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Narrating the national border: Cambodian state rhetoric vs popular discourse on the Preah Vihear conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2016

Kimly Ngoun
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Abstract

Existing studies of the Thai–Cambodian conflict over the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear tend to focus on the historical and legal dimensions of the contested claims and on Thailand's role. This article examines the conflict from within Cambodia, through the rhetoric of the Cambodian state elites and the views of residents of Preah Vihear province. The state has endeavoured to create and propogate a view that development projects in this province are an expression of Khmer pride as well as important for nation-building and border defence. Residents of the border region, however, view such nationalist discourse through their everyday experiences, giving local meaning to terms such as development, nation and heritage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 210 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2016 

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References

1 Informant 1.

2 Informant 2.

3 Informant 6.

4 Informant 23.

5 See, for example, Cuasay, P., ‘Borders on the fantastic: Mimesis, violence, and landscape at the temple of Preah Vihear’, Modern Asian Studies 32, 4 (1998): 849–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Charnvit Kasetsiri, Pou Sothirak and Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Preah Vihear: A guide to the Thai–Cambodian conflict and its solution (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2013), pp. 1–104; Strate, Shane, ‘A pile of stones? Preah Vihear as a Thai symbol of national humiliation’, South East Asia Research 21, 1 (2013): 41–68Google Scholar; Kattan, Victor, ‘The ghosts of the temple of Preah Vihear/Phra Viharn in the 2013 Judgment’, Asian Journal of International Law 5, 1 (2015): 16–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Phan, Hao Duy, ‘Institutional design and its constraints: Explaining ASEAN's role in the temple of Preah Vihear dispute’, Asian Journal of International Law 5, 1 (2015): 7–15Google Scholar.

6 Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, myth, reality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 10.

7 Informants 3, 4, 5, 7–9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 39, 41, 49, 69.

8 I employed semi-structured interviews with probing questions for the in-depth analysis and discussion questions for the focus groups. My provincial fieldwork sites included Tbeng Meanchey, Sra Em, Preah Vihear Temple, and two newly established villages, Sen Chey and Samdech Techo Hun Sen Nature, about 10 km and 20 km from the temple, respectively. The capital city of Tbeng Meanchey is about 100 km from the temple. Sra Em is about 30 km from and the final gateway to the temple.

9 In border studies, the terms ‘border’, ‘borderlands’ and ‘frontier’ are sometimes differentiated. See Malcolm Anderson, Frontiers: Territory and state formation in the modern world (Cambridge: Polity, 1996), pp. 9–10; Baud, Michiel and van Schendel, Willem, ‘Toward a comparative history of borderlands’, Journal of World History 8, 2 (1997): 213–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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11 Alexander Horstmann and Reed Wadley, ‘Centering the margin in Southeast Asia’, in Centering the margin: Agency and narrative in Southeast Asian borderlands, ed. Alexander Horstmann and Reed Wadley (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2006), pp. 8–9.

12 The traditional precolonial indigenous knowledge of political space between states followed the concept of a mandala, which consists of a centre and its surrounding satellites. The farthest domains from the centre were often overlapping zones also claimed by other competing centres. Stanley Tambiah coined the term ‘galactic polity’ to refer to this spatial mandala arrangement of traditional Southeast Asian kingdoms in Culture, thought, and social action (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), pp. 3–31.

13 Thongchai Winichakul, Siam mapped: A history of the geo-body of a nation (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1994).

14 Ibid.

15 Dan Slater, Ordering power: Contentious politics and authoritarian leviathans in Southeast Asia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 3; Thomas Blom Hansen and Finn Stepputat, ‘Introduction: States of imagination’, in States of imagination: Ethnographic explorations of the postcolonial state, ed. Thomas Blom Hansen and Finn Stepputat (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001), pp. 11–14.

16 Gunnar Myrdal, Asian drama: An enquiry into the poverty of nations (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1968), cited in Anthony Reid, Imperial alchemy: Nationalism and political identity in Southeast Asia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 26.

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19 See, for example, Martin Smith, Burma: Insurgency and the politics of ethnicity (London: Zed, 1991).

20 The highland minorities had a history of resistance even under the French. See Margaret Slocomb, ‘Cultures and histories of resistance in Cambodia’, in Conservation and development in Cambodia: Exploring frontiers of change in nature, state and society, ed. Sarah Milne and Sango Mahanty (New York: Routledge, 2015), pp. 231–3.

21 Conny van den Berg and Phat Palith, ‘On people, roads and land: Immigration and its consequences for highland communities in Ratanakiri’, International Development Research Centre (Oct. 2000): 4; John, Ronald Bruce St, ‘Land boundaries of Indochina: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam’, IBRU Boundary and Territory Briefings 2, 6 (1998): 99Google Scholar; Baird, Ian, ‘Different views of history: Shades of irredentism along the Laos–Cambodia border’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 41, 2 (2010): 199–201Google Scholar.

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24 Chandler, Brother number one, p. 84; Jan Ovesen and Ing-Britt Trankell, ‘Cambodia’, in Ethnicity in Asia, ed. Colin Mackerras (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), p. 198.

25 See Leifer, ‘Cambodia and her neighbours’; Charnvit Kasetsiri, ‘Thailand–Cambodia: A love–hate relationship’, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 3 (Mar. 2003); http://kyotoreview.org/issue-3-nations-and-stories/a-love-hate-relationship/ (last accessed 16 Dec. 2015); Milton Osborne, ‘Preah Vihear: The Thai–Cambodia temple dispute’, Open Democracy News Analysis, 29 Aug. 2008; https:// www.opendemocracy.net/article/preah-vihear-the-thai-cambodia-temple-dispute (last accessed 16 Dec. 2015).

26 When Chatichai Choonhawan became prime minister of Thailand (1988–91), he announced Thailand's new foreign policy on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. His government wanted to forge new relations with the three Indochinese countries by transforming them from ‘a battlefield into a marketplace’. Unlike his predecessors, Chatichai viewed Thailand's borders with Indochinese countries as zones of trade and economic activity. For details, see Battersby, ‘Border politics’; French, Lindsay, ‘From politics to economics at the Thai–Cambodian border: Plus ça change…’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 15, 3 (2002): 444–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Hun Sen, ‘Keynote address at the ceremony to launch the construction of National Road 62 from Tbeng Meanchey to Preah Vihear Temple, and road segment from the intersection of National Road 62 to Srayorng–Koh Ke’, Cambodia New Vision, 5 Apr. 2008; available at http://cnv.org.kh/tag/pvh/ (last accessed 7 Jan. 2016).

28 See Kingdom of Cambodia, The Temple of Preah Vihear inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) since 2008 (Phnom Penh: Kingdom of Cambodia, 2010), pp. 9–13.

29 Informants 17, 19, 21, 44, 76.

30 Informants 19, 21, 43, 44, 45, 74.

31 Preah Vihear Municipality, ‘Banjee chhmors krung srok khom sangkat noeng phum robos khaet Preah Vihear samrab brerbras chea plov ka’ [List of names in the city, districts, communes and villages of Preah Vihear province for official use], 28 Sept. 2012.

32 Thet Sambath, ‘Bayon to seek more donations for Preah Vihear road repairs’, Phnom Penh Post, 11 Mar. 2009.

33 Prime Minister Hun Sen's address to the National Assembly on 9 Aug. 2012. The speech was later compiled and published as a handbook, which excluded Hun Sen's comment on border casinos. See Royal Government of Cambodia, Atthabotkol robos Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen neayuk roat montrei nai preah reachea nachak Kampuchea samrab atthibay pdol ka bampler sdei pi ka ngea bos bangkol khansema prumdaen kork noeng ka kamnot prumdaen samut roveang preah reachea nachak Kampuchea noeng sathearonak roat sangkumniyom Vietnam [Principle statement of ( … ) Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia, to clarify the land and sea border demarcation between the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during the plenary session of the National Assembly, 9 Aug. 2012].

34 See Sambath, ‘Bayon to seek more donations’.

35 Interview with Professor Sorn Samnang, Phnom Penh, 7 Sept. 2012.

36 State borders have started to lose their traditional meaning as a result of the increasing multidimensional flows of people, goods, trade, and information across the globe. See, for example, Newman, David and Paasi, Anssi, ‘Fences and neighbours in the postmodern world: Boundary narratives in political geography’, Progress in Human Geography 22, 2 (1998): 191–3Google Scholar; Kolossov, Vladimir, ‘Border studies: Changing perspectives and theoretical approaches’, Geopolitics 10, 4 (2005): 622–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

37 Baud and van Schendel, ‘Toward a comparative history of borderlands’, p. 226.

38 Anderson, Frontiers, p. 2.

39 Thongchai, Siam mapped, pp. 164–72.

40 Eng Soth, Prahreach pong savada Khmer: Mohaboros Khmer [Khmer chronicles: The Khmer heroes] (Phnom Penh: Buddhist Institute, 1969), Part III.

41 Ibid.

42 See, for example, Michel Tranet, Pravatasas nei preah reachea nachak Kampuchea: Sampornapheap roveang prochea chun Khmer–Thai chab tang pi so.vo.ti 13 nei ko.so. [A history of the Kingdom of Cambodia: Khmer–Thai relations since the 13th century] (Phnom Penh: no pub., 2005).

43 See Steve Heder, ‘Hun Sen's consolidation: Death or beginning of reform?’, Southeast Asian Affairs (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005), pp. 113–30; McCargo, Duncan, ‘Cambodia: Getting away with authoritarianism?’, Journal of Democracy 16, 4 (2005): 98–112Google Scholar; Global Witness, ‘Cambodia's family trees: Illegal logging and the stripping of public assets by Cambodia's elite’, www.globalwitness.org, June 2007; Human Rights Watch, ‘30 years of Hun Sen: Violence, repression, and corruption in Cambodia’, Jan. 2015, https:// www.hrw.org/report/2015/01/12/30-years-hun-sen/violence-repression-and-corruption-cambodia (last accessed 16 Dec. 2015).

44 Kheang Un, ‘Cambodia's 2008 election: The end of opposition?’, openDemocracy, 5 Aug. 2008; https:// www.opendemocracy.net/article/cambodia-s-2008-elections-the-end-of-opposition (last accessed 16 Dec. 2015).

45 See Sam Rainsy and David Whitehouse, We didn't start the fire: My struggle for democracy in Cambodia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2013), p. 159.

46 Michael Hayes, ‘The view from Cambodia’, Phnom Penh Post, 17 Feb. 2011.

47 Kerkvliet, Benedict, ‘Everyday politics in peasant societies (and ours)’, Journal of Peasant Studies 36, 1 (2009): 227–43Google Scholar.

48 Benedict Kerkvliet, The power of everyday politics: How Vietnamese peasants transformed national policy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005).

49 James Scott, Weapons of the weak: Everyday forms of peasant resistance (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985); James Scott, Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990).

50 Yoshinori Nishizaki, Political authority and provincial identity in Thailand: The making of Banharn-buri (Ithaca, NY: Cornell SEAP, 2011).

51 Andrew Walker, Thailand's political peasants: Power in the modern rural economy (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012).

52 See Joel Migdal, ‘The state in society: An approach to struggles for domination’, in State power and social forces, ed. Joel Migdal, Atul Kohli and Vivienne Shue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 9; Gupta, Akhil, ‘Blurred boundaries: The discourse of corruption, the culture of politics, and the imagined state’, American Ethnologist 22, 2 (1995): 375–402Google Scholar.

53 Gupta, ‘Blurred boundaries’, pp. 375–84.

54 A term used by ordinary people to refer to high-ranking officials. Its antonym is neak toch tarch (small people).

55 Informant 25.

56 Ibid.

57 See Michael Billig, Banal nationalism (London: Sage, 1995), p. 71; Skey, Michael, ‘The national in everyday life: A critical engagement with Michael Billig's thesis of banal nationalism’, Sociological Review 57, 2 (2009): 336–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Billig, Michael, ‘Reflecting on a critical engagement with banal nationalism — reply to Skey’, Sociological Review 57, 2 (2009): 347Google Scholar.

58 Whitmeyer, Joseph, ‘Elites and popular nationalism’, British Journal of Sociology 53, 3 (2002): 321–41CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Rogers Brubaker et al., Nationalist politics and everyday ethnicity in a Transylvanian town (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006).

59 Whitmeyer, ‘Elites and popular nationalism’, p. 322.

60 See, for example, Fenton, Steve, ‘Indifference towards national identity: What young adults think about being English and British’, Nations and Nationalism 13, 2 (2007): 321–40Google Scholar.

61 Tim Edensor, National identity, popular culture and everyday life (Oxford: Berg, 2002); Fox, Jon and Miller-Idriss, Cynthia, ‘Everyday nationhood’, Ethnicities 8, 4 (2008): 550Google Scholar.

62 Miller-Idriss, Cynthia, ‘Everyday understanding of citizenship in Germany’, Citizenship Studies 10, 5 (2006): 541–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63 Informants 3, 4, 5, 7–9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 39, 41, 49, 69.

64 Informants 6, 7–9, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 74, 75, 77.

65 Informant 14.

66 Informant 75.

67 Informant 49.

68 Informant 2.

69 Informant 22.

70 Informants 2, 6, 7–9, 15, 18, 22, 77.

71 Informant 77.

72 Informant 30.

73 Informant 15.

74 Informants 11, 12, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 40, 42, 46, 47, 48, 64, 65, 66, 67.

75 I also travelled on the new asphalted roads linking Preah Vihear province to other border provinces, where local residents told me that their provinces had seen major changes since the roads had been built.

76 Informant 6.

77 Informant 76.

78 Informants 6, 7–9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 77.

79 Informant 17.

80 Informants 6, 18, 19, 20, 45, 77.

81 Informant 21.

82 Informants 3, 5, 7–9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 39.

83 Informant 11.

84 Informant 20.

85 Informant 27.

86 Informant 40.

87 Informants 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 40, 42.

88 Informant 26.

89 Preah Vihear Provincial Department of Planning, ‘Tarang sojanakor tam srok-khan khaet Preah Vihear 2008; Tarang sojanakor tam srok-khan khaet Preah Vihear 2012’ [Statistical list by districts of Preah Vihear province in 2012]. There are no statistics on how many migrants and new settlers already owned vehicles when they came to the province.

90 Informant 41.

91 Informants 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67.

92 Ibid.

93 Informant 61.

94 Informant 66.

95 Informant 64.

96 Informants 60, 62, 63.

97 Informant 63.

98 Informant 67.

99 Informants 31, 32, 33–35, 36, 37, 50, 51–58, 59.

100 Informants 33–35.

101 Ibid.

102 Informants 31, 32, 50, 51–58, 59.

103 Informant 50.

104 Ibid.

105 Informants 51–58.

106 Ibid.

107 Ibid.

108 Informant 38.

109 Ibid.

110 Andrew Walker, The legend of the golden boat: Regulation, trade and traders in the borderlands of Laos, Thailand, China and Burma (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press), p. 17.

111 For studies of the impacts of socioeconomic changes on indigenous minorities in Cambodia's other provinces, see van den Berg and Palith, ‘On people, roads and land’; McAndrew, John, ‘Tampuan villagers adapt to a rapidly changing economy’, Cambodia Development Review 5, 3 (2001): 5–8Google Scholar.

112 Informants 30, 41, 68, 70–73.

113 Ibid.

114 See Hughes, Caroline, ‘Soldiers, monks, borders: Violence and contestation in the Greater Mekong Sub-region’, Journal of Contemporary Asia 41, 2 (2011): 181–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

115 Informants 70–73.

116 Ibid.

117 Ibid.

118 Ibid.

119 Informants 30, 41.

120 Informant 41.

121 Informant 69.

122 Informants 68, 70–73.

123 Informant 69.

124 Informants 30, 41, 68.

125 Informant 30.

126 Informant 68.

127 Ibid.