PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's retired king on Thursday chastised Thai critics of a deal that approved UNESCO World Heritage status for a disputed ancient temple in Cambodia.
Despite a long-standing territorial dispute over land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the 21-nation World Heritage Committee this week approved Cambodia's application to register the site.
But the Thai government's initial support for the listing sparked outrage in Thailand, leading to a political and legal battle that caused the foreign minister to resign Thursday and could lead to impeachment hearings for the entire cabinet.
Former Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk said in a handwritten communique that Thai critics of the deal, who allege that the main entrance of the temple is in Thailand not Cambodia, ignore "historic facts."
Thai critics were "absolutely wrong" and stoke "meanness" which "causes undeserved and anachronistic grief to Cambodia and its people concerning the Preah Vihear temple, instead of devoting ourselves to harmonious and fruitful development of our friendship," Sihanouk said.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has stated that neither Cambodia nor Thailand lost any territory from the UNESCO ruling, but was concerned that flaring nationalist Thai sentiment could harm relations.
Last week, before the UNESCO ruling, riot police were deployed here to protect the Thai embassy for fear of violent protests.
Another temple spat in 2003 sparked a night of riots that saw Thailand's embassy and several Thai-owned businesses burned and looted.
In 1962 the World Court ruled that the Hindu temple belongs to Cambodia, although the easiest access lies through an entrance in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding area has caused years of disputes.
Despite a long-standing territorial dispute over land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the 21-nation World Heritage Committee this week approved Cambodia's application to register the site.
But the Thai government's initial support for the listing sparked outrage in Thailand, leading to a political and legal battle that caused the foreign minister to resign Thursday and could lead to impeachment hearings for the entire cabinet.
Former Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk said in a handwritten communique that Thai critics of the deal, who allege that the main entrance of the temple is in Thailand not Cambodia, ignore "historic facts."
Thai critics were "absolutely wrong" and stoke "meanness" which "causes undeserved and anachronistic grief to Cambodia and its people concerning the Preah Vihear temple, instead of devoting ourselves to harmonious and fruitful development of our friendship," Sihanouk said.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has stated that neither Cambodia nor Thailand lost any territory from the UNESCO ruling, but was concerned that flaring nationalist Thai sentiment could harm relations.
Last week, before the UNESCO ruling, riot police were deployed here to protect the Thai embassy for fear of violent protests.
Another temple spat in 2003 sparked a night of riots that saw Thailand's embassy and several Thai-owned businesses burned and looted.
In 1962 the World Court ruled that the Hindu temple belongs to Cambodia, although the easiest access lies through an entrance in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding area has caused years of disputes.
15 comments:
Ah Thai lost by international law! But ah thai want to make Khmer hate Khmer Sorin!
Ah Thai afraid that Khmer would joint together and kick its ass some day!
the last paragraph of the above report is very bias in its tone. i suggest everybody who write anything about preah vihear issue to thoroughly examine the siamese-franco treaty of 1904 - 1907 when france represented cambodia and their then king chulalongkorn signed this very agreement under his watch in exchange for france not to colonize siam like it did in cambodia, laos and vietnam at that time. under this very treaty a map was drawn to officially demarcate the present international borderline between thailand and cambodia, and this same map showed clearly the demarcation around the preah vihear temple area. so, why is thailand not respecting this treaty? instead, thailand unilaterally redrew its own map for this particular area of preah vihear to make the entrance of preah to appear like it is coming from thailand. you know, anyone can tell when they look at the 1904 - 1907 treaty map and see that this is not the case at all. the old map actually showed the entire 5 km2 area around the temple belonged to cambodia in accordance to this treaty. so, why is thailand still saying they disagree with the old map. it started to sound like what they are now claiming that preah vihear belongs to them. so, we all can see their same pattern of stealing from cambodia. their criminal intention had not changed a bit because their claim then is the same pattern as what they are doing now to cambodia. cambodia must settle this once and for all at the icj again if we have too and let the world judge on their criminal behavior as they will never put the issue to rest with cambodia. thailand is eternal enemy of cambodia forever!!!!!! i think cambodia should not care about maintaining a friendly attitude with thailand anymore until this issue settled permanently. i don't care if thailand want to buy it from cambodia for a trillion dollars, justice must be prevailed for cambodia.
Sihanouk is the one who ignored facts that Khmer in Issan Province owned the temple, not Cambodia. He only favored Cambodia ownership of the temple because it would mean incomes for his Royal siblings, nothing new here.
1:53 AM:
The Siam don;'t give a f***ing shit about Khmers in Issan. If the Siam ever (we hope not) have authority over Preah Vihear, they will solely claim it as Thailand's. Lets see you go tell the protesters in Bangkok that Preah Vihear belongs to Khmer Issan. I bet your ass will be humiliated, looked down upon and beaten up. Hear me? Khmer Issan are powerless and are just 2nd rate people to the Siam. So you, my ah Kamen friend, telling me you'd rather have the Siam take control of Preah Vihear?
with all of this bickering going on between cambodia and thailand, it all boils down to respect, i.e., respect each other's rights like boundary lines, the rights for self-governance, the rights for each own internal affairs, the rights to be who they want to be without so much judgments or negative remarks against each other or infringing upon other's rights, etc..., accept each other by getting used to it. i mean, really, it is like in a family, without respect you cannot live in harmony, if you really think about it. that's why people get divorced, same shit different day as they say it. so, respect is a magic word if we are all to get along; and it goes both ways. and that said, with respect comes communication which is another key word. the way i see it is that thailand never have any respect for cambodia, thus, it is recipricated by cambodia. remember the good, old saying: do as you want other to do to you; live by it. it is really simple, but very hard to do; perhaps, practice will make perfect!!!!
2:04, a lot of Khmers are working for the Thai government and the temple mean a lot to them economically, and you can't steal that from them.
5:06am, sometimes i cannot see your point. what are you trying to say? look the temple is now listed as world heritage site, and if you so wish, you and all thai people can still come visit our temple; so, what is the big deal over the listing, especially after 46 years since the icj verdict? can you explain in clear, simply english here for all khmer people and perhaps the world so we all can understand you point of view for thailand? we cannot understand what is the big fuss or big deal behind your rhetorics. if thailand want joint development of the border area, then it is a whole separate issue and should be dicuss with gov't to gov't. what is in your head that makes you and many other pad people to be so against your own gov't as they try to mend fences and make friends with cambodia so both countries can reap the same benefit. can you explain in a non-hostile tone that i and my compatriots and the world community can understand you point of view?
No, we don't want to visit the temple; what we want is to be able to use our temple for our own benefit.
Hello all,.
It is good that Thais say Preah Vihear belongs to Khmer-Issan.
So the THAIS recognize the real history. They accept that they stole everything from Cambodia, even Khmers people living in Issan. They killed Khmer-Issan during the Khmer-Siam wars and forced their control over the Khmer-Issan.
Recalling the history, we, Khmers, are disappointed that we could not prevent and protect the Khmer-Issan from the Siam control and the Siamization.
Preah Vihear case has sent a very long message of the past history to the world about how bad Siams are and were in eliminating the Khmer Kingdom.
We, Khmers, regret that We were not able to defend and control our vast territory that century after century fell into the hands of SIAMS and the Vietnamese.
To Khmers-Issan, we Khmers, as a whole, are very proud to be Khmers and that we can survive as a nation, Cambodia, while having confronted with the expansionist neighbors – Thais and Vietnamese. And, Even now the Two EXPANSIONISTS are still dying of their ambitions to swallow every inch of Cambodian territory.
Many centuries now, since after the fall of glory of Angkorian time, Khmers have undergone numerous sufferings, and now Khmers are in peace.
Personally, I am grateful to all Khmer ancestors and heroes for the good deeds they did for Khmers and Cambodia.
Khmer-Issan should read the real history, not the one written by the Siams, as they want you hate your own brothers. You may experience that there is discrimination between the Thais and the Thais of Khmer blood. This is a small point for you to understand your bothers.
King Father is the King of all Khmer people regardless of your various designation as this group or that group. So just shut the f*ck up, ah Khmer Issan imposter in this forum. King Father does not have the time to just say stuff, OK. King Father's every word is scrutinized by international standards. Therefore, his Majesty words command utmost attention in whatever field his majesty focuses his energy on. In this case, King Father is pointing his royal finger at ah Nan Chao Siems as the troublemakers that need to be dealth with swiftly once and for all. If this was in the old era, King Father would the Commander-in-Chief and he never once was afraid of any kind of enemy whether they be Siems, Youns, Lieves, Chen, or the Americans. King Father engaged with them all fearlessly.
2:04,
You made a very good point!
I think 1:53 rather have the Thais own Preah Vihear than us Khmer. I've seen his dissatisfactions throughout his post. 1:53, failed to understand that he is Khmer first then Issan, unless he wanted to be Thai-Issan. I have yet to see him post anything negative about Thai.
2:38,
Yes, respect does goes both way, but Khmer are only human being just like the rest of the world. Have you ever heard of "For every action, there's a reaction?" Khmer has always been the reaction.
We've never intrudes on others land, we're only protect what is ours.
You quote: "it is like in a family, without respect you cannot live in harmony, if you really think about it. that's why people get divorced, same shit different day as they say it."
You just can't compared two country with a history of conflicts to marriage! If this the case then why don't we consult with a marriage counselor? You should go and teach the Thais about respect, dignity, family value and most importantly moral ethic. I wish the same as you were. Make no mistake about it. This is not a Brady Bunch affair.
5:06,
Okay, now that Khmer is the rightful owner, all you have to do is resubmit your applications.
Thanks to H.M King father for his awaked, though million Khmers were killed due to his power hungered in the passed (1970 - 1976).
10:36
It should be from 1960 - 1976.
Didn't you know many Khmers were killed just ONLY because of different opinions.
Hun Sen should be better than him in some cases.
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