Looks like I was proved right.
All about POLITICS!:
"Border fight upstaging vote; Gives leader of Cambodia prepoll boost" by Ker Munthit, Associated Press | July 27, 2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A dispute with Thailand over border land near an 11th-century Hindu temple has sparked nationalist pride throughout Cambodia and strengthened the longtime prime minister's popularity ahead of parliamentary elections today.
Thailand sent troops to the border after Thai antigovernment demonstrators assembled near the Preah Vihear temple earlier this month. Cambodia responded by sending troops, and its government says the dispute has triggered "an imminent state of war."
The temple has fueled nationalist sentiment in both countries on-and-off for decades, and the latest military confrontation between the two Southeast Asian neighbors has upstaged today's election.
"The election is necessary but has become a secondary concern for me now," 27-year-old Sy Buntheng, a university student in the capital, Phnom Penh. "The encroachment by Thai troops on our land is the greatest national concern for me."
Hun Sen, 57, who has run Cambodia since 1985, is Asia's longest-serving leader and was expected to win reelection before the dispute flared July 15. But passions over Preah Vihear temple and Hun Sen's firm stance against Thailand have galvanized undecided voters in his favor, analysts say.
"Now everybody is behind the government because it's the only institution that can deal with the Thai government. That means more votes for [Hun Sen]," said Kek Galabru, a prominent Cambodian human-rights activist and election monitor.
More than 8 million of Cambodia's 14 million people are eligible to vote in today's election. Eleven parties are vying for seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, with the winner forming a new government to run the country for the next five years.
Internationally, Hun Sen has faced criticism for alleged corruption and human rights abuses. But he maintains that his tenure has ushered in peace and stability after the Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign from 1975-1979, which killed an estimated 1.7 million people.
Under Hun Sen's free-market policies, Cambodia's economy has been one of the fastest growing in Asia, expanding at 11 percent in each of the past three years.
Preah Vihear has been the scene of several conflicts along the often-turbulent border. The temple was held by the US-backed government during the 1970-75 war and was one of the last places to fall to the Khmer Rouge.
Ousted by a Vietnamese invasion, the ultracommunists became guerrillas and occupied the temple until 1998.
Two Belgian tourists who were apparently trying to visit the temple in 1994 were abducted by Khmer Rouge guerrillas and then killed.
Cambodian refugees fled in droves across the border to Thailand after the 1979 invasion to escape conflict in their homeland.
The current controversy revolves around 1.8 square miles of land that have been in dispute since French colonialists withdrew from Cambodia in the 1950s.
The International Court of Justice awarded the temple site to Cambodia in 1962, but anger flared in Thailand last month after Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej backed Cambodia's successful bid for the temple to be listed as a UN World Heritage Site.
Thailand sent troops to the border on July 15 after demonstrators criticized Samak's government for supporting Cambodia's application. The Thai protesters contend that the temple's new status will undermine their country's claim to the 1.8 square miles around the temple.
Cambodia says some 4,000 troops from both countries are now massed in the area around Preah Vihear. Thailand says it has 400 troops in the area and that Cambodia has 1,700.
Negotiations between the two countries on the border dispute are scheduled to resume tomorrow. If negotiations fail, Cambodia says it will renew a call for the UN Security Council to take up the issue."So why is Africa missing from my Sunday War Daily, readers, while this artificial crisis makes it?
Case entombed!
