An exciting day for my girlfriend and her family
Monday is an exciting day for my girlfriend's family. On this day, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will rule on the conflict over the Hindu temple Preah Vihear. Thailand and Cambodia both claim a piece of territory near the temple.
Her family lives in a village about half an hour's drive from Kanthalarak in Sisaket province. As the crow flies about 35 km from the Cambodian border and only 38 km from the now infamous Preah Vihear Temple. The land where her father grows some rice is in the field of fire.
Last week, the residents of the area were already informed about what might come: clatter of arms. In preparation, everyone has been told to prepare for an emergency evacuation. Have some money ready, pack a suitcase with some clothes and keep your ID card with you. A number of families and children from the border region have already been brought from the border region to Kanthalarak. The shelters are being prepared in haste.
Rice harvest
Another annoying situation is that her father has to get his rice from the land. If he waits too long, the harvest will be lost. In any case, he cannot go to his rice field on Monday, which is too close to the border with Cambodia and is therefore extra dangerous.
For her family and the villagers, this situation is not new. The end of April 2011 is still fresh in the memory. Then the shells hit near her village. The ground rumbled and the dull bangs confirmed what was happening. Even then there was talk of a possible evacuation, even then the villagers did not want that. They are afraid of losing their already meager possessions forever.
“The village is all we have. Many were born here and want to die here too. If we flee, we don't know how we will find our village afterwards. Maybe then everything will be destroyed. Where should we live then?”, those were her words that I wrote down in a posting ('No fear of dying'). Fortunately, she herself is not in her village right now, she works elsewhere in Thailand, but her family and friends are. Despite this, she is rather light-hearted about it, but appearances can be deceiving.
All this annoying stuff has to do with a common fight over a 4,6 square kilometer piece of land near the temple, which is disputed by both countries. The ICJ awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962; The Court will decide on the surrounding area on Monday. In preparation for this ruling, tensions in the area have risen again.
Now just wait and see what will happen…
A very recognizable story Khun Peter.
My wife's family lives in the same region as your girlfriend, she is indeed very light-hearted about it, but follows all the news a lot more than usual and the conversations with mom also take a lot longer than normal.
We hope it all goes well my personal opinion is that it's all a lot of strong language and that not too much will happen today (in this region) or am I being too optimistic ……
We wait it out (again).
As expected, the ruling is detrimental to Thailand. Cambodia was right. Now to wait and see what the reactions from the Thai side will be. Anyway, good luck to everyone in that area.
Your conclusion is premature. See Breaking News under News from Thailand today.