Palang Pracharath wants to scrap MoU 44 with Cambodia

Photo: Palang Pracharath deputy leader Sontirat Sontijirawong (C)

The opposition Palang Pracharath party called on the government today to scrap the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 44 with Cambodia and to negotiate a new deal, claiming that the 23-year-old MoU will put Thailand at a disadvantage when negotiating for the joint development of the overlapping claim area.

Equating MoU 44 to wrongly buttoning the first button of a shirt, Palang Pracharath deputy leader Sontirat Sontijirawong, said the MoU does not comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

And, if talks are to proceed between Thailand and Cambodia without being based on international law, there is little chance that the two sides will be able to reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable and fair.

He said the talks between the two countries should start with the recognition of international law by both countries, even though the Finance Ministry has insisted that the MoU does not mention the maritime territories of the two countries.

Meanwhile ML Kornkasiwat Kasemsri, the party’s policy and technical centre advisor, noted that MoU 44 has downgraded the late King Bhumibol’s royal command on maritime territory, in compliance with the international law.

The MoU also amounts to Thailand’s recognition that the seas off Trat province and around Kut Island belong to Cambodia and Thailand granted a special privilege to Cambodia to draw the continental shelf border line as it saw fit, without having to adhere to international law.

ML Kornkasiwat also noted that MoU 44 took just 44 days to conclude, which was unusually fast when compared to the MoU with Malaysia, which took seven years to be concluded.

If Cambodia subsequently lays claim to parts of the overlapping area and takes the case to the International Court of Justice, he warned that Thailand may lose half of the overlapping area to Phnom Penh.

Thirachai Puvanatnaranubala, chief of the policy centre and former finance minister, explained that the Palang Pracharath party has no intention to politicise the MoU 44 issue, but merely wants to protect the national interests.

He said he could not understand why the Foreign Ministry had agreed to MoU 44, when it contravenes to the Franco-Siamese treaty of 1908, the 12-mile Thai territorial water line around the Kut Island and the Convention on the Continental Shelf.