• 
• 

It commented on how sensitive the Preah Vihear issue has become since Cambodia was successful in its bid to list the temple as a World Heritage Site at a meeting in Canada on July 7.

The conflict was not helped by groups within Thailand undermining one another by coming out to express differing views on the overlapping area covering the 4.6 kilometres adjacent to Preah Vihear Temple.

First, the difference in opinion was most notable in conflicting views expressed by the Democrat Party and those of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Noppadon Pattama, the former foreign minister.

Secondly, there were the conflicting  views between the Samak government and the People's Alliance for Democracy.

In short, below the surface of the conflict with Cambodia there was wide  conflict among various domestic groups.

Matichon said this domestic conflict existed before the September 2006 coup. It started when Shin Corp decided to sell a majority stake to Singapore's Temasek Holdings. The target of the protests then was former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

But now the conflict issue has shifted to the reaction of whether Thailand has lost sovereignty relating to the Preah Vihear scandal, while the focus of the conflict is Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Noppadon.

The dispute has expanded and spilled over and may threaten Thai-Cambodia bilateral relations.

The confrontation between the government and the Democrat Party, and the one between the government and the PAD and academics, ended up with Noppadon's resignation. The National Counter Corruption Commission then received a petition from a group of senators encouraging action against the government's decision to sign the Joint Communiqué between Thailand and Cambodia.

Besides, Cambodia has inflamed the conflict by decrying Thailand's moves to the United Nations and Unesco.

Matichon said that while Cambodia has proceeded aggressively, the Thai government has been behaving like a lame-duck administration. The country does not even have a foreign minister to take care of the case.

It said that the current government does not have the ability to deal with any conflicts, both those on the domestic front and international ones.

This battle on two fronts will thus be a very tough test for the Samak government to survive, the paper said.