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| A top view of the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia on the border with Thailand. The temple overlooks the Cambodian plain, but it faces in the direction of Thailand. Its main access is from the latter direction |
ESSAY
A.G. NOORANI
Frontline
Volume 28 – Issue 06 :: Mar. 12-25, 2011
INDIA’S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
The Thai-Cambodia border clashes show yet again that maps have no binding juridical significance unless they are accepted by both sides.
INFORMATION is sparse about the recent clashes on the frontier between Thailand and Cambodia. At the centre of the dispute is the 11th century Khmer temple of Preah Vihear. The International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled in favour of Cambodia on June 15, 1962, upholding its claim to the temple. It was designated a World Heritage Site under Cambodia’s management in July 2008. The temple looks out from the edge of a steep escarpment over a wide area of northern Cambodia. At its front entrance, away from the cliff, is Thailand, which never quite reconciled itself to the ICJ’s adverse ruling.
On July 4, 1962, Srindi Dhanarajata, Prime Minister of Thailand, said that while Thailand would honour its obligations under the United Nation’s Charter “it will do so under protest and with reservation of her intrinsic rights”. Two days later Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman wrote to United Nations Secretary-General U Thant in even more ominous terms:
“I wish to inform you that, in deciding to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Temple of Phra Viharan [as Thailand calls the temple], His Majesty’s Government desires to make an express reservation regarding whatever rights Thailand has, or may have in future, to recover the Temple of Phra Viharan by having recourse to any existing or subsequently applicable legal process, and to register a protest against the decision of the International Court of Justice awarding the Temple Phra Viharan to Cambodia.”
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