Too important for politics

Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com

Published: 23/06/2009

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the government have some good ideas about moving ahead on the old, thorny and unfortunately violent issue of the temple of Preah Vihear. It is a shame that they have failed to develop those ideas properly. Instead of tackling the dispute as a many-faceted problem, they have sprung it on the public without notice or discussion. Instead of raising it with Cambodia as the temple's owner, they are taking it to the United Nations. Instead of treating Khao Phra Viharn as an important diplomatic question, they are treating it as a political and military matter.

Two delegations are to strike out this week in opposite directions to address the temple issue. The local committee on heritage sites is heading for Spain. This Thai group has long had a low profile, acting chiefly as a liaison between the government and local authorities on one hand, and the World Heritage Centre of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) on the other. The group supervises the management of the five designated heritage sites in Thailand: Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest, the Thung Yai-Huai Kha Khaeng wildlife sanctuary, and the Ban Chiang archaeological site.

Heading for Phnom Penh will be Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban. Mr Abhisit made an official visit to Cambodia last week but did not raise the temple issue with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Mr Suthep, who is no diplomat, must try to make the case that running the temple area is best handled by Thailand for reasons of geography or, failing that, by the two countries. That assumes Mr Hun Sen will agree to meet him.

Last weekend, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong held a special press conference just to criticise Thailand and to threaten more military clashes. On the Thai side, Mr Abhisit's policy seems consistent. A year ago, in the lead-up to the Unesco declaration, he and the People's Alliance for Democracy took a hard stance on Preah Vihear. But this sudden announcement has caught everyone off guard, including government supporters. It is unclear why the Foreign Ministry is being sidelined, since it has the staff and experience to approach their Cambodian counterparts.

The mission to the Unesco meeting in Spain appears in equal disarray. Mr Abhisit's sudden and unexpected decision to take the entire temple dispute back to Unesco is less than a week old. The Thai delegation is under instructions to ask the World Heritage body to withdraw last year's resolution to declare Preah Vihear as an official world heritage site under full control of the Cambodian government.

There is undoubted merit in Mr Abhisit's proposal for joint management of the temple region. But the premier may have set up the country for a fall. The public, Unesco members and Cambodia all have been given no preparation or background for the sudden initiative. Thailand is only an observer at the World Heritage Committee (WHC). One sees ghosts of 1959, when Thailand's advocate MR Seni Pramoj argued at the World Court that the temple was the property of Thailand. Lack of preparation by the team was blamed for the court's decision to award jurisdiction to Cambodia.

Joint management of the Khao Phra Viharn area seems the only way to solve such a serious, even deadly, dispute. But that will require drawn-out negotiations by experts, with strong public participation. The Preah Vihear issue should not be a confrontation, but a common problem of Thailand and its neighbour, Cambodia. By constantly looking to the past, both countries are tacitly refusing to look to the future.