Arguing will not resolve Preah Vihear temple issue

14/02/2011
Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post

Thailand and Cambodia should take one step back to restore peace at the border and jointly develop the disputed area instead of embarking on a fight to get it all.

What has happened at the border between Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province is a proof that unless Preah Vihear temple and the 4.6 square kilometre overlapping area are permanently resolved, future relations between Phnom Penh and Bangkok will remain troubled.

The war of words between Thailand and Cambodia over the past weeks followed by the armed fighting along the border and then the diplomatic dogfight show that neither Thailand nor Cambodia has gained anything.

The fighting started on the evening of Feb 4 after the foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia had just agreed in the morning during the Joint Commission meeting to keep the peace and avoid violence along the border. They also agreed to let the Joint Boundary Commission resume talks by the end of this month. Things did a 180 degree turn in less than six hours and the successful talks became a failure.

The clashes followed moves by both countries which are trying to claim ownership of the disputed area. The extension of an access road by the Thai military in the disputed area as claimed by the Cambodian army might be the last straw for Phnom Penh.

But a similar construction was also made by Cambodia, according to the Thai army. The long road from the Cambodian side to Keo Sikha Khiri Savara pagoda located in the overlapping zone, not far from Preah Vihear temple, was the evidence.

Despite many protests from the Thai side in the past to see the road project stopped, Phnom Penh has had turned a deaf ear to the call and continued to complete the project.

Understandably, Cambodia was pressured by Thailand's internal political tensions to demolish the two stone tablets that it erected at the pagoda and took down the Cambodian national flag. This series of demands prompted Phnom Penh to be more aggressive against Thai troops. The Thai demands could have been spared had Cambodia not put provocative messages on the stones and intentionally fly the flag.

Investigations are under way as to how the fighting started. But if both sides still continue with military confrontations, more damage cannot be avoided. Until now, the four rounds of firing have caused damage to property and people's lives, especially part of Preah Vihear and Wat Keo Sikha Khiri Savara.

Cambodia tried to get support from the international community including the United Nations Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations because it expects other countries to show Phnom Penh sympathy, as a smaller country, and put the blame on Thailand.

But the chance is that international or regional organisations like the UN or Asean do not want to play this game. Thailand is lobbying hard to clarify the excuses made by Phnom Penh.

A Thai Foreign Ministry official said the Thai government believes the UNSC will not station forces at the Thai-Cambodian border as requested by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A similar circumstance occurred in 2008 after Preah Vihear temple was listed as a World Heritage site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. There was also a conflict over the disputed areas of Ta Muen Tom and Ta Kwai temples located in Surin. The Cambodian government tried to bring in the UN and Asean to settle these issues but finally, they were left to be resolved by bilateral talks.

This time, the Thai government again quickly clarified its position with foreign embassies in Bangkok and the UNSC about what happened and reiterated that it intended to resolve the problem with Cambodia.

The trip by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya to clarify the situation before the UNSC today in New York with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong and Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country chairs Asean, are not surprising.

"The meeting is an opportunity to clear up everything, but the Preah Vihear temple issue is a difficult issue for outsiders to understand," the official said.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belongs to Cambodia, but the surrounding lands remain in dispute.

In parallel with the clarification to the UNSC, Thailand will also take the opportunity to demand Unesco delay its consideration of the management plan around Preah Vihear as proposed by Cambodia last year.

In a letter to Unesco director-general Irina Bokova on Feb 5, it noted that the Cambodian armed forces used the temple and its surrounding area as a military base to fire heavy weapons into Thai troops and civilians and as shelter which exposed the temple to grave danger and destruction.

The more Cambodia and Thailand fight, the more it shows the world that this area is not safe for tourists to visit.

Violence could erupt again soon if the countries cannot find a mutually agreed solution for the unsettled area around the temple. The border demarcation will be one way of resolving the problem, but it means both Thailand and Cambodia cannot take all. There are some areas to gain and some areas to lose.

Will it be better if both countries accept the fact and develop a joint management plan to manage the temple and its surrounding so their citizens both can enjoy the benefits that come from world heritage listing?

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Thanida Tansubhapol reports on foreign policy affairs for the Bangkok Post.