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POLITICS
Temple Row Sours Thai-Cambodian Ties - Again
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Jul 31, 2010 (IPS) - Thailand’s tempestuous relationship with its eastern neighbour Cambodia looks
set to worsen, fuelled by the latest round of anger over the future of a 10th-
century Hindu temple perched atop a steep cliff along the two countries’ border.
By Friday, Bangkok and Phnom Penh were both claiming victory following a
decision by the U.N.-backed World Heritage Committee (WHC) to postpone till
next year a decision about a management plan for the temple, a world
heritage site listed by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO).
Cambodia had an edge going into this week’s WHC’s meeting in Brasilia.
After all, the much poorer and less powerful South-east Asian nation had
succeeded in getting the committee to recognise Preah Vihear as one of its
own UNESCO heritage sites at a 2008 meeting in Quebec.
That decision in the Canadian city enraged nationalists in the more affluent
and more powerful Thailand. Nationalist groups rallied near the temple,
chanting inflammatory slogans and accusing Cambodia of having "stolen" the
temple from Thailand.
This wave of Thai hysteria, which drove both countries to increase their
troop strength along the border to a dangerous level, sought to stamp out
history that stood in Cambodia’s favour. In 1962, the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) had ruled that Preah Vihear was within Cambodian territory, a
ruling that was not challenged by Thailand, then under a military dictatorship.
But what the court in The Hague did not resolve was a 4.6 square-kilometre
stretch of overlapping territory near Preah Vihear, making it a flashpoint along
the disputed 800-km border the two kingdoms share. In fact, Thailand and
Cambodia use different maps to demarcate their respective borders.
Fearing that a Cambodian plan to manage Preah Vihear may lead to a loss of
Thai territory, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva instructed
its team at the WHC meeting, which included three ranking military officers, to
challenge Phnom Penh’s management plan even to the point of Thailand
threatening to quit the committee.
Thai anger was also reflected in protests staged outside the UNESCO office
in Bangkok, prompting a letter of concern by Irina Bokova, the U.N. body’s
director general, who called for "dialogue in safeguarding the Temple of
Preah Vihear."
"Protecting and enhancing our natural and cultural heritage, means building
the peace, respect and solidarity which lies at the heart of UNESCO’s mission,"
Bokova added. "It is our common responsibility to make these sites emblems
of peace, dialogue and reconciliation."
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya upped the ante with a stern letter to the
WHC saying that Bangkok would not cooperate with any plans approved at the
Brasilia meeting. "As long as the demarcation (of the border) has not been
finished, Thailand cannot cooperate with any decision by the WHC," Kasit
argued in his letter. "The WHC has also neglected the fact that the
management plan for the Preah Vihear temple cannot achieve concrete results
and be a success because it has ignored the Thai role in helping preserve the
temple."
But Kasit’s Cambodian counterpart dismissed attempts by Thai protesters to
reverse the world heritage listing of the Preah Vihear temple under Cambodia.
"The enlistment of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site is already
done," Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong was quoted as saying by
the ‘Phnom Penh Post’. "Whatever Thailand is doing cannot be changed."
Chea Dara, deputy commander of Cambodia’s armed forces in Preah Vihear,
offered a more ominous warning to Thai nationalists threatening to "invade"
Cambodia. "Thai extremists should stop bothering Cambodia, because we will
not welcome them," he was quoted in the ‘Post’. "We will welcome them with
guns."
This brings to mind the past clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops
assigned to protect their borders near the temple. In April 2009, an encounter
between Thai and Cambodian troops there left three people dead.
"We cannot ask the WHC to delist the temple as a world heritage site," said
Puangthong Pawakapan, an assistant professor in international relations at
Chulalongkorn University here. "That decision will worsen the relationship."
"To solve the territorial dispute, both side haves to be sensitive to each
other’s concerns," she told IPS. "There has to be a give and take."
But Thailand’s deeply divided political environment after two bloody
crackdowns in recent months complicates this border dispute, she revealed.
"As long as Thai politics cannot find unity, the Thai-Cambodian issue will not
be resolved. The relationship will go up and down."
The current spike in tensions over Preah Vihear exposes a broader fault line
that has married Thai-Cambodian ties in the past year. In November 2009,
both countries recalled their respective ambassadors after Bangkok protested
Phnom Penh’s appointment of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra as an economic advisor to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The same month saw the Thai government revoke an agreement with
Cambodia to develop overlapping areas in the Gulf of Thailand rich in oil and
gas.
That tense chapter came six years after a wave of nationalist hysteria in
Phnom Penh saw protesters burn down the Thai embassy. The Cambodians
had been angered by a Thai actress’ statement that allegedly questioned
Cambodia’s ownership of the historic Angkor Wat complex. Thaksin was the
Thai premier then. (END)
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