Monday, 20 October 2008

Local people flee amid concern of Cambodian-Thai armed confrontation

www.chinaview.cn
2008-10-20

By Xia Lin, Liu Lu, Long Heng

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Some local residents have been fleeing from the area near Preah Vihear temple amid concern of armed confrontation between Cambodia and Thailand after a deadly clash on the border last week.

"Three members of my family have moved back to Kandal province and I stay here to look after my small souvenir shop in front of the temple," local businessman Srun Sokhorn told Xinhua on Monday.

Some people living at the bottom of the mountain also fled, but some others did not. They watch movies and boxing matches on TV at small cafes, Srun Sokhorn said, adding that about 200 of 319 families still stay here.

"We hope the situation will be normal soon so that I can run my business again," he said.

Local residents are facing shortage of clean water, he said, so they made tent reservoir to collect rain water.

Some children are facing flu from bad weather at the mountain area near the Preah Vihear temple, Kim Ratana, said a doctor at the Preah Vihear provincial health office.

"We are treating a soldier who was infected with malaria," she said.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian and Thai troops have become friendly to each other, after the armed clash killed two Cambodian soldiers and wounded more Thais on Oct. 15 near the Preah Vihear Temple at the border area, officers told Xinhua on Monday.

"They are shaking hands, talking to each other and asking about daily food," said Thol Sovan, deputy military commander of the Cambodian side at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, which is situated on the only way leading to the temple.

They have good relationship and both troops at the pagoda didn't exchange gunfire on Oct. 15, he said.

"The Thai side didn't (dare to) shoot at us here, because we were all around them at that time," he said.

But Thai soldiers elsewhere shot at us, he said, while pointing at newly fired branches of the jack fruit tree in front of the pagoda.

Meanwhile, Thai military major Apichaut Poo Paud told Xinhua that the troops themselves are like brothers and don't have problem with each other.

"We have good cooperation and relationship," he said, adding that 10 Thai soldiers and two interpreters stay in the pagoda compound.

In other places, Cambodia and Thailand are keeping the same number of soldiers, he added.

Srey Doek, regional military commander of Cambodia, told Xinhua that the situation near the temple is now normal and clam.

However, the number of both troops within the territory is roughly estimated at more than one thousand, he added.

After the Oct. 15 armed conflict, both troops have agreed to conduct joint patrol of the border area, but the two governments have postponed their talks from Tuesday (Oct. 21) to Friday (Oct. 24) to find peaceful solution for their border dispute.

In other developments, the engineering unit of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) is rebuilding and expanding the current road to the Preah Vihear Temple.

"They are rebuilding the road single direction first to provide easiness for travelers and will also construct a few small bridges over the streams at the area," said Chan Thoern, receptionist working at a neighborhood hotel near the temple.

As the renovation ends, the road is expected to become double direction and remains the only way running along the mountain to the temple, Chan told Xinhua.

"With the road completed, it will be much easier for us and tourists to access the temple, although there are still some steep places," said Chan, who came from Kampong Cham province to help his uncle run his business.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government and some charitable people have funded the reconstruction, according to the reports of Chinese-language daily newspaper the Commercial News.

Tourists used to arrive at the 900-year-old temple from the Thai side, as the traffic facilities there are well-built.

In addition, the land price at the bottom of the mountain where the 900-year-old Preah Vihear Temple is situated atop, has been increasing rapidly, since it was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO in July, residents said.

"Here will be another popular destination for tourists," said taxi driver Sean Kim on Monday.

A piece of land measuring 1,000 square meters used to sell at 2,000 U.S. dollars, but now is up to 10,000 U.S. dollars, he said.

"I hope the government will build a market here soon," said Sean, adding that there is no bus station, either.

It is difficult to find a taxi car here leaving for the town or nearby province Siem Reap, he said, adding that current taxi car service and food are all expensive.

Local food vendor Neang Kheng said that the price is high because everything is brought from other provinces and the road is poor for transportation.

"Food is simple here, just drinks, rice, instant noodles, pork, fish and vegetables," she said.

The current military face off between Cambodia and Thailand has almost stalled the life at the foot of the mountain, she added.

In July, tensions ran high after the ancient Preah Vihear Temple was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site.

The tension later turned into a military stalemate, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.

In early October, at least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded during sporadic exchange of gunfire and two other Thai soldiers were seriously injured after stepping on a landmine at the border area.  

Editor: Yan

Cambodia and Thailand work to contain border conflict


Jane's Information Group
20 October 2008

By Trefor Moss

Thai and Cambodian troops fought an hour-long battle along their shared border on 15 October, as a four-month standoff over a disputed temple complex threatened to escalate into a serious border conflict.

The Thai government reacted to the clash by advising its citizens to leave Cambodia immediately for fear of reprisals, while Phnom Penh warned that the situation could lead to "large-scale armed hostilities".

Cambodia said that two of its troops had been killed and seven wounded in the exchange at the Preah Vihear temple, while Thailand reported five soldiers injured. The Thai military denied Cambodian claims that 10 of its soldiers had been taken prisoner.

Both sides accused the other of firing first. A spokesperson for the Thai embassy in London told Jane's that Thai soldiers were conducting "a routine patrol of the area inside Thai territory when they were fired upon by RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and machine guns". However, the Cambodian embassy described the events as "armed provocations by Thailand" and accused Thai soldiers of launching "heavy armed attacks" to dislodge Cambodian troops from positions within their own territory.

A spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged "both parties to exercise utmost restraint" and "to expedite bilateral talks".

Image: Cambodian soldiers patrol the road leading to Preah Vihear temple on 16 October (PA Photos)

Malaysia seeks to diffuse Thai-Cambodia border row

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: October 20, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia's foreign minister said Monday his planned visits to Thailand and Cambodia are a friendly effort to help diffuse a border dispute between the neighbors, and not interference in their affairs.

Rais Yatim said Malaysia and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, have an interest in ensuring the border conflict does not intensify and jeopardize regional peace.

The dispute, if not checked, could embarrass ASEAN and mar its credibility as a regional bloc, he warned.

A brief but deadly gunfight erupted between Thai and Cambodian soldiers last week over disputed land near the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple, sparking fears of war.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has rejected outside help in the conflict.

"We don't consider ourselves as (outsiders). We consider ourselves within ASEAN and if we cannot play the role of a neighbor, the role of a good friend, then what are we for?" Rais told reporters.

"This is not a positive dot for ASEAN. This could be looked at as a very questionable development ... we have to convince the world that we can take care of our problems and relationship with each other," he said.

Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand are all members of ASEAN, which has a policy of noninterference in member nations' domestic affairs. ASEAN also includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Rais Yatim said he would fly to Thailand on Tuesday or Wednesday, and to Cambodia later this month, to urge both parties to resolve the conflict through peaceful negotiations.

He said he would submit a letter of concern from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the Thai and Cambodian leaders and urge them not to "resort to physical or military means."

The World Court awarded the 11th century temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.

Hun Sen is expected to meet Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat later this week in their first face-to-face meeting since the deadly gunbattle erupted Oct. 15, killing two Cambodian soldiers and wounding 10 from both sides.

Rais said his visits are partly in response to a request by ASEAN Secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan for member nations to make "friendly overtures so that the skirmish is undertoned."

Somchai could be survive? Thai politic is bad but Thai try to invade Preah Vihear

Anti-government protesters hold down photos of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and four others police commanders, bottom, and raise up photos of their death comrades, top, prior to a march protester Monday, Oct. 20, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of protesters took part in the protest calling Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat a 'murderer' and demanding he resign over the violent quashing of a previous rally early this month.(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Anti-government protesters step on a poster of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat during a march protest on the street Monday, Oct. 20, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of protesters took part in the protest calling Prime Minister Somchai a 'murderer' and demanding he resign over the violent quashing of a previous rally early this month.(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Military's pr campaign: a lot to be desired

By The Nation
Published on October 20, 2008

Failure to engage media during border clash with Cambodia points to lack of common sense
For whatever it is worth, the man who made the most sense in the latest diplomatic and military confrontation with Cambodia was the leader of a small band of Thai paramilitary rangers overseeing a mine-infested spot along the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area.

He pointed out that for years, troops from both sides overseeing this disputed area used to eat from the same rice pot, shared smokes and jokes and every now and then, when nobody's looking, took a sip of some vicious home-made brew.

That was until an unsound political manoeuvre from both capitals paved the way for last week's armed clashes on the ground.

It would be too easy to place the entire blame on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for issuing an ultimatum to Thailand to pull its troops out of the disputed area.

The gunfight along the Thai-Cambodian border is much more than just the work of one strongman's desire to score quick political points.

Among other things, the recent flare-ups also placed an unwanted spotlight on the way Thai political leaders and the military top brass operates. And it does not look so pretty. What is desperately lacking is some degree of common sense and the ability to think on their feet. The very concept of damage control doesn't seem to come to mind in times of trouble. Officers and policy-makers prefer to cover their own behinds instead of doing something to minimise the damage.

Indeed, for an armed force that has always whined about not getting enough budget to buy more expensive equipment, the Thai Army has made virtually no progress in understanding the importance of information strategy, much less the role of independent media or how to engage them.

Remember when Thailand agreed to send troops to the UN peacekeeping operation in East Timor and all of a sudden the unit that was being sent became camera shy? For the first three days, photographs of the Australian army doing push-ups and crawls were splashed on the front pages of newspapers around the world. And when the Thais came to their senses, the world media attention had shifted elsewhere.

Over the weekend, Thai and foreign reporters and photographers were scratching their heads with the shallow explanation as to why they were not permitted to photograph Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat getting off the military helicopter. They were told that they could photograph him handing out gifts to soldiers.

Was it the way Somchai got off the plane that had them worried? Or was he going to reveal something that would compromise national security, or do something that was so embarrassing that would ruin his political career?

Incidentally, reporters and cameramen were allowed to walk with Somchai up to the helicopter as he was departing the area.

Even more, after the prime minister's visit, shortly after the gunfight ended, a small group of Thai paramilitary rangers and soldiers went up to talk with their Cambodian counterparts. A photograph of the informal gathering was released from the Cambodian side and immediately there was unconfirmed report that 10 Thai soldiers had been captured.

The only thing the Thai Army could do was deny it. And then they became dumb struck when the photograph was made public. A little common sense would have made the top brass bring the 10 officers in question to a press conference and explain what actually happened.

On Saturday, when a senior Thai army colonel led a small band of officers and foot soldiers to the Preah Vihear Temple where soldiers on both sides were virtually holding hands and dining together, again, officers on the Thai side were not sure how to deal with this. But the Cambodians knew of the urgent need to get this image out, superficial though it may seem, of their commanders walking hand in hand, smiling and dining together.

Reporters and photographers on the Thai side were told that the situation was still too complicated to let any media person accompany the deputy commander of Suranaree Task Force. The Cambodians, on the other hand, came with every international news and photo agency. Perhaps the Thai Army could learn a thing or two from their Cambodian counterparts instead of boasting how big their guns are or how fast their jets could be mobilised.

There is no need to put the blame on any one individual person or unit, as it would be like a wild goose chase. The absence of professionalism and of a sound information strategy has to do with a bureaucratic and military culture. Most don't see themselves as being paid to think, but only to follow orders.

It's sad to know that billions of taxpayers' money goes the military to improve their capacity. Perhaps some of that needs to go towards improving common sense.

Besides a sound information strategy aimed at controlling damage, what is desperately needed is a guideline for media personnel operating on the ground. It's understandable why the army may not want reporters to reveal the exact location of their artilleries. But if an artillery battery is moving through a village or town, it's hard to hide that from a world where transmitting information globally is just a click away on a mobile phone.
A Cambodian soldier stands guard during a meeting at the top of a mountain near Preah Vihear temple

Thai soldiers stand guard near Preah Vihear temple

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The prime ministers of Cambodia and Thailand plan to hold talks this week in Beijing after a long-running border dispute escalated into a deadly shoot-out, a Cambodian official said Monday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expects to meet his Thai counterpart Somchai Wongsawat on the sidelines of a meeting between leaders of Asian and European nations on October 24 and 25.

"During his stay in Beijing, the prime minister will bilaterally meet with the Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao and we have planned to meet with the Thai prime minister as well," Hun Sen's advisor Sri Thamrong told reporters.

"We are organising for this meeting (with Somchai)," he said before Hun Sen departed for China on Monday from Phnom Penh.

Sri Thamrong declined to give more details on the talks.

A Thai government spokeswoman confirmed Somchai was going to China but did not give dates. She said she had no information on talks with Hun Sen.

Thai and Cambodian military officials meanwhile are scheduled to hold talks later this week in Siem Reap aimed at calming the situation after two Cambodian soldiers were killed and seven Thai troops injured last Wednesday.

The firefight erupted between soldiers stationed on disputed land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Emergency talks the day after ended with both Cambodian and Thai officials agreeing to joint border patrols -- which have not started yet -- but offered no lasting solution to the military stand-off along the border.

Tensions between the neighbours flared in July when Preah Vihear was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling long-simmering tensions over ownership of land surrounding the temple.

A tug of war over Cambodian temple in Long Beach

Control of Wat Vipassanaram has divided monks and the board of directors, which transferred the temple's assets to an ambiguous nonprofit linked to a gnostic church.

By Joe Mozingo
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 20, 2008

The story of how a man named Johnny Rhondo, the self-titled grand master of the Church of the Revelation, came to hold the charter to Long Beach's oldest Cambodian Buddhist temple is a curious one.

The Buddhist waton East 20th Street is the beloved, if dilapidated, nucleus for the nation's largest Cambodian community, co-founded by the late actor Haing S. Ngor and served by monks known to hew closely to ancient tradition.

The Church of the Revelation's address is listed as a post office box in Orange.

The sudden transfer of assets to an offshoot of Rhondo's church has split the Cambodian community, infuriated a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and even stirred anger among the monks, who devote their lives to avoiding such emotion.

"We're all human," conceded head monk Khoeun Pang, 70, sitting in the lotus position on the floor of his living quarters last month.

For months, two groups have warred over which was the rightful administrator of the temple, each side depicting the other as an interloper, partly along fault lines that have increasingly divided the community in Long Beach for years. Six of the temple's seven monks have taken one side; the nine members of the board of directors, now locked out of the temple, are on the other.

The board members say the monks have been manipulated by a group of activists to rise up against them in a bid to get the temple's money. The so-called insurgents, including two of the temple's founders, depict the board as politically connected, opportunistic big shots who wrested control of the wat from the laypeople.

The temple at the center of the dispute, Wat Khmer Vipassanaram, was founded in 1985 by Khmer Rouge survivors in a depressed part of Long Beach across from a Cambodian refugee assistance center.

Run by the nonprofit Khmer Buddhist Assn., the complex is a series of old Spanish bungalows and converted apartments next to an auto body shop. The founders hoped to save enough money to ultimately build a true temple.

"We wanted a place where we could have peace of mind, meditate and contemplate, so we could forget the trauma and nightmare of the Killing Fields," said Larry Sar, a co-founder who survived the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge genocide.

The association was preparing to break ground on the new temple when the dispute broke out in December.

The monks' faction demanded an annual election of the board of directors as required by the temple's bylaws, which had been ignored for more than a decade.

The board agreed to have an election on Jan. 27, but the plans became entangled in a dispute over who was eligible to vote. The monks' faction held its own election and chose a new board.

Observers in the Cambodian community say the conflict is part of a larger factionalism. Key players in the temple dispute previously squared off over a Cambodian New Year parade and the proposed designation of Cambodia Town in central Long Beach.

Members of the board are close to the city establishment and are key promoters of the parade and Cambodia Town. Activists behind the monks, including Paline Soth and Bryant Ben, argued that the Cambodia Town initiative was being run by outsiders with little input from the people who actually lived in the area.

The temple dispute landed in a Long Beach courtroom in February, and after an agreement by both sides, a judge appointed a receiver to take over the temple's assets until the issue was resolved.

But when the receiver demanded that the president of the association, Siphann Tith, hand over the temple's books, Tith told him he didn't have them anymore. He said board members had dissolved the Khmer Buddhist Assn. and transferred all the assets to a new nonprofit organization, this one chartered by Rhondo's Church of the Revelation.

According to its website, www.gnosticism.org, the church was founded in 1978, in Arlington, Texas, by Johnny Rhondo, whose real name is John Baptist Ramirez.

"He conceived the idea of a church without the limitations of walls," the website says. "A force that could reach beyond the confines of time and space and become one with the universe." Rhondo's church purports to follow the tenets of gnosticism, a set of beliefs that dates to the 2nd century, combining bits of Greek philosophy, Oriental mysticism and Christianity.

Ramirez was named by authorities as a key player in a health insurance fraud scheme in Texas in 2002, but he was not charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing.

When Judge Joseph Di Loretto threatened to hold Ramirez and Tith in contempt of court if they did not comply with the receiver's demands, they sought relief in federal court with a unique legal argument: The Buddha himself, Siddhartha Gautama -- "who gave away all his wealth, property and even clothing, before he began the life that ultimately led him to become Buddha" -- inspired the temple's board members to dissolve their nonprofit.

In the Buddhism practiced in Cambodia, they alleged in court filings, all objects contain spirits, which are continually reincarnated in an endless cycle of life and death called samsara: "Only when the spirit learns all the 'life lessons' it is supposed to learn will it be able to break free of the cycle of 'Samsara,' and only then will the 'spirit' be allowed to enter 'Nirvana.' For this reason 'death' is only a doorway into the next life."

And so the venerable Khmer Buddhist Assn. had to die.

Although inventive, the argument proved unpersuasive to a federal judge, who sent the matter back to Di Loretto. He was visibly fuming at a hearing this month, when he tore into Tith.

"Wasn't the real reason you did that was to subvert the settlement agreement you reached with the defendants in this case?" he asked furiously.

Tith said no, but as he tried to explain again his religious theory, the judge cut him off, saying Tith had transferred the assets from a tax-exempt entity to an unincorporated group with no tax status, "a violation of federal and state law which the attorney general might want to look into.

"He ordered Tith to bring every financial document to court or be held in contempt.When Ramirez took the stand, Di Loretto took a quizzical approach, asking where he studied tax law (he hadn't) and if his church had an address.

"A P.O. box," Ramirez said.

"Are there any members in your church?" the judge asked.

"Each church has its own entity," Ramirez said. "The gnosis is in one person."

"It is a church of one," the judge offered.

Ramirez said yes.

"So your church is you?" Di Loretto asked.

"Correct."

The issue has become a legal morass, with at least six attorneys drawn into the fray. And four local Cambodian newspapers have amped up the rhetoric.

Sweety Chap, the editor of Khemara Times, said Soth and Ben "oppose whatever is good for the community."

"Now they came to destroy the temple," he said.

Narin Kem, editor of Serey Pheap, disagrees. He said Soth and Ben represent the majority of local Cambodians, while the board represents a business elite trying to usurp power and money wherever it exists in the community.

"They think the money of the temple is their money," he said. "If they were president of the United States, they would think they owned the U.S. as their own property."

Both sides are expected back in court today.

Professor Teaches Cambodian Orphans

Professor Marian Diamond, center, poses with orphaned students at the Wat Racha Sin Khon monastery. Diamond travels to Cambodia to teach the children every winter.

Program Combines Humanitarian Efforts In Impoverished Areas With Neural Research

THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN
By Rachel Gross
Contributing Writer
Sunday, October 19, 2008

UC Berkeley anatomy professor and neuroscientist Marian Diamond was delighted to learn last Wednesday that two of her students were heading to college-not her UC Berkeley students, but the orphaned children she taught in a poverty-stricken monastery in the forests of Cambodia.

Every winter for the past seven years, Diamond has traveled to the Siem Reap province to work with impoverished children at the Wat Racha Sin Khon monastery as part of a neural development research program called Enrichment in Action.

The orphanage is run by Buddhist monks who took in children after they lost their parents during the Khmer Rouge regime. When Diamond first visited, about 15 children aged 10 to 19 lived in the orphanage.

The orphange has no running water,

electricity or bathrooms. Conditions were very primitive, Diamond said, and the houses only consisted of poles, a floor and a roof.

After witnessing the orphans' poverty and lack of formal education -one was 19 and still in the second grade-Diamond said she felt the children could greatly gain from her help. She teaches English and computer skills to the children in the orphanage.

"I just wanted to see if we could change their environments for the better," she said.

Diamond said the program is also a way to apply the knowledge gained in a lab to benefit humans. Before working in Cambodia, she spent 35 years at UC Berkeley studying the effects of enriched and impoverished environments on rats.

During her research, she found that a more stimulating environment enlarged the rats' brains.

"When we put our rats in enriched environments, we increase the dimensions of the outer layers of the brain, the cerebral cortex. When we put them in impoverished environments, the cortex shrinks," she said.

However, the goal of her lab work was not just to enrich the environments of rats, but to enrich humanity.

"It's wonderful to know that we can enrich rats, but to translate it so humans can benefit from it � it's the beauty of transferring it so everybody benefits," Diamond said.

A major difference between working in a lab and working abroad, she said, is the inability to control outside factors.

"There's no way I can have controls," she said. "These are kids who have wandered in from Cambodia to just live in this monastery. And no two kids are alike, no two brains are alike, no two conditions are alike."

When she came to Cambodia, Diamond did not speak the language and was unsure of how to conduct her research. However, she soon met an English-speaking orphan named Chamroen who became her interpreter.

Now Chamroen, 28, and another man who lost his father during the Khmer Rouge regime, teach the children while Diamond is at UC Berkeley. She continues to advise from the U.S.

Diamond added that the news that two of her students would enter college this year truly brought her success home. She worked to fund the orphans' college educations, as well as most of the program, by contacting private donors she met as director of the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley.

Children in Cambodia are not the only students who benefit from her teaching. Winnie Chao, a fifth-year in Diamond's human anatomy class, praised the professor's passion for interactive lecturing.

"She actually engages you, and wants you to think about what you're learning," Chao said.

Diamond hopes the program will eventually reach a point when the orphans can do all the teaching themselves. Due to UC Berkeley and family obligations, she is unable to return to the program this year, but hopes to go back to see its progress soon.

"To see these young kids that have learned English, learned computers, out in the forest-I mean, it was a dream come true," she said.

Cambodia To Spend Over US$300 Million To Reduce Petrol, Electricity Prices

PHNOM PENH, Oct 20 (Bernama) -- The Cambodian government will spend more than US$300 million per year, to keep the petrol and electricity prices down, national media reported Monday.

"We will continue to support prices until oil drops below 900 U. S. dollars a ton," the Vietnam news agency (VNA) quoted Keat Chhon, Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance, as saying in the Phnom Penh Post.

Imported oil costs US$960 a tonne, down from US$1,200 a tonne in early 2008, the Post said.

The government does not provide cash subsidies for energy, but has said it will not raise taxes on imported oil, which remains at US$309 a tonne, despite fluctuations in world oil prices.

The move, it says, costs hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue, according to the Post.

Meanwhile, Victor Zona, deputy general manager of the Industry Ministry, said Cambodia is likely to cut electricity costs by 10 percent in Phnom Penh and about 50 percent in provinces after 2012.

He said the reduction would hinge on major hydro-electric projects coming online.

-- BERNAMA

Cambodian Army Renovates Mountain Road To Preah Vihear Temple

PREAH VIHEAR (Cambodia), Oct 20 (Bernama) -- The engineering unit of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) is rebuilding and expanding the current road to the Preah Vihear Temple, as talks are still pending to solve months-long Cambodian-Thai military face off at the border area.

"They are rebuilding the road single direction first to provide easiness for travelers and will also construct a few small bridges over the streams at the area," China's Xinhua news agency quoted Chan Thoern, a receptionist working at a neighbourhood hotel near the temple, as saying here.

As the renovation ends, the road is expected to become double direction and remain as the only way running along the mountain to the temple, Chan told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, on Monday.

"With the road completed, it will be much easier for us and tourists to access the temple, although there are still some steep places," said Chan.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government and some charitable people have funded the reconstruction, according to the reports of Chinese-language daily newspaper the Commercial News.

Tourists used to reach the 900-year-old temple from the Thai side, as the traffic facilities there are well-built.

In related development, Cambodia and Thailand have postponed their talks from Tuesday (Oct 21) to Friday (Oct 24) to find peaceful solution for their border dispute.

Clashes between both sides near the temple on Oct. 15 killed two Cambodian soldiers and wound more Thai ones. In July, tensions ran high after the ancient Preah Vihear Temple was awarded world heritage by UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who claim ownership of the site.

The tension later turned into a military stalemate, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.

In early October, at least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded during sporadic exchange of gunfire and two other Thai soldiers were seriously injured after stepping on a landmine at the border area.

-- BERNAMA

Cambodian, Thai troops friendly to each other after deadly border clash


www.chinaview.cn
2008-10-20

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian and Thai troops have become friendly to each other, despite the fact that an armed clash killed two Cambodians and wounded more Thais on Oct. 15 near the Preah Vihear Temple at the border area, officers told Xinhua on Monday.

"They are shaking hands, talking to each other and asking about daily food," said Thol Sovan, deputy military commander of the Cambodian side at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, which is situated on the only road leading to the temple.

They had good relationship and both troops at the pagoda didn't exchange gunfire on Oct. 15, he said.

"The Thai side didn't (dare to) shoot at us here, because we were all around them at that time," he said.

But Thai soldiers elsewhere shot at them, he said, while pointing at newly burnt branches of the jack fruit tree in front of the pagoda.

Meanwhile, Thai military major Apichaut Poo Paud told Xinhua that the troops themselves were like brothers and didn't have problem with each other.

"We have good cooperation and relationship," he said, adding that 10 Thai soldiers and two interpreters stayed in the pagoda compound.

In other places, Cambodia and Thailand were keeping the same number of soldiers, he added.

Srey Doek, regional military commander of Cambodia, told Xinhuathat the situation near the temple was now normal and calm.

However, the number of both troops within the territory is roughly estimated at a thousand strong, he added.

After the Oct. 15 armed conflict, both troops have agreed to conduct joint patrol of the border area, but the two governments have postponed their talks from Tuesday (Oct. 21) to Friday (Oct. 24) to find peaceful solution to their border dispute.

In July, tensions ran high after the ancient Preah Vihear Temple was awarded world heritage status, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claimed ownership of the site.

The tension later turned into a military stalemate, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for several weeks.

In early October, at least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded during sporadic exchange of gunfire and two other Thai soldiers were seriously injured after stepping on a landmine at the border area.

Editor: Du

Thai, Cambodian leaders to discuss border dispute

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: October 20, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's prime minister plans to meet with his Thai counterpart later this week to discuss the tense border dispute between the two Southeast Asian neighbors, Cambodian officials said Monday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat will meet on the sidelines of a summit of leaders from Asia and the European Union that opens in Beijing on Friday, said Sri Thamrongk, an adviser to Hun Sen.

A Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Koy Kuong, said the "current standoff at the Cambodian-Thai border" will be the most important topic at the talks.

A Thai government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

It would be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since a deadly gunbattle erupted Oct. 15 between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in a disputed border area near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

The fighting, which killed two Cambodian soldiers and wounded 10 from both sides, sparked fears of war between the countries.

Thai army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkumnerd said earlier that military officials from the two sides agreed last Thursday to hold joint patrols to minimize the chance of new clashes.

But Gen. Ke Kim Yan, commander in chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, denied any deal for joint patrols had been reached. He said the two countries had only agreed to maintain their current troop deployments in the disputed area and inform each other about any troop movements to prevent further misunderstanding.

Last week's fighting was the latest flare-up in a decades-old dispute over a stretch of jungle near the Preah Vihear temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.

Hun Sen, accompanied by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh, left Monday for a weeklong visit to China. They planned to attend a trade exposition before heading to Beijing.

Pictures from Preah Vihear

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bunchhay, right, walks along with Thai and Cambodian soldiers at the Cambodian-Thai border after a meeting near the famed Preah Vihear temple, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia. The Cambodian and Thai militaries agreed Thursday to hold joint patrols to reduce tension at a disputed border area where a gun battle between the two sides a day earlier left two soldiers dead, a Thai army spokesman said.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian soldiers, foreground, talk with Thai soldiers on a road leading to the famed Preah Vihear temple, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, near the Thai border. The Cambodian and Thai militaries agreed Thursday to hold joint patrols to reduce tension at a disputed border area where a gun battle between the two sides a day earlier left two soldiers dead, a Thai army spokesman said.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian, left, and Thai, right, commanders hold a meeting inside a Cambodian pagoda complex near the famed Preah Vihear temple, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, near the Thai border. The Cambodian and Thai militaries agreed Thursday to hold joint patrols to reduce tension at a disputed border area where a gun battle between the two sides a day earlier left two soldiers dead, a Thai army spokesman said.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian and Thai soldiers walk at the Cambodian-Thai border after a meeting near the famed Preah Vihear temple, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, on Thursday. The Cambodian and Thai militaries agreed Thursday to hold joint patrols to reduce tension at a disputed border area where a gun battle between the two sides a day earlier left two soldiers dead, a Thai army spokesman said.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian women, who reside on the Thai-Cambodian border, sit on the crest of the Chuor Phnom Dangkrek Mountain, the site of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. Nearly 200 Cambodian residents living near the temple have taken refuge on its grounds, after recent fighting killed 2 Cambodian soldiers, a local Cambodian newspaper reported. The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962, but the court failed to determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) Hindu ruins, a ruling that has rankled with Thais ever since.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian soldier carries rockets while on patrol near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Thai-Cambodian border. Thai and Cambodian army commanders ended five hours of talks on Thursday with no agreement to withdraw their forces after heavy fighting near the temple killed two Cambodian soldiers.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian families reside inside the grounds of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Thai-Cambodian border. Nearly 200 Cambodian residents living near the temple have taken refuge on its grounds, after recent fighting killed two Cambodian soldiers, a local Cambodian newspaper reported. The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but the court failed to determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) Hindu ruins, a ruling that has rankled with Thais ever since.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian boys talk to each other near the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin province, northeastern Thailand Cambodia and Thailand agreed to hold joint patrols along a disputed section of their border to defuse tensions after a deadly clash near a historic temple raised fears of outright war.(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

A Cambodian soldier carries a rocket launcher while patrolling the grounds of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple along the Thai-Cambodian border. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday this week's border clashes with Thailand around the temple would not escalate into a wider and more serious conflict.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian soldier holds a rocket launcher while standing guard inside the grounds of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Thai-Cambodian border. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday this week's border clashes with Thailand around the temple would not escalate into a wider and more serious conflict.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A Thai soldier (C) checks weapons that were captured during fighting last Wednesday, at a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian soldier carries Thailand's B-40 rocket that he found on the ground last week back to Thai soldiers during a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Sacravatoons : " Warlord of the Ring "

Courtesy Sacravatoon

Sacravatoons : " Hiding a dead Elephant "

Courtesy Sacravatoon

Sacravatoons : " Xmer-Siem's Manoeuvre "

Courtesy Sacravatoon

Beyond the Current Crisis, Thai Tensions Run Deep

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Antigovernment protesters handed out leaflets during a demonstration on Friday in Bangkok.

The New York Times

By SETH MYDANS
Published: October 19, 2008

BANGKOK — Bangkok was on edge this weekend after the army chief told the prime minister on national television that he must resign and the prime minister — in office for just a month — said he was too busy to step down.

The demand by the army chief, Gen. Anupong Paochinda, came Thursday, when he blamed the government for a violent crackdown on protesters and said, “You cannot be above the pools of blood.”

His words raised worries of a military coup. But Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat brushed them aside, saying on Friday that he still had a job to do, and he turned his attention to Thailand’s other, simultaneous crisis, the threat of a border war with Cambodia.

Pressure has grown in Thailand since protesters barricaded the prime minister’s office compound nearly two months ago, leading the government to conduct its business in Bangkok’s former international airport.

As the demonstrations continue, the divisions in society seem to be deepening, and the mood seems more confrontational and angry.

On the surface, Bangkok appears unruffled. Office workers crowd the lunchtime food stalls, monks make their morning rounds, traffic sits and waits for the long red lights to change. Monsoon rains sweep through the city, then stop.

But dozens of interviews around the city in recent days, as well as in the countryside, suggest that even if the political confrontation is resolved, the underlying social and political tensions are likely to continue.

“The country is split right down the middle,” said Wiriya Sungkhaniyom, an editor and translator. “I’m surprised at all the passion. I didn’t realize that we were capable of such strong feelings. We are known for having short memories and prefer to go along and get along.”

In a culture that prizes calm and accommodation, where even drivers in traffic jams rarely honk their horns, people are speaking more vehemently these days — and in louder voices — and they are showing less tolerance for opposing views.

“If you aren’t with them, you’re bad — you’re a bad person,” said a woman at a music shop who was furious with the demonstrators. “Whatever the other side does, even the littlest thing, is just wrong, wrong, wrong. I hate them.”

She said she was afraid to give her name because “they think they can do anything. They think they are above the law.”

A colleague tried to quiet her, but she only raised her voice. “I have a friend, a friend of more than 20 years, she doesn’t talk to me,” she said. “She says, ‘You don’t know anything!’ ”

At the moment, there seems to be no clear resolution of the political crisis or of divisions like this one.

General Anupong has said he does not want to stage a coup because it would only create new problems. Other possible options seem no more likely to bring peace: the prime minister’s resignation, a new election or a violent showdown in the streets between the antigovernment protesters and a new, threatening mobilization of government supporters who have gathered not far away.

The suppression by the police of an antigovernment demonstration outside Parliament on Oct. 7 at which two people were killed and nearly 500 were injured has only swelled the anger of the protesters and given them a symbolic focus.

In its broadest sense, Thailand’s struggle pits the mostly rural poor against an established urban elite and middle class who feel threatened by their rising political power.

The leaders of the protests, an antigovernment coalition called the People’s Alliance for Democracy, represent that establishment. But the protests have become a vehicle for a variety of grievances, and the city at large has fragmented into bitterly divided camps.

The issues are personalized, pitting supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra against his opponents. Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a coup two years ago but remains a powerful, polarizing force from his self-imposed exile in London.

During six years in office, Mr. Thaksin courted the rural poor with populist policies and forged a strong political base that continues to keep his supporters in office. The People’s Alliance for Democracy wants to dilute their electoral power by introducing a mostly appointed legislature.

As the fault lines of confrontation spread through the city, they grow more complex, fragmenting campuses and workplaces, straining friendships and dividing families, and even sometimes turning husbands and wives against one other.

“You have to be careful when you talk to people,” said Samran Chana, 43, a motorcycle taxi driver who is used to talking with everybody. “Thailand is divided. You might be sitting and drinking with some people, and they end up shouting at each other.”

Duan Maringrot, 57, owner of the Louk Pla Noodle Shop, which is on a narrow lane near the business district, says she closes every day at 4 p.m. to attend the demonstration.

Behind the cash register she keeps a shirt that is yellow — the color that represents the king — a plastic clapper to cheer the speeches and a yellow headband that reads, in English, “I love the king.”

If she hears a customer taking the government’s side, she said, “I won’t sell anything to them, and if anyone from the government comes in I won’t serve them.”

In the past when crises descended into bloodshed, the highly revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, stepped forward to calm the turmoil. He has no direct political role, but his moral power is enough to bring protest leaders and generals crawling to his feet.

Several people said they were counting on his intervention, if things worsened, to return the country to peace.

“At the end he’ll have to step in and say something,” said Charupa Suthikorn, 40, who owns a toy shop, as she petted a fluffy Pomeranian. “I am waiting to see how he will resolve this. If there is real violence, the king will have to do something.

“It’s like a father looking after his children,” she said. “ ‘I want it like this.’ ‘No, I want it my way.’ If the children don’t stop arguing, the father will have to step in.”

So far, the king has remained silent.

International Conflicts Require an Internationally Open Discussion to Find Solutions – Sunday, 19.10.2008

The Mirror
Posted on 20 October 2008

While Cambodia is often - in statistics comparing income, corruption perception, education, and health care - not listed in the more positive regions. But when it comes to the freedom of the press – the printed press, not the media in general – Cambodia is positioned fairly high, compared to other countries in Asia, or in ASEAN.

The present tensions at the border with Thailand have revealed, however, another aspect: the limited coverage of international news. The same event, reported in Cambodia, may receive quite a different description in Thailand. We have recently tried to put some reports from Thailand next to the reports from within the country. This has also resulted in accusations that the Mirror supports Thailand’s position, disregarding the Cambodian one. It was neither our intention, nor do we think we have done it. But we think that responsible journalism includes the commitment to present a wide variety of reports and viewpoints – so that these can contribute to find an approach to the truth, which is not blindly bound by particular interests. To be confronted with a variety of different reports and facts will help to sharpen critical reflection – critical even against assumed self-interest, leading also to self-criticism, where it may be called for with good reasons.

As such an example of reflective-self criticism, which went even against a wider popular sentiment, a Thai newspaper, the Bangkok Post, published on 30 June 2008 a cartoon, warning that Thai nationalism, “following a leader” without considering where he leads to, may end in falling off the cliff.

Nationalism
Are there similar self-critical warnings against blind nationalism also in the Cambodian media? We would be grateful to be informed that they exist; we did not find much of this kind. We are rather concerned about the very rough and often rude language being sent around on the Internet from where we quote a few examples: “You walk into Cambodia one more step, you will Die like a DOG!” And at the same time when the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is proceeding, a considerable amount of a kind of battlefront solidarity can be found: “Former Khmer Rouge soldiers were never afraid of death” (fighting against whom?) - and the old gun, though rusty, is thirsty for blood. Do such build better neighborly relations? Do such voices not call for repudiation?

This week, we carried a report that a book about The History of Democratic Kampuchea - the Khmer Rouge regime – will become part of some educational curricula. This is very important. The discussions around the Preah Vihear problems reveal that there seems to be a wide consensus that important facts are well known – and therefore strong emotions can be rallied for certain opinions and actions. But it seems also that the actual information basis about the history is very thin, and therefore can easily be manipulated emotionally.

There was time and again the opinion expressed that the International Court of Justice has made the final decisions, and therefore there is nothing left to be discussed with Thailand. The brief decision of the court of 1962, “that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia” is often quoted in general terms, and it has also been accepted by the different Thai governments since that time - but that the court decision, published on 69 pages, was not decisive in establishing the final borderline between both countries, is not so widely known. To go into detailed, factual discussion in public would require to have this court ruling (and related documents) also available in Khmer translation for the public.

The manifold denunciations of aggressions and incursions against Thai personnel – already during the weeks and months long before there was armed conflict leading to the loss of human life, victimization by mines, and injuries by shooting – relate to the region to the north and to the west of the Preah Vihear Temple. We have still not found any single reference in the Khmer press how to understand these denunciations on the background of the Joint Communique of 18 June 2008 – signed by the representatives of the two Kingdoms of Cambodia and of Thailand, and of UNESCO. How should the presence of Thai troops – to the north and to the west of Preah Vihear Temple - be interpreted, considering that the Joint Communique says that “the Kingdom of Cambodia accepts that the Temple of Preah Vihear be nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List without at this stage a buffer zone on the northern and western areas of the Temple,” and that the map appended “supersedes the maps… as well as all the graphic references… of the Temple of Preah Vihear site in Cambodia’s nomination file” previously presented to UNESCO with maps dating back to 1962, 1907, and 1904.

This position taken on 18 June 2008, internationally well known, as it was the final document presented for the listing as a World Heritage Site, has never been presented in the Khmer press – if it was, we apologize, and would appreciate to receive related information.

When some media and some civic organizations call on the government to lodge protests against the Thai presence - in these buffer areas to the north and to the west of the Preah Vihear Temple - referring to maps of 1907 and of 1904, they are probably not aware that these maps have been superseded by another map on 18 June 2008, presented on behalf of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Any international, and any bilateral negotiation will have to deal with the most recent legal position, on which both governments, in the presence of UNESCO, have agreed.

On 18 June 2008, a claim was made only, at this stage, for the tiny zone in the middle of the following map, marked in red and identified as 1.

Joint Communique map

This international conflict shows that information and news to be referred to cannot be pre-selected according to national criteria only. Sooner or later, the Joint Communique will have to be translated into Khmer and discussed publicly also in Cambodia. It forms also the basis for the creation of the joint management plan – to be developed together with Thailand – which has to be presented in February 2010 to the World Heritage Committee. The listing is not forever – some listings have been withdrawn in the past, where the contracting parties did not live up to their contracted obligations.

The Khmer press, in order to fulfill its role to provide the information for a responsible building up of public opinion, will have to find ways to facilitate a critical, and self-critical public discussion in Cambodia, which the Thai press if providing in Thailand. Otherwise Cambodia will be again more and more isolated internationally – and Cambodian people may think this is a situation imposed by the outside. But so far, his impression is a self-created isolation, as the Khmer press did not help to look into some most important official documents, which lead beyond popular nationalistic emotions.

Border talks to resume Thursday

(BangkokPost.com) - The Second Army commander, Lt-Gen Wiboonsak Neeparn, insisted he will resume negotiations with the Cambodia’s Fourth Army chief, Gen Chea Mon, to seek peaceful solutions to the Thai-Cambodian border dispute near Preah Vihear temple on Thursday and Friday.

Previously, the meeting was scheduled to be held Tuesday in Siem Reap, but Cambodia on Sunday postponed it, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

However, Lt-Gen Wiboonsak believed the bilateral talks this week could work out some problems between both countries, such as reducing the number of troops from each side.

On Monday morning, the situation at the Thai-Cambodian border was less tense after both sides agreed to conduct joint border patrols.

Meanwhile, one of the seven injured Thai troops was still in a worrying condition, following the brief armed confrontation last Wednesday.

Border talks will go ahead despite delay

Bangkok Post
Monday October 20, 2008

Thailand, Cambodia to discuss military issues

WASSANA NANUAM AND PRASIT TANGPRASERT

Truce talks between Thailand and Cambodia will go ahead despite its original schedule being postponed, according to Second Army commander Wibulsak Neepal.

Lt-Gen Wibulsak was supposed to meet his counterpart, Cambodian Fourth Army chief Gen Chea Mon, at a meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Regional Border Committee (RBC) tomorrow, but it has been deferred.

A source at the Foreign Ministry said the ministry was informed by the army that Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tea Banh had asked for a postponement.

It is believed that the deferment arose from concerns that no agreement would be reached on the border dispute if the meeting took place on schedule.

"The meeting will now go ahead in Siem Reap from Oct 23-24," said Lt-Gen Wibulsak.
Deputy Second Army commander Thawatchai Samutsakorn briefed army chief Anupong Paojinda on the latest developments on the border issue in Bangkok yesterday during a rehearsal of the funeral procession for Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana.

The deputy commander denied Cambodia had asked to postpone the RBC meeting.

He insisted no date had been set by either side and the Cambodian government has said it was not ready to come to the talks until there was "clarity" in related policies from both countries.

But Lt-Gen Wibulsak said in Nakhon Ratchasima early yesterday that the meeting would discuss border skirmishes last week and the redeployment of both countries' troops.

The agenda, however, would exclude the demarcation dispute because there is a separate committee to deal with the matter.

Lt-Gen Wibulsak said the situation at the border dispute's hotspot of Preah Vihear temple opposite Si Sa Ket province remained normal.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers had been in close contact and were on friendly terms.

The commander ruled out a withdrawal of the Thai troops from the border and he declined to say where any armoured reinforcements might be sent.

Deploying tanks would boost military readiness in case of a breakdown in negotiations.

Lt-Gen Wibulsak said the best way out of the border problem is through dialogue, and the conflict could easily spin out of control without it.

Maj-Gen Thawatchai has sought Gen Anupong's permission to rotate the soldiers deployed to the disputed border zone after learning the troops were becoming stressed.

Air force chief ACM Itthiporn Supawong said he recently met Gen Anupong to discuss strategies to contain the border tension.

He did not elaborate.

But he said manpower and equipment are on standby around the clock at Wing 1 in Nakhon Ratchasima and Wing 21 in Ubon Ratchathani in case of a military offensive on the border.

THAI Airways committed to Cambodia services

Travel Blackboard
Monday, 20 October 2008

Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have come to a fore, and the Thai government has urged its nationals to return to the country, THAI Airways has confirmed that it will not stop Cambodia services.

Border skirmishes which are believed to have killed and wounded soldiers on both sides have heightened the strain between the two countries, but despite this, THAI will continue to operate its Bangkok and Phnom Penh services.

“THAI’s office in Phnom Penh is open for business and all flights to and from Phnom Penh continue to provide normal services and operations to passengers,” said Apinan Sumanaseni, THAI President, in a statement.

“THAI stands ready to support the government’s request for air transportation on this routing if needed.”

TG696/7 and TG698/9 dailies will operate uninterrupted.

Border skirmishes have taken place between the two countries for decades now as the two countries both lay claim to the Preah Vihear Temple, a UNESCO recognised World Heritage site.

Border talks delayed over legal uncertainty

By The Nation
Published on October 20, 2008

Concern over the possibility they might be violating the Constitution has forced the Second Army Area from carrying out a scheduled meeting with its Cambodian counterparts aimed out preventing more armed clashes along overlapping border areas.

"The regional border meeting scheduled on October 21 was postponed as the two countries are not yet ready," Colonel Taweesak Boonrakchart, deputy director of the Second Army Area's civil affairs, said.

Taweeksak said the army would have to get approval from Parliament before it could sign any pact with the Cambodian contacts.

Other government officials said the Army was afraid that anything agreed with the Cambodians could come back to haunt officers at a later date, as happened to former Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama.

The Constitution Court ruled in June that Noppadon had violated the Constitution by signing a joint communique with Cambodia, supporting its bid to list Preah Vihear temple as a Unesco World Heritage site, without parliamentary endorsement.

It was not clear what specific items, if any, were to be discussed at the scheduled meeting between Thai and Cambodian top brass at the Regional Border Committee (RBC) forum.

But security specialist, Assoc Professor Panithan Wattanayagorn, said a number of issues could be jointly addressed by both sides without parliamentary involvement.

"If it's a normal military operation that protects Thailand's sovereignty, then it shouldn't need to go through the Parliament," Panitan said.

Among the topics that Thai and Cambodian troops could or should discuss include revealing the location of troops, order of operation to let each side know what the other is doing, joint demining and joint patrolling. These activities are all confidence building measures aimed at boosting trust and reducing misunderstanding, he said.

Regarding concern that a government agency might violate the Constitution by sidestepping the Parliament, Panitan said the military should create a committee to coordinate its work with Parliament.

"Unlike some foreign governments, Thailand doesn't have much of a working culture between Parliament and the government ministries," Panitan said.

Thai and Cambodian top brass have agreed to hold their ground following last week's flareups that ended in injury to seven Thai troops and the death of two Cambodian soldiers.

Soldiers on both sides of the border were jolted Saturday morning when a dog stepped on a landmine, setting off a loud explosion.

Thaweesak said the situation remained calm but both sides were holding their ground until further notice.

Cambodia's deputy defence minister General Neang Phat told AFP he expected a meeting on Thursday morning.

"The relations between our troops are better. We try to be calm here flexible, but strong," said Cambodian Colonel Som Bopharoath. Soldiers from both sides could be seen chatting with each other.

'No War,' Hun Sen Assures World

digitaljournal.com
by Tse Hao Guang

Cambodia and Thailand have seen their relations further strained by recent border clashes. However, Cambodian PM Hun Sen rejects the idea of declaring war.

The recent border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand has been downplayed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, following armed clashes between soldiers from both nations.

Speaking to reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting, Hun Sen maintained that peaceful discussions were the key to easing tensions over the conflict arising from Preah Vihear temple.

"People should understand that there won't be any large-scale war taking place," he said, calling the dispute a "minor armed clash".

Hun Sen also said that outside intervention was unnecessary, specifically mentioning the US and regional bloc Asean.

Both countries have agreed to joint border patrols in the wake of the deaths of at least 2 Cambodian soldiers caught in Wednesday's crossfire. However, neither side has agreed to reduce troop presence at the border.

Tensions mounted in July over the detention of 3 Thai protesters who entered Preah Vihear illegally. Over a thousand troops from both sides moved into the land surrounding the temple, starting a military stand-off.

Agreements were reached in August for troop withdrawals from both nations. Last week, however, Cambodia alleged that Thai troops had returned. This sparked Hun Sen to threaten to turn the area into a "death zone".

Pictures from Preah Vihear

Cambodian and Thai soldiers sit under a tent during a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones along the Cambodian-Thai border near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian army commanders had talks and lunch together Saturday as they tried to strengthen their fragile truce following a recent gun battle between the two countries' soldiers facing off near the historic border temple.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian and Thai soldiers walk up to a Cambodian pagoda during a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones along the Cambodian-Thai border near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian army commanders had talks and lunch together Saturday as they tried to strengthen their fragile truce following a recent gun battle between the two countries' soldiers facing off near the historic border temple.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian commander Gen. Srey Doek, left, joins lunch together with Thai commanders during a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian commander General Srey Dek (L) talks to Thai Colonel Chayan Huay Soongnern near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian soldiers (L) talk with Thai soldiers as their commanders attend a meeting near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thai soldiers walk to the Sekha Kirisvarak pagoda near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian soldier (L) shakes hands with a Thai soldier beside Thai Colonel Chayan Huay Soongnern (R) after their commanders met near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thai Colonel Chayan Huay Soongnern hugs Cambodian Commander Srey Doek (front) near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian and Thai soldiers walk up to a Cambodian pagoda for a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones along the Cambodian-Thai border near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian army commanders had talks and lunch together Saturday as they tried to strengthen their fragile truce following a recent gun battle between the two countries' soldiers facing off near the historic border temple.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian and Thai commanders hold a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones along the Cambodian-Thai border near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian army commanders had talks and lunch together Saturday as they tried to strengthen their fragile truce following a recent gun battle between the two countries' soldiers facing off near the historic border temple.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Thai Colonel Chayan Huay Soongnern offers a dish to Cambodian Commander Srey Doek (L) during a joint lunch at Sekar Kirisvarak Pagoda near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)