Fawthrop on Preah Vihear
As tensions over the Preah Vihear issue continue, here's an update on events from Tom Fawthrop in the UK's Guardian online newspaper.
Two nations, one god - by Tom Fawthrop (guardian.co.uk)
The row over the Preah Vihear temple has been simmering for hundreds of years. World Heritage Status has brought it to the boil.
Preah Vihear, a stunning temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is perched on a Cambodian cliff-top straddling the Thai border. It was finally awarded World Heritage status this month, despite fierce protests from ardent Thai nationalists and the parliamentary opposition in Bangkok. Now, according to a Cambodian official, 40 Thai troops have crossed the border and entered the temple complex. The temple's ornate structures date back to the eleventh century, but the site was occupied two hundred years earlier. Preah Vihear has become an explosive issue in domestic Thai politics. It has also exposed how narrow-minded nationalism can obstruct efforts at world conservation. Indeed, according to the Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, the dispute over the temple's ownership is the "knockout punch" that could bring down the Thai government.
Unesco's World Heritage Committee should be congratulated for their refusal to bow down to frenzied claims that Thai sovereignty is being compromised. Much of the furore has focused on the 4.6 kms of disputed land surrounding the temple, which is claimed by Thailand. But the UN committee judged the Cambodian claim – pending since 2001 and repeatedly delayed by Thai objections - on its merits, and refused to cave in to the barrage of Thai petitions and political pressure. The foreign minister was forced to resign over his inept handling of the issue. Cambodia and Thailand share much in common - culture, Buddhism and many traditions - but rivalry has led to centuries of distrust and simmering border disputes. Cambodians remember with pride that the temples of Angkor were the foundations of southeast Asia's greatest empire, the Khmer, which took in parts of what are today Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and Burma. Preah Vihear is now added to the legendary Angkor Wat at the heart of this Khmer civilisation.
The death blow to 400 years of Khmer rule was dealt by an invasion from Siam in 1431. Since the decline and fall of the great empire of Angkor during the 14th and 15th centuries, Cambodia has suffered a series of invasions and loss of temples and territory. The only victory achieved by the Khmer people during this long period of humiliation and retreat was won not on the battlefield but in the courts. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague made a landmark ruling that Preah Vihear – then under Thai military occupation - was a Khmer temple and part of Cambodia's heritage. The Thai dictatorship reluctantly complied with the judgment, removing Thai soldiers from the temple, while the ownership of the surrounding 4.6 kilometres was left unresolved. During the last 46 years Thailand has shown little interest in helping to preserve the temple. Khmer Rouge forces seized it in 1993 under the noses of a Thai military base stationed nearby. Pol Pot's soldiers were not there to engage in archaeological pursuits, but to deny the Phnom Penh government control over a sacred and symbolic site as part of an insurgency backed by the Thai military. This policy of complicity with the Pol Pot forces led to further Khmer disgust with their more powerful neighbour.
The centuries of accumulated grievances felt by ordinary Cambodians erupted in 2001 when they burnt down the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Even today, most Thais still have little or no idea why their embassy burnt down, much less why Cambodians feel that Thailand has engaged in cultural chauvinism. According to several Thai historians, Thai schools teach a very partisan version of events in which Cambodia's vast contributions to Thai culture and society are scarcely mentioned, much less acknowledged. Historian and author Professor Thongchai Winichakul recently said he believed the Preah Vihear World Heritage issue "has gone beyond technicalities. It is abused to arouse delusion that the temple belongs to Thailand and a desire to revive the claim. The purpose is to generate hatred in Thai politics." Ultimately, World Heritage sites like Preah Vihear are supposed to transcend national squabbles and boost conservation efforts in both Thailand and Cambodia. But despite Thailand's rapid economic progress, this centuries-old vendetta drags on.
The row over the Preah Vihear temple has been simmering for hundreds of years. World Heritage Status has brought it to the boil.
Preah Vihear, a stunning temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is perched on a Cambodian cliff-top straddling the Thai border. It was finally awarded World Heritage status this month, despite fierce protests from ardent Thai nationalists and the parliamentary opposition in Bangkok. Now, according to a Cambodian official, 40 Thai troops have crossed the border and entered the temple complex. The temple's ornate structures date back to the eleventh century, but the site was occupied two hundred years earlier. Preah Vihear has become an explosive issue in domestic Thai politics. It has also exposed how narrow-minded nationalism can obstruct efforts at world conservation. Indeed, according to the Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, the dispute over the temple's ownership is the "knockout punch" that could bring down the Thai government.
Unesco's World Heritage Committee should be congratulated for their refusal to bow down to frenzied claims that Thai sovereignty is being compromised. Much of the furore has focused on the 4.6 kms of disputed land surrounding the temple, which is claimed by Thailand. But the UN committee judged the Cambodian claim – pending since 2001 and repeatedly delayed by Thai objections - on its merits, and refused to cave in to the barrage of Thai petitions and political pressure. The foreign minister was forced to resign over his inept handling of the issue. Cambodia and Thailand share much in common - culture, Buddhism and many traditions - but rivalry has led to centuries of distrust and simmering border disputes. Cambodians remember with pride that the temples of Angkor were the foundations of southeast Asia's greatest empire, the Khmer, which took in parts of what are today Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and Burma. Preah Vihear is now added to the legendary Angkor Wat at the heart of this Khmer civilisation.
The death blow to 400 years of Khmer rule was dealt by an invasion from Siam in 1431. Since the decline and fall of the great empire of Angkor during the 14th and 15th centuries, Cambodia has suffered a series of invasions and loss of temples and territory. The only victory achieved by the Khmer people during this long period of humiliation and retreat was won not on the battlefield but in the courts. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague made a landmark ruling that Preah Vihear – then under Thai military occupation - was a Khmer temple and part of Cambodia's heritage. The Thai dictatorship reluctantly complied with the judgment, removing Thai soldiers from the temple, while the ownership of the surrounding 4.6 kilometres was left unresolved. During the last 46 years Thailand has shown little interest in helping to preserve the temple. Khmer Rouge forces seized it in 1993 under the noses of a Thai military base stationed nearby. Pol Pot's soldiers were not there to engage in archaeological pursuits, but to deny the Phnom Penh government control over a sacred and symbolic site as part of an insurgency backed by the Thai military. This policy of complicity with the Pol Pot forces led to further Khmer disgust with their more powerful neighbour.
The centuries of accumulated grievances felt by ordinary Cambodians erupted in 2001 when they burnt down the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Even today, most Thais still have little or no idea why their embassy burnt down, much less why Cambodians feel that Thailand has engaged in cultural chauvinism. According to several Thai historians, Thai schools teach a very partisan version of events in which Cambodia's vast contributions to Thai culture and society are scarcely mentioned, much less acknowledged. Historian and author Professor Thongchai Winichakul recently said he believed the Preah Vihear World Heritage issue "has gone beyond technicalities. It is abused to arouse delusion that the temple belongs to Thailand and a desire to revive the claim. The purpose is to generate hatred in Thai politics." Ultimately, World Heritage sites like Preah Vihear are supposed to transcend national squabbles and boost conservation efforts in both Thailand and Cambodia. But despite Thailand's rapid economic progress, this centuries-old vendetta drags on.
posted by Andy Brouwer at
2:58 AM
3 Comments:
thanks for posting this articles for the world to see, Andy. it makes clear sense as it is written with perfect english. the khmer temple wasn't thailand and will never be. thailand's ardent claim goes to show the historical pattern they started since the fall of the great khmer empire, this is, thailand wanted to conquer cambodia. this is the way cambodia sees it and preah vihear is no exceptioin, although a very tiny territory compared to the many old khmer provinces lost to thailand during the dark ages when cambodia was preoccupied with civil conflict, etc... for this reason, cambodia and my khmer brothers and sisters cannot let thailand do whatever they want to cambodia as they please. there are international laws to prevent one nation from violating other nation, and thailand has time and again shown they are violating cambodia's sovereignty. the world community must warn thailand to stop this kind of violation of the 1907 treaty, the icj verdict and of course, the violation of the sovereignty of cambodia, not to mention trespassing on the newly inscripted world heritage site of preah vihear. enough already, cambodia must ask the world to warn thailand of its illegal activity against a sovereigned nation of cambodia. thank you.
totally agree with you, anon my kin. they should feel privileged to have a scale model of angkor-wat on display at wat phra kaew, in bangkok. --- ANON-ENTITY
What a pity. What a pity. Andy, I am sure that your attachment to the culture and the peoples of Cambodia are as deep and true as those of mine to the Thais. The temple is merely the MacGuffin that many of the century old grievances are being resurrected about, as the comment posted by “anonymous” typifies. I have heard much the same on the other side of the border and they are just as displeasing. The political instability of both countries at this time only adds to the simmering as good leadership is lacking, again, due to want of personal gain. But, from what I understand, the Thais consider the mountain that the temple sets so beautifully upon as a topographical extension of their borders, in the way that rivers do in many other cases, as it protrudes above the plains below; terminating in the well defined bluff with the rest of the range defining the border. For a French map to be utilized to define the border was a slap in the face to the Thais since the French redrew many of the borders when they occupied Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos at the turn of the last century to form their Indochina. I will not take sides in this. I can only try to understand. One would think, though, that this fact concerning the French and the Thais would have at least been considered but, then again, they were the same calibre as UNTAC.
Enjoy your trip into the bush...Cheers
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