Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post
THE Council of Ministers issued a swift rebuke to Thailand’s environment minister on Friday, after the official was quoted as saying that Cambodia’s UNESCO World Heritage application for Preah Vihear temple was incomplete.
According to Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper, Thailand’s minister of environment, Suwit Khunkitti, said Thursday that officials from UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee had informed him that because Cambodia has not yet submitted site-management plans, the status of the Preah Vihear application remains unfinished.
“The uncertainty on Preah Vihear Temple listing will be resolved pending on the Thai-Cambodian cooperation to demarcate the borders,” Suwit reportedly said. Cambodia and Thailand have been working bilaterally to demarcate their shared border under the auspices of the Joint Border Commission.
On Friday, the Council of Ministers said in a statement that Suwit was “completely wrong for not fully updating the legal process of both the World Heritage Centre and the World Heritage Committee”.
“We deeply regret that Minister Suwit had made this pretentious and misleading statement regarding the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear with the purpose of poisoning the international community’s good will and cooperation, and tarnishing the positive image and good reputation of UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee,” the statement read.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Sunday that Cambodia submitted its site-management plan for Preah Vihear temple on January 28.
“Cambodia has filed the plan to meet the deadline of the World Heritage Committee, but Thailand continues to lie and manipulate information about the issue of Preah Vihear temple and the surrounding border,” Phay Siphan said. “There is no area of uncertainty about the listing, and this inscription is undoubtedly irreversible.”
Teruo Jinnai, representative of UNESCO in Cambodia, said Sunday that he believed the Preah Vihear application was complete.
“We were informed by the government that they had submitted their documents,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE
According to Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper, Thailand’s minister of environment, Suwit Khunkitti, said Thursday that officials from UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee had informed him that because Cambodia has not yet submitted site-management plans, the status of the Preah Vihear application remains unfinished.
“The uncertainty on Preah Vihear Temple listing will be resolved pending on the Thai-Cambodian cooperation to demarcate the borders,” Suwit reportedly said. Cambodia and Thailand have been working bilaterally to demarcate their shared border under the auspices of the Joint Border Commission.
On Friday, the Council of Ministers said in a statement that Suwit was “completely wrong for not fully updating the legal process of both the World Heritage Centre and the World Heritage Committee”.
“We deeply regret that Minister Suwit had made this pretentious and misleading statement regarding the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear with the purpose of poisoning the international community’s good will and cooperation, and tarnishing the positive image and good reputation of UNESCO and the World Heritage Committee,” the statement read.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Sunday that Cambodia submitted its site-management plan for Preah Vihear temple on January 28.
“Cambodia has filed the plan to meet the deadline of the World Heritage Committee, but Thailand continues to lie and manipulate information about the issue of Preah Vihear temple and the surrounding border,” Phay Siphan said. “There is no area of uncertainty about the listing, and this inscription is undoubtedly irreversible.”
Teruo Jinnai, representative of UNESCO in Cambodia, said Sunday that he believed the Preah Vihear application was complete.
“We were informed by the government that they had submitted their documents,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE
9 comments:
the way i see it, siem is trying to have cambodia going into a bilateral development of preah vihear with them by claiming that there is a land dispute there when in fact there is no land dispute when we look at the 1904-1908 map they signed with cambodia. it is only dispute based on siem's unilateral map, of course, and cambodia can never accept siem's unilateral map, really! we only accept the 1904-1908 map and what the icj verdict indicated in 1962.
khmer people knew all along that it was siem's trick in order to get cambodia to agree to bilateral development at preah vihear since the listing to UNESCO because siem has nothing to lose; it is at cambodia's expense, really, when we come to think about it, you know!
Mr. Abhisit stealthily ordered large deployments of Thai troops, numbering to 8000, according to some estimates, into the border areas in a provocation attempt to stir up Mr. Hun Sen into a real fire fight which Mr. Abhisit hopes to deliver a knock out military punch of Mr. Hun Sen in the same way Mr. Hun Sen landed him a verbal knock out punch.
If HUN SEN is not going to be careful with Thai dirty tricks the war will be starting soon.
Look at the comments, Abhisit is secretly planning the strategies and scenario to fight the war with HUN SEN.
Wake up and do the same thing about redeploy or deploy to the front line.
Just plant more landmines and shore up more rockets and let the rockets rain down on these Siem thugs and million of landmines beneath their feet is a welcome mat for these Siem thugs to a picnic!
It is laughable that AH ABISHIT think that he can get a knockout punch! ahahhhahahahah
PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE, A KHMER CULTURAL LEGACY
What is a Thai Unilateral Map? Is Preah Vihear Temple a Hindu Temple or a Khmer Temple? Who Built Preah Vihear Temple? Let's observe some facts...
The Thai unilateral map was a map produced by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat government of Thailand to counter the verdict of the International Court of Justice on June 15, 1962, which granted Cambodia full ownership of the Khmer temple and the 4.6 km2 adjacent land. The map showed a new Thai boundary line abutting against the Preah Vihear temple, which did not coincide with UN recognized map of the two countries. The ICJ verdict sent a rippling shock for the rest of Thailand as if it were struck by 9.0 earthquake with the Khmer Preah Vihear Temple as being the epicenter. Many Thais were asked to contribute at least one Baht per person to help contribute to the World Court case at The Hague in the Netherlands under the Thai legal team of Seni Pramoj. The Thai defense team at the time argued that the mixed French-Siamese border commission did not follow the watershed line which was to be used for the delineation of the boundary between Cambodia and Thailand. The French understood the importance of the Preah Vihear temple to the people of Cambodia; and in recognizing the historical significance, France felt that the temple belonged to Cambodia and therefore indicated as so on the Annex I map that it was located inside the territory of Cambodia. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Siam acknowledged the map at the signing of the Franco-Siamese Treaties of 1904-07.
To understand why Preah Vihear is so important to the people of Cambodia, we must look into its history. Preah Vihear was one the earliest Khmer temples built on an unusual breathtaking site on top of 525 m high cliff. Construction began in the 9th century and into the 10th century A.D. and it was dedicated to Hindu god Shiva and his manifestations as the mountain gods Sikharesvara and Bhadresvara. An interesting note to this is that a small Khmer Buddhist temple of 'Wat Kaew Sikha Kiri Svarak' on adjacent land was named after the mountain god. Construction of the temple began under the reigns of the Khmer kings Suryavarman I (1002-1050) and Suryvarman II (1113 -1150). An inscription found at the temple provides a detailed account of King Suryavarman II studying sacred rituals, celebrating religious festivals and making gifts, including white parasols, golden bowls and elephants, to his spiritual advisor, the aged Brahman Divakarapandita. In the wake of the decline of Hinduism in the region the site was converted to use by Buddhists.
--Khmer Surin
(continues)
Many Cambodians today feel that the Preah Vihear Temple is a Khmer heritage left behind by their great god-kings and ancestors. It bears no legacy or cultural heritage whatsoever to Thailand except the fact that the Siamese had conquered the area in the 15th century and placed under direct Siamese rule in the 18th century. The Khmer Empire was a great empire that ruled most of Southeast Asia between the 9th and 15th century as witnessed by the grandeur of the ruins at Angkor. Power struggle within the Khmer ruling class and foreign invasions led to its decline. The first recorded Thai kingdom of Sukhothai (1238 till 1438) was established under the rebellious yoke of two Siamese chieftains Khun Po Bangklanghao and Khun Po Phameung on Khmer territory. The Siamese were newcomers migrated from Nanchao, Southern China, during the wake of the Mongol invasion. They migrated South toward the Chao Phraya and Mekong regions of the Khmer kingdom. Through years of slave labor and breeding with Khmers. The once Tai 'sino-phenotype' had transformed into a better and stronger Siamese society, adopting almost everything from their Khmer masters. This explained as to why the Thai culture and language bear alot of Khmer influences over the years. And Subsequently, as the Khmer power declined in the region, the Siamese felt embarrassed and want nothing to associate with the Khmers. In doing so, they rewrote history as they see fit to glorify themselves. Many Thai historians rejected the idea that 'Khom' (a Thai term for ancient Khmers) bear no relationship to present-day Cambodians. However, this view was not shared by Professor Charnvit Kasetsiri, a highly distinguished Thai historian at Bangkok Thammasat University. The Thais admired 'Khom' culture but hated Khmers.
As Thailand progress since the 1950's, many Thai nationalists began to eradicate and distance themselves from the heavy Khmer influences in all aspects of Thai society. It was started with Plaek Pibulsonggram by his enforcement of a new Thai social culture based on the west, and then later with Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat at the height of Khmer-Thai conflict of Preah Vihear in the 1950's and 1960's. Many Thais were preeched to hate Khmers as inferior, not intelligent, lazy and ugly with dark skin. To the contrary, these racist ideas are not true at all. Thai school children were taught with a one-sided history based on incorrect informations. Western scholars believed the 'Tai' people migrated down from Yunnan province in southern China. However, some Thai history books suggested that they were native to Southeast Asia long before Khmer people at Ban Chiang. Even though 40% of the Thai language contained Khmer words, Khmer (or 'Khom' in Thai) writings were eradicated from Buddhist scriptures all over the country. Former King Norodom Sihanouk was often mocked in ridicules. Students were asked what color (si in Thai) that the Thai people hate---and their reply was 'Si-hanouk'. Thais admired the Khmers and its culture when they were a power in the region. When the Khmer empire diminished, everything changed over night and they hated Khmers and wanted to own everything that belonged to the Khmer people, including temples. There are currently about 45 Khmer temples in Thailand, and now they so desire to own other Khmer temples of Preah Vihear, Ta Moan Touch, Ta Moan Thom, adjacent land, etc.
--Khmer Surin
(continues)
Mon-Khmer people were one of the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia. Today, Khmer people call their homeland 'Suvarnabhumi' (a Sanskrit term for Golden Land). Many scholars believed that 'Kambuja' was a name given by the Kambojas a group of people who originally lived in the Pamir mountains of Afghanistan. They migrated to Gujarat (northwestern India), made their way to Sri Lanka and finally came to the Indochina peninsula and established the Khmer kingdom of 'Funan' between (4th century B.C.E-1th century A.D.). A Kambuja Kshatriya named Kambhu Svayambhuva married the local Naga tribe's daughter named Mera, together they established the 'Nokor Phnom' kingdom or 'Funan' (in Chinese: 扶南) as recorded by Chou Ta-kuan, a Chinese envoy to Cambodia. Many Indian customs, culture, religion and language were introduced and mingled with the native Naga tribe via this union period. Following the decline of 'Nokor Phnom', another Khmer kingdom of 'Chandra' emerged. 'Chandra' kingdom or 'Chenla' (in Chinese: 真腊) (550-802 A.D.), was a successor kingdom to 'Funan' or 'Nokor Phnom' kingdom. The Khmer Empire (802– 1431AD) was the second greatest recorded empire in Southeast Asia in terms of land mass after Srivijaya, present-day Indonesia. It covered all of present-day Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, parts of South-Vietnam and Burma). The term 'Khmer' (adjective for the people of Cambodia) was created a result of the conjugation of the two names in recorded Khmer history 'Kambhu + Mera'. A Khmer proverb stated that "If Khmers unite, Khmers survive, if Khmers divide, Khmers will perish." The Khmers have always been a proud and enduring race with great ancient history, echoing in the Khmer national anthem 'Nokor Reach' by the supreme Buddhist patriarch, Samdech Chuon Nath. They so desire to exist peacefully with all its surrounding neighbors. 'Suvarnabhumi' will always be golden as Khmer people come together in the defense of what it is rightfully hers.
---Khmer Surin
---ชาวแขมร์จังหวัดสุรินทร์
2.14.10
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime
Members:
Pol Pot
Nuon Chea
Ieng Sary
Ta Mok
Khieu Samphan
Son Sen
Ieng Thearith
Kaing Kek Iev
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...
Committed:
Tortures
Brutality
Executions
Massacres
Mass Murder
Genocide
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Slavery
Force Labour
Overwork to Death
Human Abuses
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime
Members:
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...
Committed:
Attempted Murders
Attempted Murder on Chea Vichea
Attempted Assassinations
Attempted Assassination on Sam Rainsy
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Assassinated over 80 members of Sam Rainsy Party.
"But as of today, over eighty members of my party have been assassinated. Countless others have been injured, arrested, jailed, or forced to go into hiding or into exile."
Sam Rainsy LIC 31 October 2009 - Cairo, Egypt
Executions
Executed over 100 members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders
Murdered 3 Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Murdered Chea Vichea
Murdered Ros Sovannareth
Murdered Hy Vuthy
Murdered Journalists
Murdered Khim Sambo
Murdered Khim Sambo's son
Murdered members of Sam Rainsy Party.
Murdered activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Murdered Innocent Men
Murdered Innocent Women
Murdered Innocent Children
Killed Innocent Khmer Peoples.
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Brutalities
Police Brutality Against Monks
Police Brutality Against Evictees
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Abuses
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Embezzlement
Treason
Border Encroachment, allow Vietnam to encroaching into Cambodia.
Signed away our territories to Vietnam; Koh Tral, almost half of our ocean territory oil field and others.
Illegal Arrest
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and other military officials were on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Removed Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country.
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Use Dead people's names to vote for Cambodian People's Party.
Disqualified potential Sam Rainsy Party's voters.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Death in custody.
Under the Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed crimes against journalists, political opponents, leaders of the Free Trade Union, innocent men, women and children have ever been brought to justice.
very interest brief khmer history by khmer surin brothers and sisters of khmer people. thank you for sharing on this blog. i read every single words because i'm so interested to know about khmer history and more. god bless.
Khmer people around the world sincerely hope that Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Decho Hun Sen and his legal team educate themselves with some historical facts and study the ICJ verdict of June 15, 1962 carefully so that we don't encounter other unforseen problems in the legal battle with Thailand.
Notifying the World Court and the UN security council should have done the first day when Thai troops entered Cambodia. By delaying with deadlock bilateral talks, this causes a major misconception to the world that there is a border dispute and overlapping areas when in fact it was final at the verdict of June 15, 1962.
May the spirits of our ancestors protect Khmer people and land from all evil aggressions.
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