President Yudhoyono receives Thai-Cambodian PM

 Before the last plenary session of the 18th ASEAN Summit was begun here Sunday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at a three-party meeting. 

The three ASEAN leaders sat in a triangle formation so that they could see one another at the meeting, taking place in the Jakarta Convention Center`s Board Room 6.

Abhisit sat on the left side while Hun Sen sat on the right side of President Yudhoyono. The three leaders greeted one another with smile. 

At the meeting, the Cambodian and Thai prime ministers were accompanied by their respective foreign ministers but President Yudhoyono was joined by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and the president`s special staff for foreign relations, Teuku Faizasyah.

The three party-meeting was held a day after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen touched on their border conflict in their official statements at the summit`s first plenary session on Saturday.

The two countries has continuously got involved in the border dispute just a week after Cambodia`s Preah Vihear temple was enlisted by UNESCO as the World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

But the Thai and Cambodian military personnel have involved in a series of more intensive fightings over the past two weeks despite Indonesia`s efforts to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the conflict in its capacity as the ASEAN chair.

This border dispute issue has attracted the attention of Indonesian and foreign media workers covering the two-day summit that will end on Sunday.

At the summit`s first plenary session on Saturday, Cambodian Premier Hun Sen regretted the fact that Thailand had yet to sign the acceptance letter to put into effect Indonesia`s Terms of References and imposed certain conditions in connection with the conflict resolution.

"According to the latest condition, Thailand requires Cambodia to withdraw her troops and population from her own territory," Hun Sen said at the summit that President Yudhoyono chaired.

The Thai demand for withdrawal of Cambodian military personnel from the disputed area remains rejected by Phnom Penh.

In resolving the border dispute, Hun Sen has called on the ASEAN leaders to support and find necessary measures to enable all parties concerned to cooperate and accept the observers from Indonesia.

The deployment of observers from Indonesia as the ASEAN chair to the border area was meant to monitor the ceasefire agreed on at the ASEAN Foreign Affairs Ministers` Meeting in February 2011 and according to the mandate of the United Nations Security Council, he said.

ASEAN`s prestige and credibility will be at high risk if the efforts to establish a permanent ceasefire will not be materialized as planned.

In response to this border conflict, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his speech on Saturday that his country recognized well that any conflict between ASEAN member states could undermine ASEAN`s community-building efforts.

Therefore, Thailand had no intention to engage in any conflict with neighbors and countries in the region, he said, adding that the Thai cabinet had even approved the text of the TOR on the deployment of Indonesian observers to the border area.

"But we have concerns, if observers are to be sent, there must be good faith shown by Cambodia to respect the 2000 MoU which stated that there would be no movement of troops and people into this (conflicted) area," he said.

He also expressed warm welcome to ASEAN`s intention to facilitate the peace process between Thailand and Cambodia. "There are some technical issues to be addressed. If there is good faith, then our house can be set in order," he said.

Earlier, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed on the TOR proposed by Indonesia including the possibility of sending an independent observers team to the disputed area. 

However, Marty noted that the main focus was currently to create a conducive situation in the border area.

He emphasized the need to soon realize the deployment of Indonesian observers on the consideration that it would symbolically induce a sense of trust between Cambodia and Thailand while also preventing more conflict between the two parties.

Due to the fact of fregile border disputes among ASEAN member countries and a need to promote a peaceful resolution mechanism within the regional grouping, Indonesia has proposed the establishment of institute for peace and reconciliation during the 18th summit.

Source: ANTARA