Regarding the controversial Angkor Sankranta gates, admittedly, they look Vietnamese-or-Chinese-temple-inspired, which are different from our traditional styles, causing the uproar among Cambodians since politically, we're not so fond of the twos. But I don't think it's something to do with politics.
The design team might have thought of building the exciting vibe or catching people's attention in this upcoming Khmer New Year because Yellow and Red work best in contrasting the gates from the shadowy and peaceful surroundings in Siem Reap Angkor. It's good that Cambodians are sensitive with the influence of other cultures on ours but it's not OK to irrationally generalize whatever happens in this Kingdom is politically-driven, label others with different stance from ours traitors, or bash other nations by using whatever worst words existing in our language. It's not the gates that bring our culture down but we ourselves. Our words have proved the worlds that we're not civilized.
The concept of the event is all about celebrating Khmer culture and tradition in Siem Reap Angkor, the world heritage site, so it would be a foolish idea if anyone tried to blend ours with Vietnamese's or Chinese's, knowing that the public would be on fire. As a volunteer myself, I'm repeatedly told to be serious about presenting my Khmer identity in this event. My duty is to facilitate in Khmer popular games, and I have to practice with my fellow volunteers under the supervision of lecturers and professors from the Royal University of Fine Art every single weekend to make sure that games we're going to facilitate are traditionally played.
Not just that, although all volunteers already know how to sing national anthem and historical song, we need to dedicate half of every training time on rehearsing them, which makes me feel so BORED, and all of us, 3000 volunteers, will be given two sets of Khmer traditional clothes, not to mention a lot of things that have been done. Isn't it nonsensical that the organizers intentionally want the gates to be inspired by Vietnamese and Chinese structure after putting so much effort in promoting the originality of Khmer culture and tradition in this event?
Give yourselves times for a second thought before you let your fingers do the thinking!!!
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| Photo Credit: Mai YU (Facebook) |
