Noppadon resigns over temple affair

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama yesterday announced his resignation after mounting political pressure over Cambodia's listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.

His resignation takes effect on July 14, five months and eight days after he took office.

Noppadon said his resignation was to "relieve people's suffering and for the sake of national unity and reconciliation".

"The country is more important than my political position. Therefore, although I have done nothing wrong, I will take responsibility by resigning," he told a scheduled news conference.

Opposition MPs, senators and street protesters have accused Noppadon of mishandling the issue of World Heritage status for Preah Vihear and causing loss of sovereignty over the site.

Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Hindu temple belongs to Cambodia, the area around the temple is still disputed.

The Constitution Court ruled on Tuesday that a joint communiqué that Noppadon signed with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An to support Phnom Penh's heritage listing application was unconstitutional.

"With respect to the court's decision, the ruling will set a precedent for legal study. The Foreign Ministry has conducted the case in the line with the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department's procedure. Nobody intended to violate the law," Noppadon said.

The opposition yesterday filed a motion with the Senate speaker to launch impeachment proceedings against Noppadon.

Noppadon declined to comment on the move, saying only that he would follow the legal procedure.

He blamed the opposition and street protesters for fanning nationalist and anti-Cambodian sentiment for political gain.

"Certain groups even used such sentiment to harass my elder sister in Nakhon Ratchasima [Noppadon's home town]," he said.

The sentiment was raised to

create hate and disunity between Thai and Cambodian people, he added.

"As the dust clears, I'm confident the truth will appear. As reason comes to replace sentiment, time will prove that what the Foreign Ministry and I did was the right thing, and that we protected national territory and interests," Noppadon said.

"I did not betray the nation, I did not hurt the country," he declared.

The press conference to announce Noppadon's resignation was held under tight security.

 Phya Thai police deployed about 30 officers to guard the ministry amid fears of an attack by the People's Alliance for Democracy, which sent supporters to heckle him at the airport on his arrival from London yesterday morning.