Cambodia marks 1-year of temple's landmark status

Taiwan News
http://www.etaiwannews.com

By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press
2009-07-07

Cambodia held nationwide celebrations Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of a U.N. decision to list an ancient temple as a World Heritage Site _ the subject of a heated border dispute with Thailand.
Buddhist temples around the country beat their drums, school bells chimed and students sang Cambodia's national anthem in unison at 11 a.m. _ the time requested by Prime Minister Hun Sen for the national commemoration.

The 11th-century Preah Vihear temple sits on a cliff in a disputed border zone between Thailand and Cambodia. It has been a source of tension and fueled nationalist sentiment on both sides of the border for decades.

Last year, the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO backed Cambodia's bid to list the temple as a world landmark, prompting a flare-up of the long-standing dispute that resulted in both sides rushing troops to the border. Small battles ensued on a few occasions that left at least seven soldiers dead and prompted brief concerns of war.

Thailand claimed that the UNESCO decision undermined its claim to a small amount of adjacent land.

The Thai government issued a request ahead of UNESCO's recent annual meeting to reconsider the listing, a decision the agency put off until early next year.

Thailand's deputy government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut said Tuesday the government had no immediate comment on Cambodia's celebrations but noted that "the listing has reignited an old conflict that is clearly not the purpose of UNESCO."

The border was calm Tuesday but Cambodian troops were on the "highest alert," said Brigadier Gen. Yim Pim, a front-line commander.

"I have ordered troops to be ready for fighting if there is any new entry from the Thai side," he said, contacted by phone.

Both sides routinely blame the other for any skirmishes.

In the capital, Phnom Penh, the mood was jubilant.

"Today is a historic day for us," said Phnom Penh governor Kep Chutema, who presided over a ceremony at Wat Phnom, one of the capital's main Buddhist temples. "We are very proud as Cambodian people."

Several hundred people attended the morning ceremony, with a larger one planned for later in the day at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium.

Cambodia and Thailand share an 800-kilometer (500-mile) land border, much of which has never been clearly demarcated because the countries refer to different maps.

The World Court awarded the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.