SPOTLIGHT
Cambodians celebrate but many Thais are unhappy with the World Heritage Committee's decision on Preah Vihear, writes Piyaporn Wongruang
Embattled Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama gives a statement outlining Thailand's position on Preah Vihear's successful listing as a World Heritage site. |
The controversial struggle to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site ended on Monday, with Unesco announcing that the Hindu temple's application had been accepted.
The decision, by the World Heritage Committee (WHC), received a mixed reaction from Cambodians and Thais.
Impromptu celebrations coursed through Cambodia as people learned the news. But over the border, dissatisfaction among Thais is growing.
According to a Thai source who attended the meeting, Cambodia's proposal sailed through the consideration of the committee members.
The WHC chairwoman had proposed the draft resolution and asked the committee members to approve it without opening the floor to any debates, the source said.
Cambodia had underlined three key points in its bid to get Preah Vihear listed, but in the event the temple won over the committee with its first criterion - the representation of a masterpiece of human creative genius.
This prompted Thailand to express its opposition to the "unilateral inscription of Preah Vihear on only one criterion". Thailand is now also further challenging the integrity of the site, as well as the unsettled border line.
"We are very disappointed that our appeal for the joint nomination has been repeatedly denied, and now an exception has been made to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site on the basis of just one criterion," said a draft statement by the Thai World Heritage Committee.
"Without the proper buffer zones, and without the necessity cultural and natural landscapes on all sides, the temple has been denied the dignity and the integrity it deserves in being listed as a World Heritage site."
Standing on top of the high cliff on the Dangrek Range separating Thailand's lower Northeast and Cambodia, the temple has long been valued as an exceptional piece of work from the ancient world.
The temple, built in the early 11th century to worship the Hindu god Shiva, featured a succession of courtyards and key buildings including gopuras, stairways and pavements stretching in a north-south orientation.
This clearly reflects the Khmer aptitude for domesticating vast territories and adapting to the landscape, and it is these qualities which convinced the committee to accept the application under the first criterion.
According to the International Council of Monuments and Sites, an advisory body for the WHC, it was noted that "the full value of the temple of Preah Vihear is inextricably linked to the surrounding landscape and that the planning and orientation of the temple, facing north, is quite different from other Khmer temples."
The temple complex, however, was separated politically from its surrounding land in 1962, when the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple - but not all of its immediate surroundings - was situated on Cambodian soil.
Arguments about which country has sovereignty over the temple and its surroundings have continued ever since between Cambodia and Thailand.
Cambodia has sought World Heritage status for Preah Vihear since the early 1990s, but until this year's joint communique controversy, Thailand has never been involved in the development of the application.
Cambodia's original proposal included the overlapping area stretching beyond the stairways towards Thai soil, but Thailand protested.
Cambodia eventually removed the overlapping area from its proposal and won the WHC's approval.
Historian Srisakra Vallibhotama said listing Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site betrays a lack of understanding of the site's universal value.
Instead of securing the site as a treasure for enthusiasts of ancient civilisations, he said this listing could lead to confrontations.
"It is important to understand the site's universal value," said Mr Srisakra.
"And we should understand the boundary is not a geographical one, but rather a cultural one. Turning the area into a World Heritage site does not preserve the culture, it only preserves the physical structure in order to attract tourists."
The WHC, meanwhile, has clarified its stance on the border issue.
It says that under Article 11.3 of the Convention, the inscription of Preah Vihear has no implications for any ongoing negotiations concerning the boundary between the two countries, and this does not prejudice the rights of both governments to reach an amicable settlement.
The organisation has asked Cambodia to further define the perimeter of the buffer zone, complete the management plan for the property and its buffer zone, and convene an international coordinating committee for the safeguarding of the property, inviting Thailand and other "appropriate partners" as members, according to the office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Bangkok.
"The WHC's decision encourages Cambodia and Thailand to work together for the safekeeping of the property," the agency said.
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