Aerial view of Preah Vihear temple.By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC
Tuesday, 05 April 2011
While Cambodia and Thailand continue their protracted dispute over the border, scholars in the US said last week both neighbors should look deeper into their history and remove internal politics to ease the tension.
While Cambodia and Thailand continue their protracted dispute over the border, scholars in the US said last week both neighbors should look deeper into their history and remove internal politics to ease the tension.
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John Burgess, a longtime Washington Post reporter who has written a book about a Khmer temple in modern Thailand, told an audience in Washington last week the current crisis will ease once Thailand’s internal political situation calms and once Cambodia’s system of government opens up.
Burgess, author of “Stories in Stones: The Sdok Kok Thom Inscription and the Enigma of Khmer History,” told the Asian Society the situation would be calmer without Thais “thronging the streets and citing the loss of land to Cambodia” as a point of contention with the ruling administration.
While acknowledging that Thai-Cambodian conflicts have deep roots, he also noted that both countries have little understanding of their related histories. Students in Thailand know little about the history of Angkor Wat, while Cambodians remain unaware of their religious ties to Thailand, he said.
“I’ve always been shocked at how ignorant the two sides are of each other,” said the author, who became interested in the Sdok Kok Thom temple, near Aranyaprathet, Thailand, while covering Cambodian refugees in 1979. “Other than these wars that everybody knows about, there is basically almost zero comprehension on both sides of the border.”
Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak of the Chulalongkorn University, who was a speaker at the discussion, agreed, saying both countries need to rewrite their textbooks and stop stereotyping each other.
“If you take the government and army aside in that area, people are okay,” he said. “They’ve been trading from 1962 to 2008 without a problem. In fact Thais can visit the temple and Cambodians vice versa, and foreign tourists.”
Now, however, troops from both sides are locked in a border standoff, one that has led to skirmishes and killings since 2008. Nationalistic groups in Thailand have seized on the border issue in an attempt to oust different administrations in Thailand since that time, while Cambodian officials have accused Thailand of attempting to take Cambodian land.
Thitinan said Cambodia had become a “pawn” in Thai politics, which are now heading toward an election, with anti-government protesters hoping to oust the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Kem Sos, an independent analyst, agreed.
“There’re a lot of emotion, a lot of muscle, not much wisdom, not much legal procedure to solve the problem,” he said.
6 comments:
what ever so call thai professor you should trace the problems cambodia is not the one ignited the standoff cambodia did not occupied any thai's land thai should re-write theirs textbook not cambodia you moron.
These so called "scholar" are just crook. They are irrevelant. To suggest Thai can visit the temple Cambodians vice versa is absurb. The temple is in Cambodia. To rewrite the texbooks means so far Thai teach their children to be theft?
To solve problem is simple Thai must confess that they stole Cambodian land.
Whatever this professor thought, it is nothing relation between religion and ownership. Even though we might live with Thai or Thais are one of Cambodian people or Khmer Empire, Thailand was not the owner of Preah Vihear and its surrounding area.
The reason is that Thailand consider its self as people who flee from China, while Cambodians or Khmer was an independent state or Empire. Preah Vihear was built before the present of Thai Kingdom. How Thailand proof that that temple belongs to them originally?
It's fortune that Cambodia was given ownership of Preah Vihear by International Court. It bases on fact, not base on wanting.
In Cambodian history, Thailand used to occupy some temples like Preah Vihear and Angkor Wat, but now Cambodia just get those temples back from the invaders. Was Cambodia wrong or invader?
It is just a base of fact. The original owner should be given the ownership of what they built.
It does not matter that who occupied first or occupied second. If they can proof that the thing belongs to them, we should give it to that person/country.
I agreed with Prof. Thitinan that Cambodia has become a pawn of Thai politics. Every time Thailand has internal crisis, Thai politicians always use Cambodian border, especially Preah Vihear temple, as a scapegoat and start picking a fight with Cambodia. This is very dishonest and cheap.
who write this article is stupid and dump as hell. you know why because you know nothing about khmer history and you just learn from the fucking stupid thai professer history lier. you cant trust thai people and thai professer because they alway invade cambodia and claim as them. these thai nation kwown as the nation of theft. every thing they have is stealling from every body and claim as them. thai nation don't have nothing of theit own so stop being beas. fuck off you fucking scholorship of USA fuck off
good people never find the excuse and never use another as an scapegoat only the devious person chose such a way in category thai people devious and cunning always blame other for theirs bad deed.
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