Written by DAP NEWS -- Thursday, 10 September 2009
The situation at Veal Entry temple at the Cambodia-Thai border is still normal though tense, a high-ranking Cambodian officer said on Wednesday.
The situation at Veal Entry temple at the Cambodia-Thai border is still normal though tense, a high-ranking Cambodian officer said on Wednesday.
The clarification follows rumors that both nations’ soldiers stationed around Veal Intry (Eagle Field) temple were readying for battle.
“The situation is still normal in here and the soldiers stationing here are not facing off against one another,” Nak Vong, Veal Intry temple Cambo- dian commander-in-chief told DAP News Cambodia.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, nearly 10 Thai soldiers holding one piece of wire and hammer closed the road to Veal Intry temple. Cambodian soldiers intervened, according to the latest news reports from the area.
“Just a moment ago, one Thai soldier pickup came to pick up and drive those soldiers back to Thailand,” one soldier told DAP News Cambodia.
Cambodian experts on Tuesday expressed dismay over Thai claims that Cambodian officials appointed to look after Khmer temples lack skills.
Thai Arts General Department Director Kreang Krai told the Thai media that there had been some difficulties of his group in looking after Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple for more than a year as two both sides have dug in soldiers at the border. In response, Hang Sot, Cambo-dian Preah Vihear general-director, told DAP News Cambodia on Tuesday that “this is the raising of Thailand to claim that Cambodia does not have the ability to look after all Cambo-dian temples by itself.”
He called the claims “completely groundless,” as “We can look after our selves effectively.”
The Thais, historically a relative newcomer to the Southeast Asia region after being displaced from Southern China, “do not have any ancestral any living temples to their children,” Hang Sot claimed.
Preah Vihear temple has indeed suffered damage recently—from Thai bullets and shrapnel fired during two skirmishes with Cambodia that resulting in several deaths and many injuries. The previous Thai Government supported Cambodia’s effort to inscribe Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site, in addition to the wealth of internationally recognized documents and maps that clearly show that the land belongs to Cambodia.
Ros Chandarabot, a Cambodian historical expert, told DAP News Cambodia that the temple is in Cambodia so “we can look after it by ourselves.”
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