Buddhist Temple on a Fault Line
A Buddhist temple at Preah Vihear, a UNESCO World Heritage site, sits uneasily between two conflicting notions of Cambodian and Thai nationhood, and 4,000 troops. Here's an incident that combines the history of colonialism, political geography, public choice theory, and international relations. It's a dispiriting reality these days for underachieving geography students, that political lines on a map could change at the whim of a cabal twisting the legal arm of a weak government. As this example, and the tussle of Liancourt Rocks between Japan and ROK shows, it's not just Africa where seemingly administrators drew lines like other adults gamble with the mortgage.
Thai nationalists fear that the temple's designation will weaken Thailand's hand, though UNESCO has said that its decision has no bearing on overlapping land claims.
Earlier this month, Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled that the government was wrong when it signed a joint communiqué with Cambodia on the issue without consulting parliament. Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama later resigned.
Behind the rhetoric is a grinding war of attrition between Mr. Samak and his enemies, whose ongoing street protests are a repeat of events in 2006 that paralyzed Thailand, before former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup. Samak is an ally of Mr. Thaksin, who is barred from politics but continues to loom over public life here.
Critics allege that Thaksin is cutting business deals in Cambodia and that his friends in government are smoothing his path. «This is a very sensitive issue on both sides of the border. The [Thai] government should have informed the people from the beginning. The suspicion is that there are dealings under the table,» says Kasit Piromya, a former Thai ambassador to Washington and opposition supporter.
It's time to give Thaksin Shinawatra some meaningless NGO job far away from Thailand.
Sphere: Related Content
Barrapunto
CoRank Español
Delicious
Enchílame
Fresqui Ocio
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Menéame
Netscape
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Yahoo MyWeb
Comments disabled
Trackbacks disabled
RSS 2.0
Bloglines
Live
MyAOL
Netvibes
Newsgator
Rojo
Comments disabled
Comments have been disabled for this post.
Trackbacks disabled
Trackbacks have been disabled for this post.