Temples hidden in the Kreb rubber plantation land concession … one of them completely destroyed by the stupid and criminal company

Prosecutor Nuon San visiting the discovered temples (All photos: Samnang, Koh Santepheap)

23 December 2009
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

KI-Media Note: Cambodian soldiers are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend the Preah Vihear temple from the Siamese, and yet, the Hun Xen's government land concessions allow these evil and criminal private companies to destroy our cultural heritage. This is outrageous!

Siem Reap – Angkanh villagers from Svay Leu commune and a number of people who love ancient artifacts have called on experts from the Apsara Authority and International heritage organizations to preserve and develop a number of ancient temples that are currently being threatened because they are spread in wooden areas on land concession granted to the Kreb rubber plantation company.

Angkanh villagers indicated that five temples dating several centuries old are spread in deep forest that the government granted as land concession to a rubber plantation company. Some of the five temples have been destroyed through land clearing last year. The villagers are very concerned that land clearing will continue and they requested that the Apsara Authority and international organizations in charge of conservation of national heritage to help preserve the remaining temples for the sake of humanity.

Sao Sam Ol, a villager from Angkanh indicated that the five temples located on the Kreb land concession include: (1) Prasat Trung, (2) Prasat Ahen, (3) Prasat Mor Thav, (4) Prasat Sangker Singh and (5) Prasat Tukh Preah. The fifth temple was completely destroyed by the Kreb rubber plantation in 2007. The temple used to be surrounded by a stone fence that was 2 to 3-meter high. Currently, all that remains from this temple are the foundations and a pile of stone rubbles. This situation is extremely regretful.

Sao Som Ol added that the villagers love and hold their belief in these ancient temples, and what the villagers want to see is the clearing of small trees from the surrounding area of the temples and the construction of a road leading to each of these temples so that they can be worshipped.

Cambodia is the single country whose flag bear the image of an ancient temple [Angkor Wat] that is revered by all Cambodians, and that shows to the world that the Khmer race is a famous race that built thousands of temples on this golden land. The Khmer people also maintain a proud and long-lasting culture in the world, therefore, these temples represent the soul of our nation, and these temples demand that we pay special attention to them, in particular for their preservation as heritage and cultural artifacts for humanity.

Reth Samuth, a former popular cultural radio program presenter in the region and a tourist guide, indicated that ancient temples represent the soul of our national culture and no price can be placed on them, therefore the destruction of our ancestors’ temples is tantamount to our own destruction, i.e. an extremely bad misdeed that must be avoided at all cost.

Nuon San, the prosecutor of the Siem Reap-Banteay Meanchey provinces, who traveled to these temples by foot and by land clearing through hand machetes, visited 2 temples – Prasat Sangker Singh and Prasat Ahen – on Saturday 21 December 2009. He said: “I am very saddened when I saw these valuable temples, which are the heritage of our Cambodian ancestors, hidden deep in the forest and falling into ruins like this.”

He said that the intricate stone carvings attached to the rock pieces of the temple that fell to the ground seem to beg us to lift them up and put them back in place, following their long battle with nature and those ignorant artifact looters who take them to sell to foreigners during wartime.

Because of his love and desire to preserve valuable national cultural artifacts, Nuon San called on the organizations involved in the preservation of national heritage, and, in particular, the Apasara Authority and international heritage organizations to help preserve these temples also.

Even if only the foundations are all that remain, he asked that there should be no further land clearing and destruction of these temples anymore. Even if the temples are located on concession lands for a company, the perimeter of these temples must be preserved because these temples represent our valuable Khmer culture.

Hun Narith, the deputy director of the Apsara Authority, recognized that there was indeed forest clearing in the temple areas for rubber plantation. However, after the Apsara Authority learnt about these temples, the company was prevented from further land clearing near these temples. Currently, the Apsara Authority has already planted perimeter delimitation areas. The finding of these hidden temples is indeed an incredible finding of cultural treasures.

Making Angkor's Tourism Sustainable

The face and breats of this Apsara dancer are shiny from people touching and rubbing them
(Photo: http://dpmac.com/angkor/trip-reports/07-08/07-angkorwat.html)

January 14, 2008
Mara Hvistendahl
World Changing

When UNESCO designated Angkor a World Heritage site in 1992, it aimed to protect the area –- once the capital of the Khmer empire -- from encroaching development. Cambodia was just emerging from decades of political strife during which restoration work had halted, and with the UNESCO designation the emphasis shifted back to conservation. But now, fifteen years later, Angkor has other problems. It's become a zoo.

In the early 1990s, Angkor drew a few thousand people a year. Today, a sign in Siem Reap, the town that borders the park, boasts that Angkor has reached the two million mark. Tour buses -- many of them labeled in Chinese and Korean, suggesting the boom is exacerbated by development in Cambodia's Asian neighbors -- clot the road outside the flagship temple of Angkor Wat. I witnessed people climbing temple facades to stage vanity shots. In some temples, carvings on the walls are shiny from touching (the are a particularly popular target). Some tourists go one step further and apsaras' breastsbuy a ceramic pot or antique beads – fueling the looting of valuable sites. According to Heritage Watch, an organization that monitors the Cambodian trade in artifacts, nearly 20 percent of visitors to the country purchase an antiquity during their stay.

Even conscientious tourists leave their mark. As massive hotels with swimming pools sprout around the park, the water table is suffering. Cheaper guesthouses reportedly dump sewage directly into the Siem Reap River. In the chaos of rapid development, real estate ventures aren’t always carefully vetted; it appears a South Korean company started on a golf course inside the park before Cambodian authorities intervened. And while tourism dollars are benefiting many local residents, development is hardly evenly distributed. Siem Reap is thriving, its property values skyrocketing. But the surrounding area still contains some of the poorest villages in Cambodia.

These issues aren’t just a problem at Angkor, of course. Earlier this year, Christian Manhart of the World Heritage Center, which administers the World Heritage Fund, admitted to the London Telegraph that "conservation versus tourism has been an issue for a long time. Before, we slightly ignored it and it was a big, big problem for many sites.” Today, the World Heritage program has a sustainable tourism program. But many sites were designated for protection before these mechanisms were put into place. Now, the challenge is to stave off future damage.

So what can be done? The Cambodian government is apparently considering restricting access to certain temples. But a holistic approach that addresses the boom in Siem Reap is needed as well. Heritage Watch carries out campaigns to educate locals and tourists alike about looting and promotes sustainable tourism in Siem Reap and beyond. The organization also certifies local businesses as "heritage-friendly" -- a designation that indicates clean environmental policies, support for the local economy, and contributions toward preservation.

Such efforts are critical to the scattering of temples that still remain relatively untouched. A hundred miles north of Siem Reap lies Koh Ker, at one point the Angkorian capital. Because of their distance from other tourist attractions, Koh Ker's unrestored temples and towers get just a few dozen visitors a day.

That will soon change. With a new road in place, the drive from Siem Reap to Koh Ker is now down to two hours – short enough for tour buses to travel there and back in a day. Hopefully this time around the tourism the site attracts will be sustainable.