By Ros Dina
Ka-set
Unofficial translation from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the original article in French
Click here to read the original article in Khmer
Following the circulation of an email on the eve of the listing of Preah Vihear temple on the World Heritage Site, calling for a boycott of Thai products, now a SMS (written in English) starts to appear on hand phones since the morning of Friday 11 July, indicating: “News: Please avoid eating all kinds of Thai fruits, 4 persons were discovered dead after eating Thai fruits. Please send this SMS to all your loved ones.”
The Choam Khsan district governor, located in Preah Vihear province, where the incident took place, said that he was alerted about this affair “by people from Phnom Penh” and he gives an account of the story: “Four children, one of whom died, were in fact victim of poisoning yesterday [Thursday 10 July], but it was after they ate candies bought in a shop in their village. The police will conduct an autopsy. The shop owner said that he bought them from another villager in the district…”
At the foothill of the Preah Vihear temple – the talk of the town in the past few weeks – villagers said that they are not that concerned. “Since 23 June, the door to Thailand was closed, no Thai goods are imported, and shop sellers must get their provisions from Cambodian villagers further away,” Mr. Heng, a border official, explained while indicating that he also received the mysterious SMS.
Moeung Sonn, president of the Khmer Civilization Foundation, who was acting as the champion defender of the listing of Preah Vihear temple, said that it could be either Cam Control, the government department in charge of controlling food products, which did a bad job, or a “foreigner” who tried to send this SMS to discredit Thai produces so that they can flood the Cambodian market with products from his country. Nevertheless, Moeung Sonn did not want to speculate the birthplace of this foreigner…
The Choam Khsan district governor, located in Preah Vihear province, where the incident took place, said that he was alerted about this affair “by people from Phnom Penh” and he gives an account of the story: “Four children, one of whom died, were in fact victim of poisoning yesterday [Thursday 10 July], but it was after they ate candies bought in a shop in their village. The police will conduct an autopsy. The shop owner said that he bought them from another villager in the district…”
At the foothill of the Preah Vihear temple – the talk of the town in the past few weeks – villagers said that they are not that concerned. “Since 23 June, the door to Thailand was closed, no Thai goods are imported, and shop sellers must get their provisions from Cambodian villagers further away,” Mr. Heng, a border official, explained while indicating that he also received the mysterious SMS.
Moeung Sonn, president of the Khmer Civilization Foundation, who was acting as the champion defender of the listing of Preah Vihear temple, said that it could be either Cam Control, the government department in charge of controlling food products, which did a bad job, or a “foreigner” who tried to send this SMS to discredit Thai produces so that they can flood the Cambodian market with products from his country. Nevertheless, Moeung Sonn did not want to speculate the birthplace of this foreigner…
