COMMENTARY
The Temple of Preah Vihear:
Respecting and Implementing the ICJ Judgment Should
Come First
Academics
in Thailand, including top historian Professor Charnvit Kasetsiri, Morakot
Jewachinda Meyer, a lecturer at Pridi Banomyong International College of
Thammasat University and Akkharaphong Khamkhun, another lecturer at the Pridi
Banomyong College must remember that the Temple of Preah Vihear has been a
world heritage site of its own right since its inscription to the World
Heritage List on July 07, 2008 and it is absolutely not a source of a
“prolonged conflict” as wrote Supalak Ganjanakhundee, in The Nation on November
19, 2013 under the title: “Call to make Preah Vihear an Asean heritage site”.
That “prolonged
conflict,” had after all confirmed legitimately and legally that the Temple of
Preah Vihear is situated in the territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia
under the 15 June 1962 ICJ Judgment in the Case Concerning the Temple of Peah
Vihear, and the ICJ under another Judgment on November 11, 2013 in the Case
Concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear resolved that “prolonged conflict” with the interpretation
of the “vicinity”of the Temple of Preah Vihear by defining that the “vicinity”
is the entire promontory of Preah Vihear in the following terms:
·
“It appears that the
limits of the promontory of Preah Vihear, to the south of the Annex I map line,
consist of natural features. To the east, south and south-west, the promontory
drops in a steep escarpment to the Cambodian plain.”
·
“To the west and north-west, the land
drops in a slope, less steep than the escarpment but nonetheless pronounced,
into the valley which separates Preah Vihear from the neighbouring hill of
Phnom Trap, a valley which itself drops away in the south to the Cambodian
plain.”
·
“In the north, the limit of the
promontory is the Annex I map line, from a point to the north-east of the
Temple where that line abuts the escarpment to a point in the north-west where
the ground begins to rise from the valley, at the foot of the hill of Phnom
Trap.”
It
is logical for Professor Charnvit to urge the Thai government “to pay respect
to the rules and regulations upheld by the United Nations, the International
Court of Justice and Asean,” but to propose that the Temple of Preah Vihear be
“an Asean Eco-Cultural heritage site,” is unreasonable, ludicrous and
impractical:
·
It is more than enough already right
now if all parties respect the ICJ Judgments. It is reasonable in so doing.
·
It takes advantages of the efforts and
dedication of generations of Cambodians who have safeguarded the territorial
integrity and national sovereignty in fighting at the ICJ to hold on to the
legitimacy and the legality of the Temple of Preah Vihear. This thought of Thai
academics is outrageously ludicrous.
·
The World Heritage Committee that
listed the Temple of Preah Vihear to the World Heritage List is an organ of
UNESCO, operating under the articles of established international Convention.
“An Asean Eco-Cultural heritage site” sanctioned by politicians of Thailand, Cambodia
and Laos as proposed by professor Charnvit is impractical, makes no sense and
unreal.
Speaking of the
“listing Preah Vihear as a trans-boundary heritage was possible,” by Morakot
Jewachinda Meyer, a lecturer at Pridi Banomyong International College of
Thammasat University based on the fact that “there are plenty of trans-boundary
heritage sites in Europe" without understanding how they came to exist was
somewhat disturbing to see how an intellectual did not pay attention to the
truth or allowed negligence to obscure his or her good judgment.
It is very
encouraging to hear Akkharaphong Khamkhun, another lecturer at the Pridi
Banomyong College saying that Thailand does not claim Preah Vihear. However, it
would be wonderful if Thailand list the twin stupas and Pa Mo E Daeng and other
archeological sites to the World Heritage List on her own. Then Cambodia and
Thailand would have two world heritage sites side by side. Invoking a
trans-boundary heritage is senseless.
In the first
place, academics should instead persuade politicians to respect and implement
the ICJ Judgment as the way to secure peace and safety in the border area
between Cambodia and Thailand.
November 20,
2013
Pen Ngoeun
Member of Press
and Quick Reaction Unit
Office of the
Council of Ministers,
Royal
Government of Cambodia
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