Thailand protests over Cambodian women singing at border temple

Cambodian Buddhist monks walk at Preah Vihear temple near the Cambodia-Thailand border in Preah Vihear province, some 400 kilometers north of Phnom Penh on November 12, 2013. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

BANGKOK — Thailand has formally protested to Cambodia after a group of Cambodian women was filmed singing a nationalist song at a disputed Khmer temple in a sensitive border area.

The clip, filmed at Prasat Ta Muen Thom in eastern Thailand, shows a group of Cambodian women in traditional dress singing “all Khmer people are happy to sacrifice their lives when the nation is at war and shedding blood”.

Thai soldiers guarding the temple then usher the women away from the 11th-century temple, which lies right on the border, to the Cambodian side.

READ: Clashes along Thai-Cambodia border spread east

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday he was “uncomfortable” with the incident and had sent a letter of protest.

“We are worried that history will repeat itself,” he told reporters.

This was an apparent reference to the bloody military clashes that erupted some 15 years ago between Thailand and Cambodia over the Preah Vihear temple, which lies some 150 km (95 miles) east on the same stretch of border.

READ: Cambodia-Thailand border dispute at UN court

The row over a patch of land next to Preah Vihear led to several years of sporadic violence, resulting in at least 28 deaths before the International Court of Justice ruled the disputed area belonged to Cambodia.

A Thai task force responsible for the region issued a letter protesting against the actions of Cambodian tourists.

“This could affect international relations between the two countries,” the Suranaree task force warned.

Prasat Ta Muen Thom was built by Jayavarman VII, king of the Khmer Empire that dominated the region from the 11th to 13th centuries.

The Cambodian government has yet to comment on the issue.