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The unnecessary conflict with Cambodia broke out more than 13 months ago when the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the Democrat Party, then in opposition, forced the Thai government to object to Cambodia's proposal to list the 11th century Khmer sanctuary as a world heritage site.

Since the Thai attempt to block the World Heritage Committee's decision to grant the status failed, the fight should now be over. Two border skirmishes in October last year and April this year, which claimed seven soldiers on both sides and injured many others, should have been ahigh enough price for Thai jealousy.

People in the border province of Si Sa Ket were supposed to have resumed their businesses, earning income from the attractive world heritage listed site. Closure of the tourism site for more than a year is not good for anybody.

Thousands of troops from both sides, deployed to the disputed area adjacent to the Hindu temple more than a year ago, should have a chance to relax and rejoin their families. There's no point in having troops confront each other, since the two countries have no real intention of waging a war.

Thai and Cambodian commanders have no desire for conflict. They have talked several times and agreed again and again to solve the problem peacefully.

In the latest development, the Cambodian army has cut 50 per cent of its troops at the disputed area and withdrawn to their barracks in the southwest Kampot province - the outcome of a meeting last week between Thai Supreme Commander General Songkitti Jaggabatra and his Cambodian counterpart, General Pol Saroeun. Nevertheless, a significant number of troops remain and the Preah Vihear stays closed.

Foreign ministries from the two countries have made it clear they should sit together for talks and end the conflict diplomatically. They began their work late last year when the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) met in November in Siem Reap, the first ever after the Preah Vihear new riff. The JBC met twice this year in February and April to lay out plans for boundary demarcation and provisional arrangements.

However, further discussion could not be pursued since the Thai Constitution's article 190 requires the Foreign Ministry to bring minutes of the three meetings back for Parliament's consideration.

It is widely misunderstood among some academics and senators that the JBC has set the provisional arrangements, causing a loss of Thai sovereignty over the disputed area of 4.6 square kilometres. Some senators threatened to reject the committee reports during a session on Wednesday, blocking further talk of the JBC.

In fact, what the JBC has done regarding the provisional arrangement for the disputed area has been to reach an agreement to name security units there as 'temporary military monitoring'. The real arrangement has yet to be done.

The provisional arrangement is needed for both sides to jointly run the disputed area as long as the demarcation remains unfinished. It includes a plan for troop redeployment in the disputed area.

It remained unclear whether it is purely the PAD-backed senators' misunderstanding or political motivation driving their objection to the JBC report.

The opposition Pheu Thai Party, supposedly experts on the matter since their experience in government last year, managed to delay the Parliament session on Monday, cornering Defence Minister Pravit Wongsuwan over Cambodia's road construction in the disputed area.

They know very well that the road problem can be solved only through the JBC, but intend to delay JBC talks by derailing the Parliament session to discredit and gain revenge on the Democrat-led government.

As Parliament has opened a session for Preah Vihear debate again today, all politicians should not delay it again but encourage the JBC to work to bring peace into the border area.

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on September 2, 2009

PREAH Vihear temple has seen a flood of tourists in the past few days, a trend officials are attributing to the drawdown of troops there that was completed over the weekend.

Om Phirom, chief of the temple's Heritage Police, said Tuesday that there had been about 200 Cambodian tourists and 50 foreign tourists venturing to the World Heritage site daily for the past four days, adding that the foreigners included Chinese, Japanese and European visitors.

By comparison, he said, the temple received about 100 Cambodian and 50 foreign tourists each month during the 13-month standoff with Thailand over the disputed complex.

"More tourists are visiting Preah Vihear temple now," Om Phirom said. "This increase began a few days ago after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that troops at the temple would be withdrawn."

Hun Sen declared last week that the standoff had effectively ended following a bilateral agreement to withdraw troops.

Sor Thavy, deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, said he had noticed that roads near the temple had seen more traffic in recent days, adding that he was considering strengthening the security presence to protect tourists.

The Parliament approved on Wednesday reports of Thailand-Cambodia joint boundary commission which give a go-ahead to the boundary demarcation at the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.

The joint session between the lower and upper house in their closed-door meeting voted in favor of the reports 306 against 6.

The Cabinet submitted for the parliament approval the three agreed-minutes of Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) as required by the article 190 of the constitution.

The JBC met in November last year, February and April this year to set frameworks for boundary demarcation and provisional arrangement at the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple.

The ministry needed to report to the parliament before further discussion with Cambodia.

Thailand and Cambodia are in loggerhead over the disputed area adjacent to the temple since last year. The JBC was activated to clear the boundary line and set provisional arrangement to jointly run the disputed area as long as the demarcation has not finished yet.

Meanwhile the Parliament also voted in favour of the frameworks of negotiation for Thailand-Laos Joint Boundary Commission and Thailand-Burma Regional Border Committee.

The framework of border negotiation between Thailand and Malaysia as well as the framework of relation of high level commission between Thailand and Indonesia were also got approval from the parliament.

However the government withdrew the draft of World Bank's Public Sector Reform Development Policy Loan (PSRDPL) from the parliament consideration and will re-submit again later since the draft has a lot of detail and the members need times to consider.

ANGKOK, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Thai Parliament approved Wednesday reports of Thailand-Cambodia joint boundary commission, which will give a go-ahead to boundary demarcation at the disputed border area near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

The joint session between the Thai lower and upper house in a closed-door meeting voted in favor of the reports 306 against 6, The Nation newspaper's website reported.

The Thai cabinet submitted for the parliament approval the three agreed-minutes of Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC), which is required by the article 190 of Thailand's Constitution.

The JBC was activated to clear the boundary line and set provisional arrangement to jointly run the disputed area as long as the border demarcation has not finished yet.

In November last year and February and April this year, the JBC met to set frameworks for the boundary demarcation and provisional arrangement at the disputed border area near Preah Vihear temple.

However, the Thai government needs to report to the parliament approval prior to any further discussion with Cambodia.

The two neighboring countries had a brief military conflicts in the disputed area adjacent to the temple this year.

The Thai National Assembly on Wednesday approved solutions to technical and other issues surrounding border demarcation, paving the way for a resumption of the process of mapping the Cambodian-Thai border, a member of the Thai Democrat Party told the Post.

"A majority of parliamentarians approved the reports of the Cambodian-Thai Joint Boundary Commission this morning," said Kraisak Choonhavan, referring to the bilateral body that has met three times since November.

Var Kimhong, Cambodia's top border negotiator, said the minutes of the three meetings touched on issues such as how to demarcate the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple.

"There are many points that the Joint Boundary Commission agreed on, such as measuring major areas like Preah Vihear and other technical issues," Var Kimhong said.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong (pictured) said the Cambodian government had received no official notification of the Thai National Assembly's vote, adding that he had only heard of it from Thai news reports.

"Now we can speed up the border-demarcation process," Koy Kuong said.

Kraisak also said he welcomed the news.

"I'm very much looking forward to putting the border issue behind us and returning to good relations," he said.

The two countries have never fully demarcated their 805-kilometre shared border.

The Thai oppositions have grilled the Thai Defence Minister, Mr. Prawit Wongsuwan (pictured), over border disputes with Cambodia when they accused the Thai government of not registering a complaint with Cambodia when the latter constructed roads to the temple of Preah Vihear.

During a parliamentary debates on Khmer-Thai draft agreement on border demarcation on Monday and Wednesday, the Thai oppositions grilled the Defence Minister about the border disputes with Cambodia causing the Monday debates to be postponed to Wednesday to allow the Defence Minister more time to prepare for his answers. The Thai oppositions also accused Cambodia of constructing roads inside Thai territories.

Mr. Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, said the roads were built inside Khmer territories and that the Thai oppositions' accusations stemmed from them using the maps unilaterally drawn by Thailand. However, he said this is Thai internal politics.

Mr. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, said the Thai MPs should help to facilitate the draft ageement in order to help speed up the technical works of the Khmer-Thai Joint Boundary Commission to begin demarcating the borders.

The Thai parliament on Wednesday has voted to approve the Khmer-Thai draft border agreement.

National carrier Cambodia Angkor Air is to receive a new Airbus A321 today as the new airline increases flights to domestic destinations and Ho Chi Minh City

NEW national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA) will receive today delivery of a new Airbus A321 at Phnom Penh International Airport, an official said Tuesday.

Soy Sokhan, undersecretary of state at the secretariat of civil aviation, who is in charge of all matters related to CAA within the government, said the new passenger jet would go into service from Saturday.

"In operating the new aircraft, we will triple return flights between Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City - so now 21 flights a week - and double return flights between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh, so that will be 14 flights [per week] from Saturday," he said Tuesday.

The airline - which launched July 27 - had seen a steady increase in passenger numbers, with an average passenger load of between 30 and 40 percent during the first month of operations, he said, without supplying official data, which he said was not yet available.

As the national carrier, CAA ticket prices had been kept between 5 and 10 percent lower than other private carriers following an opening promotional period. "This is our policy to attract tourists," he said.

Ho Vandy, managing director of World Express Tours and Travel, noted, however, that since the end of the promotional period - in which flights between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were sold for as little as US$6 one way, not including tax - CAA's prices had been similar to Bangkok Airways.

"At the start, Cambodia Angkor Air's tickets sold well due to the discount promotion, but now the ticket prices are high," he said, without giving ticket sales figures for August.

He declined to say which tickets had sold better - CAA or Bangkok Airways, which also flies between the capital and Siem Reap.
Since its original promotion, CAA has sold tickets between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap starting at $30, not including taxes and other charges.

Chhuon Sambath, vice president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents and president of Angkor Media Travel, said Tuesday that CAA's promotions had coincided with slashed fare prices on other airlines.

"But the sales seemed good," he said. "It is too early to compare [CAA] ... to other airlines in terms of airfares and services because it just started a month ago."

Soy Sokhan said there were no immediate expectations regarding the airline's financial performance.

"For the first few years, we do not expect any profits. We will just promote our carrier and attract customers," he said Tuesday. Further expansion is planned, he added.

CAA would aim to begin flights between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville and the capital and Sihanoukville before the end of the year, he said, or early next year. The opening of the new airport at Cambodia's most popular seaside resort has been delayed, according to previous reports.

CAA has been collecting data on cruise ship passenger numbers to Sihanoukville from travel agents to plan ahead for flights, "but at the start it won't be regular flights on this route, but chartered flights", Soy Sokhan said.

Further aircraft purchases would be made next year, he said, as the airline looks to expand within ASEAN as well as to China and South Korea.
CAA is a joint venture between the government - which owns 51 percent - and Vietnam Airlines as part of a 30-year agreement with an initial investment of $100 million.