Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has played down the row between border authorities in Thailand and Cambodia over a group of Cambodians signing their national anthem at an ancient temple in Surin province.
“It’s nothing,” the premier said on Tuesday when asked about a video of the incident that made many Thai people feel uncomfortable.
Ms Paetongtarn said she would visit Cambodia soon. “There is no problem,” she said.
The video, filmed at the temple in Phanom Dong Rak district of Surin on Feb 13, showed a group of 25 Cambodian women in traditional dress. According to an AFP report, they sang the anthem which contains the line, “All Khmer people are happy to sacrifice their lives when the nation is at war and shedding blood.”
The group was stopped by Thai soldiers, which prompted a Cambodian military commander to engage in a heated argument with them.
Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday that the 11th-century Khmer temple is located on Thai soil but has been the subject of a dispute over border demarcation. Thailand allows Cambodians to visit the temple but does not allow symbolic gestures, which is how a national anthem would be viewed.
The incident calls to mind the decades-long dispute over Preah Vihear temple, which led to a brief military clash in 2008. Five years later the International Court of Justice ruled that the land to the east, west and south of the temple was Cambodian and the land to the north was Thai.
On Tuesday, the Suranaree Task Force sent a second petition to the commander of the 4th Military Region in Cambodia to express its discomfort with the Cambodian actions in Surin.
Maj Gen Somphob Pharawet, the Suranaree Taskforce commander, ordered soldiers at the temple to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future.