Former foreign affairs minister Noppadon Pattama has urged the government to study the pros and cons of two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed with Cambodia governing disputed border areas before putting any such agreements up for a referendum.
He said the National Security Council (NSC) should conduct the study with the findings to be made public so voters are fully informed of what the 2000 and 2001 MoUs truly entail, before the government asks them in a referendum whether those pacts should now be nullified, Mr Noppadon said.
Mr Noppadon was responding to the government’s earlier announcement during its parliamentary policy address that a referendum on the two MoUs, which critics say could place Thailand in a tight spot in territorial disputes, would be held alongside the next general election.
Another referendum on whether to rewrite the charter is also due to take place around that time.
“All-round information should be available to the public before they make decisions, based on the facts,” Mr Noppadon said.
“I call on all sides, including the media, to bring out as much truth and factual information as possible.”
Mr Noppadon asked why no government had attempted to revoke the MoUs over the past quarter of a century if there was a legitimate problem with either of them.
Citing the previously stated opinion of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Mr Noppadon, who served as foreign minister under the Samak Sundaravej government, said the benefits of both MoUs outweigh any potential drawbacks.
The 2000 pact, for instance, requires Cambodia to continue bilateral talks with Thailand on the border issue without involving third parties such as the United Nations or the International Court of Justice.
The same MoU also prohibits either side from unilaterally changing the state of disputed border areas, such as by building a community, setting up a market, or digging a military trench, Mr Noppadon added.
Meanwhile, Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, a former finance minister and now deputy leader of the Palang Pracharath Party, said that since little progress has been achieved over the past 25 years under the two MoUs, and with Cambodia continuing to breach them, Thailand has a sound reason to annul them.
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) allows nations to suspend or cancel treaties over significant violations, he said.
Former Democrat Party MP Thepthai Senpong offered a different perspective, saying the government has the authority to decide on its own after consulting relevant state agencies, without shifting the burden of decision-making to the public.