On 6 May 2011 at 12.30 hrs., Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya had a bilateral meeting with Mr. Marty Natalegawa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, regarding the Thai-Cambodian border dispute, focusing on the issue of the Indonesian Observer Team (IOT) to the Thai and Cambodian sides of the border. Following the meeting, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director-General of the Department of Information and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, briefed the press on the discussions between the two Ministers. Gist as follows:
1. The Thai Foreign Minister briefed the Indonesian Foreign Minister on recent developments along the Thai-Cambodian border. He noted that Cambodia endeavoured through its actions against Thailand to lay the foundations for its request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an interpretation of the Court’s 1962 ruling on the case concerning the Temple of Phra Viharn. The latter action reflects a premeditated move by Cambodia to create an environment conducive for its eventual submission of this issue to the ICJ.
2. With regards to the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the IOT, the Thai Foreign Minister informed his Indonesian counterpart that the Thai Cabinet at its meeting on 3 May 2010 had approved in principle the draft TOR. Before proceeding further, though, Cambodian troops would have to withdraw its forces from the Phra Viharn Temple, the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, and the community, as the presence of Cambodian troops in these areas violated the 1954 Hague Convention of the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Thailand on the Survey and Demarcation of Land Boundary. The Indonesia Foreign Minister said that he would raise this issue with the Cambodian side and look into how to move forward in order to create conditions conducive for the dispatch of Indonesian observers to the Thai-Cambodian border.
3. In response to questions regarding the Indonesian Foreign Minister’s interview earlier that the withdrawal of Cambodian troops from the Temple of Phra Viharn should be discussed in the General Border Commission (GBC), the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said that The Thai side had expressed its readiness had and always tried to convince the Cambodian side to return to bilateral negotiations. In this regard, it would be welcomed if both countries could discuss this issue at the GBC.
4. Asked to comment on the statement to the press by Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation that Thailand had no intention to allow Indonesian observers to be sent to the border area, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson stressed that it was Thailand who had invited the IOT, a decision that was made at a meeting chaired by the Thai Prime Minister with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence, on 20 February 2011. Thus, to say that Thailand had rejected Indonesia’s offer to send observers to the disputed area is factually incorrect.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th