Trader who lost leg in blast hurt by dispute, writes Wassana Nanuam in Si Sa Ket
For Rien Chaikantri, the Preah Vihear temple is only the ''heritage'' he and his family has lived on.
The ruins of the Hindu civilisation across the Thai border at Kantharalak district in this northeastern province serve as a workplace for Mr Rien, who sells souvenirs to tourists. And it is the sole source of income for his family.
But its closure after the recent border tensions is depriving him of this heritage.
After the temple closed, Mr Rien contemplated suicide. Aware he had three children to look after, he changed his mind. His only wish is to see the temple reopened.
'' I don't know when Cambodia will open the temple. Perhaps they never will,'' he said.
This is not the first time the 46-year-old resident of Phumsarol village in the district has felt discouraged. At 15 years old, he accompanied his elder brother to a forest near the temple. The two were looking for wild plants for sale, when Rien lost his right leg in a landmine explosion.
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| Rien Chaikantri, a 46-year-old villager in Ban Phumsarol in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district, who lost his right leg at 15 when he stepped on a landmine while looking for wild plants near the Thai-Cambodian border. — JETJARAS NA RANONG |
He was not aware the area had been planted with landmines during the war in Cambodia.
With only one leg and having nowhere to go, Mr Rien decided to find jobs in his neighbourhood. He started selling souvenirs to tourists at Preah Vihear, making up to 10,000 baht a month.
But the recent move by Phnom Penh to make the 900-year-old temple a World Heritage site to attract more visitors has in the event resulted in its closure, so now no one is visiting.
Instead of inviting tourists to visit a sacred place built to worship the Hindu god Shiva, Cambodian authorities have decided to close the temple for safety reasons.
Many Thai people, including supporters of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy, opposed the government's initial support for the listing of the temple as a World Heritage site under the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Thai villagers staged a rally near an entrance to Preah Vihear, prompting Thai and Cambodian soldiers to tighten security along the border.
Mr Rien is split. On one hand, he wants Thai soldiers to take back what Thais call ''Khao Phra Viharn,'' despite the World Court's 1962 verdict giving rights to the temple to Cambodia. But on the other hand, he still hopes the two countries could manage this historic site together.
While people in his village, located just eight kilometres from the border, worry about a possible military clash and have begun evacuation drills where they take refuge in bunkers, Mr Rien only wants to go back to the way things were before.
''I'm alive because of Phra Viharn,'' he said.
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