Cabinet faces impeachment

Less than 12 hours after the World Heritage Committee agreed to list Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage site, Thailand's Constitution Court yesterday ruled as unconstitutional the joint communique signed by Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to support the application.

The ruling poses a political threat to the government, because senators and the opposition Democrat Party will seek impeachment of the Cabinet for violating the Constitution.

Civic groups and academics called on Noppadon to step down.

The joint communique is regarded as a treaty in line with the definition in the 1969 Vienna Convention, said court secretary-general Paiboon Warahapaitoon.

The judges also unanimously deemed it a treaty, in accordance with Article 190 of the Constitution, he said.

As it was deemed a treaty, the second paragraph of the article requires it to pass parliamentary reading before it is signed with foreign countries.

The court decided eight to one that the government had been obligated to submit it to Parliament for reading prior to its signing, said the court secretary-general.

Chalermphol Ek-Uru, a former diplomat, was the minority judge but declined to explain why he voted against the majority.

The joint communique is at the centre of political problems, as senators and the opposition have accused the government of mishandling the case, which may cause a loss of sovereignty over the territory surrounding Preah Vihear.

The government had to retract its endorsement of the joint communique at the last minute before the Thai delegation flew to a meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec, Canada.

"I did my job to express our objections, observations and reservations in line with those of former foreign minister Thanat Khoman following the decision of the International Court of Justice in 1962," Noppadon said from Quebec.

"In addition to the unresolved border disputes of the areas surrounding the temple of Preah Vihear, Thailand cannot support the decision," he said at the World Heritage Committee meeting.

The change of position was insufficient to block Cambodia's move, and the committee finally approved the application.

Several officials at the meeting, including Thailand World Heritage Committee chief Pongpol Adireksarn, the Border Affairs Department's Lt-General Nipat Thonglek and the Royal Thai Survey Department's Colonel Noppadon Chotsiri guaranteed that Cambodia did not include any overlapping area claimed by both sides in its proposal.

Pongpol said Thais should not be sad about Cambodia's success in listing the site.

"We also plan to list our part in the surrounding area of Preah Vihear in the future," he said.