Temple tiff teeters towards war
By Richard S Ehrlich
BANGKOK - The latest gunfire and two deaths along the disputed Thai-Cambodian
border threaten to escalate into open warfare between these two Buddhist
countries, pitting Bangkok's United States-trained military against some of the
late Pol Pot's former Khmer Rouge forces.
Thailand is a non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military ally of
the US, and is bigger, wealthier and better armed with US F-16 warplanes and
Blackhawk helicopters, compared to Cambodia. But on the ground, Cambodian
soldiers are perceived as tougher jungle fighters after decades of guerrilla
war amid that country's horrific "killing fields".
To dampen the hostilities, military officials from both sides met for
peace talks on Thursday on Thai soil along their troubled border. Their
face-to-face contact in Si Sa Ket province was to compare notes about the
shooting on Wednesday, and describe the number of troops each side now wants to
position there.
They were also expected to discuss what weapons should and should not be
allowed in the area, and how to prevent fresh gun duels resulting from
accidents, warning shots, anger or misunderstandings. United Nations secretary
general Ban Ki-moon expressed his concerns over the clashes and called on both
sides to exercise restraint and negotiate a peaceful settlement.
While the two sides negotiated problems related to their vague and often
contradictory maps, both armies also protected their stakes by rushing
reinforcements to zones near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear ruins. Cambodians
drove armored personnel carriers toward the front, while Thailand prepared
artillery, according to eyewitnesses.
Hundreds of Thai civilians - including villagers, workers, traders, gamblers,
businessmen and families - meanwhile chose to abandon rural areas along the
border or leave Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, by road or air. "My government
still sticks to negotiation, although the clash was not serious," Thai Prime
Minister Somchai Wongsawat told reporters on Thursday.
Throughout much of Thursday, the border area appeared calm, but the two armies
remained positioned in close proximity. The previous day, at least two
Cambodian soldiers died and two were injured, during a gun fight near the
contested stone ruins, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters.
Cambodian officials also claimed they captured several Thai soldiers, though
Thailand has not confirmed those claims. Five Thai soldiers were injured in the
battle, Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkumnerd said. Assault rifles and
rocket-propelled grenades were used during the 40-minute clash, though both
sides denied firing the first shot.
Unfortunately for Thailand, its army commander-in-chief, General Anupong
Paochinda, is also embroiled in Bangkok's crippling domestic politics, despite
his repeated denials that he is plotting a coup. Anti-government protesters in
Bangkok have pointed to the border dispute to condemn Somchai for not
adequately protecting Thai territory, and have expressed hopes for an army
coup.
Preah Vihear's ruins received World Heritage Site status this year by the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The
award immediately sparked outrage in Thailand, fueling distrust between the two
countries.
"UNESCO acted as if its World Heritage status was some god-given right, and
ignored the fact that a strongman [Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen] in Phnom
Penh was exploiting it for political gain," the English-language Nation
newspaper said in a Wednesday editorial.
Bangkok was not happy with a 1962 World Court judgment which ruled Cambodia
owns the Preah Vihear ruins, about 160 kilometers northeast of Cambodia's
fabled Angkor Wat temple complex, near the town of Siem Reap, which translates
from the Khmer to "Siam defeated". Preah Vihear offers majestic stone
architecture, ravaged by time and neglect, sprawling across a flat outcropping
of land jutting above Cambodia.
Thanks to border maps written by French colonialists when Paris ruled
Indochina, the temple appears to hover over northern Cambodia on a mountaintop
ledge. It can be easily approached across relatively flat land from the Thai
side, but Cambodians must climb a steep cliff to reach the temple.
Thais insist the flat outcropping is an obvious extension of northeast
Thailand, though historians say the temple was built by Cambodia's former Khmer
rulers. While the ruins may be Cambodian, Thailand claims 1.8 square miles (4.6
square kilometers) of jungle alongside the temple were never clearly
demarcated.
Bangkok and Phnom Penh have traditionally been uneasy neighbors, though Thai
businesses have expanded in Cambodia during recent years. During the 1970s,
Thailand allowed the US military to use Thai territory as a base to attack
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. As part of Washington's failed Vietnam War, the US
lost its fight against Cambodia's Khmer Rouge communist guerrillas in 1975.
Cambodia's recently re-elected Prime Minister Hun Sen was a mid-level Khmer
Rouge commander during the guerrilla war against the US. Hun Sen defected from
Pol Pot in 1977, midway through the Khmer Rouge's infamous 1975-79 "killing
fields" reign, which left more than 1 million Cambodians dead from starvation,
disease, slavery, torture and other abuses.
After helping to defeat Pol Pot, Hun Sen incorporated many former Khmer Rouge
guerrillas into Cambodia's army. The Preah Vihear area is "a life-and-death
battle zone", Hun Sen told an economic forum in Phnom Penh on Tuesday while
hoping for millions of dollars in loans from China.
"The problem is not about withdrawing or not withdrawing - it's our territory.
How can they tell us that it is their territory?" Thai Foreign Minister Sompong
told reporters on Tuesday after an unsuccessful meeting with his Cambodian
counterpart. "What can we do? We are in our own homeland, and they want us to
evict us from our own home," he said.
"If Cambodia does resort to the use of force in accordance with its so-called
ultimatum, Thailand will have to exercise its right of self-defense as provided
for under the Charter of the United Nations, in order to protect our de-mining
personnel and Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Thai
Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Thailand has always called for, and remains committed to, resolving its
boundary issues with Cambodia peacefully," the Foreign Ministry said. Hidden
land mines exploded near Preah Vihear temple on October 3, causing two Thai
soldiers to lose their legs, and sporadic gunfights during the past several
weeks injured troops on both sides.
Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco,
California. He has reported news from Asia since 1978 and is co-author of the
non-fiction book of investigative journalism, Hello My Big Big Honey!
Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews. His website is
www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent.
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