1. Jan Rojthana
Cross Cultural Issues
ConflictCase Study March 2011
1
Thai and Cambodia
Part 1: Introductionto the conflict.
The Phra Viharn Temple is located on the Thailand-Cambodia border. It is known in
Cambodia as Khao Phra Viharn. There has been a temple since the early 9th Century which is a
place of Hindu worship it moved overto Buddhism during the centuries.
The temple has been a source of conflict between Thailand and Cambodia for more than a
hundred years. It seemed that a peaceful solution was arrived at in 1963 when Cambodia took
'official' possession and agreed to freedom of access by Thai citizens and agreeing that they could
retain ownership of any removed artifacts. However, in 2008 the Temple was to be declared a
World Heritage site with the agreement of Thailand and Cambodia but it did not go according to
plan as Thailand backed out. Another redrawing of the border started an argument amongst Thai
political parties. This current disagreement has led to a continuing heavy presence of troops from
both sides of the border. Shooting, rockets, many deaths and wound are becoming all to frequent
as is the war of words between the two countries.
In this case, Thailand and Cambodia has conflicts of whose the Phra Viharn temple belongs
to, which lead to the problem that who has the right to take the temple. It is true that the main part
of the temple is on Cambodia side, but the path of the entrance of the temple is on the Thailand side.
However, people from both side need to talk to agree with each other conflict even though there
will be many problems after that.

2. Jan Rojthana
Cross Cultural Issues
ConflictCase Study March 2011
2
Part 2: Causes of the Conflict. Students must use two ideas from our list of why does
conflict happen? To explain the original causes of the conflict they are examining. Use specific
information from research to support your analysis.
Conflict is a necessity of life for people to learn and grow. It occurs when individuals fail to
agree to disagree fairly simple complex. In this case, the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia is
Nationalism and the miscommunication. Cambodia has presented Phra Viharn Temple to be the
world heritage as the path of the temple.
The first idea of how does the conflict happen is that Cambodia’s main rationale for helping
Taksin is that the Thai justice system is unjust and not fair in which there is a recent Thai poll says
that most Thais see that the Thai justice system that is going after Taksin is not fair. However, the
government is reported that it will build Nationalism feelings in Thailand to shore up failing
popularity, and the Thai support for a war with Cambodia is expected to be firm in which there are
many opinions from the government that says that Cambodia’s helping Taksin is about weakening
the Thais. Furthermore, People from Thailand and Cambodia have their own nationalism which
makes them think that they are right to possess, causing a conflict that whose will the Phra Vihear
belongs to? Due to that conflict, people start to gather together in their country to protest that , in
Cambodia, Phra Viharn Temple belongs to them while, in Thailand, people want to make sure that it
does not belong to anyone but both. Another idea of the cause of the occurrence of conflict is the
miscommunication between two countries that it is important for both sides to have a talk to
understand each other’s conflict and come up with a solution to solve it. Thai prime minister has
tried so many times to talk with the Cambodian prime minister and every times are failed. This is
because of the Cambodia refuses to talk and try to solve problem with Thailand and in the same
time refuse to understand Thai’s problem. Therefore, those that are mentioned can lead to the
escalation of conflictswhichmake the conflictsget worstby the time.

3. Jan Rojthana
Cross Cultural Issues
ConflictCase Study March 2011
3
Part 3. Escalation of the Conflict. Students must use two ideas from our list of How / Why do
conflicts "escalate"? to explain how this conflict has gotten worse over time. Students may want
to include media examples in this section.
There were the escalation of conflicts which cause the loss of Thai citizens which causes by border
conflict between Thai and Cambodian. The first example of how or why does the conflicts escalates
is when one side "Loses Face" or suffers a public embarrassment, it becomes more difficult to
compromise. This is especially true when leaders feel they need to maintain backing of supporters.
From the conflict, Cambodia has put the sign on the Watt Kaew as Kmer’s temple but in fact it is on
Thailand side in which it is not clearly claimed as an overlapped area so Thai people ask to put
down the sign. At last Cambodian agreed to put down but it takes long time for the argument.
Another example of escalation of the conflict is the loss of life (or some other "offense") puts
pressure on leadership to "win" and makes it difficult to compromise in which Cambodia started to
fire into Thai territory during the night time which has hurt and kill many solders and several
people. Furthermore, they have also destroyed the school in the Thai area as well. However, they
have put on forcesat PhraViharn Temple side whichagainst the international regulation.

4. Jan Rojthana
Cross Cultural Issues
ConflictCase Study March 2011
4
Part 4. Conclusion - Students must offer their ideas on what is going to need to happen in order
for this conflict to end. This can include general comments based on our Conflict Resolution ideas
discussed in class however, students also must include specific idea/proposals from their research.
Students are also encouraged to include at least one example of someone working to try and reduce
tension and/or solve the conflict.
Cambodia proposed Thailand military left the area of Phra Viharn and each side
pulled back its military by 10 km, but Thai rejected the move on basis of Cambodia has no
right to suggest to Thai any military movements. Cambodia military personals have shown
intentions on crossing into clearly defined Thai territories on several occasions, according
to Thai military.
Conflict usually occurs when there are differences within a person or between two
or more people that touches them in a significant way. Therefore, if people agree to listen
to other side and try to understand each other than the conflicts between there will not be
such a big problem like this. For what happen between Thailand and Cambodia is that
people from either side, Thailand and Cambodia, do not have a well communication to
understand their conflict in which it can create the misunderstanding of things in which it
can lead to a big problem in the future such as loss of people because people from each side
might agree that they do not do anything wrong so that it is not their faults.

5. Jan Rojthana
Cross Cultural Issues
ConflictCase Study March 2011
5
Worksites:
Khalik,, Abdul ,. "Thailand and Cambodia Still Want to Talk: Marty | The Jakarta Post." Home | The
Jakarta Post.02 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/02/09/thailand-and-cambodia-still-want-talk-marty.html>.
Palatino, Mong. "Thailand/Cambodia: Conflict over Preah Vihear Temple (Part II) · Global
Voices." Global Voices · Citizen Media Stories fromaround the World. 20 Oct. 2008. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/20/thailandcambodia-conflict-over-preah-vihear-temple-part-ii/>.
Online, Asia Time. "Asia Times Online :: Southeast Asia News and Business from Indonesia, Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam." Asia Times Online :: Asian News Hub Providing the Latest News and
Analysis fromAsia. 09 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MB09Ae01.html>.
BANGKOK. "Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute." The History Guy: A Resource for History, Military
History, Politics, and Biography. 06 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.historyguy.com/thailand_cambodia_border_dispute.htm>.