On a typically hot Phnom Penh morning in 1996, I was meeting with two senior Cambodian officials when one of them declared that, when people rediscovered Angkor Wat, tourism in Cambodia would boom.

He was absolutely correct. In 2017, nearly 2.5 million people visited the Angkor Archaeological Park. In just over 20 years, Angkor Wat has been rediscovered, is safe to visit and is now firmly on the world tourism map. Tourists can fly into Siem Reap from numerous international departure points such as Bangkok, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Many would argue that the increased development in Siem Reap and the sheer volume of tourists is spoiling Angkor. But it could have been much worse.

It is a little known nugget of history that, in the latter part of 1996 and early 1997, there was a grand plan to erect a sound and light show at Angkor Wat. This proposal would have seen management of the temple complex outsourced to a Malaysian conglomerate which would have had full authority over the area. Cambodians were to be excluded from their own temple other than on particular religious holidays. The Malaysian group was to have total control over the content of the sound and light show and would be entitled to make modifications to the temple complex as they erected their equipment and built fencing.

Of greater concern was the plan to build hotels right up to the front of Angkor Wat, a detrimental step that was unlikely to have ever been reversed.

The contract was a particularly one-sided affair with the Cambodians effectively ceding sovereignty over Angkor to a foreign corporation. Such was my disbelief at the contract's broad terms, I thought the easiest solution was to insert the word 'not' after every use of 'shall'. Perhaps not a practical solution but, as the midnight hour of contract reviewing approaches, strange thoughts come to mind.

Ultimately, I prepared countless pages of comments and amendments to try to rebalance the contract. If the Cambodians were going to cede control of Angkor Wat to a foreign corporation, some rights needed to be reserved. At that time, there were many examples of foreign companies trying to take advantage of the Cambodian government as it tried to encourage foreign investment. Land speculation deals were sometimes dressed up a rice farming projects. Our role as international counsel to the Cambodian government was to create a more balanced negotiating position between the parties.

The sheer weight of comments on the contract had the effect of creating a stalemate and both parties put the proposal in the too hard basket for a period of time. In the second half of 1997, an economic tsunami hit Asia. A number of Asian economies fell like dominoes commencing with Thailand. Malaysia enacted currency and capital controls, effectively walling itself off from the rest of Asia. The economic crisis severely impacted the Malaysian conglomerate and it went home to try to revive its finances. Its grand plans for Angkor Wat came to nothing. The economic crisis had saved what would arguably have been Angkor Wat's destruction.

Today, as tourists gaze at the wonder of Angkor Wat, they should say a quick thank you to one of the silver linings of the Asian Economic Crisis. Siem Reap may have too many hotels and the temples may seem overrun by tourists but it could have been so much worse.

PELEN

March 2018

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