Govt 'rejects' Thai Web site
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs voices its anger over Web video.
THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to send a diplomatic note to Thai officials this week voicing its disapproval of a Web site launched by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that claims parts of Cambodia as "lost" Thai territory.
Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Sunday that officials had decided to "reject" the Web site, which launched July 4, and would send the note "early this week".
The site, www.ilovethailand.org, features a video that includes a green map of the Siamese Empire at its most expansive. As images of Thai kings appear on the screen, sections of the empire turn dark red before they are removed from the map.
Sections lost to Cambodia include parts of Siem Reap and Battambang provinces as well as the land on which Preah Vihear temple sits.
Towards the end of the five-and-a-half minute clip, a narrator addresses "the talented people of the young Thai generation" and emphasises the importance of understanding their country's history.
But Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Thursday that the video was actually "twisting the facts of history".
And government officials are not the only ones to have criticised the video.
Michel Tranet, a Cambodia historian and lecturer, said Sunday that the video was "absolutely wrong".
He argued that Thailand had violated Cambodia's sovereignty far more often than the reverse, saying: "The Thai historians themselves and the internationals know that Thailand has regularly ventured into Cambodian ancestral territory."
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said the Thai government was being dishonest in its presentation of Thailand's past actions towards Cambodia.
"If we actually look at history, today's Thailand was the Khmer Kingdom's territory before," he said.
Thai Embassy officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Le gouvernement cambodgien condamne le site Internet lancé par le premier ministre thaïlandais, Abhisit Vejjajiva, le 4 juillet dernier.

Le site ''www.ilovethailand.org'' met en ligne une vidéo de cinq minutes et trente secondes remettant en cause les frontières entre les deux pays. Il insinue notamment que les régions de Siem Reap (temples d'Angkor) et de Battambang devraient être thaïlandaises, ainsi que la région de Preah Vihear. Cette dernière zone est l'objet de tensions depuis longtemps entre la Thaïlande et le Cambodge, mais la situation s'est durcie depuis que le temple a été inscrit au patrimoine de l'UNESCO, il y a un an, le conflit ayant fait sept victimes depuis. La Thaïlande vient par ailleurs de renforcer sa présence militaire à la frontière.

Le porte-parole du conseil des ministres cambodgien, Phay Siphan, a déclaré jeudi que la vidéo  et a accusé la Thaïlande d'avoir elle-même occupé des territoires cambodgiens.

Le ministre des Affaires étrangères cambodgien devrait envoyer une note diplomatique à la Thaïlande cette semaine, l'ambassade de Thaïlande au Cambodge n'a, quant à elle, pas encore réagi.