Thai protesters standing in front of the gate to Preah Vihear (Photo: Thailand news media)Jun 24, 2008
DPA
Phnom Penh - Border access to Preah Vihear temple has been closed indefinitely after the potential World Heritage Site was turned in to a political football in neighbouring Thailand, Cambodian authorities said Tuesday.
Cambodian authorities decided to close a Thai-Cambodian border crossing to the ancient Hindu temple on Monday after a rally of about 100 Thai protestors gathered at the site, said Preah Vihear Authority Director General Hang Soth.
'This is Thailand's problem, because those protestors were an anti-Thai government group,' Hang Soth said in a telephone interview. But he admitted that the issue was a sensitive one on both sides of the border.
'The border was closed because both governments don't want an explosion between our two peoples,' said Hang Soth.
Preah Vihear, a centuries-old Hindu temple perched on a 525-metre high cliff that defines the Thai-Cambodian border, has been a bone of contention for the two neighbouring countries for decades.
The temple, which may be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO next month, prompted an ownership spat between Cambodia and Thailand that led to a suspension of diplomatic relations in 1958 and eventually ended up in The Hague for an international settlement in 1962. The court ruled in Cambodia's favour, but the loss of the temple remains a national wound for many Thais.
Preah Vihear became a contentious issue for the current Thai government after it approved a Cambodian proposal to submit the temple as a possible heritage site with UNESCO next month.
Last year Thailand opposed the temple's UNESCO listing on the grounds that the Cambodian map of the site included some disputed territories. Cambodia redrew the map last month, and the Thai cabinet approved the revised siting.
Thailand's opposition Democrat Party, which launched a no-confidence motion against the Thai cabinet on Tuesday, has criticized Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej for throwing the government's approval to the heritage listing without seeking parliament's approval.
Opposition politicians have accused the government of pushing the proposal through to win Cambodian business benefits for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been banned from politics for five years.
Thaksin is seen as the behind-the-scenes backer of Samak and the People Power Party (PPP) which leads the current cabinet.
The Thai protestors dispersed peacefully at around 5:30 pm without intervention from border police on either side, according to witnesses.
The deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, Long Sovann, said the governor had closed the border after receiving orders from the Cambodian government but declined further comment.
Neither the governor nor government spokesman Khieu Kanharith were available for comment Tuesday.
The Khmer-language Koh Santepheap daily featured a front-page picture of the protestors Tuesday, showing them hoisting a yellow flag and a Thai national flag on Thai soil just 20 meters short of the border during the rally.
Some of the protestors also wore yellow shirts, a colour that has been adopted by the anti-Thaksin movement.
Like Koh Santepheap, the other two mass circulation Khmer-language dailies Rasmei Kampuchea and Kampuchea Thmey made it clear that Thai Prime Minister Samak had not approved of the protest.
Kampuchea Thmey blamed the rally on Thailand's People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin coalition.
All three newspapers played down the incident and said that the issue of the border temple was not disputed by either the Cambodian or Thai governments.
Cambodian authorities decided to close a Thai-Cambodian border crossing to the ancient Hindu temple on Monday after a rally of about 100 Thai protestors gathered at the site, said Preah Vihear Authority Director General Hang Soth.
'This is Thailand's problem, because those protestors were an anti-Thai government group,' Hang Soth said in a telephone interview. But he admitted that the issue was a sensitive one on both sides of the border.
'The border was closed because both governments don't want an explosion between our two peoples,' said Hang Soth.
Preah Vihear, a centuries-old Hindu temple perched on a 525-metre high cliff that defines the Thai-Cambodian border, has been a bone of contention for the two neighbouring countries for decades.
The temple, which may be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO next month, prompted an ownership spat between Cambodia and Thailand that led to a suspension of diplomatic relations in 1958 and eventually ended up in The Hague for an international settlement in 1962. The court ruled in Cambodia's favour, but the loss of the temple remains a national wound for many Thais.
Preah Vihear became a contentious issue for the current Thai government after it approved a Cambodian proposal to submit the temple as a possible heritage site with UNESCO next month.
Last year Thailand opposed the temple's UNESCO listing on the grounds that the Cambodian map of the site included some disputed territories. Cambodia redrew the map last month, and the Thai cabinet approved the revised siting.
Thailand's opposition Democrat Party, which launched a no-confidence motion against the Thai cabinet on Tuesday, has criticized Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej for throwing the government's approval to the heritage listing without seeking parliament's approval.
Opposition politicians have accused the government of pushing the proposal through to win Cambodian business benefits for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in September 2006 and has been banned from politics for five years.
Thaksin is seen as the behind-the-scenes backer of Samak and the People Power Party (PPP) which leads the current cabinet.
The Thai protestors dispersed peacefully at around 5:30 pm without intervention from border police on either side, according to witnesses.
The deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, Long Sovann, said the governor had closed the border after receiving orders from the Cambodian government but declined further comment.
Neither the governor nor government spokesman Khieu Kanharith were available for comment Tuesday.
The Khmer-language Koh Santepheap daily featured a front-page picture of the protestors Tuesday, showing them hoisting a yellow flag and a Thai national flag on Thai soil just 20 meters short of the border during the rally.
Some of the protestors also wore yellow shirts, a colour that has been adopted by the anti-Thaksin movement.
Like Koh Santepheap, the other two mass circulation Khmer-language dailies Rasmei Kampuchea and Kampuchea Thmey made it clear that Thai Prime Minister Samak had not approved of the protest.
Kampuchea Thmey blamed the rally on Thailand's People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin coalition.
All three newspapers played down the incident and said that the issue of the border temple was not disputed by either the Cambodian or Thai governments.
13 comments:
I just came across a sad song how the Thais used to force our people down the Dangreak mountain.
Go to the bottom of this page and you'll see the song:
http://www.preah-vihear.com/
We have no cultural ties with the Thai. Period. Thailand is and will always be the enemy of Cambodia, no matter how you look at it; they're Khmer's enemy.
We're practically arriving at the tipping point with our woes.
True and the Thai don't give a rat ass about Preah Vihear, only Khmer-Thai does because they built it, and they want it back.
What other viable options do we have, should the diplomatic channel fails?
God, you God damn Thai puto!
This is what happened when dealing with the country of whores and faggots, unsurprisingly.
What goes around it will come around. What goes up will come down. SIAM have done alot of Karma therefor, SIAM will get bad punishment or bad Karma. You going down SIAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I think PM Samak is having Khmer blood in him. Samak is probably Khmer too. He must have Khmer blood line in him.
Thai always look at Khmer as a goat that why from century to century thai always swallow Khmer'land.Now they want more Khmer's land because they have learned that Cambodian government is weak.they have used this tactic very often in the past.
You can't get our temple, old thief Siem!!1
Their ancestors are thief so they also taught their children to be thief too.
Just throw them a skunk and these Siam will be running an shouting in disarray, calling a out to their king to save them!!!
May be nothing will happen because the Siam stink more than the skunk.
Damn!!!!
Ok let a fan in front next to an open latrine toward the Siam.
Hopefully they don't stink more than excrement.
Those Khmer in the picture has really missed their temple. 50 years is a long time.
That's right we urge the Siam government to gun them down, all these Khmer on the pictures.
You can do the same with all the Khmer that are demonstrating in Bangkok also.
Hahaha...!!!
whether gov't of cambodia is weak or strong should not matter; nowadays, international borderlines are regulated by international laws and i don't think the world community going to stand and watch and let thailand bully cambodia like some people's wishful thinking. that's just not how the world works nowadays, maybe in the dark ages, perhaps! no, again, weak or strong gov't of cambodia is irrelevant when it comes to solving international dispute. otherwise, the entire world which consists of shared borderlines all over the world, would never have peace, if what some people's claims here are true. don't worry cambodia, just always stick to the 1962 court ruling and the international laws will prevail in no time. remember nobody is above the laws, so does the true saying that no country is above the international laws as well. god bless cambodia.
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