Diplomacy runs into its critics

SPECIAL REPORT: Meetings to settle the Preah Vihear dispute seem to be going nowhere

Published: 13/09/2010

via CAAI

Diplomacy and the minimising of conflicts is based on negotiation and recognised agreements, but recent gatherings have shown that this is not always apparent to those directly affected.

A case in point surrounds the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear on the Thai-Cambodian border.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has been at pains to develop a better understanding of what the country is doing since the border conflict with Cambodia erupted two years ago as a result of the dispute over the overlapping area near Preah Vihear.

A series of meetings has been organised over the past year in provinces such as Chanthaburi, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surin and Si Sa Ket. The highlights have been the meetings in Si Sa Ket, which is the province affected most by the spat between the two countries.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry's Legal and Treaties Affairs and East Asia departments have held two forums in the province, one last year at Rajabhat University in Muang district and the second last Tuesday at the district hall in Kantharalak district.

Most of the participants at the first meeting were students and people hand-picked by provincial authorities, but the forum last week attracted about 500 people from a variety of groups including students, local people, business operators and government officers.

Ministry staff used the meeting to explain Thailand's efforts to resolve the dispute with Cambodia under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2000.

The memo forms the main framework for negotiations. It calls for the two countries to jointly survey the area, prepare maps and negotiate the demarcation of all overlapping land areas. Other documents used for talks include the agreements Thailand signed with colonial-era France.

The ministry staff's efforts were greeted with the waving of banners in the meeting room reading "Boring" and "Don't understand".

The officials were berated by participants when the floor was opened for questions. Members of the public demanded the government scrap the memo, the Joint Boundary Commission and a controversial map with a 1:200,000 scale used for land demarcation on the grounds that these favoured Cambodia. Many local people said they considered the disputed area around the temple to be part of Thailand and wondered why they could not conduct business or stay there while the Cambodians had been granted access.

Developments in the area indicated that Thailand had ceded the territory to Cambodia, they said. They called on government forces to be more patriotic by forcing the Cambodians from the disputed area.

Thailand claims the disputed area of 4.6 square kilometres is part of Kantharalak district. Cambodia says it is in its Preah Vihear province.

A provincial official identified a problem which undermined the goal of the meeting. He said the ministry's explanations were too complicated for laymen to understand. There was too much legal jargon.

The meeting went on for more than two hours but the members of the public present wanted it extended so they had more time to ask questions.

East Asia Department deputy director-general Paskorn Siriyaphan said afterwards the forum was not a waste of time and money for the organisers.