[T]hese guides to longevity of the monarchies in Southeast Asia do not automatically offer a rosy picture for their future. New factors emerge periodically to challenge the integrity of their rule. Using illegitimate weapons, such as manipulating the legal system to fight against such challenges, may prove counterproductive.

The monarchical system has been around for thousands of years. The ultimate key to the survival of the monarchical institution, therefore, rests on the way in which it acts and reacts in a complementary manner to the rising desire of the people for democracy.

The group from the royalist yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said it had come to the border to fight for Thailand, and that it was the ‘duty of every Thai’.

It brushed off resentment from locals, who were fearful that the activists would provoke a war with Cambodia, saying local villagers did not understand the issue.

- Extracted from Nirmal Ghosh, “Thai nationalists disperse”, The Straits Times, 21 September 2009.

The field research for this book was conducted in 2001-2003. A few years earlier the Lao government stopped issuing export permits for wood resin, although wood resin from Cambodia was still being exported to Thailand via Laos. The argument of the Lao government at the time was that wood resin harvesting was damaging the forests, and that the destructive practice should be discontinued. Unfortunately, however, once there was no longer a market for wood resin, many villagers decided to cut their resin trees down to sell the wood. So, the export ban did not have the effect of protecting the trees, as was seemingly expected. Moreover, logging companies also took advantage of the situation to convince villagers to allow them to cut down their resin trees.

In any case, through reviewing the literature, it became clear that some researchers believed that wood resin tree tapping was destructive, while others thought it was sustainable. It seemed appropriate to investigate wood resin tapping in detail. What I found was that in my field site wood resin trees were not dying as a result of being tapped. I also found that without exception, all the researchers who investigated wood resin tapping superficially–whether in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia or elsewhere–came to the conclusion that it was destructive to the trees. This appears to be based mainly on the visual effect of seeing big black burnt holes in the trunks of resin trees. It’s a bit like the negative impression many people have when they first see a burnt swidden fields. However, the reality associated with swidden agriculture are frequently much more complicated. I also found that all the researchers who investigated wood resin tapping in detail, regardless of which country, came to the conclusion that while it certainly is possible to kill a tree through resin tapping, the reality is that this rarely happens, and that despite the ugly black holes in the side of the tree trunks, the trees are very hardy and almost never succumb to tapping damage.

Unfortunately, the 2009 book is a bit expensive. It is, however, available through Amazon.com The publisher can also be contacted here.   

The following photos (from the book) show the tapping process as performed by one of the Brao tappers I worked with during my research. The fires are necessary to stimulate resin production, but tappers lose production if they over-burn. Therefore, they tend to only allow fires to burn about 30 seconds before putting them out. Then they wait between a few days and a week for the resin to seep into the wedge shaped holes in the trunks. The resin is then taken from the tap holes and the holes are burnt again. The full details can be found in the book.

I wrote this journal entry yesterday using my Blackberry while sitting near the fast food complex at the corner of Sukhumviht and Soi 61.

I was just wandering past UNESCO. There was a demonstration going on outside the building. Crazy! Lots of megaphoning, parading and dandy canary yellow polos. I saw big placards and signs being held aloft heads that reminded me of some experiences I’ve had recently.

A few weeks ago, I was in Phnom Penh International Airport. I was very excited! They had free internet stations so I could gaze into the oracle that is New Mandala till my flight. Occasionally when I looked away from the screen, I noticed that there were big posters of this temple with a Cambodian flag super imposed above it. To be honest, I thought the use of photoshop could have been better. But then I realised, maybe there was a reason for the flag above this temple! It reminded me of the game ‘Age of Empires’ PC game. It was a virtual ‘Clash of Civilisations.’  Like everything else from the 90s, it was pretty cool too.

A few weeks before a few weeks ago, I was at Kantharalak in Thailand’s Sisaket province for their local rainbow parade. Lots of rice there. While looking for the bar, this farmer started waving his hands at me. He wasn’t a fan of Martino. I cried. I had no idea what he was talking about. If anyone was taking photos of me, as most tend to, the photos would require significant photoshop editing. The farmer seemed to want me to go somewhere. He grabbed my arm and we went to the bus stop. ‘OK’ I thought, he must have been one of those anti-rainbow people. He was just wearing a scarlet red number that matched his complexion. Next thing I know, the farmer and a man at the bus stop were arguing under this sign saying ‘Khao Phra Wihan.’

“What is this Khao Phra Wihan?” I thought while they fought over me. Eventually the man from the bus station stopped talking to the farmer. My sun burnt farmer friend was glum. I wanted him to cheer up, so I gave him some Nicorette gum. We sat at the bus station for a while, chewing and contemplating. He started making gestures with his arms that looked like he was firing a gun. I thought he was angry about me missing the rainbow parade. ‘There’s no need to get bent out of shape’ I said.

As we were leaving the bus station, I saw a big poster saying ‘Khao Phra Wihan’, and it depicted the same temple I more recently saw at Phnom Penh International Airport! Though this poster was faded and there was no photoshopped flag superimposed. On the way back to Sisaket, I dreamt of having the rainbow parade at that temple. Imagine a rainbow over a temple atop a cliff face, tropical cordial, seaweed crackers and some special friends. Heaven, darlings, heaven. Pity my farmer friend and I couldn’t go and scope it out for next years parade. For now though, I’m going to enjoy this boysenberry shake!”

So dear New Mandala readers, hopefully the demonstrations that I saw just now will have worked and soon we’ll be able to go there with our picnic sets and cream jam baguettes. If not, I’m sure we can replicate the scene at another cliff face.

On the bus to Kampot a man told me that part of the construction site had collapsed due to the poor weather that had been occurring throughout the past week. Apparently it had been on the news. “Damn” I thought, an opportunity for a swim at the base of the dam wall was looking slim.

Flowing alongside Kampot is the Kamchay tributary to the Mekong. Further North is the Bokor National Park which will be largely flooded as a result of the Kamchay dam’s reservoir. Sinohydro, the company that built the phenomenally large Three Gorges Dam is responsible for the construction of the Kamchay project. It’s one of several large dams that Chinese state owned energy companies are constructing along the lower reaches of the Mekong in Cambodia and Laos.

“Onward” I said to a young chap on a scooter at 5am and soon we were going across the newly constructed bridge arching over the Kamchay and along the long, newly constructed road to the entrance of the dam site. Passing the barbed wire and moat encircling the ominous Sinohydro administration building, which would have fulfilled the deepest fantasies of masochistic NGO activists, we eventually arrived at a lowered boom gate prohibiting us from going further. The unkempt Khmer guard at the boom gate became animated and sternly gestured that we turn around.

Along the way back to Kampot I took some photos of the powerful current the dam is meant to take advantage of. Nearby there were farmers beginning to plow their paddies. Standing on the eroding river bank, there wasn’t much preventing me from falling in and going for that swim.

I wonder what sort of conversation the farmers along the Kamchay and the farmers who recently died at the Xiaowan dam in Yunnan could have had.

The Thai government has now asked local authorities to do a feasibility study on making a replica complex close to the border for tourism purposes. The Cambodian secretary of state, Chuch Phoeun, stated that “It is impossible to replicate the temple without permission from the country that owns it” … “This is an intentional attempt by the Thais to stir up Cambodia because they are jealous of [us].”

Why would anyone want to visit a replica 11th century temple a couple of kilometers away from the real 11th century temple?

Stir-fried or grilled, Vietnamese can’t seem to get enough of Cambodian rat meat, and the global influenza outbreak as well as recent heavy rains have proven a boon for both consumers and exporters.

- Extracted from Ek Madra, “Flu fears, rains buoy Cambodia rat exports to Vietnam”, Reuters India, 18 May 2009.

Long-time readers will know that I have an interest in the episodic rat “explosions” that occur in parts of Burma and northeast India.  In those areas the rats are an unwanted pest causing untold economic, ecological and social problems.  I suppose the logistics of harvesting the rats of, say, Mizoram and sending (Warning: image contains rat tails) them to Vietnam are beyond even the region’s most enterprising entrepreneurs. Any logistically-minded readers care to comment on the possible expansion of this trade? According to the Reuters report:

In Vietnam, rat meat is something of a delicacy….more than 35 tonnes of rat meat a day was imported from Cambodia. Cambodian officials said they did not keep records of this aspect of bilateral trade but reckoned the figure was realistic…Live rats sold for $1 per kilo and dead ones — used for feeding crocodiles in Vietnam — went for $0.37, officials said.

As an aside, readers hoping to catch up on the rat situation in northeast India will find this article about a recent “red alert” has some key details.  The “mautam” continues in parts of the region where the explosive part of the bamboo-rat cycle is not over yet.

PHNOM PENH, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company. Police cordoned off roads around the area near the Russian embassy, as the 300 workers backed by bulldozers and cranes cleared away the decade-old community. Rights activist Am Sam Ath and witnesses said eight people were injured during the forced eviction, including two seriously hurt and sent to hospital.

Pictures here and here.

[UPDATE from the TLC list: "The best collection of links to news about the recent evictions in Cambodia is currently being maintained by Jinja."]

The Thai Khadi Research Institute of Thammasat University Monday urged the government not to provide any cooperation to Cambodia over Preah Vihear temple management before the demarcation is completed. Srisak Wallipodom, president of the institute met Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, at the Government House to submit the demand. He also demanded the government to fire Pongpol Adireksarn as the chairman of Thailand’s World Heritage Committee. Srisak also urged the government to file an appeal with Unesco to demand that revocation of the registration of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site. 

This database is the result of a 4-year collaboration between the Center of Ethnic Studies and Development (CESD), a research group of the Social Research Institute, Chiang Mai University, and the Institute of Research for Development (IRD, France). The website is conceived as a tool for researchers and students who are interested in the contemporary history of ethnicity in this region.

The newspapers database contains 12,750 newspaper articles in English and/or Thai language covering the period from 1965 to the present. New articles are regularly added. Most articles are available in pdf format. More recent articles are available in html format.

The 5,072 articles in English language from 1965 to 2008 are extracted mainly from the Bangkok Post, Chiang Mai Mail, The Nation, Vientiane Times and Irrawaddy. One set (1965 to 1990) comes from the archives of the former Tribal Research Institute (TRI), the others (1990 to present) come from CESD archives.

The 7,676 articles in Thai language (1965-2008 or 2508-2551) are extracted from various newspapers:

• Khon Muang, Siamrath, Thairath, Thin Nue, Daily News, Daily Mail for the articles of the TRI archive (1965-1990).
• Chiangmai News, Thai News, Matichon, Thairath for the articles of the CESD archive (1990-2008).

Most of the articles focus on Thailand and Burma but some of them also concern Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, East India, Malaysia and Indonesia. Currently, all the articles in English from the TRI archives are available for download. The articles in English from the CESD archives are also progressively being scanned and put online. The whole set will be available by mid-February 2009, including the articles extracted from the Vientiane Times 2003-2008.

About 30% of the articles in Thai are also currently available on-line in pdf format. The whole set of articles in Thai will be online by the end of March 2009.

Search can be done by newspaper name, by title, by date and by keywords. Articles in English have been indexed only with English keywords and articles in Thai only with Thai keywords. For each article, CESD staff has selected four categories of keywords:

• country
• ethnic group
• main theme
• acronym 

A complete list of keywords in English and in Thai is available by clicking on the “help” icon on the search page. The list is constantly updated.

The website also contains an NGO directory, 4,000 pictures with detailed captions (part of the private collections from Hans Mansdorff, Jacques Lemoine and Paul T. Cohen which are currently being scanned and uploaded) and a e-museum where you can download video clips on ethnic cultures.