English.news.cn
2010-11-02
By Sinfah Tunsarawuth
BANGKOK, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) - A main bloc of the anti-government "Yellow-shirts" movement called off their street protest Tuesday after the Thai parliament postponed a key vote on border issues with Cambodia.
Several thousand of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), better known as the "Yellow shirts", led by Sondhi Limthongkul, dispersed after a joint session of the bicameral parliament decided to set up a committee to further study the border issues for another 30 days.
The 30-member committee, including members of the House of Representatives and Senate, will then report their study on demarcation of disputed border areas between Thailand and Cambodia to the parliament, parliament president Chai Chidchob told the meeting.
However, a smaller wing of PAD, whose members are more aggressive, continued its rally in front of the Parliament House as of late Tuesday in demanding the government to scrap all the existing framework agreements on border demarcation between the two countries.
Sondhi's group simply wanted the parliament to put off its vote on the demarcation issue, and agreed to disperse after their demand was met.
Sondhi told his supporters that another rally would be called on Dec. 11 to further press the government on the issue.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told the parliament during Tuesday's deliberation that his government needed to solve the demarcation issue with Cambodia through the existing Joint Border Commission (JBC) and memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2000 with Phnom Penh.
Abhisit said, otherwise, Cambodia would try to propose the border dispute with the United Nations in asking for an international intervention.
Abhisit has repeatedly said that his government treated the issue as a bilateral one and wanted to avoid any intervention by the international community.
"We have to show our sincerity in making use of the bilateral mechanism," the prime minister said.
"The government reaffirms that we will protect our sovereignty, " he said.
Sondhi's supporters were worried that Thailand might lose some of its border areas to Cambodia through the current mechanism of JBC and the MOU.
Asked to comment on the postponement of a parliamentary vote as a result of the protest by Sondhi's group, Abhisit said: "Some people in our country are violence-prone."
He said he has met with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen three times this year and Phnom Penh understood that the issue has been moving slowly because of Thai parliamentary process.
The disputed area includes a stretch of 195 kilometer border line on the northeast of Thailand, of which Sondhi's supporters demanded the government to use the natural watershed as the demarcation line instead of a map drawn up by the French when Cambodia was its colony.
Abhisit said his government had no objection for the parliament to set up a committee to further study the issue.
Under the current constitution, the Thai government is required to seek parliamentary approval for any agreement with a foreign country which will affect the country's territory.
Though the parliament decided to postpone a vote on the demarcation issue, it voted on Tuesday to allow the government to move ahead with another joint Thai-Cambodia body set up to deal with border trade and defense issues along their common border.
Editor: Wang Guanqun
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