"The Incident of 1911": The Real Truth in the Temple of Preah Vihear Case

Abstract

In 1962 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the Temple of Preah Vihear was under the sovereignty of Cambodia. The basis for the decision was that Thailand had accepted a map that showed the temple located in Cambodia. Thailand, however, had strenuously argued to the Court that it had never accepted the map in reference to the temple. Indeed, Thailand stated that the map was “an apocryphal document, upon which no weight can be placed.” However, documents in possession of the Thai legal team at the time show quite the contrary. Recently discovered correspondence from early 1911 convincingly reveal that top officials of the Thai government knew the map located the temple in Cambodia, and, as a result, expressly chose not to make any protest regarding French activities at the temple. Now that this historical truth is known, it is an opportunity for both countries to finally depoliticize this long-simmering dispute, accept the reality that a negotiated agreement to establish an agreed upon boundary is politically unrealistic, and instead work to establish a neutral “international peace park” under the management of UNESCO.