Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-02-25
BY RICHARD DUDMAN
Contributing Writer

ContrlpuIlne WIlteI
A dispute over a centuries
old border temple has been a
major public issue for the last
few years in Cambodia and
Thailand.
The controversy, legally con-
cluded by the World Court last
June but still ranking in both
countries, is one of the many
local quarrels that complicate
the cold war.
Some of them, including the
disagreement over the temple,
are bigger public issues than
the threat of Communist ag-
erosion in the countries In
volved.
These local disputes are not
limited to any one part Of the
world, of course. India and
Pakistan have fought bitterly
in the past and are ready to
fight again over the Kashmir.
Hostilities between the Arab
states and Israel plague the
Middle East. Ecuador and Peru
struggle over ownership OF the
headwaters of the Amazon.
In Southeast Asia, the most
serious current quarrels are be-
tween Cambodia and Thailand
and between Cambodia and
Wet Nam.
Rivalries Are Ancient
The three countries are
among the strong, expansionist
states that developed on the
Southeast Asian peninsula
about 1000 years ago, after an
earlier millennium in which
tribes from the border regions
of China had pushed southwark
and populated much OF the
area.
Burma invaded Thailand
several times in a dispute that
lasted 4 centuries and ended
only with British colonization
in the 1905. /
Thailand conquered several
northern Malay states, invaded
the Khmer (Cambodian) en-
pire and struggled with Wet
Nam for influence in Laos.
The Wet Namese pushed south
ward and forced the Khmers
out of Cochin China, now the
southernmost part Of Wet Nam.
Colonialism brought a sus-
pension of these regional rival
ries. The pause lasted until
World War II when Japanese
occupation marked the end OF
colonialism in the area. Ma
tionalism had been growing
and the rivalries burst forth
again after the nations gained
independence.
Territorial Claims
Thailand, having grabbed
two Cambodian provinces and
part of Laos with japanese
help in World War II, was
forced to give them back in
1947, but still wants them. Cam
bodia continues to claim Co.
chin China, which is inhabited
by some 100000 Cambodians.
Cambodian leaders charge
that both Thailand and South
Wet Nam have designs on their
country. They say. with APP
parent conviction, that they be-
lieve their two neighbors want
to split Cambodia at the Me-
kong river and divide its terri
tory between them.
Each Of these nations is
proud of a long and glorious
history. Their politicians paint
pictures of a golden age that
was destroyed by colonialism.
1t matters little that these
histories have only a fragmen-
tary basis, mainly the work of
European scholars who re-
moved jungle growth from an
Gent temples and cities and
pieced together stories Of civil
lizations that were all but for
gotten.
Recent discoveries reinforced
dim recollections and the re-
suit was a strong sense Of his
tory that makes even minor
border disputes become issues
of national honor and prestige.
Dispute Over Temple
So it has been with the trou-
BILE over the temple Of PreahI
Vihear. The holy place was
founded in the 10th century,
but 1t was neither well known
nor particularly important I'M