Aerial view of Preah Vihear temple.Sanjib Kr Baruah,
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 09, 2011
With tension palpable along the Thai-Cambodia border, regional grouping ASEAN has proposed a meeting between the two countries on March 24-25 to resolve the vexed border issue that centers around the stunning 900-year-old stunning Preah Vihear temple complex dedicated to Shiva, one of the trinity of Hindu Gods. It is a temple that architect Divay Gupta helped restore.
Understandably Gupta is a worried man. "I was there in January last year and have been going there on and off for the last five years. I have heard there has been some damage on the temple. It is already very fragile and there is threat of the entire structure collapsing," he told HT.
As an international expert under a UNESCO project, Gupta had helped prepare the management plan for the temple complex. The effort led to the listing of the monument as a world heritage site on July 7, 2008, sparking off a decades-long dispute that led to Thai and Cambodian troops exchanging machine gun and artillery fire that has resulted in many deaths—both of soldiers and civilians—besides leading to the displacement of thousands.
Heavily landmined in the aftermath of the decades-long war in Cambodia, the border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated.
The present dispute has its roots in 2008 when anti-government protesters in Thailand vehemently criticised the Thai regime for backing Cambodia's bid to list the site as a world heritage site.
Contending claims to the Shiva temple and its surrounding area have stirred nationalist passion in the two countries for generations.
More than a decade ago, the 11th century temple area was under the control of the remnants of Pol Pot's guerrilla army, the Khmer Rouge. It predates the famous Angkor Wat temple complex by more than 100 years.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice had awarded the 4.6 sq km area comprising the temple and its precincts to Cambodia, irking Thailand no end, whose military regime had organised a fund-raiser where every citizen donated 1 baht to pay for the Thai legal effort at The Hague.
Situated on a hillock, the temple is mainly accessible from the Thai side as it was land-mined from the Cambodian side by Khmer Rouge guerrillas besides being a very steep 600-metre climb.
The descent from the temple has a bloody history with thousands having been blown to bits in 1979 when Thai soldiers forced some 45,000 refugees to climb down the mined precipice to Cambodia.
5 comments:
Thank you Sanjib for exposing the Siem sheer "savagery". Good article. This is the first article from an outsider of (Cambodian-Thai) that mention the 4.6sq km and the temple in it. Another word. 4.6sq km is a Siem fabrication. Good job Sanjib
Khmerization,
I agree with 11:32 AM on the fact of the 4.6 square km area of the Preah Vihear Temple mentioned in this article.
Could you kindly post this article on the KI site as well, please?
Thank you very much.
Anet Khmer
Le rappel de l'envoi des réfugiés cambodgiens en 1979 dans le champs de mine , était rarement évoqué , par les journaux .
Les thailandais , malgré leur religion boudhisme , comme nous , n'hésitaient pas à refouler ces dizaines de milliers khmers à mourir dans le champ de mine .Or les action non humanitaires des gouvernants thais à l'époque 1979 , méritaient d'être jugé par le Tribunal International.
On se souvenait , à cet époque : suite à l'arrivée massive des réfugiés khmers à la frontière , La Thailande n'avait pas hésité à renvoyer sous les rafales de leur fusils , des milliers de khmers dans le champs de mine de Pnnom Dangrêk .On peut trouver encore des vrais témoins de survivants à l'heure actuel.
Les thais avaient pris en otage ces vies contre les aides internationales.
On voit que ces thailandais , normalement " respect de Bouddha " comme nous , n'ont rien à faire de leur culte , à part des $ .
Tous ces barbaries , juste pour menacer les opinions internationales et obtenir des millions de dollars des pays riches .
Des vie humaines , des milliers et des milliers , transportaient dans des camions et refoulaient sous les rafales des fusils M-16 , dans les champs de mines à l'époque , c'était triste !
Voilà , les thais ! Leur caprice est pour l'argent .Ils n'ont rien à faire de l'humanité .Ils font tous pour l'argent .
Maintenant le nouveau jeu : prendre en otage Preah Vihear à l'UNESCO .
On doit rester vigilant , ils sont capables de détruire ces arts anciens pour des millions de dollars .
Des vies humaines (45.000) ou détruire Preah vihear , ne changent pas beaucoup pour les siems . Leurs buts : des $ , pour les gouvernants thai.
This is a very fair article from an outsider. The 4.6 sq. km2 has been judged to belong to Cambodia. Thailand fabricated the "dispute" because it wants to share tourist dollars earned from Preah Vihear temple with Cambodia.
"In 1962, the International Court of Justice had awarded the 4.6 sq km area comprising the temple and its precincts to Cambodia, irking Thailand no end,"
MY COMMENTS: Thank you Hindustan Times for reporting the truth. You are the first news to come out straight. All Thai news media, i.e. Bankok Post and The Nation in every articles writen on Cambodian's Preah Vihear Temple they always mention the 4.6km as a "dispute" area. They want to keep it that way to instill the ideas in everyone's mind. But the world is no fools. There is no 4.6km dispute area. The land belongs to Cambodia -- the access to her very own temple Preah Vihear from her side of the border.
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