appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Danielle Keeton-Olsen

Meng Kroypunlok

From Cambodian cassava being blocked for sale in Thailand to a ban on Thai fuel flowing the other way, a border spat stoked by nationalists on both sides has left more than 1 million Cambodians working in Thailand exposed to a damaging fallout.
Over 5,000 Cambodian workers returned each day last week, fearing border closures and a growing nationalist enmity inside Thailand, Cambodian officials have said.
On Monday, Hun Manet, Cambodia’s prime minister and the scion of the Hun Sen dynasty, which has dominated the country for over three decades, visited a temporary camp at a border area pagoda in Preah Vihear province in support of returned migrant workers.
“Cambodia doesn’t want to see war break out because we’re used to swimming across it,” Hun Manet posted on his Facebook page. “But we can’t stand to be abused.”
The row began in late May after a Cambodian soldier was shot dead by Thai troops in a firefight that Bangkok said was triggered by an incursion on Thai soil – a claim denied by Cambodia.

Since then, leaders of the two countries have traded allegations, closed borders and stopped the flow of certain goods, while citizens in both nations urge boycotts and trade insults online.
Cambodia has also taken the border dispute to the International Court of Justice, seeking its adjudication on long-disputed territorial boundaries – enraging Thailand, which flatly rejects any internationalisation of the issue.
The row came to a boil last week after a leaked conversation between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and ex-Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen sparked a political crisis in Thailand.
In the call, Paetongtarn called Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to denigrate a Thai border commander, exposing her to accusations of being too deferential to the Cambodian strongman, who was a close friend of her political clan.
In the nationalist fury that followed, a key coalition ally left Paetongtarn’s government.
As Paetongtarn scrambles to defuse the outcry, she has taken a tougher line with Cambodia, closing more border posts and on Monday cutting fuel and other logistics to cyber fraud centres known to operate in the frontier area.
Behind the tit-for-tat measures targeted for domestic political consumption, Cambodia’s migrants in Thailand numbering more than 1 million are increasingly anxious about their status.


“There are Thai extremists telling workers to return to their homeland,” said Loeung Sophon, who represents migrant workers in Thailand for the Cambodia-based labour NGO Central.
“Some Cambodian workers said that where they live, the landlord also said that Cambodian workers will have problems if Thai soldiers and Cambodian soldiers fight each other … they worry that a war can happen as the conflict is getting more tense day by day.”
Thailand depends on low-paid migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to staff factories and the construction, fishing and farming industries.
But many Thais look down on the millions of workers from abroad, an attitude which erupts during bouts of nationalist tensions.
Neither Thailand nor Cambodia can afford the current spat.
More than US$10 billion of bilateral trade hangs in the balance at a crucial time for both nations, as tariffs imposed by Washington threaten the growth of their already struggling economies.
Cambodian migrant workers remitted nearly US$3 billion last year, with nearly 90 per cent of them working in Thailand.

Stoking nationalist fury
Hun Manet has harnessed the simmering nationalist sentiment, making defiant posts on his Facebook page.
Emotions were easy to stir and draw on centuries-old fears of losing territory to more powerful neighbours, said Sok Kanitha, a media personality behind “The Kanitha Show”, a popular Khmer-language news analysis channel on YouTube.
Thai online rhetoric was insulting to Cambodians, with some even calling their neighbours “slaves” but Sok doubted there would be an escalation towards war.
Still, the verbal vitriol continued – mostly online but potentially with “collateral damage” to Thai-associated businesses or products in Cambodia – she said, adding that Cambodia appeared more united on the issue than Thailand.
“Imagine, you are the weaker, less developed nation. Then you have a neighbour that is an economic juggernaut that pretty much says to you, ‘hey you, you better not take that case to the ICJ or I will cut off your electricity, internet, tourists’,” Sok said.
“This kind of attitude pretty much set the fuse on Cambodian national sentiment. Like, how dare you? Cambodia would rather starve than have you disrespect us.”

Cambodians were largely supportive of their government’s actions so far, said Kin Phea, director of international relations at the government research institution the Royal Academy of Cambodia.
“Cambodians view protecting this heritage as a fundamental duty, making it a unifying national cause … distinct from other international issues,” he said.
Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum think tank, said some social media users might feel it was a civil duty – or even a job requirement – to show their nationalism online.
“If you’re working with the government or working with certain audiences, you might be posting on social media to satisfy the national audience, to say that you’re also a nationalist or support a nationalist cause,” he said.
But for the migrant workers who depend on cross-border trade, whether remitting money to support their children or to pay off loans in Cambodia with their salaries from Thailand, the price of the flare-up of nationalism is heavy, according to Virak.
“I fear for the migrant workers, because whatever they choose, to come back or whether to stay in Thailand, their lives are pretty much unstable. They don’t know what’s next.”


Cambodia hosts anti-scam summit as scepticism lingers

Cambodia, Thailand take US$300 billion seabed dispute to UN

US-Israeli failure to bomb Iran into submission was preordained

US-China decoupling could benefit other countries, China trade war game suggests

Cambodia

Cambodian workers in Thailand caught in crossfire of nationalist war

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet visits a temporary shelter in Preah Vihear province on Monday, following a clash at the Thailand-Cambodia border in May. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Traders including from Cambodia gather at the Ban Laem border area in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province. Photo: Loeung Sophon

Cambodian police officials stand at the Poipet international border checkpoint between Cambodia and Thailand. Photo: AFP

Thailand’s PM digs in as defections and legal challenge threaten her power

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra walks with Second Army Region Commander Lieutenant General Boonsin Padklang, as she arrives in Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand on Friday, following a leak on Wednesday of a phone call between Paetongtarn and Cambodia’s former Prime Minister Hun Sen, amid a border dispute between the two countries. Photo: Reuters

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra receives flowers as she arrives in Ubon Ratchathani on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Protesters dance during a rally calling for the resignation of the Thai prime minister near the Government House in Bangkok on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Asean credibility at stake amid soaring Thailand-Cambodia border tensions: analysts

Asean leaders pose for a group photo during the plenary session at the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 26. The bloc was founded in 1967. Photo: AFP

A woman visits Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, near the disputed border with Thailand, in Preah Vihear province. The ICJ has ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia. Photo: AP

A Thai nationalist demonstrator holds a banner in Thai, translated as “Thailand does not recognise the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice”, during a protest in Bangkok on June 9. Photo: EPA-EFE

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim with his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra at the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 26. Photo: EPA-EFE

Outcome of Thailand-Cambodia border talks in the balance amid ‘trust deficit’

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra inspects a bomb shelter, built by villagers, during a trip to the Kap Choeng border district on Wednesday. Photo: Thai Government Handout/EPA-EFE

Thai Commander of Suranaree Task Force Somphop Parawej (left) shakes hands with Deputy Commander of the Cambodian Army Srey Doek during military talks at the disputed border on Sunday. Photo: Thai Army/EPA-EFE

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (right) speaks to the media next to Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai at Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Cambodians queuing to enter Thailand at the International Border Checkpoint of Poipet, Banteay Meanchey province, on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

Buddhist monks visit the Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Photo: Reuters

This Week in Asia

Politics

Economics

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

More than 1 million Cambodian workers fear the damaging impact of a worsening row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh


More than 1 million Cambodian workers fear the damaging impact of a worsening row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.


Cambodian workers in Thailand caught in crossfire of nationalist war

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}More than 1 million Cambodian workers fear the damaging impact of a worsening row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh

More than 1 million Cambodian workers fear the damaging impact of a worsening row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh