Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday issued a directive instructing Cambodia’s Border Affairs Committee and relevant authorities to “take care of” border posts that had been planted during the French colonial period in the 1870s, in a bid to preserve the Kingdom’s historical legacy and educate the next generation.

“The border committee needs to maintain the old border posts [planted in the 1870s] although they are very old,” the directive reads. “The posts . . . under the control of Vietnam, the committee has to negotiate to bring back to Cambodia.”

The posts that still stand should be maintained to allow future generations to see the progress Cambodia has made in negotiating its territory with its neighbours, it adds.

The government, however, remains highly sensitive to allegations, long espoused by the opposition, that it has ceded territory to Vietnam – allegations for which two opposition parliamentarians are currently jailed.

Senior Minister Var Kimhong, head of the border committee, said yesterday that officials “will take measures to protect” the remaining posts, and will put in museums those that have toppled over the years.