 Preah Vihear (Situated in the North-West of Cambodia), 09/03/2008. Every day, hundreds of visitors reach the sanctuary via the Thailand route
© John Vink / Magnum
“The Court, with a vote of nine to three, reports that the temple of Preah Vihear is situated on a territory that comes under the sovereignty of Cambodia.” Forty-six years exactly after it was pronounced, a lot of ink is still being spilled over the June 15th 1962 ruling of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, on both sides of the much-disputed border between Cambodia and Thailand. This comes just as Cambodia's application to list Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site may be about to come to an agreement, within twenty days or so. After several months of heated debates between the Cambodian and Thai parties, both governments are keen to avoid incidents between their respective opposition parties and seem to have officially agreed to take things easy.
Revived tensions
“Khao Phra Viharn”: never will have Thai people heard the Thai equivalent of Preah Vihear so often. Every day, the Thai media put every effort into reporting the slightest declaration made by the authorities and lobbies from both countries on the sensitive topic of the temple's listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The controversy was dug up in February 2008, hours after Cambodia's application in Paris to register the Hindu temple on the famous UNESCO list. The delays were respected and the application filled in with precision, and was received without any problems by the UN body. But the party is not over since Cambodia's neighbour seems to continue spoiling the sport when others want to keep running the site in common management.
Phay Siphann, spokesperson for the Council of Ministers of Cambodia and in charge of this matter, claims that “as we are the owners of the temple of Preah Vihear, we are in our right to fill in and send applications.” However, up to the present day, Thailand's opposition has been enough to make Cambodia's attempts fail, since its first application concerning Preah Vihear dates back to 2005.
“Not an inch of territory”
Since February, declarations have come one after the other, particularly through the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Noppadon Pattama. On April 10th, the Thai Minister handed over to the Ambassador of Cambodia in Thailand an official letter of protest against the sending “of military and police forces” in the controversial area, situated just at the bottom of the temple. Shortly after, he publicly conceded that he was determined not to see “Thailand yield an inch of territory to Cambodia”.
On the Cambodian side, official declarations have become more and more scarce and the authorities simply decided to constantly remind Thailand of their sovereignty on the temple, acknowledged since 1962. So... the presence of Cambodia armed forces in Preah Vihear is just a misunderstanding, according to Hang Soth, general manager of the Preah Vihear National Authority. Indeed, these men and women, dressed in uniforms, were innocently visiting the sanctuary, enjoying a break on the occasion of Hun Sen's inauguration of the building site of the new route which will link the administrative centre of the province to its eponymous temple on April 5th.
And how about the first exhibition relating to archives and documents about Preah Vihear, presented in Phnom Penh on June 15th on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the ruling of the International Court of Justice? The answer is: it is a peaceful, educational and cultural event, simply organised by the NGO Khmer Culture Support Committee and kindly approved by the authorities of Phnom Penh.
A diplomatic battle
These declarations and micro-events, whether they be official or not, essentially come as a back up to an ongoing battle fought on the diplomatic level. The commissions led by Virasakdi Futrakul, the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Sok An, the Cambodia Minister for the Council of Ministers met and thought the subject over on May 6th in Phnom Penh. On May 22nd, it was this time in Paris, with Noppadon Pattama, the Thai Minister for Foreign Affairs, and UNESCO representatives, that Sok An discussed the matter. These talks were successful and allowed Cambodia to win Thailand's support with a view to submit an application to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. The Kingdom of Cambodia, in return for this, committed firstly to presenting an application that would only concern the temple itself and not its surrounding areas, and secondly to submitting a restricted survey of the area that is bound to receive the precious UN label.
A restricted map
On June 5th, Cambodia kept its promise and handed over a reviewed and proofread survey that only included the sanctuary of Preah Vihear and, according to Phay Siphann, an area of about “98 feet around its base, excluding the 1.8mi² controversial zone mentioned in the initial document. In the eyes of Cambodia's authorities, this change of strategy is not a step backward but rather forward, which will eventually lead to the acquisition of the prestigious label.
The spokesperson for the Council of Ministers added that “first and foremost, the temple has to be listed as a World Heritage site. At the time of the talks with the UNESCO in Paris, the question of the border was not on the agenda”.
To Moeung Sonn, president of the Khmer Culture Support Committee and of the National Association of Tourism Enterprises, “this is a clever strategy. If we had waited for both questions to be solved [Preah Vihear's listing and the border issue] it would have taken a long time. For the time being, let us concentrate on the temple's listing. We will deal with the border issue later. Acting this way allows us to develop the site. If it is still not part of the World Heritage list, this will create financial insecurity and will be damaging for its conservation.”
“A very delicate matter”
What is the true legitimacy of the new map submitted by Cambodia and unveiled between July 2nd and July 10th on the occasion of the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec City? And what will be its consequences on future negotiations on the border issue? Finding out more seems difficult. Var Kim Hong, head of the Cambodia Border Committee, insisted without giving any further comments that “we must do absolutely nothing that may have an incidence on the border between the two countries. Neither Ty Yath, president of the Preah Vihear National Authority, Chuch Phoeung, councillor for this institution and Secretary of State in the Ministry of Culture of the Thai embassy in Cambodia agreed to talk about the issue.
According to the English language daily newspapers The Bangkok Post and The Nation, the new map, which should be approved by the government of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in the following days was not enough to pacify the virulent democratic opposition. The very next day after the handing in of the document, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, leader of the opposition, denounced a “betrayal to the nation” and the “sale of Thai sovereignty” and asserted that supporting Cambodia's request would lead Thailand to lose its right to claim any sovereignty on the temple and therefore, would also mean losing the right to review the 1962 “unfair and illegitimate ruling”...
Those arguments seem to be informally taken up by military protagonists, inasmuch that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to remind the officers that the government, and the government solely, was authorised to express an opinion on this topic, which only deals with the sanctuary of Preah Vihear, in front of the media.
Is there petrol lying under the venerable stones?
The temple, and nothing else. Both parties now seem to be singing on the same hymn sheets, but the time it took and the heavy sledding of the whole matter, which had already been settled more than four decades ago suggest that lengthy discussions have yet to come in the future. Beyond the redefinition of territorial boundaries, undertaken by a mixed team when both sides agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in 2000, lies the tricky coastal disagreement, as well as the petrol argument, which are still unsolved. The Thai opposition party accused its government of having sold off Preah Vihear in exchange for concessions on gas and petrol, which former deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could be in charge of. Those concerned denied any involvement and today, the Cambodian and Thai persons in charge proclaimed with confidence that all those cases were independent. Religious and cultural heritage, nationalism and petrol... all of this could well create an explosive mix.
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