ROUGH RIDE FOR CAMBODIA
Chim
ROUGH RIDE FOR CAMBODIA
Cambodia seems set to lose more land. While there have been persistent
foreign troops incursions at the border, the country’s oppositions are
determined to fight apparently at all costs for their brand of
democracy and elections.
The government could be more tenacious in handling the border dispute
with Thailand. With on-going internal power struggles that saw a loss
of a prime minister and two foreign ministers within the last three
months, Thailand still takes the opportunity to occupy Cambodian
temples along the northern border. Yet, the Cambodian government makes
this easy by claiming the least Cambodia could do for the aggressor is
to wait for as long as it takes Thailand to sort out its local
upheavals. The Cambodian prime minister merely indicates the border
dispute is “likely” to be brought to The Hague International Court or
the UN Security Council.
Perhaps Cambodia does not have, besides such a lax attitude, too many
effective options at its disposal in dealing with the dispute. The
international community, possibly driven by its huge business
interests with Thailand, favours a bilateral talk between the two
neighbours. The best outcome of such negotiations usually involves a
compromise that will divide any disputed area into halves, or place it
under a joint administration, or leave it as a neutral zone. This
often means the rightful owner loses out; and Thailand astutely
insists on a bilateral solution.
Another option is to bring the dispute to an international court of
law. Even though it believes it is a victim of the aggression Cambodia
will still need the best legal brains and highly developed intellect
to present the best case possible. As Cambodia wiped out a whole
generation of its intellect three decades ago, its pool of such
resources may be much smaller than that of Thailand. Of course it can
“hire”, if capable of identifying, the best foreign brains for the
job, but this choice is also available to its adversary. And it is
often not a simple straight forward task to benefit from the so-called
“best foreign lawyers”.
Meanwhile, the Cambodian oppositions whose reactions to the border
dispute have been at best lukewarm believe their fights for a redress
of their election loss is so righteous that their unpolished attacks
are justified. The SRP’s reference to the National Assembly it wants
to be part of as the Assembly of thieves, of ghosts, and of Yuons”
does enhance neither its own credibility nor the country’s unless the
world dismisses the oppositions’ relentless outburst as being
frivolous.
There may be little Cambodia can do in the current bout to prevent a
forthcoming loss of territory. But still, if it can walk and think at
the same time, it can take actions now to improve in the long term
intellect, diplomatic, and legal skill of its citizens, which is
possible with a real priority on education for all. This strategic
option will not stop further incursions, but Cambodia will have far
better human resources to stop losing territory.
Ung Bun Ang
un...@optusnet.com.au