Thai Opposition To Indonesian Ceasefire Monitors Irks Cambodia

9 April 2011 -- Kyodo

Jakarta, April 9 Kyodo -- Cambodia expressed disappointment Saturday over Thailand's opposition to Indonesian observers being deployed in a disputed part of the Cambodia-Thai border to monitor a ceasefire.

''We cannot understand,'' Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters. ''If Thailand really wishes to have a ceasefire on the border, why should they hesitate to receive Indonesian observers?'' He said each time an armed clash breaks out, Thailand falsely accuses Cambodia of starting the fighting.

Indonesia has offered to dispatch civilian and unarmed military observers to monitor the cease-fire along the border, and Thailand's Foreign Ministry initially accepted that offer.

But the Thai military subsequently announced its opposition to foreign observers being stationed in the area of overlapping claims, and the Thai Foreign Ministry has since said it agrees with the stance of the security forces.

''I'll never be optimistic with Thailand. Frankly speaking, it's difficult to deal with them,'' Hor Namhong said.

''On one hand, the government, the foreign minister, says one thing, while on the other hand, the military, the defense minister, says another thing,'' he said. We don't know exactly who really has the right to negotiate.'' Hor Namhong was in Jakarta attending a meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which followed a two-day Joint Boundary Commission meeting of Cambodian and Thai senior officials in Bogor, near Jakarta, which was facilitated by Indonesia.

Touching on the results of the Bogor meeting, Hor Namhong criticized Thailand for creating more disagreements than agreements.

For example, he noted that Cambodia proposed that the next JBC meeting should be left to Indonesia to offer the venue and date, but Thailand refused.

''They said the next meeting of JBC should be done by both sides through diplomatic channels without any role of Indonesia,'' he said.

Hor Namhong expressed pessimism that a consultative meeting among the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, proposed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, can take place.

''Frankly speaking, I don't know. Mr. Marty Natalegawa will try, but we never know if he can succeed in his efforts,'' he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads over their rival claims to 4.6 square kilometers of land around the Preah Vihear Temple on their border.

Since the ancient temple was registered as a World Heritage in 2008, several rounds of border clashes have occurred.

Besides Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, ASEAN groups Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.