‘Performative’ has become the word of year. Events around the world are seen more and more as motivated by the desire to present an image, a meme, a narrative, regardless of the truth or the facts.
This is precisely what is happening along the Thai-Cambodian border. Thailand is attacking Cambodia, not for any strategic reason, but to present one party’s tough-guy image of patriotism to the Thai electorate, just as elections are coming up. The world, however, can easily see through the lies of this propaganda.
Let’s examine some of the Thai propaganda blaming Cambodia for attacking first.
First, Cambodia has no reason to attack Thailand. The border issue is bogus, because that border has been officially established and recognized by international organizations for decades, if not centuries. Thailand has no legitimate claim to these lands. The areas disputed by Thailand are part of Cambodia, where ethnic Khmers have lived for years. Why should they want to expand their territory into Thailand?
Thailand destroyed this bridge in Cambodia. Why?
Second, Thailand has attacked areas all along the 200-km border, far from the disputed zones. These attacks appear to be random and sporadic, with no visible motive. They now involve six provinces, from Koh Kong in the south to Preah Vihear in the north. There is no concerted strategy of invading and occupying any particular piece of land. Rather, the objective appears to be the creation of dramatic images of planes bombing villages, the destruction of bridges, the ruin of thousand-year-old temples, none of which are near or related to the disputed territories. These images are meant to be spread by internet to target audiences in Thailand, to demonstrate the military might of the party.
Destroyed Ta Krabei temple, before and after – to what strategic advantage?
Are Thai Buddhists happy about destroying sacred Buddhist temples?
Third, both stages of the fighting have been precipitated by Thai soldiers stepping on landmines. However, the Thai propaganda never quite states where these mines were located. Is there a hint that Cambodians are sneaking across the border and planting mines in Thailand? That makes no sense. On the other hand, if the Cambodians are planting mines on their own land, what are Thai soldiers doing in Cambodia stepping on mines? And why isn’t anyone investigating whether these were freshly-planted mines, or leftovers from the Khmer Rouge era some 40-50 years ago?
The infuriating thing about these theatric machinations is that pompous Thai politicians in back rooms are thinking only about how to gain a political advantage in the upcoming elections. They figure that ruining the lives of a million people will help them with their patriotic, bad-ass image. They have no compassion for all those displaced people whose homes they have destroyed, including those on the Thai side.
My fear is that those same Thai politicians are going to opine that the repetitious theatrics they have produced over the past week may be wearing thin on the bored Thai electorate. They have already escalated their memes to include the destroyed bridge and the ruined temple shown above. They may want to make even more outrageous attacks, in order to keep the public interested. Maybe a population center like Poipet or Pailin is next.