February 2, 2011
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Prime Minister Hun Sen should be grateful to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the Thai Patriots' Network (TPN) for rallying against the Thai government, because their arguments and demands could be very useful for Cambodia.
The two groups have been camping outside the Prime Minister's Office for a week to pressure the government into taking tougher action over border conflicts with Cambodia. They have demanded that the government scrap the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on boundary demarcation, use military force to kick Cambodian communities out of disputed areas near Preah Vihear Temple and quit the World Heritage Committee.
The MoU, signed in 2000 under the Democrat-led government of Chuan Leekpai, is a legal instrument meant to set up a joint boundary committee, to help survey and demarcate the border.
The key point of concern in the MoU is Article 1 (c), which says "maps which are the result of demarcation works of the Commission of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indochina and Siam set up under the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France and Siam, and other documents relating to the application of the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France and Siam".
Like Cambodia, the PAD believes that the "maps" mentioned in this Article include the 1:200,000 scale one, which is part of a series of maps made by France that show the Preah Vihear Temple and its adjacent area being in Cambodia.
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