Democrats wrong from the start on Preah Vihear

Abhisit and his Democrat Party have taken a clear - but wrong - stance on the issue from the beginning.

Indeed, the party has been mistaken on the issue since it was in opposition. In 2008, it tagged along with the nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to exploit crude nationalism over Preah Vihear and attack the governments of Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat.

After Samak's government supported Cambodia in listing the temple as a World Heritage Site, the Democrats and the PAD accused Samak and his foreign minister Noppadon Pattama of losing Thai territory and the chance to reclaim Preah Vihear.

Abhisit made the accusation based on a misinterpretation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear case. The court ruled the temple "was situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia".

Abhisit - as he argued in Parliament during a censure motion against Noppadon in June 2008 - said the ICJ ruled only on the ruined sandstone temple, while the territory on which it stood belonged to Thailand. Thus, for Abhisit, any Cambodian activities in the area were violations of Thai sovereignty.

Abhisit's interpretation contradicted Thailand's own consistent stance since 1962, when a Thai Cabinet decision unilaterally set the boundary at Preah Vihear to comply with the ICJ ruling.

In fact, during the military-backed government under General Surayud Chulanont and later under the elected governments of Samak and Somchai, Thailand used the Cabinet-drawn line in dealing with Cambodia's proposal to list the temple.

Thailand's legal team also used it in making their argument in the recent ICJ trial, after Cambodia asked the court to clarify the 1962 judgement and to instigate provisional measures to have Thai troops withdraw from the disputed area.

Cambodia has agreed, at least for now, to use that line as the Preah Vihear boundary in its proposal for the temple's listing and management. The land that is disputed is not included in the management plan, but that did not stop Abhisit from blocking Phnom Penh's plan to run the temple as a World Heritage Site. The premier accused Cambodia of taking Thai territory as a buffer zone around Preah Vihear and asked the World Heritage Committee to suspend its management plan.

Abhisit will send Suwit, his minister of natural resources and the environment, to derail Cambodia's plans at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Paris next week.

The move cornered Cambodia and offered Phnom Penh no option but to bring the case back to the ICJ for a clarification of the scope and meaning of the 1962 judgement. The court is currently considering Cambodia's request for a ban on Thai military activities at the disputed area.

The decisions of both organisations are likely to be delivered around the same time, perhaps shortly after the Thai election.

Abhisit called for other parties to make their stances clear in order to relieve the political pressure mounting on him. In case Thailand loses the court battle, Abhisit needs someone in the same boat- as well as someone with a different stance to shift the blame to.

The Nation