Looking at the Preah Vihear Conflict in the Light of History

Op-Ed by PIERRE-YVES CLAIS

La version francaise se trouve en fin du texte anglais

Reading the English-language press in Bangkok one is frequently surprised by the lack of objective reporting regarding the dispute over the Preah Vihear temple.

As a matter of fact, this Thai press is immensely unbalanced and will even go as far as to say that the Cambodians are the true troublemakers as well as the first to shoot.

A personal fondness I have for truth as well as the friendship I have for Cambodia both urge me to clarify some historic points between these two countries.

Toward the end of the ninth century people coming from Southern China started to establish themselves inside the Khmer Empire to the north of the Dangrek mountain range. They would be known as the Siamese and later on, the Thais.

They progressively strengthened themselves until the area they inhabited became the Thai Kingdom of Ayuthaya.

This Kingdom would destroy Angkor in two waves: Once in 1351 and another time in 1431, each time deporting a large part of the Khmer population and imposing its sovereignty over Cambodia, from which it annexed entire provinces in the years to come.

Like an "Atlantis in waiting," swallowed to the northwest by Siam and to the east by Vietnam, Cambodia was on its way to complete extinction.

Aware of the situation, King Ang Duong solicited in 1853 the intervention of France, which was at that time ruled by Napoleon III.

The Siamese were informed of the alliance about to be made between France and Cambodia and succeeded in making it fail. But in 1863, King Norodom eventually signed a protectorate treaty with France.

The English influence was strong in Siam, but the Franco-British agreement of July 14, 1884 had already recognized the Mekong Basin as a French-owned zone. This would not prevent the Siamese from cutting off the basin and advancing toward Laos.

In 1893, the French had had enough of these gradual advances and sent their warships up the Menam River to Bangkok. France thus blocked any trade from reaching the shores, which obliged the Siamese court to renounce all of their claims to the left bank of the Mekong River. Meanwhile, France kept the provinces of Chantaboun and Paknam as hostages. Some French naval troops occupied these regions until the Convention of 1904 gave back the Province of Koh Kong and Steung Treng to Cambodia. Other areas included Melou Prei and Tonle Repou, which were left by Siam to Laos and finally given back to Cambodia by France.

The Convention of 1904 led to the Treaty of 1907, which was drawn up by France and Siam, where in exchange for the return of the provinces of Trat, Chantaboun and the territory of Dan Sai, which is in the current province of Loei, King Chulalongkorn of Siam (Rama V) left the provinces of Battambang, Sisophon and Siem Reap to France, who gave them back to Cambodia.

When King Sisowath was finally able to go to Angkor and repossess a land that had always been undoubtedly Khmer, he declared that this was the biggest glory of his reign.

But the Siamese would not give up.

Taking advantage of the French defeat against Germany during World War II, the Siamese immediately violated the pact of non-aggression signed with France on June 12, 1940.

The Thai Prime Minister, Field Marshall Phibun Songkhram, organized a series of nationalist and anti-French demonstrations in Bangkok. Then, the border disputes multiplied in number along the banks of the Mekong. During daytime, the Thai air force, superior in number, bombed Vientiane, Sisophon and Battambang without any objection from abroad. The French air force attempted to strike back, but the damage inflicted was minimal.

In December 1940, Thailand then occupied the provinces of Pak-Lay and Bassac. At the beginning of January 1941, Bangkok men launched an offensive on Laos and Cambodia. The Franco-Indochinese resistance was in place, but the majority of the military units were overwhelmed by the better-equipped Thai forces (20 French tanks vs. 134 Thai tanks.)

The Thais quickly occupied Laos.

However, French resistance in Cambodia was more resilient. By Jan 16, France launched a large counter attack led by the 5th REI (a regiment belonging to the French Foreign Legion) on the villages of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav, where the fiercest fighting of the war took place.

The French counterattack was blocked and ended in a retreat, but the Thais could no longer pursue the French forces as their tanks had been nailed to the ground by the French anti-tank canons. For lack of means, these very canons had been pulled by buffaloes to the battlefield.

As the ground situation was critical for France, Admiral Decoux gave the green light to execute an operation against the Thai Navy. The order was given to the available French navy to attack the Gulf of Thailand. On the morning of Jan 17, 1941, "the Provisional Group" (a force assembled for that very occasion) attacked the Thai Navy at Koh Chang. Although the Thai ships were far superior in number, the operation of the French navy managed to bring home a comprehensive victory.

After the battle, a large part of the Thai navy was destroyed. But on January 24, the final air battle took place while a Thai air raid attacked Siem Reap Airport.

Japan intervened quickly in the conflict in favor of the Thais and imposed an armistice followed by a peace treaty causing France to relinquish the Cambodian provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap as well as the Lao provinces of Champassak and Sayaburi on May 9. These territories were more than 50,000 km squared in size and inhabited by 420,000 people.

These territories annexed from Cambodia were, however, handed back by Thailand on November 1947 under international pressure (Treaty of Washington).

But from 1953, although Cambodia had only just achieved its independence from France, Thai troops invaded Preah Vihear and hoisted their national flag above the temple. Nine years later in 1962, the clever mind of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk paved the way for obtaining an international decision at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the Thais were obliged to retreat from the Khmer temple.

Unfortunately, the respite would be short lived: War broke out shortly after and Preah Vihear was again in the mix, the temple being occupied by successive armies fighting each other.

A little while after the defeat of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Thailand was submerged with Cambodian refugees and, to show to the world that it couldn't cope without international aid Thailand planned what could be considered a staged atrocity.

On the morning of Friday June 8, 1979, 110 trucks parked in front of the Nong Chan Refugee Camp, which housed tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees.

Thai officials told the refugees that they were going to be transferred to another, better equipped camp. In reality, these survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide were being sent back to hell.

Far away from Nong Chan, the site of Preah Vihear had been chosen with a precise goal: To seek revenge for the loss of the temple in 1962. With a high cliff covered in jungle and thousands of land mines laid around the temple, the outcome of the forced expulsion of those thousands of Cambodian refugees could be guessed easily.

The unfortunate refugees were taken out of the trucks under the constant threat of weapons. Horrible scenes took place. All night long, truckloads after truckload of Cambodians were pushed – after first being despoiled of all their possessions – like livestock between two rows of soldiers through a narrow passage. The soldiers used their weapons as sticks and shot at those who refused to file down the narrow passage.

Terrorized by the thought of stepping on one of the many mines, laid previously there by the Khmer Rouge, the refugees desperately attempted to stay on the track. But the Thais continuously pushed more refugees along the path and people were forced to walk through the minefields.

Both thirsty and hungry, the survivors of this atrocity needed three days to cross the immense mine field filled with decaying corpses and injured victims squirming in pain.

One estimates that over 45,000 Cambodians were forced out of Thailand in this manner. For several days, the refugees were transported into hell by a huge number of trucks that dumped them at Preah Vihear. It is still impossible to evaluate the number of casualties from this expulsion, as the Khmer Rouge who waited to greet the refugees did not keep records.

All too often this awful page of history is ignored, one retains only this "Amazing Thailand" image in today's tourist brochures.

The wrongdoings of the Thais against the Khmers should be remembered, not to set the two populations against each other but so that justice can at last be achieved.

Let it be said that Cambodians don't attack anyone. They know too well that the balance of power is not in their favor. Still they vow to defend their country through courage and determination-they have no other choice.

But Thailand has too many internal political problems not to try and exploit the myth of a "sacred national alliance" against its barbaric neighbors, and the deaths of the past will change nothing in it.

This historical tragedy is unfortunately far from over and there is no happy ending in sight.

The Americans dislike Prime Minister Hun Sen too much to pressure their Thai partners into a peaceful solution. And it is unlikely that the French will send their warships against Bangkok again...

Pierre-Yves Clais was a former UN peacekeeper in Cambodia (1992). He currently owns Terre Rouge Lodge with his wife in the Ratanakiri.