Government urges Parliament to break border deadlock

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Government urges Parliament to break border deadlock
By PIYANART SRIVALO
THE NATION
2011-03-29

Members of Parliament have been urged to endorse three Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission meeting reports in a parliamentary meeting today, so Thailand can proceed with further talks with its neighbour.

Today's House-Senate joint meeting is a continuation of discussions from last week.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said during yesterday's Cabinet meeting he had learnt some parliamentarians planned to merely acknowledge the reports, as they were afraid of being sued and held responsible for any "mistakes" according to Article 190 (2) of the Constitution.

"Unless [the parliamentary meeting approves the three meeting reports rather than acknowledges them] we cannot talk to Cambodia successfully. And Cambodia would not agree to talk," Abhisit said.

Indonesia, as chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations, had called parallel meetings of the General Border Committee (GBC) and the Joint Boundary Committee (JBC) on April 7-8 in Bogor, to find ways to settle the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

Democrat MP Charoen Kanthawongs, chairman of the JBC, said next month's meeting may have to take place without endorsement.

Article 190 of the Constitution requires parliamentary endorsement for international agreements to take effect. In this case, the endorsement would enable the committee to continue its negotiations over demarcation of the land boundary.

The People's Alliance for Democracy and Thai Patriots Network groups have been protesting against parliamentary approval of the JBC meeting reports, calling on legislators to scrap a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000 to establish the JBC. They say this could lead to Thailand losing territory.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government needed to proceed with the talks and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had made it clear endorsement of the minutes was necessary.

"The government has clarified many times that these agreements will not cause Thailand to lose its territory. But there has been so little effort to make people understand," Suthep said. He asked PM's Office Minister Ong-art Klampaiboon to publicise the clarification through state media.

The JBC documents have been sitting in Parliament since its last meeting in April 2009, as many factions in Thailand feared that talks could lead to a loss of territory to Cambodia.

Parliament started to consider the documents last November when it commissioned an ad hoc committee to study them.

The committee submitted its report to Parliament for consideration and recommended that Thailand should never accept the French colonial-era map as a document to demarcate the boundary line with Cambodia.

The map has worried lawmakers and many nationalists as the International Court of Justice used it to rule in 1962 that Preah Vihear temple was situated on territory under Cambodian sovereignty.

Thailand complied with the court's ruling but argued that land surrounding the temple belongs to Thailand. The map suggests that not only the ruins and stone temple but also the area adjacent to the temple temple may lie on the Cambodian side.