ICJ expected to give fair ruling on case related to Preah Vihear temple

BANGKOK, January 16 (TNA) - A senior Thai Foreign Ministry official says the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to issue a fair ruling on a case between Thailand and Cambodia on a contentious area adjacent to the Preah Vihear Temple along the common border. The director-general of the ministry's Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Voradet Viravakin, made the comment on Wednesday, when he answered the House committee on national security regarding the case on behalf of Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul. Voradet acknowledged that the ICJ is scheduled to hear final explanations from legal experts of the two countries on the issue between April 15-19, and a Thai legal team is preparing its defense by insisting that Cambodia did not have a right to file its complaint with the World Court. Voradet said Cambodia has demanded that Thai soldiers be withdrawn from the vicinity of the ancient Hindu temple in accordance with the ICJ’s old ruling in 1962. The senior official insisted he expects that the ICJ to lay a fair ruling, noting if the World Court ruled that it had no authority to consider the case or neighbouring Cambodia had no rights to file the complaint, Thailand would win; if the ICJ ordered a fence around the vicinity of the Preah Vihear Temple, it would be in accordance with a Thai Cabinet resolution in 1962 and be acceptable, but the other possibility was that the World Court ruled in favor of Cambodia’s claim on the vicinity of the Preah Vihear Temple. Weng Tojirakarn, Chair of the House committee, told reporters, meanwhile, that his committee has proposed the Thai Parliament President to organize a seminar to seek public opinions on solutions to the case, in which academics and concerned authorities should also be invited to participate to share their views, and that the Thai Parliament President has agreed to hold the seminar early next month. (TNA)