The world thought that by setting borders and boundaries for every country, it would solve all disputes about which country owned what land. This is far from the truth as violence along the Thailand-Cambodia border has been on the rise due to the International Court of Justice ruling that Cambodia would own the land around the Preah Vihear temple area in 1962.
Thailand not wanting to accept this ruling has unleashed violence onto Cambodian forces, despite the reaffirmation of the ruling in 2013. Though violence has always been constant at the border, to make matters worse, a phone call between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodia’s president of the senate Hun Sen had been leaked, exposing Shinawatra for talking down on Thailand’s military leadership.
Borders have always been an issue for Southeast Asian countries, as for most of Southeast Asia’s Classical era, there were no countries. There were only Kingdoms and communities whose power can be described by the Mandala Model, where most of a Kingdom’s power is centralized in the Capital and the power disperses and slowly decreases outwards in a circle. After colonial powers had left these kingdoms, they drew borders based on the colonies so that anyone that lived in these territories, especially at the periphery (areas closest to the border), couldn’t decide for themselves which country they belonged to; they were just included in bigger countries as a result of the borders that were drawn.
This is especially true for periphery communities like Prey Chan, a small village on the Thai-Cambodian border who is undergoing much of the violence due to their geographical location being so close in between the two neighboring countries. These periphery communities go through most of the violence and are subject to the most suffering because of their physical distance from the Capitals and also that most of interstate violence and affairs happens near or in these communities.
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/thailand-cambodia-ceasefire-tensions-violence-5w5q6jmxx
Despite the International Court of Justice’s mission to resolve legal disputes according to international law, they were unable to find a compromise that was okay for all countries involved. Similarly to the French who drew Cambodia and Thailand on the global map, the International Court of Justice made a choice for both of these countries by deciding who would receive Preah Vihear, which has only sparked more violence.
In a global politically violent and messy climate where Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia are undergoing massive movements to fight governmental corruption, this could mean a lot for Southeast Asia as an entire region as issues begin to move from intracountry issues to intercountry issues. One question that all must reflect on is what will this mean for Cambodia?
As of now, Cambodia has approximately 124,000 military personnel while Thailand has 360,000. Moreover, Thailand has four times the defence budget. Cambodia is at a clear disadvantage if fighting were to continue. One final question remains and it’s whether or not if both countries are able to come to compromise with each other.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of the biggest programs that despite remaining neutral, gives Cambodia and Thailand a chance at communicating with each other instead of engaging in violence, but only time will tell what both countries decide to do.