Protests against Yinluck Sinawathra Government led to occupation in Bangkok of Ministry of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Public Relations, and some TV stations.
It started with the rally against the Amnesty draft law to other issues ... now tho the Sinwatra Regime.
Yinluck call for restoring public order using the Internal Security Act, but not declaring Emergency, starting Monday Nov. 25th.
To follow ...
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Preah Vihear: Weeks after
In Bangkok Post:
Locals thank Preah Vihear legal team
- Published: 22 Nov 2013 at 08.21
- Online news: Local News
About 80 villagers from Phum Srol in Si Sa Ket
close to the Thai-Cambodian border visited the Foreign Ministry on
Thursday to thank the Thai legal team for fighting the Preah Vihear
temple case.
The villagers expressed their thanks to the team, saying their hard work has led to peace.The group was led by Si Sa Ket governor Pratheep Kiratirekha. It was his duty to inform legal team leader Virachai Plasai of the villagers' intention to offer thanks.
Village head Virayuth Duangkaew of tambon Sao Thong Chai near the Cambodian border said he wanted to compliment the Thai team on their fight for Thai sovereignty.
He said Thailand and Cambodia should now develop the border area together. He would like officials to clarify where the borderline lies.
Mr Virachai, who is Thai ambassador to the Netherlands, said he was more excited at receiving the villagers' compliments than he was when fighting the case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
He briefed the villagers about the court's ruling, which awarded the Preah Vihear promontory to Cambodia but rejected its claim to the nearby Phnom Trap or Phu Makheu.
He also told the villagers the ruling meant Cambodia could not lay claim to the 4.6 sq km disputed area, nor use the 1:200,000 scale map to mark the boundary.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Reactions from the Judgement
In the Nation, Bangkok:
World Court rules for Thailand and Cambodia to adopt peaceful means
The International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s verdict on the Preah Vihear territory requires Thailand and Cambodia to sort out their differences though "peaceful means."
The ICJ unanimously found that Cambodia’s interpretation of the sovereignty over the whole monastery "admissible" and Thailand is under the obligation to withdraw military troops from that territory.
However, it did not mention the sovereignty of Phnom Trap, urging both parties to solve the dispute by peaceful means. The area, part of the 4.6 square kilometre, is the centre of this dispute.
Yet, the ICJ's ruling confirmed confirmed Phnom Penh’s sovereignty over the whole of a disputed promontory bearing a Cambodian temple on the border with Thailand.
"The Court therefore concludes that the first operative paragraph of the 1962 Judgment determined that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear, as defined in paragraph 98 of the present Judgment, and that, in consequence, the second operative paragraph required Thailand to withdraw from that territory the Thai military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, that were stationed there," according to the statement. (The full version can be read here: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/151/17704.pdf)
The ICJ's ruling confirmed Phnom Penh’s sovereignty over the whole of a disputed promontory bearing a Cambodian temple on the border with Thailand.
Thai Ambassador to the Netherlands Virachai Plasai said Cambodia had only won a small piece of the disputed territory. "We are still calculating the exact amount," he said.
Thai Foreign Minister Suraphong Tovichaichaikul said "Both sides are satisfied with the court’s decision."
The court also rejected Cambodia’s claim that it was also awarded a nearby hill, called Phnum Trap, by the 1962 ICJ ruling that was being interpreted in Monday’s judgement. The majority of the border between Thailand and Cambodia was delimited more than a century ago, but the boundary near Preah Vihear has yet to be demarcated. The line has not yet been settled. Cambodia, 50 years after the initial judgement, submitted a request for an interpretation of the judgement to define precisely the "vicinity" of the temple.
A 1962 verdict by the International Court of Justice declared the temple to be Cambodian, but did not rule on the area around it. Cambodia sought a clarification of the ruling in 2011, after fighting erupted. The violence in April of that year left 18 people dead and tens of thousands of people displaced. Both sides agreed to withdraw troops from the disputed area in December 2011.
The territory has been a point of contention for over a century.
In 1962, the court concluded that Thailand had accepted the Annex I map, which defines the monastery territory.
"Even if there were any doubt in this connection, Thailand was not precluded from asserting that she had not accepted it since France and Cambodia had relied upon her acceptance and she had for fifty years enjoyed such benefits as the Treaty of 1904 has conferred on her. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Annex I map caused it to enter the treaty settlement; the Parties had at that time adopted an interpretation of that settlement which caused the map line to prevail over the provisions of the Treaty and, as there was no reason to think that the Parties had attached any special importance to the line of the watershed as such, as compared with the overriding importance of a final regulation of their own frontiers, the Court considered that the interpretation to be given now would be the same.
"The court therefore felt bound to pronounce in favour of the frontier indicated on the Annex I map in the disputed area and it became unnecessary to consider whether the line as mapped did in fact correspond to the true watershed line. For these reasons, the Court upheld the submissions of Cambodia concerning sovereignty over Preah Vihear."
However, it did not mention the sovereignty of Phnom Trap, urging both parties to solve the dispute by peaceful means. The area, part of the 4.6 square kilometre, is the centre of this dispute.
Yet, the ICJ's ruling confirmed confirmed Phnom Penh’s sovereignty over the whole of a disputed promontory bearing a Cambodian temple on the border with Thailand.
"The Court therefore concludes that the first operative paragraph of the 1962 Judgment determined that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear, as defined in paragraph 98 of the present Judgment, and that, in consequence, the second operative paragraph required Thailand to withdraw from that territory the Thai military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, that were stationed there," according to the statement. (The full version can be read here: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/151/17704.pdf)
The ICJ's ruling confirmed Phnom Penh’s sovereignty over the whole of a disputed promontory bearing a Cambodian temple on the border with Thailand.
Thai Ambassador to the Netherlands Virachai Plasai said Cambodia had only won a small piece of the disputed territory. "We are still calculating the exact amount," he said.
Thai Foreign Minister Suraphong Tovichaichaikul said "Both sides are satisfied with the court’s decision."
The court also rejected Cambodia’s claim that it was also awarded a nearby hill, called Phnum Trap, by the 1962 ICJ ruling that was being interpreted in Monday’s judgement. The majority of the border between Thailand and Cambodia was delimited more than a century ago, but the boundary near Preah Vihear has yet to be demarcated. The line has not yet been settled. Cambodia, 50 years after the initial judgement, submitted a request for an interpretation of the judgement to define precisely the "vicinity" of the temple.
A 1962 verdict by the International Court of Justice declared the temple to be Cambodian, but did not rule on the area around it. Cambodia sought a clarification of the ruling in 2011, after fighting erupted. The violence in April of that year left 18 people dead and tens of thousands of people displaced. Both sides agreed to withdraw troops from the disputed area in December 2011.
The territory has been a point of contention for over a century.
In 1962, the court concluded that Thailand had accepted the Annex I map, which defines the monastery territory.
"Even if there were any doubt in this connection, Thailand was not precluded from asserting that she had not accepted it since France and Cambodia had relied upon her acceptance and she had for fifty years enjoyed such benefits as the Treaty of 1904 has conferred on her. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Annex I map caused it to enter the treaty settlement; the Parties had at that time adopted an interpretation of that settlement which caused the map line to prevail over the provisions of the Treaty and, as there was no reason to think that the Parties had attached any special importance to the line of the watershed as such, as compared with the overriding importance of a final regulation of their own frontiers, the Court considered that the interpretation to be given now would be the same.
"The court therefore felt bound to pronounce in favour of the frontier indicated on the Annex I map in the disputed area and it became unnecessary to consider whether the line as mapped did in fact correspond to the true watershed line. For these reasons, the Court upheld the submissions of Cambodia concerning sovereignty over Preah Vihear."
The Judgement Day ...
On Preah Vihear, this November 11th, 2013 by the International Court of Justice.
The Court, unanimously, declares the whole promontory of Preah Vihear in the sovereignty of Cambodia per the ICJ Judgement of June 15, 1962, and the Thai Government must withdraw military or police forces, or other guards or keepers that were stationed there.
Truth and Justice always prevail!!
For the whole judgement, read the ICJ Website.
In Bangkok Post:
The ICJ also reiterated the 1962 provision that obliged Thailand to withdraw all security troops from the temple's vicinity.
However, the court rejected Cambodia's claim that it was also awarded a nearby hill by the 1962 ICJ ruling that was being interpreted in Monday's judgment. Known as Pheu Makheu in Thailand and Phnum Trap in Cambodia, the hill falls under the disputed 4.6 square kilometre area.
The decision was welcomed in Cambodia, which claims the 4.6-km area around the temple is needed to access the World Heritage Site.
"This is the victory of all the nation and the reward to the political maturity of the current Royal government of Cambodia," Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said on his Facebook page.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said in The Hague that both sides are satisfied with the court's decision. After this, the two counties will hold talks in a panel planned to jointly develop the area, Mr Surapong said.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, right, and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong shake hands during the Preah Vihear temple trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Monday. (EPA Photo)
Virachai Plasai, Thai ambassador to the Hague and leader of the legal
team, said Cambodia had only won a small piece of the 4.6-kilometre
disputed territory. "We are still calculating the exact amount," he
said.
The "small area" mentioned by the court needed to be further interpreted, he said.
Mr Virachai suggested both countries cooperate in taking care of the Preah Vihear temple World Heritage Site.
Puangthong Pawakapan, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, told Modern Nine television channel that the ruling put an end to disputes over the area, involving protests by many groups.
The 11th-century Preah Vihear temple complex is situated on a steep-sided promontory that juts south into the Cambodian plain, making access - including tourism - difficult without access from the northern, Thai side.
The judgment was expected to spark further opposition in Bangkok, where hundreds of protesters petitioned the Defence Ministry earlier Monday to reject the ICJ's authority over the dispute.
In Phnom Penh, about 20 military police were deployed outside the Thai Embassy ahead of the ruling, but there was no sign of protests in the city, and only 10 officers were on guard by the afternoon.
In 1962, the ICJ ruled that the temple complex itself was on Cambodian soil, but did not rule on the border line around it, leaving the door open for further disputes.
Cambodia reopened the case in 2011 after Preah Vihear temple was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2008, reigniting the dispute over the surrounding land, and sparking clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops.
Monday's ICJ ruling comes at a vulnerable time for government. The blanket amnesty bill that could pave the way for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand is currently being debated by the Senate and has prompted mass anti-government protests in Bangkok since Nov 1.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said in a statement over the weekend that Thailand and Cambodia have to work together to maintain good relations, regardless of the outcome of the ICJ ruling.
.................
The Court, unanimously, declares the whole promontory of Preah Vihear in the sovereignty of Cambodia per the ICJ Judgement of June 15, 1962, and the Thai Government must withdraw military or police forces, or other guards or keepers that were stationed there.
Truth and Justice always prevail!!
For the whole judgement, read the ICJ Website.
In Bangkok Post:
ICJ backs Cambodia's claim to Preah Vihear temple promontory
- Published: 11 Nov 2013 at 18.20
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on
Monday afternoon unanimously confirmed Phnom Penh's sovereignty over the
entire disputed promontory bearing the Preah Vihear temple on the
Thai-Cambodia border.
A view of the Preah Vihear temple trial between Cambodia and Thailand
in the hall of the Peace Palace, at the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Monday. (EPA Photo)
The United Nations' highest court did not specify precisely how the
area in the ruling maps onto that which is claimed by Cambodia, saying
only that it should correspond with the natural promontory, and that the
border line did not have to follow the watershed, as Thailand has
argued.The ICJ also reiterated the 1962 provision that obliged Thailand to withdraw all security troops from the temple's vicinity.
However, the court rejected Cambodia's claim that it was also awarded a nearby hill by the 1962 ICJ ruling that was being interpreted in Monday's judgment. Known as Pheu Makheu in Thailand and Phnum Trap in Cambodia, the hill falls under the disputed 4.6 square kilometre area.
The decision was welcomed in Cambodia, which claims the 4.6-km area around the temple is needed to access the World Heritage Site.
"This is the victory of all the nation and the reward to the political maturity of the current Royal government of Cambodia," Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said on his Facebook page.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said in The Hague that both sides are satisfied with the court's decision. After this, the two counties will hold talks in a panel planned to jointly develop the area, Mr Surapong said.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, right, and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong shake hands during the Preah Vihear temple trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Monday. (EPA Photo)
The "small area" mentioned by the court needed to be further interpreted, he said.
Mr Virachai suggested both countries cooperate in taking care of the Preah Vihear temple World Heritage Site.
Puangthong Pawakapan, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, told Modern Nine television channel that the ruling put an end to disputes over the area, involving protests by many groups.
The 11th-century Preah Vihear temple complex is situated on a steep-sided promontory that juts south into the Cambodian plain, making access - including tourism - difficult without access from the northern, Thai side.
The judgment was expected to spark further opposition in Bangkok, where hundreds of protesters petitioned the Defence Ministry earlier Monday to reject the ICJ's authority over the dispute.
In Phnom Penh, about 20 military police were deployed outside the Thai Embassy ahead of the ruling, but there was no sign of protests in the city, and only 10 officers were on guard by the afternoon.
In 1962, the ICJ ruled that the temple complex itself was on Cambodian soil, but did not rule on the border line around it, leaving the door open for further disputes.
Cambodia reopened the case in 2011 after Preah Vihear temple was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2008, reigniting the dispute over the surrounding land, and sparking clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops.
Monday's ICJ ruling comes at a vulnerable time for government. The blanket amnesty bill that could pave the way for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand is currently being debated by the Senate and has prompted mass anti-government protests in Bangkok since Nov 1.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said in a statement over the weekend that Thailand and Cambodia have to work together to maintain good relations, regardless of the outcome of the ICJ ruling.
.................
Saturday, November 9, 2013
In dependence
It is Independence Day! It is the 60th Anniversary! But the scene is far less than desired. It is a country with a National Assembly (68 in a 123 seats) half empty. The reason is that the Opposition - the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) -has boycotted, claiming that there were gross irregularities in the July 28, 2013 elections. They would win 63 to 58 if the tallies were right.
The story is long, but it can be summed up to say that the causes of these troubles came basically from the disrespect of the spirit and the letter of the Paris Peace Agreement of October 23rd, 1991, 22 years ago last month.
The 2 parties, the ruling Cambodia People Party (CPP) and the CNRP were talking and negotiating, and hopefully something good for the nation came out from it ...
The story is long, but it can be summed up to say that the causes of these troubles came basically from the disrespect of the spirit and the letter of the Paris Peace Agreement of October 23rd, 1991, 22 years ago last month.
The 2 parties, the ruling Cambodia People Party (CPP) and the CNRP were talking and negotiating, and hopefully something good for the nation came out from it ...
Friday, November 8, 2013
60th Anniversary
Cambodia marks 60th anniversary of independence from French rule
|
English.news.cn 2013-11-09 10:56:45
|
PHNOM
PENH, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia celebrated the 60th anniversary of
the declaration of the Independence Day from French protectorate on
Saturday with a call for national unity for the country's peace and
development.
The
celebration was held under the auspices of the nation's King Norodom
Sihamoni and was attended by National Assembly's President Heng Samrin,
Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Senate's 1st Vice-President Say Chhum, as
well as senior officials, diplomatic corps, armed forces and students,
totaling around 20,000 people.
At
the event at the Independence Monument, the King laid a wreath and lit
the victory torch inside the Independence Monument. The victory flame
will be kept burning for three days.
Then,
the King, along with other leaders and dignitaries, proceeded to the
nearby Royal Palace, where the main celebratory ceremony was held with a
live broadcast on all local TV channels.
The
Southeast Asian nation gained full independence and freedom from the
French protectorate on Nov. 9, 1953 after it had ruled by France for 90
years.
"The
celebration today is to express deep gratitude to the country's late
King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who had conducted a royal crusade to
demand independence from French protectorate," King Sihamoni said in a
speech.
"On
this occasion, I would like to call on all Cambodian people to be
united under the roof of the constitution and state laws in order to
contribute to defending and building the nation in all domains,
particularly economy, as the country has full peace and political
stability."
The
country has been in political dispute since the July's election results
showed that the Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party won the victory,
but the opposition party refused to accept the outcomes and has been
boycotting the ruling party-formed parliament.
........
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Count Down: IC: Preah Vihear Ruling
Army claims Cambodia stationing extra troops
Phnom Penh says lorries only carried necessities
Published: 8 Nov 2013 at 01.11
BKK Post Newspaper section: News
SI SA KETThe Suranaree Task Force accused Cambodia of violating a deal not to have troops reinforcements in relation to ICJ ruling November 11, 2013.
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