Seeds of Misunderstanding

Six years ago Vuth, a Cambodian, decided to move up to Khmer Surin with his wife Pu, a Thai woman, and live there in the north-eastern Thai province of Surin, which borders Cambodia. The only thing this pair saw was their true love. There was never a thought of race, hatred or discrimination between them.

They have a four-year-old daughter, Nong Phing, after whom their restaurant is named. The people of their home village in Surin like Vuth very much, even though he comes from Khmer Krom (the term Thai people in Surin call Cambodia, which lies to the south).

"I never thought about the problem of race. I love my wife, that's all. She's interesting. The past is an affair of old people," says Vuth. In fact, he says that Pu had been recruited in Surin to work for an organisation based in Phnom Penh. She had been afraid of Cambodia, often hearing that the country was very dangerous. The soldiers especially had a bad reputation. But Pu decided to give it a try anyway and in the end found that the reality was not as harsh as she thought.

Likewise for Somphorn. When this Thai man wanted to visit Cambodia in 2000, his family strongly discouraged him from doing so. But being stubborn by nature, he decided to leave for Cambodia and there, fell in love with a Cambodian woman. They have since married and opened the Phat Thai restaurant in Phnom Penh.

"I feel that people are all just human. I don't think about discrimination. Today, I'm doing business just like the Cambodians and not experiencing any problems," says Somphorn, who hails from the province of Kanchanaburi. He acknowledges, though, that some Thais don't like Cambodia.

Both these couples are living together harmoniously. They even met their partners on the other's home turf.

If other Cambodians and Thais had gotten to understand each another as these couples had, would there have been any anti-Thai riots on Jan. 29, 2003, started by a small group of Cambodians, but striking at many Thai businesses and interests? If the two peoples really understood each other, the disdainful remark of one minor Thai star that media had quoted as saying that Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat really belongs to Thailand — would never have aroused such strong feelings. Nevertheless, Thais might well wonder, more than a year after the violence that drove bilateral ties to its lowest point, what drove Cambodians to the riots?

Among the reasons why some Cambodians do not like Thais is related to their perception of their territorial integrity.

"The Thais are after our land. They are bad. In the past, as I was taught in history books, they were often encroaching on our soil," says a Cambodian student of English at Norton University in Phnom Penh.

An old Cambodian history teacher shares his ideas on this point. For him, teachers should never incite students to think along the lines of racial tension and discrimination. They are tasked only to show real facts, but sometimes they may become nationalists themselves.

"It seems that the Thais had written in some books that Angkor Wat belongs to Thailand. But when Japan sponsored historical research by the Thais to be sure about whom the extraordinary temple belongs to, the Thais, especially historians, recognised that it's ours, " says Ven Tharoth of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

For her part, Sophea, a student, only gets angry with Thais when she reads information from newspapers saying that they can enter Cambodia easily, but that control becomes very strict when the Khmer people enter Thai territory.

Of course, all races are protective of their perceived territory. The border between Cambodia and Thailand is a constant subject of debate, even at present. Many newspaper articles report that in such and such a place, Thai soldiers keep making advances on Cambodia, which gets Cambodians worked up against the Thais.

But there are many other reasons for bilateral tensions. According to newspaper reports, Cambodian workers in Thailand, a magnet for migrants, have often been beaten or scorned at. Tensions between the two peoples are also manifested in some aspects of everyday life. For example, some Cambodians returning from Thailand say that Thais are "not friendly" toward Khmers and make fun of them.

In Thailand, people have been known to say that if a mother is angry with her child, she threatens him or her by saying: "Watch out! You're going to be reincarnated as a Khmer child in your next life!"

Chea Samnang, an economics student, recounts a negative incident he encountered before. When he first went to the market, the sellers were kind to him because they thought he was Filipino or Malaysian. But when he spoke in Cambodian, they stopped speaking at once.

As for culture, it is not uncommon to meet Khmers who say Thailand "copied" Cambodia in tradition and language. When the Siamese made war on Cambodia to capture the city of Angkor, they say, they took advantage of the opportunity to take cultural property back with them to Siam.

And in the years after the war in Indochina, hen countries in the region have been able to focus on economic development, Thai culture and products have had increasing influence on the society of Cambodia, as it has on other neighbouring countries like Laos. Local television features Thai soap operas, songs and fashion shows.

From the Thai side, some people speak of negative perceptions of Cambodia, although others, especially in the wake of the January 2003 riots, have talked about the need for both sides to work on correcting historical misperceptions.

A common perception is that Cambodia is an unsafe place and a poor country.

"It's normal for a rich person to disdain someone poor. I agree that some Thais don't like Cambodians. I saw on TV that many Cambodian beggars are trying to settle illegally on Thai territory," relates an architecture student at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, adding that the Cambodian government should have done a lot more to help its people.

Ammba, who works for a Bangkok paper company, thinks that Cambodia relies entirely upon foreign aid for its survival, but is not developing. "I don't know what to think about the character of Cambodians. They didn't think about what they were doing on January 29, 2003. They not only torched my embassy, but worse yet, trampled on the picture of my king. That angers me," says Ammba.

Still, Ammba would very much like to see the two peoples get along and thinks they should not continually refer to the past. "We're neighbours, we have to get along. The fact that Cambodia is sending students to Thailand is also a good sign, a starting point for the two peoples to be able to understand each other," says Ammba.

Phumi Bhumiphol, a restaurant owner, shares her own wisdom. She feels that some Thais do appreciate Cambodians through culture, such as the temples and apsara dances. "Our culture originates in Cambodia. The Cambodians were powerful. But right now, it seems they aren't very lucky because of politics," says Phumi.

How Can the Problem Be Solved?
According to Thai historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, after the anti-Thai demonstrations, Thais should be asking themselves why they erupted in the first place. "Lessons must be learned from the January 29, 2003 events. They prove that ignorance, misunderstanding and deep-rooted prejudice have undermined Khmer-Thai relations," he says.

Sorn Samnang, a Cambodian historian and chairman of the Royal Academy, agrees. Members of the elite, namely the intellectuals, historians and cultural community, have never got together, when having these people interact more with each other would lead to more understanding.

But Charnvit adds: "It's not only the leaders who should see one another, but people of all levels." He maintains that interaction among the grassroots of the neighbouring countries is in fact most important, as the everyday perceptions of peoples across the border show. Education must also be given priority to, in order to rid both peoples of animosity.

"Even though it takes time for people to understand one another, we have to start right now so that the situation doesn't get worse in the future," stresses Sorn Samnang. Furthermore, it would be better not to make any sensitive remarks about heritage along the lines of 'Whose is it?' Those are meaningless."

In the wake of the January 2003 riots, the Thai and Cambodian governments have made up again and the border is as busy as ever. The Cambodian government formed the Cambodia-Thailand Joint Commission for Cultural Research on Apr. 21, 2003. The Thai side formed the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Cultural Association on Oct. 31 of the same year.

The goal of the Cambodian commission is to reconstruct an awareness of history and to do cultural research work with Thailand through joint studies of history and culture. More importantly, it will look at the content of history books.

Looking ahead, historian Sorn Samnang says that beyond reviewing textbooks and looking at education curricula, both Cambodia and Thailand need to look at how information and media can help bridge - instead of widen - gaps.

"Journalists should be professional. They can encourage the two peoples to understand one another, rather than hate one another. They must take responsibility for an article if it results in problems," he says. After all, he adds, the destruction of the Thai embassy was incited by misinformation: the Cambodian newspaper editors later said that the Thai actress' supposed remark had not been not based on verified information.

(This story was done under the 'Our Mekong: A Vision amid Globalisation' programme, implemented by IPS Asia-Pacific and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. This is an excerpt from the article that was published in 'Cambodge Soir' in Cambodia.)