Dear Editor,
While browsing through the front page of The Phnom Penh Post online news, an article titled "Thai Web site reignites spat over territory" caught my attention. According to the report, the Thai Web site contains a video claiming part of Cambodia as lost Thai territory. Interestingly, it appears that the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has shamelessly launched that Web site for political reasons.
It is not new to many Cambodian people that Thailand has been spending a huge amount of time and money in the school system twisting the facts of history in Southeast Asia. Many Cambodian people at home and abroad know that Thai schools have been teaching the students hatred towards the Cambodian people.
Veasna Kuch, a Cambodian immigrant who resides in St Petersburg, Florida, said that he had a dispute with a professor over a Thai history book when he was at the border fighting the Vietnamese invasion during the 1980s. "The professor who taught history at the time was required by the Thai authorities to use a Thai history book from Chulalongkorn University, and the information was not correct", he said. "I know Khmer history, so the Thais were not able to cheat me," he added.
Although, as many of us know, some Thai historians do not agree with Thai history books, the latest political endeavour of the Oxford-educated Abhisit has taken that faulty information to the next level by launching his new Web site. For a short period as the Thai premier, Abhisit has brought more tension, not less. When he made a one-day visit to Cambodia in June 2009, I was hoping that he could strengthen the relationship with Cambodia. But after he returned home, the relationship soon deteriorated when he asked the world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia.
It seemed that Abhisit had good intentions during the UNESCO meeting in Seville, Spain, also in June 2009. But obviously, while Abhisit's right hand was patting Prime Minister Hun Sen on the back, his left hand was carrying a dagger. He apparently tried to gain supporters in order to distract attention away from his failure by bending the real history.
A politician such as Abhisit who openly manipulates history for his own political purposes goes beyond typical dirty politics. Why would you reinvent history? Let history speak for itself.
Sam Sok
2 comments:
Yes..,
I agree with you that keeping the history speeking for its own facts.
I had some experiences concerning history class when I was studied in Thailand. My major of study was Communities Reserach and Development focusing on the Phnom Dangrek studies. One of my community study professor is Lao-Thai. In his lesson, Lao minority and Thai people are supperior than Khmer and Kuy. His ignorrance of Khmer history as well as the history of what we called in our studies programm as Phnom Dangrek area made me complain several times with very strong argument. As a result, he consulted with me sometimes before his course start or sometime I was asked to lecture for him.
I also arose some mistake in using technical terms such as "Khmer influence over ancient temples in the North-east Thailand" during some seminar or conference as well. Infact it was not Khmer influence over the temples but the temples were built by Khmer in Khmer style for shelter the idole of the god.
Eventhough, some shlolars in Thai educational institution accept a false history of Thailand but some other still accept the reality of the history esspecially some scholars from Silpakorn University who are based mainly on the archaeology.
Should be remembered that there are several tendencies among the famous scholars in Thai history and even among the old and new generation.
What I mean is that all Thai educational instituions should follow the Silpakorn university and Silpakorn University itself should maintain the real fact of History as it was.
Historians know quite well the history of Khmer and her empire. If Thailand wants to make a fool of itself by making up stories of her past through manipulating Khmer history, then Thailand is putting itself on the spotlight for ridicule. Khmer peolple are the descendent of the Funan kingdom(modern day south Vietnam), and the Chenla kingdom (modern day south Vietnam, Cambodia, southern Laos) another word, Khmer have been here eversince there was land in Southeast Asia, only our name changes. First the Funanese, Chanla, Angkorian, and now Khmer. Khmer is NOT some invaders from India like Thailand has portrayed us to be.
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