An editorial published in the Bangkok Post has criticised the Thai military for the insensitive demolition of a statue of Lord Vishnu on December 22 at the disputed border area near Preah Vihear in Cambodia. The editorial called the demolition “an act of power devoid of cultural sensitivity. “
The editorial titled, ‘Power with no sensitivity’ stated that despite the border conflict, the Thai military should have been respectful to cultural and religious sensitivities. “..the message sent by bulldozing a Hindu god was unmistakable, and damaging”, it added. It argued that the way the alleged ‘border management’ was treated as a spectacle by the Thai media was grossly inappropriate too.
The editorial mentioned that one anchor in Thai TV called the Lord Vishnu statue an ‘eight-hand statue’, did not even bother to name it, and mocked how, despite having 8 hands, “it could not save itself.” The editorial called the readers to note the point mentioned by Indian government in their response, that, Hindu and Buddhist traditions share the same civilisational heritage, and reminded the military and media that the blatant display of insensitivity and mockery will give Thailand a bad image internationally, because Hindu cosmology has deeply inspired Thailand’s own culture and mocking the Hindu faith while being reverent of only Buddhist symbols displays the people’s own ignorance about their cultural roots and shared history.
It added that the media’s sneering displayed a ‘narrow, ego-centric worldview that only recognises its own sacred symbols’.
The editorial also stated that the Thai military and media’s argument that the statue was not ancient, and was only built in 2014, does not mean anything because “faith does not come with an expiry date.” It also stated that Buddhist cultural and religious institutions should have come together to condemn and protest the incident with the same sentiments they display when Buddhist symbols are damaged across the world.
The incident, captured on video and widely circulated online, shows Thai military engineers using heavy machinery to bring down the Hindu deity’s statue in a contested border zone, triggering outrage in Cambodia and drawing a strong rebuke from India. The nearly nine-metre-tall statue, erected in 2014, stood in the An Ses area of Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province, close to the Thai border. Cambodian authorities maintain that the structure was located well within their territory.
On December 24, the Ministry of External Affairs expressed deep concern over the demolition of the Hindu deity’s statue, calling the act “disrespectful” and harmful to the sentiments of devotees worldwide. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal noted that Hindu and Buddhist deities are part of a shared civilisational heritage across the region and emphasised that such acts should not occur, regardless of territorial disputes.
