A miniature Preah Vihear for oversized nationalistic pride

The initiative of a tourism business network in northeastern Si Sa Ket province, the 1:11 scale model has been built over the past six month by troops from the Suranee Task Force, and financed by Colonel Thanasak Mitraphanont, a member of National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA).

Col Thanasak, a former commander of the 23rd Ranger Task Force, donated Bt5 million accumulated from his NSRA salary to fund the construction. The resulting cement structure, painted red, sits on an 800 square metre plot at Pha Mor-E-Daeng and will open to the public once final touches have been added.

Kalayanee Thammacharee, an adviser to Si Sa Ket’s governor, told local reporters the project was aimed at drawing tourists in the wake of a border dispute in 2008 that resulted in the blocking of access to Preah Vihear from Thai side. Col Thanasak called the construction a symbolic gesture of Thailand’s willingness to boost cooperation with Cambodia on the issue.

Ever since 1954, when Marshal Phibun Songkram sent troops to occupy Preah Vihear, the Thai establishment has considered the temple belongs to Thailand. But Phnom Penh subsequently took the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in 1962 ruled that the temple sits in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia. 

Stung by the ruling, the Thai elite continue to tell their children that one day, whether in this life or the next, Thailand would reclaim its rightful ownership of “Phra Viharn”.

In the meantime they have exploited wounded nationalist pride to further their own domestic political aims. In 2008 they made a bid to block Phnom Penh’s move to list the temple as a world heritage site. While they failed in that aim, the move succeeded in injecting nationalist fervour into an already heated domestic political scene,  at the same time severely damaging relations with Cambodia. Military skirmishes around the temple in 2011 finally prompted Cambodia to request an interpretation of the 1962 ruling from the ICJ.  

The court duly poured more salt into Thai nationalists’ wounds with its 2013 judgement that, “Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear”, meaning Thailand had to withdraw all security forces from the territory.

In the court’s view, the issue is clear-cut and can now be resolved. The ICJ has asked that both sides settle any lingering differences peacefully and cooperate in “good faith” over Thai access to the northeastern part of the temple. That process has yet to begin, however, after being derailed by the coup of May 2014.

Since then, junta leaders have met several times with their Cambodian counterparts, repairing much of the Ill-feeling between the two sides. However, the gate to Preah Vihear  from Thailand’s side remains firmly shut, just a few hundred metres from Pha Mor-E-Daeng. Talks in March with visiting Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh failed to produce any progress, though officials on both sides insist bilateral ties are strong. Meanwhile the lack of access to the new world heritage site for all but a favoured few Thais remains a sore point, most notably among the elite, who have nothing to show for their long struggle. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his clan have taken up an invitation to visit Preah Vihear, but the temple remains firmly in Cambodian hands. 

Perhaps building their own miniature version, however absurd it looks, is of some consolation to elitist Thai nationalists. The small cement-and-stucco replica located within a stone’s throw of the original might eventually help soothe the pain.