Taking the high ground at Preah Vihear
By Craig Guthrie
PHNOM PENH - This month, thousands of Cambodians poured into in the streets of
Phnom Penh waving flags and pounding drums to celebrate the listing of Preah
Vihear temple as a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's
(UNESCO) World Heritage site.
With such revelry, a people with much darkness and bloody civil conflict in
their recent past seemed to be dancing towards a brighter future on the back of
their modest triumph.
It was only weeks away from the nation's fourth post-war general election to be
held this Sunday, and an elusive sense of political and economic stability was
in the air. At the time Prime Minister
Hun Sen called the decision "a new source of pride for the people of Cambodia".
But days after the celebration, hundreds of heavily armed troops from Thailand
and Cambodia had dug in around the contentious temple site with artillery
pieces and rocket launchers trained on the area.
And today, the armed standoff now taking place over ownership of the ancient
Hindu temple has become the latest chapter in the neighboring countries'
troubled relationship.
Moreover, the row is gathering international attention. United Nations
secretary general Ban Ki-moon on July 21 called for both sides to peacefully
resolve the issue and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has
offered to mediate between the two countries.
Tempest at a temple
Thailand successfully blocked Cambodia's efforts to list Preah Vihear in 2006
and 2007 on the grounds that a 4.6 square kilometer stretch of land around the
temple compound is still subject to dispute. It is this piece of land, not
covered by the recent ruling, where the nations' forces are facing off.
"You need to look at the history. Vietnam and Thailand both grew while Cambodia
shrank since the 14th century, swallowed up bit by bit by those large
neighbors," Cambodian political commentator Chea Vannath told Inter Press
Service (IPS). "This is not a recent thing; it is long-running."
Legally, the temple has belonged to Cambodia since a ruling by the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962. The ICJ's 1962 ruling provoked
violent protests in Thailand, which has never accepted the verdict and
questioned the validity of the map used by Cambodia to claim ownership of the
temple, the same map used by UNESCO as the basis for its recent decision.
As of Thursday, according to a Cambodian official, Cambodia had 800 soldiers
along the border, compared with 3,000 Thai troops. The Thai Foreign Ministry
said Bangkok had only 400 men facing as many as 1,700 Cambodian soldiers. Both
sides have moved artillery near a small Buddhist pagoda leading to the ruins of
the temple, according to Reuters news agency.
The build-up began on July 15, when Cambodian guards briefly detained three
Thais who crossed into the area and refused to leave. Cambodia claims the Thais
sent in troops to retrieve their nationals and have been building up their
forces since. Thailand denied the charges, saying its soldiers are deployed on
Thai territory.
Preah Vihear is again at the center of a complex relationship between Thailand
and Cambodia, the result of fluid historical borders that did not begin to
coalesce until as recently as the 1950s.
For much of the 19th century, northern Cambodia, including the largest
religious complex in the world, Angkor Wat, was ruled by Thailand. France
forced Thailand to cede the area to its rule in the 1930s. Thailand took
advantage of World War II to take back much of the territory, which was not
handed back to Cambodia until after the war.
Cambodia's independence saw numerous disputes between the two countries.
Problems persisted during the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime and grew after the
Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 to overthrow the ultra-Maoist group.
Despite tensions over Phnom Penh's claim, elements of the Thai military
continued to support Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Ties began improving in the 1980s
but took a significant turn for the worse in 2003, when mobs burned the Thai
Embassy in Phnom Penh and a number of Thai-owned businesses. That angry
response came after a Cambodian newspaper article alleged that a prominent Thai
actress had said that Cambodia had stolen Angkor Wat.
Calling for calm
Sovereignty over the sprawling shrine to Shiva has raised the ire of Thais for
decades - but not Cambodians.
"Its Khmer and on Khmer land," everyday Cambodians will tell you with
bemusement over Thai claims to the jungle-clad temple, even if they have never
heard of the ICJ. Many believe Cambodia's consistent stance over the dispute,
as opposed to the tenuous political situation in Thailand, will score Cambodia
a sound diplomatic victory in the dispute.
In fact, Cambodia's leadership has approached the military stand-off with a
hitherto unheard of maturity, first appealing to ASEAN and then the UN Security
Council to take note of the issue.
Rather than allowing the displays of frenzied nationalism that marred the
nation's last duel with Thailand over national heritage in 2003, Cambodia's
politicians have urged for national calm.
"Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen can control the situation. We would like to
appeal to the Cambodian people, NGOs, and politicians to keep calm at this time
and to not serve as hero. Everyone loves the country, but if we are extremists,
a war would break out," said Information Minister and government spokesperson
Khieu Kanharith.
Most Cambodians believe that the crisis has been exacerbated by anti-government
forces in Bangkok which have been holding demonstrations since May. Some
Cambodian observers believe that the temple issue has stirred a wave of
bitterness against Cambodia and the international community over the UNESCO
decision in Thailand
"It doesn't matter if the Thais just fight each other, but they should not take
Cambodia as a scapegoat for political purposes," said Chea Ratha, a young
Cambodian student from Phnom Penh on July 20. "The Thai opposition and military
should have used a better excuse to make another coup against [former prime
minister] Thaksin's [Shinawatra's] ally. Groundlessly and unfairly accusing a
small and poor nation of taking your land is already ridiculous. [They're]
bullies."
The Preah Vihear issue has been overexploited by both sides of the border, Dr
Lao Mong Hay, a senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Organization, told
Asia Times Online, "The Cambodian government has used it to boost its popular
support in this month's election with the organization of overzealous
celebrations of its 'victory' over the listing of the temple as a world
heritage site, without any consideration of the Thai people's attachment to the
temple and their feelings of humiliation."
Cambodian stability
In historically tumultuous Cambodia the political situation is more stable than
it has ever been. Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) looks assured
of an easy victory which has only been facilitated by the UNESCO decision.
With this in mind, the CPP leadership has alternately taken credit for the
UNESCO ruling and called for calm. "Please politicians, do not take this
occasion for political gain because Cambodia could be pushed into an
unpredictable situation. Please keep calm," said Kanharith.
Those in Cambodia's opposition, however, see more dubious and business-minded
motivations. "They [the CPP] have tried to take credit for it and have used the
state budget to promote themselves as heroes," Son Chhay, a parliamentarian
with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) told IPS.
Just as Thai opposition groups have accused their government of backing the
UNESCO application in exchange for business contracts, so too have Cambodia
opposition politicians been quick to talk of secret deals.
"A deal has been done, no doubt about it, to jointly manage the Preah Vihear
temple," said Son Chhay. "The Cambodians will get ownership and the Thais will
get casinos and hotels. I have no proof in terms of black and white evidence on
paper. But we have evidence of meetings between Thai and senior members of the
Cambodian government pointing to a deal."
In Thailand, embattled Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej cannot be seen to
be losing political ground to opposition or literal ground to Cambodia. The
issue has already caused the resignation of Noppadon Pattama as foreign
minister, and he said on July 20 that there is a "systematic attempt to destroy
his government".
According to Mong Hay, the Thai government seems to have overreacted to its
people's burst of nationalism by sending troops to the temple's area, which
only provoked the Cambodian government to send troops up there as well.
"Both sides will only lose if they cannot defuse the tension. It is unlikely
the Thais can get back the temple, though they could well turn this highland
into their own Golan Heights," Mong Hay told Asia Times Online.
Tragic Past
The Preah Vihear temple had a grim significance during Cambodia's years of
civil conflict. In 1979, it was where Thailand forcibly repatriated thousands
of Cambodian refugees who had fled across the mountain border to escape the
Khmer Rouge, ordering them to march down the steep slopes back to their
country.
As British journalist William Shawcross wrote of the scene in his book The
Quality of Mercy: The path down the mountains became steeper, the
jungle thicker. Dozens, scores of people fell onto mines. Those with
possessions had to abandon them to carry their children down. One group of
refugees desperately pooled whatever valuables they had left, filled two
buckets with them, and walked back up toward the Thai soldiers, carrying a
white flag. The soldiers took the buckets and then shot the refugees."
The temple, which has been described as an "oasis of peace" was only regained
by Cambodian government troops from the Khmer Rouge in 1998. If the situation
worsens it could again become the site of conflict among ethnic Khmers.
Many of the Thai troops now camped outside the holy site are from Thailand's
Isan and Surin areas which have been home to generations of ethnic Khmer.
Accounts from the stalemate zone have reported that Khmer speakers have
jokingly promised to shoot in the air rather than at their Khmer brothers.
Craig Guthrie is a reporter for the Mekong Times newspaper in Phnom
Penh. He has covered Cambodian affairs since 2004.
(Additional reporting by Inter Press Service.)
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