Solomon's Judgment* on Temple Preah Vihear (video)
Call it a 'win-win ruling' Bangkok Post the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague yesterday in the Preah Vihear case. I myself would like to call it a Solomon's judgment*, because both countries have received something.
The area surrounding the temple is Cambodian territory. The Court defines it as the 'promontory' (cape, promontory, promontory) on which the temple stands. The limits of this have been broadly indicated by the Court; the exact border must be agreed upon by both countries. Thailand should withdraw its troops from this area.
A nearby hill Phnom Trap or Phu Makhua was not assigned to Cambodia. That hill is located in the area of 4,6 square kilometers disputed by both countries.
As in 1962 when the ICJ awarded the temple to Cambodia, the Court did not rule on the border between the two countries. It again refused to accept as binding a map from the early 20th century signed by French officers. On that map, both the temple and the disputed territory are on Cambodian territory.
The President of the Court called on both countries to cooperate with each other and with the international community, as the temple is of religious and cultural importance and was listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco [in 2008]. Both countries are also not allowed to take any measures that directly or indirectly damage the place.
(Source: Bangkok Post, November 12, supplemented with data from our own archive)
Note by Dick van der Lugt: Some media call the Court's ruling a victory for Cambodia, but that conclusion is not correct. I already established that last night when I Bangkok Post hadn't even read and saw on television the cards on which the 'promontory' was indicated. I'm committed to mentioning this because some blog readers may not like the Bangkok Post one-sided and biased and by extension my news sections. I've been following the Preah Vihear case for years and have built up an extensive archive on it. I would like to refer interested parties to my own website dickvanderlugt.nl.
* The expression Solomon's judgment is taken from a Bible story in which King Solomon cleverly renders judgment on a difficult legal issue. Two women who lived together in a house had a son at about the same time. One child had died. Both women claimed the living child. They asked Solomon for help. There was no way to prove who was telling the truth. Solomon suggested cutting the living child in two and dividing the halves equally. One woman was willing to accept that, the other objected and said she preferred to see the child alive in the other woman's hands. Solomon concluded that the second wife was the real mother and gave her the living child. (Source: Wikipedia)
Video ruling International Court of Justice Preah Vihear
Watch the video here:
Dear editor,
You who are so hard on mistakes.
sorry but people are writing
Solomon's judgment
Greetings,
marc
Dick: Dear Marc, you are absolutely right. I have corrected. I come from a Protestant Christian family, so I thought of King Solomon, who settled a quarrel between two women who were disputing the same baby.
Yes, I also noticed the coverage in most media: BBC, NOS, nu.nl all write about a victory for Cambodia and that the temple and the area next to / around it has been assigned to them. Little or no word about the hill or clear text that it also fell under the disputed area. A bit like wanting to quickly post news items and copy-pasting either a leading media source or a news agency.
If I check it myself, there is very little I notice in various articles, almost all media (NOS, RTL, Televaag, Trouw, VK, NRC, AD, nu.nl, Elsevier, Metro, ..) often report incorrectly about migration and integration items. Using incorrect concepts or single-handedly destroying a press release from a government service (CBS, IND, etc.) by, among other things, replacing terms such as “resident of NL” with Dutch (meaning the resident but suggesting nationality), confusing residence applications with grants (makes a difference). sometimes half or more), confusing asylum/labor/study/… migration, or heekonst areas (all foreign migrants, or from a certain area such as including/excluding EU, west, not western).
This way you quickly mislead readers. You have to be very careful with the use of terms and numbers. A graph, table or image can also often clarify a lot that would only be expressed less well in words or with a whole piece of "complex" text. For example, in this case you can easily indicate the disputed area and approximately where the border should be according to the court... The text of Dick/BP also makes a lot clear, but it is too long for a short news item in the regular press... And then they go kill important nuances or concepts. Regrettably.
@ Rob V The media are tumbling over each other these days to be the first to bring the news and social media takes it a step further. This leads to hasty, incomplete and sometimes incorrect information. The media that attribute victory to Cambodia clearly have no idea of the situation. They know nothing about the Dangrek map, the negotiations at the beginning of the 20th century and the developments since then. The Court's ruling yesterday can be easily summarized as follows: The area around the temple, referred to as 'promontory', is Cambodian territory, but it does not extend to the entire area of 4,6 square kilometers disputed by both countries . That shouldn't be that difficult. But I know my Pappenheimers: the pursuit of accuracy is not always their top priority.
I understand that both sides like to pretend that they have won at the International Court of Justice.
After all, a small piece of territory has been allocated to Cambodia based on the situation of the landscape (the immediate 'environment' of the temple), to Thailand two hills in the plain.
No definitive answer has been given regarding the rest of the disputed area; the Court did not want to determine the national borders in a broader sense. In my opinion, the status of that area remains unchanged: both countries claim it.
The first sign has already been given on the Thai side: the army command does not want to hurry with the evacuation of that area.
And because nationalism is a cheap and sustainable fuel on both sides in this struggle, this has
Solomon's judgment, I think, extinguished the flames only temporarily.
@ Alex Ouddiep Just as in 1962 when the International Court of Justice awarded the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia, the Court now also does not rule on the border between the two countries. The Court has only indicated in rough (geographical) lines what was meant in 1962 by 'the temple and its vicinity'.
Thailand and Cambodia must now agree on the exact border of the so-called 'promontory' on which the temple is located. I expect this case to drag on for a long time.
Incidentally, this morning TV channel 3 paid more attention to the Jakkrit murder case than to Preah Vihear. But yes, that's fun. An evil stepmother who has her son-in-law killed and a widow who knew nothing, she says. She shed beautiful crocodile tears.
When I got the first information that Cambodia was getting a share, I passed it on to some locals here in Isaan. Response: T arranged that well for his friend Hun Sen.
Tonight on the news of Thai TV seen great unrest in Cambodia about the decision of ICJ. So not happy there either. So we're not done yet. To be continued.
@ GerrieQ8 Are you sure, Gerrie? There was today a strike and demonstration of textile workers in Phnom Penh, where a bystander was hit by a police bullet. Maybe you saw that.
Sometimes my girlfriend says something and half an hour later something else about the same thing. The story is now : they want more money, now 2000 something, but want 100 US$. So if I'm wrong sorry,.....