"Thai-Cambodia crisis shows old hurts"
Feb. 3rd, 2003 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFrom Asia Times:
"Thai-Cambodia crisis shows old hurts"
By Chayanit Poonyarat and Johanna Son
BANGKOK - Last week's dust-up between Thailand and Cambodia has underscored how a volatile brew made up of simmering resentment of Thailand's role as the heavyweight in the region, combined with a dose of miscommunication, can change bilateral ties from cordial to downright hostile literally overnight.
In less than a week, Thailand and Cambodia went from being neighboring countries to nations as far apart as they can be, after ties plummeted to their worst in recent decades.
After anti-Thai riots peaked last Wednesday, sparked by supposed remarks by a Thai actress implying that Cambodia had stolen the historic Angkor Wat from Thailand, Bangkok stopped all economic deals with Phnom Penh, halted flights, downgraded its embassy, sealed its borders, and evacuated more than 1,000 nationals.
Angry protests were also held at the Cambodian Embassy here, prompting the King to call for calm, after reports that mobs had torched the Thai Embassy and gone after Thai businesses and nationals in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh issued an apology and broadcast its "most profound regret", which Thailand welcomed. But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also said, "The two governments are very close but the incident is very unacceptable."
The anger and violence left many shaken, exploding as it did so suddenly and over remarks that the actress, Suwanna Kongying, denies saying - and which the Cambodian paper that first reported them said it did not verify before publishing.
In hindsight, the actress's remarks were but the match that ignited old issues, coming as they did amid recent border spats.
What has been dormant underneath Thai-Cambodian ties is "misunderstanding and bias", said historian Charnvit Kasetsiri of the Five Area Studies Project under the Thailand Research Fund.
To many, the riots underscored the resentment against Thailand - its economic and cultural domination - by smaller, poorer neighbors such as Cambodia and Laos.
"We have had many things to offer to Cambodia ... economic[ally] and cultur[ally]. The problem is that we have never asked how the Cambodians think and feel about that," Kraisak Choonhawan, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a discussion on Friday.
"There is enormous investment of Thais in Cambodia but nobody has ever raised the question of how much the local[s] get from this," said Charnvit.
Indeed, Thai-owned businesses from hotels and restaurants and firms such as Shinawatra telecommunications - owned by no less than Thaksin - bore the brunt of Cambodians' rage.
Those economic ties are now in jeopardy. In the 1980s, bilateral ties were supposed to become better after Bangkok said it was time to turn the battlefields of Indochina into a marketplace.
Today, "as a more developed nation, we enjoy an advantage in pursuing business interests in Cambodia, Laos and Burma. But we have done this so aggressively and so successfully that we appear guilty of economic colonization," said the Bangkok Post in its editorial on Friday.
"Cultural dominance has accompanied this economic infiltration so that Lao and Cambodian youths almost exclusively listen to Thai music, watch Thai movies and seek to emulate the singers and actors they see on Thai television programs," it added.
"This makes it easy for Cambodian politicians and the media to exploit a natural resentment. It is ironic that these same tactics by our own political leaders - stirring nationalism and anti-foreign sentiment (in our case 'the West') - should return to taunt us," the Post argued.
In many ways, some say, it is like a love-hate relationship between Thailand and its neighbors.
Despite resentment by Laos and Cambodia, Thai culture - products, songs, television shows, pop idols - are the craze among young people there. Suwanna herself was among the most popular Thai actresses in Cambodia.
Kraisak said, "It might not be too difficult to imagine how it would feel like to wake up having to listen to Thai music and watch Thai television programs every day."
For example, "young Cambodians had once displayed Suwanna's photos in their homes, in place of their parents or the Cambodian King and Queen", said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, adding that after her remarks people were now destroying her photos.
Old historical hurts and wars have not helped any. But there have been good times too - Thailand sheltered anti-Phnom Penh forces during the Khmer Rouge's rule and took in hundreds of thousands of refugees in the 1970s.
Cambodia had suspended diplomatic ties before over insults by Thai military strongmen. The two countries squabbled over the Preah Vihear temple that Cambodia won in the World Court in 1962.
Likewise, Charnvit said, "In the historical textbooks, we learn about [Thai] King Naresuan killing the king of Cambodia as revenge back in 1593. The memory easily pops up in many Thais' minds when talk about relation between the two.
"How can we deal with our neighbors peacefully and respectfully and still hold on to such perceptions?" he asked, adding that a recent study has proved that this historical record is mistaken.
Some Thai analysts, along with local media, believe that domestic Cambodian politics - general elections are due in July - are a factor in the riots, after Hun Sen condemned Suvanan's supposed remarks and added even more to widespread anger.
But Charnvit says it is time to look beyond the actress's remarks, Hun Sen's adding fuel to the fire and his supposed use of the nationalism card with a view to the polls, to see what has made bilateral ties so volatile beneath the surface.
He added: "We cannot go on without fixing the misunderstanding and bias in our minds. We should keep in mind that history reminds us that some mistakes cannot be repeated."
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"Thai-Cambodia crisis shows old hurts"
By Chayanit Poonyarat and Johanna Son
BANGKOK - Last week's dust-up between Thailand and Cambodia has underscored how a volatile brew made up of simmering resentment of Thailand's role as the heavyweight in the region, combined with a dose of miscommunication, can change bilateral ties from cordial to downright hostile literally overnight.
In less than a week, Thailand and Cambodia went from being neighboring countries to nations as far apart as they can be, after ties plummeted to their worst in recent decades.
After anti-Thai riots peaked last Wednesday, sparked by supposed remarks by a Thai actress implying that Cambodia had stolen the historic Angkor Wat from Thailand, Bangkok stopped all economic deals with Phnom Penh, halted flights, downgraded its embassy, sealed its borders, and evacuated more than 1,000 nationals.
Angry protests were also held at the Cambodian Embassy here, prompting the King to call for calm, after reports that mobs had torched the Thai Embassy and gone after Thai businesses and nationals in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh issued an apology and broadcast its "most profound regret", which Thailand welcomed. But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also said, "The two governments are very close but the incident is very unacceptable."
The anger and violence left many shaken, exploding as it did so suddenly and over remarks that the actress, Suwanna Kongying, denies saying - and which the Cambodian paper that first reported them said it did not verify before publishing.
In hindsight, the actress's remarks were but the match that ignited old issues, coming as they did amid recent border spats.
What has been dormant underneath Thai-Cambodian ties is "misunderstanding and bias", said historian Charnvit Kasetsiri of the Five Area Studies Project under the Thailand Research Fund.
To many, the riots underscored the resentment against Thailand - its economic and cultural domination - by smaller, poorer neighbors such as Cambodia and Laos.
"We have had many things to offer to Cambodia ... economic[ally] and cultur[ally]. The problem is that we have never asked how the Cambodians think and feel about that," Kraisak Choonhawan, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a discussion on Friday.
"There is enormous investment of Thais in Cambodia but nobody has ever raised the question of how much the local[s] get from this," said Charnvit.
Indeed, Thai-owned businesses from hotels and restaurants and firms such as Shinawatra telecommunications - owned by no less than Thaksin - bore the brunt of Cambodians' rage.
Those economic ties are now in jeopardy. In the 1980s, bilateral ties were supposed to become better after Bangkok said it was time to turn the battlefields of Indochina into a marketplace.
Today, "as a more developed nation, we enjoy an advantage in pursuing business interests in Cambodia, Laos and Burma. But we have done this so aggressively and so successfully that we appear guilty of economic colonization," said the Bangkok Post in its editorial on Friday.
"Cultural dominance has accompanied this economic infiltration so that Lao and Cambodian youths almost exclusively listen to Thai music, watch Thai movies and seek to emulate the singers and actors they see on Thai television programs," it added.
"This makes it easy for Cambodian politicians and the media to exploit a natural resentment. It is ironic that these same tactics by our own political leaders - stirring nationalism and anti-foreign sentiment (in our case 'the West') - should return to taunt us," the Post argued.
In many ways, some say, it is like a love-hate relationship between Thailand and its neighbors.
Despite resentment by Laos and Cambodia, Thai culture - products, songs, television shows, pop idols - are the craze among young people there. Suwanna herself was among the most popular Thai actresses in Cambodia.
Kraisak said, "It might not be too difficult to imagine how it would feel like to wake up having to listen to Thai music and watch Thai television programs every day."
For example, "young Cambodians had once displayed Suwanna's photos in their homes, in place of their parents or the Cambodian King and Queen", said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, adding that after her remarks people were now destroying her photos.
Old historical hurts and wars have not helped any. But there have been good times too - Thailand sheltered anti-Phnom Penh forces during the Khmer Rouge's rule and took in hundreds of thousands of refugees in the 1970s.
Cambodia had suspended diplomatic ties before over insults by Thai military strongmen. The two countries squabbled over the Preah Vihear temple that Cambodia won in the World Court in 1962.
Likewise, Charnvit said, "In the historical textbooks, we learn about [Thai] King Naresuan killing the king of Cambodia as revenge back in 1593. The memory easily pops up in many Thais' minds when talk about relation between the two.
"How can we deal with our neighbors peacefully and respectfully and still hold on to such perceptions?" he asked, adding that a recent study has proved that this historical record is mistaken.
Some Thai analysts, along with local media, believe that domestic Cambodian politics - general elections are due in July - are a factor in the riots, after Hun Sen condemned Suvanan's supposed remarks and added even more to widespread anger.
But Charnvit says it is time to look beyond the actress's remarks, Hun Sen's adding fuel to the fire and his supposed use of the nationalism card with a view to the polls, to see what has made bilateral ties so volatile beneath the surface.
He added: "We cannot go on without fixing the misunderstanding and bias in our minds. We should keep in mind that history reminds us that some mistakes cannot be repeated."
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