Letter to The Nation
Having read the interpretation of ICJ on the Preah Vihear Temple in which the area is now declared a demilitarised zone for both sides pending the interpretation of the 1962 Judgement, I have come to the conclusion that Thailand should not be on the defensive in this matter as most of the text contained quite offensive accusations from the Cambodians, while Thailand has not shown any merit in its defensive stance.
Thailand should have contested that the whole thing was wrong in the 1962 Judgement as it was based on the 1907 map drawn by colonial France, which was not acceptable, as the map was drawn to avoid geographical delineations and benefited mostly its colonial empire.
Based on geographical lines, the Preah Vihear Temple will always belong to the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand). [For proof,] one can pour water on the temple and the water will still flow to the Thai side, plus the temple is also on the same plateau as all surrounding Thai territory, high on the cliff where one can see Cambodia territory far below.
The decision by the World Court in 1962 was based on the negligence of the Thai government in the past in regards to the Annex 1 map as the Thai government (at the time) never contested that the map was biased and not genuine. And since the map existed [unchallenged] for 55 years until the Judgement day, Thailand lost the case on a decision which was not even based on geographical matters.
One can hope that history will not repeat itself .
ARTHUR CHANCELLOR
Nakon Ratchasima
No comments:
Post a Comment