Abhisit's Preah Vihear response left confused legacy

The bruised nationalism that Abhisit employed as the opposition leader when he attacked Samak during a censure debate over the Preah Vihear's inscription as a world heritage site really hurt relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Abhisit accused Samak of forfeiting Thai sovereignty over the relinquished territory that the Hindu temple is sitting on. He managed to mislead a lot of Thai nationalists into believing that Thailand had ceded territory to Cambodia although he knew very well that the area where Preah Vihear is located was handed over to Cambodia in 1962 after the International Court of Justice ruled in Phnom Penh's favour.

The Democrats together with the conservative movement of the People's Alliance for Democracy forced Samak's government and its foreign minister Noppadon Pattama to withdraw Thailand's support for Cambodia's proposal to list the 11th century Khmer sanctuary as a world heritage site.

The move had no actual impact on Cambodia's application since Preah Vihear was eventually listed as a world heritage site in July anyway, without Thai support.

However, its implications disappointed the Phnom Penh government and triggered a series of border clashes, since Cambodian leaders perceived Thailand as desiring to have the temple returned.

A lot of border problems including claims on overlapping areas have piled up, fomenting border tensions and eventually border skirmishes that killed four soldiers and wounded many others on both sides in October.

The Democrats and their political ally the PAD did not need to take any responsibility as they simply blamed the administrations for mishandling the situation and failing to restore relations.

Only people along the border and Thailand as a whole had to suffer the consequence of the damage. Preah Vihear has been shut down for months, keeping tourists away from the attractive site. The Hindu temple could have drawn a lot of tourists to border provinces in the lower Northeast including Ubon Ratchatani, Si Sa Ket and Surin.

Chavalit Ongkavanit, president of the Ubon Ratchatani Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday tour operators in his province have lost 70 per cent of their business from Preah Vihear-linked tourism. Many plans to open tourism projects between the border provinces and Cambodian provinces were put on hold, he said.

"Confusion over the abstract boundary caused unnecessary conflicts over Preah Vihear between both sides," Chavalit said in an interview. "Local people in the area don't care about the boundary. We just want to live in peace and do business," he said.

Authorities should clear away the problems quickly and restore normalcy to the border, he said.

However, solving border problems with wounded patriotism will not be easy, as officials have to play hardball for the benefit of only the Thai side. They cannot make a fine line for mutual benefit.

Differences on minor issue such as how to call the Hindu temple - Preah Vihear in Khmer or Phra Viharn in Thai - could delay the progress of ministerial meetings on border arrangements.

Wording has been an issue for a long time as Thai officials have never bothered to notice the temple in the Khmer pronunciation of Preah Vihear in official documents until recently, when nationalist MPs told them to insist on the Thai version for the name of the Hindu temple.

It will be interesting to see how Abhisit, if he really becomes the next prime minister, will instruct his foreign minister to deal with the Cambodians, whose nationalistic sentiment is second to none in the world.