in question was not convincing for Myanmar because Thai representatives registered similar concerns nearly a decade ago against regarding the Cambodian proposal to register Preah Vihear.
Myanmar officials referred to a meeting between State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha when the former visited Thailand in June, which saw an agreement that Thailand would not propose the designation of the KKFC before the border is demarcated. Thai officials referred to the same meeting in a different fashion, telling media that Prayut guaranteed there would not be border issues involved in listing the forest as a world heritage site.
Thailand’s delegates also showed their Myanmar counterparts a revised graphic with new coordinates demarcating the area. The new graphic indicated that the proposed forest area is situated only in Thailand’s territory. The western side of the area runs along the boundary line between the two countries delimited by Anglo-Siamese treaties, according to an official at the Thai Foreign Ministry.
The Myanmar delegation’s problem, however, is that the revised graphic was submitted late and, furthermore, the boundary between the two countries in the area is still unclear.
Thailand, then known as Siam, signed an agreement in 1868 with the British Empire to demarcate the boundary at the Tenasserim area indicating a boundary running from present-day Mae Hong Son province down to Ranong.
Time and nature have since destroyed the demarcation signs. Thailand and Myanmar set up a joint boundary committee in 1993 to redraw the boundary demarcation but many areas along the 2,401-kilometre border still have not been settled. The Tenasserim area where the KKFC is located in Petchaburi province, which is mostly forested and inhabited by ethnic Karen communities, is one such area. 
Prayut and Suu Kyi have agreed to resume the joint boundary committee’s work but it will not be easy to progress quickly. There is no way the committee will make the boundary line clear before the world heritage session in October.
History now haunts Thailand. The Thai team needs to convince Myanmar that the world heritage status has nothing to do with territorial sovereignty, and more importantly make sure that ultra-nationalists in Thailand do not politicise the issue for political gain as happened with the Preah Vihear issue.
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