On 26 May 2011, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director-General of the Department of Information and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, responded to media enquiries regarding news report quoting Cambodian sources alleging that Thailand had intentionally delayed the signing of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Indonesian Observers Team (IOT).  He stressed that it was in fact the initiative of Thailand to invite the IOT to the Thai side of the border – a position which was conveyed to the Informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta on 22 February 2011.  In laying the groundwork for the IOT, though, a conducive environment must first be achieved.  To this end, the package solution emerged from the meeting among the Thai, Cambodian and Indonesian foreign ministers on 9 May 2011, with discussions still on-going about it in detail.  As a democratic country, the Thai government is also required to conduct consultations and discussion among all the parties concerned.

Regarding media reports in Cambodia alleging that Thailand was insincere in resolving the border issue with Cambodia, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said that Thailand has all along sought a peaceful solution to the Thai-Cambodian border issue. Such allegations also ignored all the correspondence between the Foreign Ministers of Thailand and Indonesia, including the results of the meeting between the Defence Ministers of Thailand and Cambodia in the presence of the Indonesian Defence Minister at the sideline of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting in Jakarta on 18 May 2011.  Clearly, there has been progress resulting from these talks and communications.  Thailand hopes that Cambodia would try to understand the working of a government like Thailand’s in a democratic setting, and that it should first check the facts, especially with the Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand, about latest developments regarding the issue.

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