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Thai-Cambodia impasse hinders restoration work
Archaeologists and historians hope an agreement over the long-standing border and ownership dispute can be reached so restoration work at Ta Muen Thom sanctuary can resume
For some, Ta Muen Thom sanctuary in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district is a testament of a shared heritage between Thailand and Cambodia. For others, however, it is an attestation of long-standing antagonism of the two rivalry neighbours.
Small yet elegant Ta Muen Thom sanctuary in Surin’s Phanom Dong Rak district. Both Thailand and Cambodia have claimed ownership over the 13th century temple, which is on the overlapping border. An ownership dispute caused the Thai Fine Arts Department to abandon the site in 2001. PHOTO: SANITSUDA EKACHAI
Whatever it is, the monumental Khmer-styled sanctuary opposite Oddar Meanchey province in Cambodia has become one of the first casualties of territorial disputes between the two neighbouring countries, which each have aggressively claimed ownership over the ancient site located in the so-called Ta Muen complex, incorporating two other nearby ruins, Ta Muen Tot _ also an overlapping site _ and Ta Muen chapel.
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE
✦ Ta Muen Tot chapel, built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, on the Ta Muen complex. Also known as ‘arokhayasala’, the structure once served as a hospital.
✦ A ‘soam sutra’ drain, which siphoned sacred water during a Hindu ceremony from one of Ta Muen Thom chapels.
✦ Ta Muen chapel is a rest house for travellers. Like Ta Muen Tot, restoration on the Bayon-styled structure, is completed.
✦ This file photo shows a Thai military ranger standing guard at Ta Muen Thom temple. The site is open to visitors from both sides except when the border dispute heats up.
The Thai Fine Arts Department registered the whole complex as a national archaeological site in 1935 and later began restoration work on the three ruins, which had sustained a great deal of damage from shells during the Cambodian Civil War. Ta Muen, which was an ancient rest house for travellers during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, and Ta Muen Tot, an arokhayasala (hospital) built in the same era, both received proper restoration. However, territory tensions forced the Thai Fine Arts Department to abandon the Ta Muen Thom sanctuary in 2001, leaving the restoration work incomplete, as advised by the security agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Ministry, in response to protests by Phnom Penh that argued the site was on Cambodian soil.
Both sides since then have deployed several units of armed rangers just a stone's throw away from the site, while the surrounding areas are known to be heavily landmine-infested.
Regretfully, the Preah Vihear dispute has aggravated border tensions, particularly at this ancient site, given the overlapping claims between both sides.
Yet the Ta Muen site _ about an hour's drive south of Surin town _ remains a tourist attraction for both Thais and Cambodians who are allowed access into the region to get a glimpse of the ancient beauty; the access would be closed to visitors only if tensions hit the red alert level. Tensions hit a peak earlier this year when a planned visit to the ancient temple by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen during his high-profile border tour, which almost resulted in a confrontation between the two sides.
The Fine Arts Department, meanwhile, is looking for the possibility to resume and complete the restoration work at Ta Muen Thom. This time, it hopes to invite Cambodia to join the restoration effort, if it is to truly happen.
Deputy Director-General of the Fine Arts Department Bovornvate Rungrujee, who led a group of judges and justice personnel on a visit to the ancient site earlier this month, said the half-restored sanctuary has evidently deteriorated, with a number of sandstone blocks crumbling to the ground.
The idea of resuming reconstruction work was proposed during the trip. It was agreed that Thailand and Cambodia should work together for the sake of heritage conservation, putting aside the border conflict and ownership dispute _ at the least temporarily.
Bovornvate said the Fine Arts Department, through the Ministry of Culture, will raise the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the security agencies to find ways to continue the unfinished repair work.
Bovornvate, who was responsible for the Ta Muen Thom excavation in the 1980s, said that Ta Muen Thom is a unique sanctuary, regarding the location of the structure, which lies exactly on a rock-cutting site.
Traces of damage left behind from the Cambodian Civil War on Ta Muen Thom’s delicately carved sandstones.
The Ta Muen complex stands on the Angkor-Phimai royal road. Along the route, there were several arokhayasala, cited in an ancient Khmer inscription, as well as rest houses (or dharmasala, also known previously as agnisala, meaning a house with lit-up fire.
Bovornvate noted that Ta Muen Tot is the most complete arokhayasala ever found in Thailand. There are nearly 20 such ancient hospitals _ all built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII _ in the lower part of the Northeast. An ancient inscription found at this particular chapel cited the name of Phaisatchaya Kuruwaituya, a Bhodhisattva who blesses its worshippers with good health.
"The Fine Arts Department has used this arokhayasala as a prototype for restoration of similar chapels in other areas," he said.
It is well realised that the idea of having Cambodia in the renewed restoration plan will not be easy. Immediate question involve with the legitimate right over the overlapping site, if any party is to do _ or continue _ the restoration work.
Historian Charnvit Kasetsiri doubts if Cambodia would consider the "invitation", given the bitterness of both sides.
"Ideally, joint work [on the sanctuary] is good," he said. But personally he does not believe that Cambodia will ever take an interest.
Deputy Director-General of the Fine Arts Department Bovornvate Rungrujee hopes there is a chance to resume restoration work at the ancient site.
"Such cooperation can be made when two sides truly trust each other. And that is, unfortunately, not the case between Thailand and Cambodia," said Charnvit, who notes that the Ta Muen conflict is but a small part of the Preah Vihear problem, which has worsened due to ultra-nationalism and racial nationalist sentiments that surged after Cambodia's successful bid to have the site registered on the Unesco World Heritage list.
"The Preah Vihear problem will haunt us again and again as long as we are trapped in old history, shrouded by racial nationalism," he said.
The historian also said it is necessary that Thais are better educated about treaties and conventions concerning the obligations and commitment the country has with its neighbours, as well as the international community, otherwise border conflicts, in particular, the Preah Vihear problem, will erupt again and again.
And if that were the case, the historian said that he sees no end to the Ta Muen tension.
"For some issues like border disputes, we'd be better to leave it as it is if we can't fix it. And just wait until we are ready," said Charnvit.
Archaeologists and historians hope an agreement over the long-standing border and ownership dispute can be reached so restoration work at Ta Muen Thom sanctuary can resume
- Published: 16/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Outlook
For some, Ta Muen Thom sanctuary in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district is a testament of a shared heritage between Thailand and Cambodia. For others, however, it is an attestation of long-standing antagonism of the two rivalry neighbours.
Whatever it is, the monumental Khmer-styled sanctuary opposite Oddar Meanchey province in Cambodia has become one of the first casualties of territorial disputes between the two neighbouring countries, which each have aggressively claimed ownership over the ancient site located in the so-called Ta Muen complex, incorporating two other nearby ruins, Ta Muen Tot _ also an overlapping site _ and Ta Muen chapel.
✦ Ta Muen Tot chapel, built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, on the Ta Muen complex. Also known as ‘arokhayasala’, the structure once served as a hospital.
✦ A ‘soam sutra’ drain, which siphoned sacred water during a Hindu ceremony from one of Ta Muen Thom chapels.
✦ Ta Muen chapel is a rest house for travellers. Like Ta Muen Tot, restoration on the Bayon-styled structure, is completed.
✦ This file photo shows a Thai military ranger standing guard at Ta Muen Thom temple. The site is open to visitors from both sides except when the border dispute heats up.
The Thai Fine Arts Department registered the whole complex as a national archaeological site in 1935 and later began restoration work on the three ruins, which had sustained a great deal of damage from shells during the Cambodian Civil War. Ta Muen, which was an ancient rest house for travellers during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, and Ta Muen Tot, an arokhayasala (hospital) built in the same era, both received proper restoration. However, territory tensions forced the Thai Fine Arts Department to abandon the Ta Muen Thom sanctuary in 2001, leaving the restoration work incomplete, as advised by the security agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Ministry, in response to protests by Phnom Penh that argued the site was on Cambodian soil.
Both sides since then have deployed several units of armed rangers just a stone's throw away from the site, while the surrounding areas are known to be heavily landmine-infested.
Regretfully, the Preah Vihear dispute has aggravated border tensions, particularly at this ancient site, given the overlapping claims between both sides.
Yet the Ta Muen site _ about an hour's drive south of Surin town _ remains a tourist attraction for both Thais and Cambodians who are allowed access into the region to get a glimpse of the ancient beauty; the access would be closed to visitors only if tensions hit the red alert level. Tensions hit a peak earlier this year when a planned visit to the ancient temple by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen during his high-profile border tour, which almost resulted in a confrontation between the two sides.
The Fine Arts Department, meanwhile, is looking for the possibility to resume and complete the restoration work at Ta Muen Thom. This time, it hopes to invite Cambodia to join the restoration effort, if it is to truly happen.
Deputy Director-General of the Fine Arts Department Bovornvate Rungrujee, who led a group of judges and justice personnel on a visit to the ancient site earlier this month, said the half-restored sanctuary has evidently deteriorated, with a number of sandstone blocks crumbling to the ground.
The idea of resuming reconstruction work was proposed during the trip. It was agreed that Thailand and Cambodia should work together for the sake of heritage conservation, putting aside the border conflict and ownership dispute _ at the least temporarily.
Bovornvate said the Fine Arts Department, through the Ministry of Culture, will raise the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the security agencies to find ways to continue the unfinished repair work.
Bovornvate, who was responsible for the Ta Muen Thom excavation in the 1980s, said that Ta Muen Thom is a unique sanctuary, regarding the location of the structure, which lies exactly on a rock-cutting site.
The Ta Muen complex stands on the Angkor-Phimai royal road. Along the route, there were several arokhayasala, cited in an ancient Khmer inscription, as well as rest houses (or dharmasala, also known previously as agnisala, meaning a house with lit-up fire.
Bovornvate noted that Ta Muen Tot is the most complete arokhayasala ever found in Thailand. There are nearly 20 such ancient hospitals _ all built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII _ in the lower part of the Northeast. An ancient inscription found at this particular chapel cited the name of Phaisatchaya Kuruwaituya, a Bhodhisattva who blesses its worshippers with good health.
"The Fine Arts Department has used this arokhayasala as a prototype for restoration of similar chapels in other areas," he said.
It is well realised that the idea of having Cambodia in the renewed restoration plan will not be easy. Immediate question involve with the legitimate right over the overlapping site, if any party is to do _ or continue _ the restoration work.
Historian Charnvit Kasetsiri doubts if Cambodia would consider the "invitation", given the bitterness of both sides.
"Ideally, joint work [on the sanctuary] is good," he said. But personally he does not believe that Cambodia will ever take an interest.
"Such cooperation can be made when two sides truly trust each other. And that is, unfortunately, not the case between Thailand and Cambodia," said Charnvit, who notes that the Ta Muen conflict is but a small part of the Preah Vihear problem, which has worsened due to ultra-nationalism and racial nationalist sentiments that surged after Cambodia's successful bid to have the site registered on the Unesco World Heritage list.
"The Preah Vihear problem will haunt us again and again as long as we are trapped in old history, shrouded by racial nationalism," he said.
The historian also said it is necessary that Thais are better educated about treaties and conventions concerning the obligations and commitment the country has with its neighbours, as well as the international community, otherwise border conflicts, in particular, the Preah Vihear problem, will erupt again and again.
And if that were the case, the historian said that he sees no end to the Ta Muen tension.
"For some issues like border disputes, we'd be better to leave it as it is if we can't fix it. And just wait until we are ready," said Charnvit.
