Meas Socheat doesn’t wash her hair with Thai shampoo. Thai perfume is no longer an option. And the oil she uses to fry chicken can come from anywhere but Thailand.
“I stopped using a lot of Thai products after Jan 29 last year,” said Meas Socheat, 22, a student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. “And what we cannot stop, we reduce the amount we use.”
Even a year after the Jan 29 anti-Thai riots, Meas Socheat and many other students say their nationalism is as strong today as it was 12 months ago, when a rumor circulated that a Thai actress claimed that Cambodia’s Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand. The actress later denied making such a statement.
“We are still angry,” said Royal University student Ma Ra, 22.
“Even though there are no riots now, the people along the border still suffer. They are the victims,” she said.
Ma Ra said years of education have taught her, and others, that Thailand has a long history of invading and degrading Cambodia.
“They look down on us when we speak Khmer and steal our movie stories and claim them as their own,” she said.
Students have speculated for a year about the riots but are still no closer to finding an answer to their conspiracy theories.
“I think the government did not incite the riots,” Ma Ra said. “But they gave the chance to the students. Otherwise the riot would not happen.”
A Norton University student said he thinks the government planned the riots to further impoverish Cambodia, making the people more dependent on Prime Minister Hun Sen.
“The prime minister is losing popularity in the country,” said the 20-year-old student, who would not give his name.
“So when the government burned down all the Thai industries, Cambodia has to pay and we get more power. This keeps Hun Sen popular because he is the only one with the money to help us,” he said.
The government is confident
in its popularity and did not waste its time organizing the anti-Thai riots, CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Wednesday.
“I don’t think that is the work of the government,” he said.
Nonetheless, the riots left the Thai Embassy gutted and 33 Thai-owned businesses destroyed. Raging youths spent the night lighting fires, shouting anti-Thai slogans and stealing all the Thai-owned property they didn’t smash.
To the disdain of many Thais, including then-ambassador Chatchawed Chartsuwan, government authorities were slow to react when a student demonstration in front of the Thai Embassy, the epicenter of the riots, got out of control.
Days after the riots, the government detained 150 suspects for allegedly participating in them, but many were released due to lack of evidence.
Fifty-eight people eventually faced various charges stemming from the riots. Of those, 56 were convicted. All of them have been been freed from jail.
Some of the damaged businesses have been compensated, mostly in the form of tax refunds, Thai business representatives and government officials said. The government has set up a committee to handle negotiations, and both parties said they are confident that deals will be reached soon.
“It’s been more than a year already,” said Trairat Kaewkerd, general manager of Cambodia Shinawatra, which has not received compensation. “I don’t know if I am frustrated. I have
to respect what the government is doing.”
The Thai Embassy has been rebuilt and the staff is ready
to move back in. Now the Thais are working on ways to repair
the negative impressions that Cambodian youths have of them.
The two countries have created a joint textbook committee to ensure that their histories are presented in a factual way. This could help the two countries understand each other more,
said new Thai Ambassador Piyawat Niyomrerks.
“This could make people friendly to each other, and not wider apart,” the ambassador said. “This is important, but it will take some time.”
(Reporting by Kuch Naren, Kate Woodsome, Kay Kimsong and Daniel Ten Kate)
