The Fight for Preah Vihear
For the past several years, Cambodia and Thailand have fought for the land surrounding one of the area’s oldest landmarks: the Preah Vihear temple. In a debate that began in the late 19th century, the two actors are currently warring over, not the temple itself – which lies in Cambodia’s borders – but over the land surrounding the temple. Because of two specific institutions, International Justice Court and UNESCO, along with both actors’ interest in power through security, material welfare gained through having more land and through tourism benefits of having a UNESCO World Heritage Site on their soil, and finally through the ideological goals of containing a religious temple so old and important, Cambodia and Thailand find themselves fighting a war, even today, over an 11th century building, and a small amount of land.
The Preah Vihear temple was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice by a vote of nine to three. This ruling was based off of a map created in 1907, that showed the border of the two countries following a watershed for dozens of miles, the agreed border between the countries. On this map however, at the point of the temple, the border swerved into another direction, away from the still-present watershed. Thailand was angered by the 1962 ruling, as the map used did now show the agreed-upon borders between itself and Cambodia. Thailand did hand over the temple, but did not relinquish the surrounding land, and claimed that the border was never officially marked at that point. In more recent years, the issue has resurfaced because of a Cambodian application in 2008, saying that they rightfully owned the land surrounding the temple, causing Cambodia to withdraw and resubmit its application, this time only requesting the temple become a World Heritage Site. Thailand still did not agree to this, as the only way to easily access the temple was through Thailand; the Cambodian side of the disputed land is thick rainforest. Nevertheless, the Preah Vihear temple became a World Heritage Site on July 28th, 2008.
For the two countries, Cambodia and Thailand, it is possible to reach an agreement. They could stop fighting a war today, and agree upon boundaries, either through bargaining or cooperation. If Cambodia were to take the temple, and Thailand were to claim the land surrounding the temple, the two could list the Preah Vihear as a jointly-owned World Heritage Site. Since the only way to the temple is through Thailand, that country is going to get most of the tourism benefits, along with the benefits of owning more land. Cambodia would have the religious site, their name would remain on the World Heritage Site roster, along with Thailand’s, and the war would be over. This is an example of what I see as the best possible outcome for both countries. If the fighting were to continue however, I can only see bargaining as an option. Bargaining has failed in the past for Cambodia and Thailand, but a successful bargain would have to be agreed on by both parties, as it usually is by most warring actor sets, after both parties are tired and/or near dead from war. In this situation, one will be left with less than what they entered the war with. Thailand may gain everything: the land, the temple, the W.H.S. title. They again, the Cambodians may do the very same thing. UNESCO might even retract the World Heritage Site title. Many warring entities often refuse to cooperate because they feel that they can get something even better if they keep fighting and win the bargaining stage. If they do reach the bargaining stage however, the only have a small chance of winning everything, if that! This depends entirely on how many actors there are, how much material good and how many lives have been lost warring – a country that “wins” the bargaining may have still lost trillions of dollars and many, many troops. Lives have been lost in the war over Preah Vihear, and citizens have been killed. Even recently, in early February of 2011, Thai officials visited Cambodia to negotiate the dispute. During this time, there was a clash between troops and causalities occurred on both sides.
This international war started as no more than a “he said/she said” argument: Thai soldiers claim Cambodians shot first, and Cambodians claim the Thai troops ruined the stones on a wing of the temple by shooting at it, before the Cambodians ever fired a bullet. The real conflict began with a problem of commitment, however. The Thailand government originally had no issue with the revised application to the UNESCO by Cambodia. It was the Thai people who pressured the government to reclaim the lands and the temple. With the pressure coming from the people, the Thailand government was forced to break the agreement they had with Cambodia to make the temple a Cambodian World Heritage Site. The two have not reached the point of bargaining or cooperating yet because they are so tied up in fighting each other. Neither side will give up and agree to bargain because they have invested so much in the war already.
The fight over Preah Vihear is not simply a fight for a building that it can appear to be at first glance. Nor is it only a fight for sacred grounds. Although it is both of those things, it encompasses so much more. These two countries, Cambodia and Thailand, are fighting for power, land and revenue, and for a religious temple so old and sacred, it is currently one of only a very few World Heritage cites of southeast Asia. This 11th century is only part of what is sending these two nations into battle.
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| A picture of the Preah Vihear temple |
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