Magnum Blog / The Khmer Chronicles / Issue Nr 11: A window of opportunity

The Khmer Chronicles / Issue Nr 11: A window of opportunity

Nothing much happening in the Middle East? No major earthquake around? Paris Hilton is flying below the radar? The Olympics have not started yet? THIS is the right time then!!! On July 15th, two weeks before parliamentary elections in Cambodia, Thai soldiers show up at Preah Vihear, an 11th century temple, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site a few days before, and located smack on a disputed border. Friction, soldiers, guns, an incredibly spectacular setting, historic tensions flaring up to extremes and possibly degenerating into a full-scale war. A conjunction of history, nationalism and interior politics looking for the outside enemy: the perfect scenario to wake up dozing news freaks and give them something to stay alert during their holidays. The eyes of the world will focus on Cambodia, on my backyard. An opportunity not to be missed...

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© John Vink/Magnum Photos Right... It takes between ten and 12 hours by various taxis and motorbikes to cover the 250 km or so from Phnom Penh, which says a lot about how to get fresh troops up there (there is a neatly drawn tarmac road on the thai side of the border)... Once at the temple the situation looks like anything but a potential battlefield: for sure there are lots of guns and close to 2000 military around, but Thai and Khmer soldiers are just meters apart, talking or just staring at each other. Because they know each other since a long time. 70% of the cambodian soldiers there are former Khmer Rouge who protected Ta Mok in this same area until ten years ago, before being integrated in the RCAF (Royal Cambodian Armed Forces), and they had many contacts with the thai border units which today have set up camp in the bushes around the temple. Many of the thai soldiers are Khmer Surin and speak cambodian.

Nigel Amies

Forgive me my unfashionable lack of sympathy for the Cambodian position on the Phear Vihear issue. They've been squeazing every last drop of that sentiment plus the cash from the overly indulgent international community for far too long - especially the pathetically wimpish UNESCO. Not satisfied with what hasn't already been looted from Ankor Wat and allowing the income from that to disappear into the pockets of Hun Seng's gang of theives and what I understand to be the Vietnamese company that runs Ankor as a concession, they also want to claim every other piece of rock that displays even the slightest Khmer influence.
Cry baby cry. Of course the Thais are no paragon of virtue either being the destination for most looted cultural artefacts in the region. But when I see what has become of Siem Reap (Siam Conqoured or Defeated! - a nice way to keep old wounds open), and the crass commericalisation of Ankor, I'd say the Thais might just - and only just - be the better caretakers of Phear Vhear. And if you look at the geography, seems they have a reasonable claim to it too.

Herve

As Nigel writes, the thais are not known for crass commercialization of their national heritage...

;-))))

Eva

Mr. Vink, I've been following your Khmer Chronicles for a while, and find it interesting to compare history (backwards) while reading late Tiziano Terzani's last book, his dispatches from Cambodia.

Don't think that history will ever settle though, to many human beings on this earth to allow this..

Best, Eva

John Vink

Nigel, Hervé,

None of the protagonists involved here are angels. Agreed. Who would want to be an angel in politics anyhow? The difference between genuine pride of one's past and the manipulation of historical facts by ultranationalists is hard to detect sometims, partly because political/ personal agendas are involved and partly because it deals with raw emotions linking to one's childhood. As a rule of thumb I always find nationalism suspicious though, mostly because it goes together with intolerance. That is exactly what my next stories will be about in a year or so when I'll go back to Belgium. Where do you draw the line between cultural identity and nationalism? What IS Belgium anyhow? But that is for later, for the Belgian Chronicles ;-))

Eva,

I am extremely flattered that you would compare whatever I am offering here with Tiziano Terzani's writings.

Korin

The daily Magnum Images collections posted on State.com mean so much to me, thank you for the beauty, history, and experience. Your contribution to my knowledge of the world grows and grows.

John Vink

That'll be Slate.com AND that'll be a big kudo to the producer: Magnum's Zena Koo

Andrew Pope

Great stuff. Seems the battle for Preah Vihear is heating up again as of yesterday. I expect there'll be more anti-Thai riots in PP any day now...

If you're not sick of photos of Cambodia, you might check out primitivenerd.com.....

Cheers.