Saber Rattling 101

When your approval ratings can be counted on two hands and a foot. When the opposition says George Bush could do a better job. When the best thing to say is nothing at all. There's always one way to get everybody back on your side - start a war.

That's what the Thai government seems to be doing these days.

What started out as a routine power struggle between two political parties, has now become a military standoff between two neighboring countries over 4.6 sq km of disputed land that for the last 40 years had sat quietly unnoticed.

I won't go into all the details, but recently a 900-year old temple, Preah Vihear, located on this border between Thailand and Cambodia was accepted by UNESCO as a World Heritage site - more specifically, Cambodia's World Heritage site.

Here's a picture of the temple in question - interestingly enough it's a Hindu temple, although Thailand and Cambodia are both Buddhist countries.




Ever since the French carved up Southeast Asia nearly 100 years ago, there have always been disagreements as to where certain borders should lie. 40 years ago the dispute concerning this temple went before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and it was ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia. And, for 40 years Thailand didn't do much about it - that is, until now.

In a recent censure debate, the opposition party accused the government of passively accepting the 1963 ICJ ruling (by not opposing the World Heritage Status was officially accepted by UNESCO, July 2008), and casually handing over Thai sovereignty to historic arch-enemy, Cambodia. Anyway, as is often the case in politics, it's not the truth that matters, it's the perception of the truth that gets you kicked out of office.

So, in defence of Thai sovereignty, the blood of Thai ancestors, and the right of future generations (and approval ratings), soldiers were sent to the site to defend Thai soil, where they were promptly met by Cambodian soldiers (Cambodia has an election next week). Fortunately, no shots have been fired, yet - although a few Thai soldiers were caught and detained after crossing over into Cambodia. For the most part it has been a textbook example of saber rattling. And everyone loves a good saber rattling.


But that's not the reason I'm writing this blog entry.

Next to my factory is the Korat Army Base - in fact, we share a 12-foot high cement wall along our border. As part of the national saber-rattling initiative, the Army base has tripled, if not ten-tupled, it's regular training activities. What is normally a pitter-pat of gunshots heard from the nearby firing range has become a torrential, non-stop barrage of ammunition fire that can be heard from here to Cambodia.

Here's a sample.

Instead of filming the 12-foot high wall and simply recording the sound of gunfire, I downloaded some pictures of Preah Vihear and made a quick slide show. What you hear is what I heard sitting at my desk while filming my computer screen (hi-tech, right). Anyway, it's loud, and I'm sure the Cambodians will think twice before occupying the temple that was granted to them by a World Court - election year or not.




For a better look, here are the pictures from the slide show.

For the record, this is the land in dispute, I think.


and this is where it is in relation to Thailand.