A Change of Guard

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Thursday 2 May 2013

For one to love Thailand, must we hate our neighbours? ["A Thai with a Cambodian heart", a "traitor"]

By Pravit Rojanaphruk
@PravitR May 1, 2013 
The Nation

Thai readers be warned: You are about to read a commentary penned by an alleged "Thai with a Cambodian heart", a "traitor". 

This is not a self-description but something branded upon the writer by fellow Thais who found my recent comments on Twitter unacceptable, sacrilegious even.

All I did was to state that Thais should be fair and decent in dealing with the dispute with Cambodia over the 4.6 square kilometres of land around Preah Vihear Temple along the border, and to urge Thais to accept with grace whatever ruling is made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Apparently, there are ultra-nationalist Thais who support the idea that if the ICJ ruling, scheduled for later this year, goes in favour of Thailand, then they will gladly accept it. However, if the verdict benefits Cambodia, then they will not shy away from calling for military action to defend what they believe to be, without an iota of doubt, part of Thailand.

Precisely when being fair and decent to your neighbour became a treacherous act, I do not know. But such has been the situation since many ultra-nationalists and nationalists began to celebrate and praise the head of the Thai legal delegation, Ambassador Virachai Plasai, and his team, particularly Thai-hired Romanian lawyer Alina Miron.

This has been accompanied by relentless vilification of and condescending remarks about Cambodia and its people on social media sites. As the legal representatives of both countries accuse one another of lying, ultra-nationalist Thais will not allow any shred of doubt that perhaps we may not be totally right - or even right at all - to be entertained. The narrow notion of nationalism requires that people see foreign countries on the other side of the border as innately evil.

It's as if we cannot love Thailand without hating our neighbours, particularly Cambodia and Myanmar. If one can only love one's country by looking down on and vilifying other nations, it means that there's probably nothing much one can be proud of in one's own society.

True patriotism requires being fair to others, and appreciating the value of criticism of one's society, for this is how society can learn and improve itself.


Ultra-nationalists risk stalling social progress by trying to ignore the dark side of their own society and by always insisting, no matter what, that one's country is always right.

Some of these ultra-nationalist may not be aware that they love their country, not out of choice, but simply because they were born and raised in that society. If they happened to be born Cambodian, they would likely love Cambodia. For most, this love is not by choice but by chance and circumstance.

With this understanding, it is hoped that one can become less nationalist and more humanistic and stop seeing the "foreign other" as something evil and untrustworthy. It's hard to think of the notion of global citizenship when many Thais are still trapped in their narrow notion of nationalism.

I am a human, first and foremost, then a Thai. Over the millennia, wars, death and destruction have been the result of sectarian and tribal conflicts, and while these most likely will continue to plague humankind, the more people perceive the dark side of nationalism and religious fundamentalism the better. Nationalism cannot be a true guide to what is right or just, for it is essentially biased towards the nation one holds allegiance to. In the name of "national interest", many foreigners and even local people have suffered and been subjected to exploitation. Unlike justice, nationalism is inherently partial and cannot be used as a compass to determine what is truly just.

It's ironic that while a Thai with a supposedly Cambodian heart must be evil and a traitor in the eyes of these Thai ultra-nationalists, these very same people who vilified me have no problem praising a Romanian lawyer who works for Thailand.

Did it not occur to them that perhaps Ms Miron might be just a "Romanian with a Thai heart"? Or is that acceptable as long as it benefits Thailand?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

back in old time, Thailand has no lands

all lands that, they had was from Khmer empires included Bangkok

Anonymous said...

i appreciated Mr. pravite.

Anonymous said...

Well said,compatriot....I salute to you from many oceans away! you are right,ms Romanian's lawyer was working against her own consciences knowing that she defend the false testimony against the facts.Her bible said:"Thou shall not bear false witness" she had done just that against the truth...Her scam's teams tried in many ways possible to convince the judges about falstify water marked on the falsified-maps the land was belong Siam.

She is a hero to the extremist groups of loser called themselves "khun thais rak chart"she is the extremist whom used her experty to falstify the truth.The truth is Khmers own the land and the Temple long before Siam become a Nation,the land belong to KHMER EMPIRE THEN NOW IS CALLED CAMBODIA.

Kmenhwatt

Anonymous said...

Don't you know by now MOST lawyers are crooks and manipulative. They will presented any documents even if it false just to win the case. This in turn made her well known in the eyes of her bar communities. This in turn more fame, prestigious, more case ( more money). Most best lawyers have NO consciences.

This Romanian lawyer wanted to made a name for herself at Cambodia expense. At the end with all their so- called proofs, expertise WILL NOT be use as THE INTERPRETATION OF 1962 ICJ VERDICT CAMBODIA VS THAIlAND regarding Prasat Preah Vihear. Those ICJ judges are very well informed and highly educated on international laws. They WILL NOT BE FOOL that easily. IF they resisted Siam & her allies pressures WE WILL WIN. IF they fold under political pressure we will not win this case. Then Khmer & Siam will continue dispute and possibly many rounds of fire fights again. I still believe WE WILL WIN because legal ANNEX I map was used ONLY.







By the way this Romanian lady in no way hot or star status as these SIAM ( A KA PEK nationalist) made her out to be.

Anonymous said...

There are extremists from both sides of the Preah Vihear conflict. All Cambodians who have extreme views about the Preah Vihear case must learn from this Thai - he is a good example to all Thais and Khmers regarding border disputes between the two countries.

Thai extremists, particularly prominent Thais like Chamlong Srimuang, Sonthi Limthong and others are dangerously stoking nationalistic fervor that will benefit no one, but will cause catastrophic results between the two countries and the two peoples. It's good to hear that there are moderate Thais are who put themselves in dangers by putting their views across to their fellow Thais, especially to those Thai extremists.

Anonymous said...

8:08 am. I agree and disagree with you.

We Khmer are to busy fighting for fair wage, injustice court system, and democratic change to be occupied with extreme views of the Siam thieves.

The most extreme things we Khmer have been doing regarding the border dispute is asking for the Siam thieves to stop the kill-on-sight babaric Siam strategy of the illegal logger near the border.

Anonymous said...

"A Thai with a Cambodian heart"!!!

Mr. Pravit,

To me, regardless of the matter we're commenting on, you don't have a nationalistic heart, neither Thai nor Cambodian heart or any other, not at all. But you have the heart of this Earth, the home of us all.
I hope there are more and more of us (human on earth) have this kind of heart, see and deal with all matters of life using this heart instead of the illusive mind from the brain.

A human on Earth born as Cambodian.