Exploit Thy Neighbor: Preah Vihear & Those Chauvinist Thais

You can turn and twist it as long as you like: The ancient temples of Preah Vihear belong to Cambodia. And you can’t blame the Cambodians for rubbing salt into the wounds of Thais by excessively celebrating their “victory” by having “their” Preah Vihear listed as a Cambodian UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fortunes for once are the other way around.

Thais always loved to make a quick buck from the misery of their neighbors in need. A crisis in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and even Indonesia always meant business for Thailand. A trend that only got stopped when Thailand gave Asia the financial crisis of 1997 and was later on hit by SARS and bird flu.

All of a sudden it was Thailand losing big time. One cannot but sympathize with Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk who recently posted a handwritten note on his website. He accused the Thais of causing “unmerited and anachronistic problems” for Cambodia “rather than concentrating on developing harmonious, friendly and fruitful relations.”

Sihanouk’s Cambodia had suffered massively - directly and indirectly - as a result of the old interferences by Thais. The later resistance of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, the ruby trade and weapons supply along the Cambodian-Thai border can only be understood in the light of the very active role Thailand played back then.

The riches of some Thais meant misery and poverty to many of their neighbors. A neighbor in crisis and need always meant an opportunity for Thailand.

Sihanouk by the way even refused to fly via Bangkok since decades, that profound was his aversion against his much richer neighbor. Back in the fifties times were much different. Phnom Penh was an open, vibrant society with an opera and even basic neurosurgery - modernities Bangkok was dreaming of. But times and alliances changed.

As a result of wily politics Thais got used to have it all. Thais got used to exploit their neighbors under the pretext of help, whereas most often greed of gain was the ultimate motive. Recall Vietnam, the Secret War in Laos and destruction of Cambodia.

Washington’s regional main ally Thailand with its supply routes played a key role in all regional conflicts. In retrospect the American Vietnam War has to be considered the turning point that triggered Thailand’s most substantial push for modernization and unseen riches.

The more arrogant the Thai claim therefore appears that the kingdom had never been colonized. Hardly any other nation succumbed to the foreign mammon that often and that easily.

The time to reclaim Preah Vihear has long ago passed. Let’s congratulate Cambodia for having at least Preah Vihear after so many tragic losses over the past decades. On the contrary, let’s celebrate the win-win situation.

Thailand with its direct access to the ancient temple could earn tons of tourist dollars without having to provide much infrastructure.

But all some chauvinist, ultranationalistic Thais care about is having their own flag over something that doesn’t belong to them. Anymore.

Get over it Thailand. Let go.

You just make yourself the laughing stock of the world again after those recent blunders implying that intellectually the kingdom remains stuck in some medieval times.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Exploit Thy Neighbor: Preah Vihear & Those Chauvinist Thais”

Mo on July 20th, 2008 11.48 pm

Thank you for writing such a wonderful and thoughtful article. We, Cambodians, suffered too much from the past wars, and we’re not looking to fight another war.

A big majority of Cambodian knew that the current conflict did not represent the greed of the Thais majority. We all blamed the border standoff on PAD and their untranationalist supporters.

Nationalism is great, but blind nationalism with ignorance is dangerous.
BangkokDan on July 21st, 2008 4.17 am

And Cambodia’s recent dark history, Mo, isn’t used by Cambodian nationalists in those tense days as a political tool? As a tit for tat?

BangkokDan
number&number on September 18th, 2008 5.08 am

Tit for That! It’s clear that the whole Preah Vihear border issue has been regurgitated for Thailand’s current EPK, and will backfire on them as they are unashamedly only reacting to this issue out of boredom and desperation. The “act” is that of spoilt / nasty children who become vehemently venomous when a neighbor has success, like the issue that the Thais ignored until it won an international UN Heritage award … was this process initiated by a Thai?