33. Borders Wars: the Maps in Question

With the sound of gunfire of Cambodia and Thailand war dying down and a un-declared ceasefire reached de facto, thanks to the United Nations Security Council - Feb. 14th meeting - and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting  yesterday, Feb. 22nd, the war of words continues, more from the Thai side. Thai PM stated there will be no withdrawall of troups, that they remain in the 4.6km2 conflicting area and will respond to any firefight. It fact all along there were from the Thai side that came all provocations. They gave fault to the maps that were drawn by the French and imposed to them. The same maps that were referred to in the June 15th, 1962 Judgment of the International Court of Justice.
    A Thai editorialist stated that in his today paper that : "Thailand, on the other hand, has been arguing that the ICJ ruling only gave Cambodia the sandstone temple, not the surrounding areas. However, common sense says that a temple cannot stand on Cambodian territory unless its surrounding land is also Cambodian."
   But the Thai PM under the Yellow shirts would not agree to that. He may ask their military to reoccuped that vicinity, Cambodia would not accept this incursion and the battle would flare up again. Thai will yell that Cambodia starts first...
     The case is different from the 1950s. Since the 1904 Treaty between France and Siam maps were drawn and the 1907 Treaty reconfirmed that Preah Vihear is on the Khmer soil. After 1954 one year after Cambodia's independence from France, the Thai forces came to occupy the Temple. Negotiations came to no avail and in 1959 the then Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk lodge a complaint with the International Court of Justice at the Hague. First Thailand did not recognize the authority of the Court but later yield to the Court Judgment. And in regard to the occupation case, the Court found by 9 to 3 that the Temple is under the Cambodian sovereignty and urged the Thai troops to withdraw from the temple and vicinity, and so they did. Maps drawn by mixed commission were used.
    Now that Thailand do not recognized these maps, so only the ICJ has the authority and shall decide. It is very good that PM Hun Sen is prepared for that. Hopefully the majority of the judges will decide for Cambodia.

With Vietnam, it is different story. These are the borders Maps that the Cambodian Government accepted but the Opposition won't. Both sides referred to the same maps but for some reasons, when proceeding with the borders demarcation, government maps are usurping in the rice fields of the Cambodian people.                Opposition maps using GPS references show that Cambodia had lost many hectares of strip of land along the Vietnam borders. Kem Sokha and Mam Sonando were sentenced to jail terms for alking about it, so do 2 farmers in Svay Rieng. And Chairman of SRP Mr. Sam Rainsy was sentenced in absentia for 2 years term. What an irony!! Whose maps are right? - The Court will decide. But what Court? It is hard to find Justice... The judges are all human beings, it is hard to be independents nowadays!!