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A rare case of political fallout

SINGAPORE: In a rare case of political fallout over the designation of a World Heritage Site in Cambodia, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said in Bangkok on Thursday he would resign, with effect from Monday.

Mr. Noppadon said he would bear “responsibility” for the rising tide of anger in Thailand over its alleged loss of sovereignty in the matter relating to UNESCO’s “inscription” of a Hindu temple in Cambodia as a World Heritage Site.

The Preah Vihear temple, awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, straddles an area in dispute between Phnom Penh and Bangkok. Mr. Noppadon said “utmost effort” was indeed made to “protect the country’s territorial rights and sovereignty” while facilitating Cambodia’s now-successful application to UNESCO regarding the temple site. Cambodia’s application, first submitted in 2006, would have endangered Thailand’s “sovereignty claims” in the disputed area, he said at a press conference. The intervention by the Thai government was aimed at addressing the earlier concerns, he added. Mr. Noppadon’s resignation followed a ruling by the Constitutional Court on the temple issue.

The court held the Minister’s joint communiqué with Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, extending support for Phnom Penh’s application to UNESCO, was unconstitutional.

Mr. Noppadon said Thailand had, in the wake of that communiqué, requested the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO to exclude from its deliberations that particular document. He said the Preah Vihear temple was chosen for its own “intrinsic value.” UNESCO’s parallel designation of Melaka and Georgetown in Malaysia as another World Heritage Site has not raised any controversy, unlike this issue involving two neighbours.

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