4/07/2011
Bangkok Post
EDITORIAL
One of the first jobs of the new government must be an urgent reassessment of the Cambodian border problems. The outgoing government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has not handled this issue well. The dead, the wounded and the homeless testify to that. The new government must reverse the walkout at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Paris by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti.
Border relations with Cambodia, attention to our heritage and history and the country’s image, all have been harmed in recent months.
It will be an effort to repair this damage and move ahead, but a determined government can handle the problem.
The faint praise and arm’s-length “backing” that Mr Abhisit gave to Mr Suwit is instructive. Deeply involved in an election campaign, the premier sensed that the public had little sympathy for the walkout from Paris. Indeed, it was wrong on many levels.
The only saving grace for now is that Thailand has not signed anything, and it is only a walkout and not, as originally reported, a Thai decision to leave the World Heritage Convention.
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