Khmer Lands Lost to Thailand: Cambodia Must Be Firm on the Issue of Preah Vihear

Click on picture to enlarge. (Map courtesy of Mr. Thhai Makarar).

“Cambodia should not accept anything less than the areas’ pre-1958 boundaries, before Preah Vihear temple was occupied by Thailand, or what was judged by the court in The Hague in 1962.”

Editorial by Khmerization: - It is with great sadness to hear that the issue of the Preah Vhihear Temple has not been put to rest and still drag on, 46 years after the dispute has been judged and presumed settled in the International Court of Justice in The Hague (read about the upcoming negotiation in Paris).
It is even with great sadness to view a map showing that the areas surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple had been encroached significantly by the Thai side since 1954 (see attached map and read related article here). The map itself confirmed the suspicions and established views that the areas had been significantly encroached by the Thai side. In fact, as shown in the map, Thailand had undeniably encroached deep inside Cambodia.
Viewing the attached map, one has a sense that Cambodia had been eternally violated and repeatedly raped by our powerful neighbours. Cambodia’s territorial boundaries, both east and west, have shrunk by the day and it seemed that our present government had not done enough to protect our territorial integrity. I hope our leaders, in particular Prime Minister Hun Sen, will wake up to the fact.
It is a concern also that the Cambodian delegation to the upcoming Paris talks would be pressured to accept the Thai demands. Thailand originally proposed that Preah Vihear should be jointly listed or that Cambodia must cede some disputed surrounding territories to Thailand before it stops blocking Cambodia‘s application to list the temple.
Cambodia should not accept anything less than the areas’ pre-1958 boundaries, before Preah Vihear temple was occupied by Thailand, or what was judged by the court in The Hague in 1962. With proof of the Thai encroachments in hands, the Cambodian delegation to the Paris negotiation should not be complacent, must be forceful, must be well equipped and well prepared to present Cambodia’s case concisely with documented evidence and concrete proof that the surrounding areas around Preah Vihear Temple are Cambodian territories and that Cambodia has every right to list them on the World Heritage List without any interferences from Thailand.
Cambodia should not be intimidated in to use a 2002 agreement signed with Thailand. Cambodia must be firm and proof and documents to use in the negotiation must be maps from the 1907 treaty, maps from the 1950s and 1960s, or maps that were deposited at the United Nations before 1970. To agree to use maps from the 2002 agreement with Thailand would be a surrender of our territorial integrity to Thailand. And that would be a tragedy for Cambodia. //