Will MoU referendum open Pandora’s Box?

A cross-border accord would be better than a public vote on such a divisive issue, some experts say

- CHAIRITH YONPIAM

The longstanding border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has resurfaced in public debate following Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s announcement that his government plans to hold a national referendum, likely alongside the next election, to ask voters whether Thailand should revoke or retain two key bilateral agreements — MoU 43 (on land boundaries) and MOU 44 (on overlapping maritime zones).

The move revives one of the most sensitive issues in Thai national security policy — how to manage complex, overlapping territorial claims with Cambodia that have periodically triggered military clashes and fueled nationalist tensions for more than two decades.

WHAT IS MOU 43?

MoU 43 — officially the Memorandum of Understanding between Thailand and Cambodia on the Survey and Demarcation of [the] Land Boundary — was signed on June 14, 2000, during the government of then-prime minister Chuan Leekpai.

Its purpose was not to redefine borders but to establish a framework and mechanism for jointly surveying and demarcating the land boundary, which stretches nearly 800 kilometres — a process which remains unfinished to this day.

BACKGROUND

After Cambodia's internal conflict ended in the mid-1990s, Bangkok and Phnom Penh resumed talks to clarify poorly defined border segments rooted in colonial-era treaties between Siam and France, which then ruled Indochina. The treaties of 1904 and 1907, along with their associated maps, left ambiguous demarcations — particularly around the Preah Vihear Temple and adjoining highlands — creating “overlapping areas”.

WHY IT WAS NEEDED

Before MoU 43, the two countries faced recurring disputes over several unresolved issues. Chief among them was the interpretation of Franco-Siamese treaties and maps, particularly the Dangrek map, which Thailand never formally endorsed and claims was inaccurately drawn, placing Preah Vihear on the Cambodian side.