Disputed Angkor site should be 'jointly managed'

A professor at the Chulalonkorn University in Thailand has proposed that the disputed site of Preah Vihear should be jointly managed by both Thai and Cambodian authorities because of existing unresolved border disputes in the surrounding area. The Preah Vihear temple is located on Cambodian soil, but its entrance is <strike>only</strike> usually accessed through the Thai side of the border.

Temple area ‘should be jointly managed’
Bangkok Post, 13 February 2008
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Associate Professor Surachart Bamrungsuk, a military strategy expert at Chulalongkorn University’s political science faculty, said at the seminar that the site proposed by Cambodia also covers a disputed common border area.

Therefore, until the dispute could be settled, the area should be jointly managed by the two neighbours so they could feel at ease with one another in dealing with the issue.

Ownership of the temple itself was once disputed between the two countries until the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia. Prof Surachart also argues that co-management of the temple will better enable Preah Vihear to become a tourism hub that both countries can benefit from.

Related books:
– Art & Architecture of Cambodia (World of Art) by H. I. Jessup
– Angkor Cities and Temples by C. Jaques
– Angkor: Cambodia’s Wondrous Khmer Temples, Fifth Edition by D. Rooney and P. Danford
– Angkor: A Tour of the Monuments by T. Zephir and L. Invernizzi
– Cambodian Architecture: Eighth to Thirteenth Centuries (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik) by J. Dumarcay and P. Royere