29 June 201
• Will it end one day, and soon enough, after 150 years of its happening?
• Cambodia had nothing to do with it.
• Its source was the failure of Siam King Mong Kut and his ministers.
• Cambodia had nothing to do with it.
• Its source was the failure of Siam King Mong Kut and his ministers.
Colonel F. Bernard, President of the French Commission for the delimitation of the French-Siamese border in virtue of the Convention of 13 February 1904 had made an observation about the Thais, which is worth remembered. He said: “the superiority of their self-esteem was the primary cause of their troubles and misfortune – in French: la superiorite de leur esprit fut la premiere cause de leurs malheurs.” He wrote in a book published in 1933, “L’Ecole des Diplomates,” within the context of the Thai diplomacy during the reign of king Mong Kut of Thailand, the reign of King Ang Duong of Cambodia and the mission of M. de Montigny, the plenipotentiary of the French Emperor Napoleon III to the court of King Mong Kut. Colonel F. Bernard had mentioned as well that: “The ministers of Siam have had negotiated for a long time already with England and America; they have the intelligence and the ability of the Westerners,” which obviously had made them to acquire that “superiority of their self-esteem,” which is equated in recent times to “arrogance,” and “condescension,” which are the current state of mind of the government of Abhisit Vijjajeva, with “former
terrorist” turned foreign minister Kasit Pyromya, and the malicious and machiavellic Suthep Thaugsuban at his sides. Colonel F. Bernard stated that: “Without the obstinacy of King Mong Kut, the question of Cambodia would have been closed from the first day,…….and despite the French diplomacy, it is with France that Cambodia had to entrust her destiny.”
This writing is not a piece about history, but as far back as the eyes can see, the Kingdom of Thailand has kept its enmity towards Cambodia for its own failure to annihilate Cambodia when it had the chance, and particularly when the western powers did not even know that there is a small kingdom called Cambodia located between Siam and Cochinchine. The arrogance and the condescension of the Thais turned to be a providence for the Cambodians as it is written in the third verse of the Cambodian National Anthem, “yeung Sangkhim Por Phoab Preng Samnang Roboas Kampuchea – we are expecting the benediction of the hands of the Providence on Cambodia”. In 1853 King Ang Duong of Cambodia wrote a letter to the French Emperor Napoleon III to express his friendship and solicit his support. The immediate consequence of which had been to stop the armies of Siam from marching at will into Cambodia to conquest and ravage the many provinces of Cambodia to the West and North, and to relieve Cambodia from paying tributes to Bangkok. Siam, now Thailand always acts like a hungry mad dog that missed a good piece of meat and had never stopped dreaming about it, since.
In 1940 the Department of Publicity of the Foreign Ministry of Thailand had shown itself to be that hungry mad dog by publishing a document, “How Thailand Lost her Territories to France”. It was a shameless nostalgia, and an insult to history, to the fact and the truth. Concerning Cambodia, the publication claimed that Siam has lost an area about 175,000 sq.km and 2,900,000 people in 1867 and 1907. Actually, Siam had never ever owned the land and the people in Cambodia under any treaties in existence during those times. The realities were that the armies of Siam marched at will into Cambodia to conquest and ravage the many provinces of Cambodia. They were wholesale invasions and occupations.
The arrogance, the condescension, and the obstinacy which cause the failure of King Mong Kut and his ministers from executing the annexation policy by annihilating Cambodia and her people create an endless nostalgia that Thailand had never allowed itself to wake up and liberate itself from the bad dream of the hungry mad dog.
Therefore, Thailand’s territorial ambition on Cambodian territories has become its grand design to be executed by the government of Thailand if any of such a government wishes to have a reasonable life span. From then on, Thailand has learnt, acquired, and mastered the art of distortion of the facts, dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, the art of accusation, of denial with arrogance, condescension and obstinacy.
Thailand re-creates history which has been taught in Thai schools at all levels by painting sadly that Thailand is a victim.
In 1954, not even a mere one year after Cambodia acquired full independence from France, Thai armed forces occupied the Temple of Preah Vihear, to be ordered out by the international will, the LaHaye ICJ Judgments of 15 June 1962.
Finally, Thailand has made official, its territorial ambition on Cambodian territories in 2007 in Christchurch, New Zealand during the 31st session of the World Heritage Committee by presenting for the first time to such an important international gathering a map dressed up unilaterally and secretly by Thailand and thus laying claim on an area of 4.6 km sq. inside the Cambodian territory near the Temple of Preah Vihear, as an
objection of various uncoordinated, confusing, illegitimate, and nonsense motives to the inscription of the Temple of Preah Vihear to the World Heritage List. Again, Thailand’s arrogance, condescension, and obstinacy were its primary troubles and misfortune. In 2008, the Temple of Preah Vihear was inscribed unanimously on the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee.
Would Thailand wake up from the bad dream of a hungry mad dog? It had to be decided by Thailand. It had nothing to do with Cambodia.
Cambodia, under the leadership of Prime Minister HUN SEN will never lower her guards in front of Thailand’s territorial ambition. However, with his spirit of conciliation, cooperation, and friendship Prime Minister HUN SEN has stressed again and again that he wanted to see our borders with neighboring countries, especially with Thailand to be the border of Peace, Friendship, and Development for the well being of the two peoples, Cambodians and Thais.
Pen Ngoeun
Advisor to the Office of the Council of Ministers,
member of the Advisory Board of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PRU)
of the Office of the Council of Ministers
This article represents only the personal opinion of the writer, and does not reflect under
any shape and form the opinion of the PRU nor that of the Office of the Council of
Ministers.