Better preparation is needed if Thailand is to win the fight with Cambodia over its management plan for Preah Vihear temple.

Thailand celebrated a small victory last week when it managed to persuade the 21-member World Heritage Committee (WHC), meeting in Brazil, to defer a decision on the plan to its meeting next year in Bahrain.

It was the second year in a row that the issue had been postponed.

Cambodia is required to submit a management plan for endorsement after the temple was listed as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2008.

Asda Jayanama, a member of the Thai delegation, predicts the fight with Cambodia will be long and hard.

In an interview with the Bangkok Post, he said Thailand would block the plan again next year if it still involved a disputed border area next to the temple, and if the land was still not demarcated.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had promised that Thailand would do better next time.

It will set up a national committee to handle the issue, to be led by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti.

Thailand also needs to form alliances with key members of Unesco and the WHC to support its position, said Mr Asda, who was appointed by the government less than two weeks before the WHC meeting in Brazil.

Thailand wants to end the dispute over an overlapping border area around the temple before it considers the management plan. Cambodia’s management zone involves part of the disputed territory to the east of the temple, said Mr Asda, a former ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

Thailand also needs to appoint an ambassador to Unesco to handle the issue and lobby other Unesco members, instead of using the ambassador to France as its contact point, Mr Asda said.

Brazil tried to break the deadlock between Thailand and Cambodia, without success.

Mr Asda went to Brazil before Mr Suwit and the other Thai delegates to explain the Thai position to Brazil’s Culture Minister Joao Luiz Silva Ferreira, who chaired the WHC meeting.

The next target for the Thai team led by Mr Suwit is to convince the 19 other members of the WHC to support its cause.

WHC members remain split on who to back, Mr Asda said.

But Mr Suwit told the prime minster that Thailand was an underdog with most members inclined to back Cambodia, as it started lobbying for its plan long before the meeting took place.

Thailand also focused on the delayed distribution of the management plan, which put it at an disadvantage.

The plan was supposed to be distributed six weeks before the meeting. But it was sent to WHC members only on July 27, one day before the meeting was due to discuss the issue.

It was not a full report as the WHC members received only a five-page summary and a map showing the management zone.

Worried about a possible collapse of the meeting due to the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, the Brazilian chairman tried to find a way out by asking the Thai and Cambodian sides to settle their differences.

Each side had three representatives at the meeting. The Thai side was led by Mr Suwit, with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An leading his delegation.

The atmosphere was tense, as neither side was prepared to give way.

As there was no chance of a compromise, host Brazil devised a seven-point draft decision.

It consulted Cambodia first and then called the two countries together for further discussions.

Several parts of the draft were revised after Thailand objected.

One of the rejected clauses was that the WHC “further welcomes the steps taken by the State Party [Cambodia] towards the establishment of an international coordinating committee for the sustainable conservation of the property”.

The word “property” was rejected because it would include the disputed area in addition to the temple, Mr Asda said.

The compromise was read out to other WHC members on July 28.

The thrust of the compromise was the WHC’s decision to postpone consideration of the management plan to the meeting next year.

News item Courtesy of www.bangkokpost.com

Cambodian Buddhist monks blessed the artifacts during a handover ceremony at the port of Sihanoukville, said John Johnson, a U.S. embassy spokesman.

The sandstone sculptures were recovered by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during an 2008 raid in Los Angeles. They arrived in Cambodia aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy on Tuesday, Johnson said.

The Mercy docked at the seaport for a 13-day mission to provide free medical care to Cambodians.

Johnson said the artifacts include two heads of the Buddha, a bas-relief and an engraved plinth. The items date from 1000 to 1500 when the kings of Angkor ruled over an extensive empire and produced some of the world’s most magnificent temples, including the famed Angkor Wat complex.

Cambodia and the United States signed an agreement to protect Cambodia’s cultural heritage in 2003.

In 2007, the U.S. government returned the sandstone sculpture of a celestial dancer, or apsara, dating from the 12th century.

Cambodia’s historic monuments suffered extensive damage from natural causes and looters, especially during the wars of the last three decades.

Many priceless pieces have ended up in private collections overseas.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Online news: Tourism

Cambodia could lose 30 to 40 billion baht in tourism income as the latest conflict with Thailand is driving Thai and foreign tourists away, Apichart Sangka-aree, an adviser to the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said on Tuesday.

“On the tourism front, Cambodia will face stronger negative impact from the dispute than Thailand.

”European tourists are now refraining from visiting Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and are instead visiting the Northeast of Thailand, which has a similar culture and tourist attractions,” Mr Apichart said.

Charoen Wang-ananont, chairman of the Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), took the same tone, saying 95 per cent of Thai tourists who had booked tour packages to Cambodia in advance have now cancelled or delayed their trip.

“We found that 20 per cent of them changed their destination to Laos and another 10 per cent to Burma,” Mr Charoen said. The tourist attractions that coincidently gained benefits from the conflict included Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Savannakhet and Champasak.

More than 600, 000 Thais visited Cambodia last year  and they spent about 7,000 baht each, while only 60,000 Cambodian traveled to Thailand, according to the TTAA chairman

Bangkok Post on-line

BANGKOK, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Thailand’s cabinet was reviewing aid to Cambodia on Tuesday, a government official said, the latest move in a diplomatic row triggered by a visit by fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the neighbouring country.

The cabinet will discuss various retaliatory measures, including freezing low-interest loans to build roads in Cambodia, during its weekly meeting, said Panitan Wattanayagorn, deputy secretary-general to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

“Most of the projects discussed are aid and loans for infrastructure projects, which might be delayed or cancelled,” Panitan said.

“The government will also look at all other projects with Cambodia and discuss appropriate measures, but we will make sure it does not hurt the public.”

Thaksin went to Cambodia after its prime minister, Hun Sen, offered him a job as an economic adviser. The Cambodian government rejected Bangkok’s request to extradite him.

Thaksin returned to self-imposed exile last year ahead of a court judgment that found him guilty of violating a conflict of interest law while in office and sentenced him to two years in jail. He was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006.

His visit to Cambodia further strained relations between the two neighbours. They recalled their ambassadors and a Thai man was arrested in Cambodia for alleged spying.

Panitan said the cabinet would discuss ways to assist the man, who works as an engineer for the Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS).

He is accused of sending Thaksin’s flight schedule to a Thai diplomat, who was expelled from Cambodia last week for allegedly breaching diplomatic protocol.

The Thai government says the information was publicly available. An embassy official in Phnom Penh was allowed to see the engineer on Tuesday but was not informed of any formal charges.

Abhisit urged Cambodia on Monday to follow “international standards” in pursuing any case against him.

Thailand has already said it would scrap a 2001 memorandum of understanding on energy development in the Gulf of Thailand.

The agreement was signed under Thaksin’s administration, with the aim of finding a way to jointly develop oil and gas resources in disputed waters, although little progress has been made.

Thaksin left Cambodia on Saturday. He spends most of his time in Dubai. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Ambika Ahuja; Editing by Alan Raybould)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived Tuesday in Cambodia following his appointment as economic adviser to the government, fueling tensions between the neighboring countries.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would seek Thaksin’s extradition and announced that his Cabinet had approved ending talks with Phnom Penh on disputed maritime borders.

The toppled leader was to deliver a lecture Thursday to more than 300 economists while in Phnom Penh.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thaksin flew into the Cambodian capital’s military airport aboard a private plane. State televison showed that Thaksin arrived with a party of less than 10 people and was driven into Phnom Penh under very tight security provided by bodyguards of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Thaksin’s surprising appointment by Hun Sen has soured already poor relations between the two neighbors, which have had small but sometimes deadly skirmishes over their land border in the past year.

Thailand responded to the appointment by withdrawing its ambassador from Phnom Penh, and Cambodia retaliated in kind.

Abhisit said that if Cambodia did not extradite Thaksin, Thailand “will be ready with the proper response.” He did not elaborate.

He said that since Thaksin was now serving as an economic adviser to Cambodia, the Cabinet had approved terminating a memorandum of understanding on the disputed territory, which contains large petroleum deposits. The cancellation must still be approved by Parliament.

Deputy Minister of the Council of Ministers Phay Siphan said Hun Sen would host a lunch Wednesday for Thaksin “because the two leaders are close friends.” He said Thaksin would stay in Cambodia at least two to three days.

“He is coming to give a lecture only so I believe that he will not do anything related to political activity here,” Phay Siphan told reporters.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup. He is living in exile, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a two-year prison sentence for corruption.

Despite his self-imposed exile he remains at the center of a political fight between his supporters and those of the current government. He ignited fresh controversy Monday by speaking candidly about the nation’s constitutional monarchy.

Thaksin gave a rare extensive interview that was published by the Times of London on its Web site in which he spoke glowingly of the prospects for Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn once he succeeds his father, 81-year old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. But he criticized the king’s close advisers for interfering with politics.

Open discussion of the succession issue is a delicate issue, in part because of strict laws that prohibit insulting the king and his family and make such criticism punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Thaksin went into exile last year ahead of a court judgment that found him guilty of violating a conflict of interest law and sentenced him to two years in jail. He served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted by a military coup after being accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the monarchy.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who was an anti-Thaksin activist before joining the government, said to reporters that Thaksin’s interview remarks were offensive to the monarchy, and questioned his motive for making them.

Other officials in the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also criticized Thaksin.

Thaksin’s supporters and opponents have repeatedly taken to the streets since his ouster to spar over who has the right to rule the country, sometimes sparking violence.

On a Web page he maintains, Thaksin later said that The Times had distorted his comments, especially in its headline reading, “Ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra calls for ’shining’ new age after King’s death.”

In the Times interview, which included a transcript posted online, the former prime minister was laudatory about Vajiralongkorn, whom he described as “the newer generation, modern.”

“He has a very strong determination to do what he really wants to achieve,” said Thaksin.

He also offered repeated, almost fulsome praise of Bhumibol, but said the circle of people around him, particularly his main adviser, former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, had illegitimately interfered in politics.

Many people believe Prem engineered the coup against Thaksin, a charge Prem has denied.

The king has been in hospital for almost two months with a lung ailment.

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra exits a plane upon arriving at a military air base in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. Cambodia announced that Thailand’s fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin arrived Tuesday in Phnom Penh following his appointment as economic adviser to the government,fueling tensions between the neighboring countries. (AP Photo/Lim Cheavutha)

The move was the most severe diplomatic action thus far in ongoing tensions between the two countries, which have had a series of small, but sometimes deadly, skirmishes over the demarcation of their border.

Thailand also said it would review all of its agreements with Cambodia.

Thaksin is a hugely divisive figure in Thailand, where his supporters and opponents have repeatedly taken to the streets over the past two years in demonstrations over who has the right to rule the country since Thaksin’s ouster in a 2006 military coup. The protests have sometimes turned violent and once shut down the capital’s airports for a week.

Thaksin has been living mostly in self-imposed exile since the coup, when he was accused of corruption, abuse of power and insulting Thailand’s constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He was convicted in absentia last year of violating a conflict of interest law and sentenced to two years in prison, and his Thai passport has been revoked, forcing him to travel on other countries’ passports.

Thai officials frequently claim he is trying to undermine the current government.

His supporters say the Bangkok-centered elite is ignoring the mandate Thaksin won in two democratic elections because it feels its own privileges are threatened.

A Thai Foreign Ministry statement said Thursday that the Thai ambassador was being recalled in response to the announcement of the appointment a day earlier by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government.

Cambodian state television said Wednesday night that Thaksin would serve as an adviser on economic affairs to both the government and to Hun Sen personally.

It also said Cambodia would refuse to extradite Thaksin to Thailand if asked because Phnom Penh considers him a victim of political persecution, echoing comments Hun Sen made at an Asian summit last month.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters Thursday that the Cambodian action was considered interference in Thailand’s internal affairs.

Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, had substantial business interests in Cambodia and was accused of pursuing special deals there for his family-controlled conglomerate while prime minister.

He has traveled since the coup to Dubai, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Liberia and Montenegro in pursuit of investment opportunities.

Thaksin remains widely popular among Thailand’s rural people and the urban poor, who benefited from his social welfare policies. He is still highly influential, rallying protesters in telephoned speeches from aboard.

2009-10-31 14:40:02

BANGKOK, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to permanently reside in Cambodia as hedid not want to create problem to Thailand, opposition Puea Thai Party Chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyuth said Saturday.

“I asked him through people close him why he did not stay in Cambodia as it is near home and family, Thaksin said that he did not want to create problem,” the INN news agency quoted Chavalit, deputy prime minister in Thaksin’s administration as saying.

It was a test of Thaksin’s thought, he said.

Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been in exile since then. In February 2008, Thaksin returned to Thailand to face corruption charges but later went to exile again and was convicted in absentia.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters during the recent 15th ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit at Thailand’s central beach resort of Hua Hin that Cambodia would not hand over Thaksin to Thailand if Thailand sought his extradition.

Hun Sen also said that he could appoint Thaksin as his economic advisor.

The opposition party chairman said that he is planning to visit neighboring country of Malaysia in mid-November and visit Myanmar after that.

“I have known Gen Than Shwe (Myanmar top leader) for quite a long time and he can help improve relations between Thailand and Myanmar,” he said.

Over the criticism that he was trying to discredit the government and to help Thaksin, Chavalit said if someone wants to do a big thing, he must be able to stand for such a negative criticism.

Also on Saturday, Thailand’s Attorney-General Julasingh Wasantsingh said that Cambodia reserves the rights to refuse to extradite Thaksin if he stays in the neighboring country, but substantial grounds must be provided.

Published: October 22 2009 03:00 | Last updated: October 22 2009 03:00

A CAMBODIAN official responded Thursday to Thai media reports of a planned protest by People’s Alliance for Democracy members outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok on Monday.

The English-language daily newspaper The Nation reported earlier this week that PAD members planned to protest outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok in response to comments made by Prime Minister Hun Sen during the weekend’s ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, during which he said that Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup, had been treated unfairly by Thai authorities.

Hun Sen’s comments were seen as undermining Thailand’s judiciary credibility, The Nation reported.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Thursday that the government was not surprised by the announced protest.

“It is not the first time that PAD has warned Cambodia about a protest, but we are not concerned because the Cambodian embassy and its
diplomats are under the careful protection of Thai authorities,” Koy Kuong said.

Koy Kuong added that Cambodia has yet to receive official confirmation that Thaksin has plans to visit the Kingdom.

“There is no official notice about his visit. We just heard that he told supporters that he would fly to Cambodia soon, but I think these sources of information are reliable,” he said, referring to Thai press reports that Thaksin had informed supporters via teleconference that he intended to take Hun Sen up on his offer to visit Cambodia.

The Phnom Penh Post.