GOOD SIGNS OVER POSTPONEMENT OF TEMPLE MANAGEMENT PLAN

By Jamaluddin Muhammad

BANGKOK, July 30 (Bernama) -– The postponement of the Unesco World Heritage
Committee's decision on the Preah Vihear Temple management plan to next year,
will enable Thailand and Cambodia to seek a solution to the overlapping
territorial claim adjacent to the temple.

Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Security Matters Suthep Thaugsauban said
Friday it would be good for Thailand and Cambodia to go to the negotiation table
and solve the problem during that time.

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, last night was
postponed to next year in Bahrain, following Thailand's opposition to the
management plan.

Thailand threatened to resign from the World Heritage Committee if the meeting
went ahead and approved the management plan for the 11th century Hindu temple
submitted by Phnom Penh.

Thailand is concerned that the plan could include part or all of a disputed 4.6
square kilometre area adjacent to the temple claimed by both countries.

According to the ruling of the International Court of Justice in 1962, the
temple is situated in a territory under Cambodia's sovereignty.

Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation, listed the temple as a world heritage site in 2008.

Since then, both countries have been at loggerheads when Thailand protested
Cambodia's move to list the ancient temple as a world heritage site.

Soldiers from both sides have clashed on several occasions and tension at the
border remains as both have overlapping claims over ownership to the temple
access.

Suthep does not worry about the situation at the Thailand-Cambodia border,
following the latest development in Brazil because Thailand undertook a peaceful
solution.
-- BERNAMA