World Heritage listing row still needs settling
Tuesday May 06, 2008
THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Bangkok Post
A top foreign affairs official will leave for Phnom Penh today for discussions on the controversial issue of Unesco World Heritage listing for the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear. Foreign affairs permanent secretary Weerasak Futrakul will meet Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in the Cambodian capital.
Bangkok accepts Cambodia's sovereignty over Preah Vihear, which sits right on the border with Si Sa Ket province but can be easily accessed only through Thailand.
But they need to settle the dispute over ownership of 4.6 square kilometres of land adjoining the temple ruins.
Thailand has proposed that a joint management plan be drawn up for the overlapping areas until the border demarcation is completed, and that they jointly propose Preah Vihear to Unesco for listing. Cambodia has so far thrown cold water on the Thai proposal and will continue its solo push for the temple's registration with the UN body at a meeting in Canada in July.
The Preah Vihear dispute erupted in 2001 when Cambodia asked Unesco to put the ancient ruins, called Khao Phra Viharn in Thai, on the World Heritage List. Unesco last year postponed a decision on the listing pending an agreement between the two sides.
According to Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, Unesco special representative Francesco Caruso has cancelled a trip to Thailand and Cambodia during which he was to have separate talks with the two governments on the issue. The cancellation came after Cambodia suggested the two sides settle the issue between themselves.
The Preah Vihear dispute has at times strained relations between the two neighbours.
On April 10, the government handed an aide-memoire to Cambodian ambassador Ung Sean protesting the deployment of Cambodian troops near the temple. Phnom Penh countered by summoning Thai envoy Viraphand Vacharathit to deny the allegations.
Bangkok accepts Cambodia's sovereignty over Preah Vihear, which sits right on the border with Si Sa Ket province but can be easily accessed only through Thailand.
But they need to settle the dispute over ownership of 4.6 square kilometres of land adjoining the temple ruins.
Thailand has proposed that a joint management plan be drawn up for the overlapping areas until the border demarcation is completed, and that they jointly propose Preah Vihear to Unesco for listing. Cambodia has so far thrown cold water on the Thai proposal and will continue its solo push for the temple's registration with the UN body at a meeting in Canada in July.
The Preah Vihear dispute erupted in 2001 when Cambodia asked Unesco to put the ancient ruins, called Khao Phra Viharn in Thai, on the World Heritage List. Unesco last year postponed a decision on the listing pending an agreement between the two sides.
According to Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, Unesco special representative Francesco Caruso has cancelled a trip to Thailand and Cambodia during which he was to have separate talks with the two governments on the issue. The cancellation came after Cambodia suggested the two sides settle the issue between themselves.
The Preah Vihear dispute has at times strained relations between the two neighbours.
On April 10, the government handed an aide-memoire to Cambodian ambassador Ung Sean protesting the deployment of Cambodian troops near the temple. Phnom Penh countered by summoning Thai envoy Viraphand Vacharathit to deny the allegations.
6 comments:
no "buts"! cambodia's ancient temple of preah vihear is a very sensitive temple for all cambodians. i don't think we (khmer people) can accept any negotiation with our sacred temple whatsoever! we can only stick with the old maps and will not agree to any new map being used to justify the thai's claim or what have you. remember if you want joint-management of preah vihear, cambodia will insist that we also joint-managing prasat phnom rung, prasat phimai, prasat wat phu, etc..., etc..., no ifs, or buts about it! is that sound fair? the two kingdom maybe related by royal blood or whatever, cambodia still want fairness as we are not in the dark ages anymore! the way we see it is that thailand should do it best to court us, not the other way around. one thing i can agree with is that thailand and cambodia are very similar in many ways than there are differences. the two languages may be slightly difference, however, the culture, history, etc, etc. are very very similar. i can only hope that one day the two kingdom can cooperate to form one strong community. but i think thailand needs to focus on building lasting friendship with the khmer of cambodia, instead of being arrogance, be obnoxious, being disrespectful, and talking to foreigners this or that about how bad, how mediocre or how hateful cambodians are, thailand should help to foster and nurture strong everlasting friendship between the two kingdom. until that happened, i don't think cambodia is willing to cooperate with thailand at all. let's hope for the better and thailand ought to show cambodia that they want to work with cambodia and not against cambodia. maybe thailand and cambodia can really become one big community of nations that share many similarities with each other. i'm sure thailand can do a lot to help cambodia in a positive way, instead of making enemies with us. we will have to see to that! again, this is only my personal view and doesn't reflect the views of the majority of cambodian people, though.
what bothers me the most is that the thai still saying that our preah vihear temple is accessible only via the thai side. that is bullshit to say such thing. no wonder this why cambodia is so furious and there's not way in hell we khmer can accept such claim. the fact is access to this cambodian temple is easily manageable from the khmer side as well . this is not fair to say only that the thai side is more accessible. we, khmer people do not buy into that, maybe foreigners who don't know anything about cambodia will buy into the thai's claim , not khmer people. the thais are nothing without foreigners' supports. this is where cambodians have problems with the thai. plus, using the old maps, there should not be any contentious issue with cambodia. but again, until that happens, cambodians will always stands firm on our claim. and when gov't to gov't will get involved, we will see who comes out the winners.
Why do Thailand continues to call it an "overlapping area" when it was all clear that the official map which was drawn by the US Army had made its clarity of the border line between Khmer Empire, I meant Cambodia and Thailand in 1962?
"But they need to settle the dispute over ownership of 4.6 square kilometres of land adjoining the temple ruins. "
I see a lot of "BUTS" here. There's absolutely no dispute. The 4.6 sq km around around the Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple is belongs to Cambodia.
Yes, but it's a good "But". It will create many jobs and profits for all Khmer on both sides of the fences.
No more bullshit, let's move it!
11:02am.the word BUT is the negative.the people there never object anything and they know to whom the temple belongs.
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