OPINION: The United Nations have good reasons to send UN observers and UN peace keeping forces to stop Thai invasion of Cambodia

The United Nations have good reasons to send UN observers and UN peace keeping forces to stop Thai invasion of Cambodia

The points stressed by Abhisit Vejjajiva about how to end the war and tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, as reported by The Bangkok Post Online on 11 February 2011 under the title: “PM urges Unesco to end chaos. World Heritage listing ‘cause of the problem’” unveil how capable Abhisit Vejjajeva is about twisting the truth and the fact, a true snake in the grass, and also they are points of fact that UN observers are indispensible to help curb the territorial appetite and the bullying of Thailand, a country many times stronger than Cambodia.
Thailand took the liberty to degrade international norms
How can Abhisit Vejjajiva, a Prime Minister of a supposedly civilized nation has contempt for the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) and the UNESCO, by calling the UNESCO to delist the Temple of Preah Vihear from the World Heritage List and scrap the management plan that was highly appreciated by experts when they presented the report to the WHC for consideration in Brasilia, Brasil in 2010. Abhisit Vejjajiva, is the first Prime Minister who scorns all the expert works of so many world organizations involved with UNESCO and the WHC. This would lead historians and legal experts to recall about Thanat Khomann who scorned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its 15 June 1962 Judgments on the Temple of Preah Vihear, the same way as the government of Thailand that scorns the 13 February 1904 Franco-Siamese Treaty. The “chaos” is “Made in Thailand”. The source of the problem is not the listing of the Temple of Preah Vihear, nor the management plan, but Thailand’s traditional bullying nature. Thai PM twisted the fact and accused UNESCO to be the one that creates “chaos”.

UN Observers will find the truth, stop the trading of accusations, and stop the war
“Mr Abhisit stressed Thailand needed to ensure that the facts were presented to the international community,” reported the Bangkok Post. It sounds grandiose. What does the UN can expect from “a snake in the grass?” – Of course the manufactured facts, and the manufactured facts only. And Abhisit Vejjajiva also said that Cambodian troops used the Temple of Preah Vihear to mount attacks on Thailand several days later after Cambodia shows to the world the proof of the remnants of M42 and M46 cluster munitions used by Thailand to fire at the Temple of Preah Vihear, and also several days later Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, Royal Thai Army spokesman, said a Cambodian cluster bomb attack killed Major Thanakorn Poonperm, deputy commander of the Paramilitary Rangers Company 2306. These are examples of typical bullying acts of Thailand, to accuse Cambodia the same thing that Cambodia had presented as evidences of Thai’s attacks, and to fly their fighters jets close to the Cambodian air space, an act of provocation, by claiming that they are on mission to patrol Thai air space, while Thailand knew that Cambodia does not have jet fighters or any other war plane. Accusations, counter-accusations and trading of accusations will be sorted out appropriately by UN observers or UN peace keepers. For all Thai accusations, which Thailand had always claimed to be factual and true, if verified by a third party they would lend indisputable credibility to Thailand. Why Thailand does not want the presence of a third party? Why Thailand is afraid of international mechanism? Why Thailand does not want the presence of UN observers or UN peace keepers if Thailand claims that Cambodia occupies Thailand’s territory and attacks Thailand? That is mind boggling. Undeniably, Thailand has an agenda and a scheme to bully Cambodia and cries wolf, then sends troops to invade and occupy Cambodian territory. Without UN observers or UN peace keepers, and without an international mechanism following the pleas of Cambodia, the country that has been the victim of Thailand’s aggressions on 15 July 2008, 15 October 2008, 2-3 April 2009 and lately 4-7 February 2011, Thailand will certainly take the indifference and the silence of the international community to be a “carte blanche” and launches a full-scale aggression against Cambodia.
Twisting facts and realities with innuendo, off-base speculation and wild suggestions
When the Bangkok Post wrote “Thai efforts to resolve the boundary conflict with Cambodia bilaterally have failed,” this is twisting the fact and realities to give credit to the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, while putting the blame on Cambodia in the form of innuendo. Thailand’s deceptive tactics have stalled the demarcation of the land boundary. Thailand created the “internal legal processes” as the plunging of the hard sticks across the turning wheel to slowdown and then to stall the demarcation process. Abhisit Vejjajiva has begged Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen to allow “Thai internal legal and parliamentary processes to work their ways,” however more parliamentary processes have been set up and more delays in ratifying the three (3) last agreements by Cambodian and Thai JBC negotiations, and the first of those three dated back to 2008, while Abhisit Vejjajeva and Kasit Pyromya spoke highly about bilateral talks, only to be disseminated by the Thai powerful media as a propaganda ploy and to foul the international public opinion about the “goodwill” of Thailand that has proven to be simply a campaign of intoxication of the international public opinion. The Bangkok Post also wrote that “Bangkok suggested the Joint Boundary Committee (JBC) should resume its work negotiating boundary demarcation by the end of this month, though the exact date has yet to be confirmed. The Cambodians are not likely in the mood to sit down and talk right now.” This is off-base speculation and wild suggestion as the realities behind and the reasons of Cambodia’s avoidance of bilateral talks have been presented here above.
Dealing with a “snake in the grass” had given too much headache to Cambodia. That is why Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia has asked the UN to send peacekeeping forces to create a buffer zone at the area of the Temple of Preah Vihear to prevent further damages by artillery shells from Thailand. This demand is legitimate under existing international rule of law, under the UN Charter, under the provisions of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, and the articles and operational guidelines of the WHC. The Cambodian people unanimously, including politicians of the opposition party, supports the position of the Royal Government of Cambodia, and humbly but persistently ask the UNSC to act in favor of the demand of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Waddhana P
Senior Analyst and Researcher on
Cambodian-Thai Relations
Institute for International Affairs, Cambodia
14 February 2011