Preah Vihear: little love lost among the ruins [-It's time for Thailand to stop its claim on Preah Vihear]

26/06/2009
By PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
Bangkok Post

If one were to ask, could the World Heritage Committee (WHC) consider a joint trans-boundary World Heritage Property status for the embattled Preah Vihear temple? The answer would be yes, it could.

The Preah Vihear temple: the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand is making it almost impossible to maintain the ancient ruins as a proper World Heritage Site.

But the WHC did not do so last year. It considered Cambodia's solely prepared nomination proposal - which was re-adjusted to the point that any disputed areas with overlapping claims around the site were removed - and approved the temple as a new World Heritage Site.

As a result, not only has the new World Heritage architecture become devalued following its incomplete landscape, but Cambodia and Thailand have also been engaged in a growing border conflict ever since. Both sides no longer seem to trust each other.

The WHC itself cannot do anything to protect and preserve the site as it may have so wished, because it cannot conveniently access the site without each country's permission following the dispute.

Worse is the unnecessary loss of life and property following military clashes in the attempts by both countries to protect every inch of their so-called motherland from being claimed by the newly promoted World Heritage status of the temple or for its future development.

Since the 33rd meeting of the committee is being held in Spain, this should be a good time for all parties concerned to look into the possibility of resolving the dispute.

To nominate the Preah Vihear site again as a joint trans-boundary World Heritage property is not completely impossible, even after the temple itself without the parameters has been listed.

Unesco's headquarters in Paris once replied to the Bangkok Post that it still saw such a possibility when asked about its views following the military stand-off in the area.

The UN body said the existing World Heritage property - the temple - could be extended to include some new components (situated in part or fully in Thai territory) to become a joint trans-boundary World Heritage property.

This, it added, would make it easier to include the disputed area with overlapping claims within the extended property.

Another option would be for Thailand to nominate a new and separate property in its own territory.

But if this proposed site contained even a part of the area with overlapping claims, then the same set of problems that occurred during Cambodia's nomination of the temple would arise.

The joint trans-boundary nomination for the embattled temple, however, needs an evaluation by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and an approval from the WHC based on the established criteria for any inscription of sites on the World Heritage List.

In addition, mutual consent of both countries to nominate the extension of the temple will also be required.

These conditions will prove a challenge for all the parties concerned.

Thailand, for its part, should ask itself how serious or how ready it is to push for such a proposal until it becomes accomplished.

It often claims in public that it wants to see this outcome.

According to some technical experts who helped prepare reports to counter Cambodia's nomination in Canada last year, Thailand still lacks both a clear direction and goal regarding how it would want to proceed with this property.

Since Thailand lost its chance to jointly nominate the temple as a World Heritage Site last year, there has hardly been any concrete directive on what to do next. The team of experts has not been instructed whether they should develop the existing technical knowledge into a proposal for a separate nomination, or for a possible joint nomination.

Given this uncertainty, the chance is slim for Thailand to prepare for a joint nomination for the whole premise of Preah Vihear temple in time for the meeting in Spain.

Suwit Khunkitti, the minister of natural resources and environment who heads the Thai delegation, actually made it clear to the public that Thailand, in this meeting, would ask the WHC to review its approval of the listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site and ask concerned parties to help defuse the conflict. There has been no mention of what the country wishes to achieve instead, or the extent to which it has prepared itself for any particular goal.

According to an archaeological source who once worked on the issue, no archaeological experts will accompany Mr Suwit's team, unlike at the two meetings before. What this means is that Thailand just wants to have its voice heard on the issue at the meeting and nothing more.

If Thailand really wants to see the joint nomination happen, it needs to be more assertive than it is now. It cannot continue to pay lip service to the idea.

And for the other parties involved in the conflict - be they Cambodia or the WHC - they need to give support to the proposal if they want to seek a way to defuse the border tension and conflict.

The WHC, in particular, should no longer keep a distance from the subject with the excuse that it is not in its power to intervene in the nomination and the listing process.

There are still several questions which the WHC needs to clarify in public. These include how it will get Cambodia to complete the requirements made after the temple was listed last year, which include convening an international coordinating committee for safeguarding and developing the property, under which Thailand is supposed to be invited, as well as providing new maps to locate where the required buffer zones are.

Some Unesco staffers were recently reported to have visited the site. This visit needs to be clarified, especially in light of whether they were providing help to Cambodia to meet the requirements.

It is the time for the World Heritage Committee to prove whether it can help nations uphold the spirit of humanity in regard to historical properties, or whether the lofty mission is just a wish.