To most casual bystanders, who aren’t Thai, it’s obvious Cambodia owns the temple. Not only was the temple built by the Khmer in Khmer style, it was also built on land that had always belonged to the Khmer until Thailand took it over in one of their incursions, into what is now Cambodia, a few hundred years ago.
Cassandra James, Associated Content
I ran into this commentary on the recent Cambodian-Thai spat and thought you guys might be interested.
According to CNN, Thailand has ordered its Ambassador to Cambodia to return home after it learned that deposed Thai ex-Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had been named as an economic adviser to the Cambodian government. And, according to the Bangkok Post, the situation between Thailand and Cambodia is rapidly deteriorating, to the point that Thailand is now considering cancelling a memorandum of understanding on overlapping maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Thailand. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has also told the Foreign Ministry to take any steps necessary to downgrade dimplomatic relations with Cambodia. As this ‘tit for tat’ fight continues, how did this all happen and which country will back down first?
Preah Vihear Temple
To understand where the situation really began, you have to be aware of the ongoing dispute over an 11th century temple that sits squarely on land owned by Cambodia, but with the only access to the temple on land owned by Thailand. An agreement by Thailand saying Cambodia owned the land was made many years ago, so the Cambodians in all fairness probably felt the situation was solved. Things flared up again however last year, when Cambodia applied for the 11th century temple to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This sparked Thailand’s interest in the temple and a war of words, followed by a stand-off between the military of the two countries, occurred on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. To most casual bystanders, who aren’t Thai, it’s obvious Cambodia owns the temple. Not only was the temple built by the Khmer in Khmer style, it was also built on land that had always belonged to the Khmer until Thailand took it over in one of their incursions, into what is now Cambodia, a few hundred years ago. Ownership of the land went backwards and forwards, but has been held by Cambodia for much of the last century. Therefore, in the eyes of just about every international body, the temple belongs to Cambodia.Fast forward to 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra the then Prime Minister of Thailand was kicked out of office in a bloodless coup. With talk of ‘immense corruption’ much of the country believed this to be the reason for the coup, only to find out later it was more likely as a result of Thaksin becoming too powerful, a fact the Thai military did not like.
Regardless of whether Thaksin was corrupt, which many people still believe he was, he was the most effective Prime Minister Thailand had ever had when it came to managing the Thai economy. As a true business man with a natural sense of how to run a country, Thaksin was able to take Thailand’s economic future and improve it faster than anyone thought possible. Once he was deposed however, the military came into political power and destroyed the Thai economy in just over a year. Three years later, Thailand’s economy is still limping along, a fact not lost upon the millions of poorer Thais who support Thaksin 100% and want him back in political office.
Cambodia, probably realizing Thaksin is an economic genius, and one who could benefit Cambodia’s economic future, jumped on the chance to offer him a position as economic advisor and, quite frankly, you can’t blame them. Add onto that the opportunity to anger the present Thai government even more by hiring Thaksin and therefore elevating his legitimacy in the eyes of many Thais and foreigners, and Cambodia took it.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s government is doing a lot of chest beating and appealing to the international community to pressure Cambodia to extradite Thaksin if he arrives in Cambodia. As most of the international community however were against the coup that evicted Thaksin from political office in the first place, it’s highly unlikely they will.
As to which country will back down first? If the last couple of years of Cambodia vs Thailand is anything to go by, neither country will. Cambodia however seems to be in the right more than Thailand does in this case, so only time will tell what will happen.
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