Jonathan Manthorphe
Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Several dozen Thai troops crossed into neighbouring Cambodia on Tuesday as a smouldering dispute over ownership of a 900-year-old temple has been fanned into flames by political turmoil in both countries.
It appears that up to 100 Thai soldiers were detained by Cambodian troops after crossing the border at the site of the Preah Vihear temple.
Cambodian forces have been ordered not to shoot unless fired upon, but one Thai soldier was badly injured by a landmine.
The Thai troops were part of an effort by local governor Seni Chittakasem to gain the release of three Thais -- a man, a woman and a monk -- who had crossed the border to protest Cambodia's ownership of the 12th-century Hindu temple.
Ownership of Preah Vihear, which was awarded to Cambodia by the World Court in 1962, has been a matter of dispute between the two countries for 100 years.
The issue resurfaced recently because of controversy surrounding the listing of the temple last week by the United Nations as a world heritage site.
In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen is in the midst of a election campaign to secure a return to the power he first achieved as a surrogate for invading Vietnamese forces in the 1980s.
Hun Sen is never shy about using any weapon that comes to hand to undermine his opponents' campaigns and the Preah Vihear UN listing, together with Thailand's evident discomfiture, have been a great political gift.
But political agitation of the Preah Vihear issue is most potent in Thailand where the government elected in December is floundering under a barrage of street demonstrations, an economy in turmoil, and a re-invigorated parliamentary opposition.
Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama, was even forced to resign last week over the Preah Vihear temple issue.
Noppadon quit after the Thai Constitutional Court ruled he acted unconstitutionally when he endorsed Cambodia's application to have the temple registered as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
But Noppadon was also the lawyer for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has large business interests in Cambodia. Critics say Noppadon's attempt to support Cambodia's campaign for Preah Vihear's listing by the UN was in reality an effort to protect Thaksin's business interests.
Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in September 2006. The coup was mounted by traditionalists with strong loyalty to Thailand's monarchy who disliked Thaksin's presidential style, which stems from the self-assurance of having built the country's largest corporate conglomerate.
Thaksin and his party were barred from contesting elections when democracy returned last year. However, the election victor, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his People Power Party, are generally held to be fronts for Thaksin.
Although Cambodia's ancient Khmer empire and its glorious temples such as Preah Vihear and the more famous Ankor Wat complex are symbols of Southeast Asian culture, the dominant countries of the region for hundreds of years have been Thailand and Vietnam.
The claim to own Preah Vihear and even Ankor Wat held by many Thais is based on Thailand's overthrow of the Khmer empire six hundred years ago.
In 2003 an alleged comment by a famous Thai actress Sunawan Khongying, who was very popular in Cambodia, that she would not visit Cambodia until Ankor Wat was returned to Thai ownership led to days of rioting.
In the Cambodian capital of Phnom Pehn, mobs linked to Hun Sen's ruling party burned the Thai embassy and businesses owned by then Thai prime minister Thaksin.
It was widely believed, however, that the true reason for the anti-Thai riots was that Hun Sen was miffed when Sunawan turned down his suggestion that she become his mistress.
It was the French colonial masters of Cambodia who 100 years ago first fixed the border that put Preah Vihear just inside Cambodia.
Thailand felt cheated and in 1941 fought its only official war of the 20th century against French colonial troops over the line of the border.
Thailand's defeat in that war and the failure of successive Bangkok governments to sustain the claim to Preah Vihear, which has some merit because all the ancient farmland associated with the temple is in Thailand, prompted the World Court to award the temple to Cambodia in 1962.
To reach Jonathan Manthorpe, go to his blog at: www:vancouversun.com/blogs
Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Several dozen Thai troops crossed into neighbouring Cambodia on Tuesday as a smouldering dispute over ownership of a 900-year-old temple has been fanned into flames by political turmoil in both countries.
It appears that up to 100 Thai soldiers were detained by Cambodian troops after crossing the border at the site of the Preah Vihear temple.
Cambodian forces have been ordered not to shoot unless fired upon, but one Thai soldier was badly injured by a landmine.
The Thai troops were part of an effort by local governor Seni Chittakasem to gain the release of three Thais -- a man, a woman and a monk -- who had crossed the border to protest Cambodia's ownership of the 12th-century Hindu temple.
Ownership of Preah Vihear, which was awarded to Cambodia by the World Court in 1962, has been a matter of dispute between the two countries for 100 years.
The issue resurfaced recently because of controversy surrounding the listing of the temple last week by the United Nations as a world heritage site.
In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen is in the midst of a election campaign to secure a return to the power he first achieved as a surrogate for invading Vietnamese forces in the 1980s.
Hun Sen is never shy about using any weapon that comes to hand to undermine his opponents' campaigns and the Preah Vihear UN listing, together with Thailand's evident discomfiture, have been a great political gift.
But political agitation of the Preah Vihear issue is most potent in Thailand where the government elected in December is floundering under a barrage of street demonstrations, an economy in turmoil, and a re-invigorated parliamentary opposition.
Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama, was even forced to resign last week over the Preah Vihear temple issue.
Noppadon quit after the Thai Constitutional Court ruled he acted unconstitutionally when he endorsed Cambodia's application to have the temple registered as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
But Noppadon was also the lawyer for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has large business interests in Cambodia. Critics say Noppadon's attempt to support Cambodia's campaign for Preah Vihear's listing by the UN was in reality an effort to protect Thaksin's business interests.
Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in September 2006. The coup was mounted by traditionalists with strong loyalty to Thailand's monarchy who disliked Thaksin's presidential style, which stems from the self-assurance of having built the country's largest corporate conglomerate.
Thaksin and his party were barred from contesting elections when democracy returned last year. However, the election victor, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his People Power Party, are generally held to be fronts for Thaksin.
Although Cambodia's ancient Khmer empire and its glorious temples such as Preah Vihear and the more famous Ankor Wat complex are symbols of Southeast Asian culture, the dominant countries of the region for hundreds of years have been Thailand and Vietnam.
The claim to own Preah Vihear and even Ankor Wat held by many Thais is based on Thailand's overthrow of the Khmer empire six hundred years ago.
In 2003 an alleged comment by a famous Thai actress Sunawan Khongying, who was very popular in Cambodia, that she would not visit Cambodia until Ankor Wat was returned to Thai ownership led to days of rioting.
In the Cambodian capital of Phnom Pehn, mobs linked to Hun Sen's ruling party burned the Thai embassy and businesses owned by then Thai prime minister Thaksin.
It was widely believed, however, that the true reason for the anti-Thai riots was that Hun Sen was miffed when Sunawan turned down his suggestion that she become his mistress.
It was the French colonial masters of Cambodia who 100 years ago first fixed the border that put Preah Vihear just inside Cambodia.
Thailand felt cheated and in 1941 fought its only official war of the 20th century against French colonial troops over the line of the border.
Thailand's defeat in that war and the failure of successive Bangkok governments to sustain the claim to Preah Vihear, which has some merit because all the ancient farmland associated with the temple is in Thailand, prompted the World Court to award the temple to Cambodia in 1962.
To reach Jonathan Manthorpe, go to his blog at: www:vancouversun.com/blogs
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