Articles > Cambodian Culture & The Criminal Element

How culpable are tourists in the looting of Cambodian temples? A few weeks ago I attended a cocktail party in Hong Kong. On a small wooden pedestal in the sitting room was a stone carving of the head of Buddha. Our hostess informed us that it was 14th century and from Cambodia. She tossed the information out with what she must have thought was aplomb and left to mingle with the other guests.

In the small group around the statue, a discussion followed as to the ethical implications of purchasing such an item, something it’s relatively easy to do in Hong Kong. A stroll down Hollywood Road in the Central district would reveal several ancient Cambodian pieces, mostly taken from full-sized statues.

It was, in the opinion of one guest, a travesty to desecrate the culture of another country, and none of us doubted the horror we would feel at wandering through an ancient Buddhist temple, only to find all the statues decapitated.

Another guest argued that once the head of the statue had been cut off, there should be no reason why somebody shouldn’t buy it. There was some agreement on this, until it was pointed out that a similar attitude to ivory had almost led to the extinction of certain breeds of elephant.

Finally someone intoned that we were all being very Western and moral, and that in fact temples were only being desecrated by local peasants in poor countries who didn’t have enough to eat.

Poverty is central to the question, of course. Not many tourists visiting Italy will come away with a 14th century sculpture from that country, because of the astronomical prices that such pieces fetch, but the heritage of poor countries comes at a much cheaper price.

In Thailand it’s much more difficult to get pieces of art out of the country. At Bangkok airport people regularly get stopped and experts are on hand to evaluate whether a certain piece can be legally exported. If you are found attempting to export a piece illegally, you may end up in prison and Thai prisons are notoriously uncomfortable.

In Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the region, there has been a growing resentment at the loss of important cultural artifacts. Five years ago, the Cambodian government set up a committee of members of the National Assembly to curb the flow of stolen items out of the country. As Cambodia still struggles to get on its feet after civil war, ten years of Vietnamese occupation, and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, the preservation of national heritage is seen as an important factor in rebuilding the country’s self-esteem.

In the hotels of Phnom Penh, next to slogans that say “Abolish Landmines”, are posters which portray Westerners as thieves, who can only think of money:

Stop the looting of archaeological sites;
the theft of irreplaceable cultural objects;
the destruction of essential historical evidence.
Don’t help the looters.
Buy only what can be legally exported.

Behind the National Museum of Cambodia there are a number of workshops producing stone and wooden carvings. Some are copies of statues in the nearby museum; others are traditional designs. All of them display a high degree of craftsmanship, and are excellent value for money. A stone carved head of Buddha costs about US$50. The same money would barely cover the cost of an exhibition catalogue in New York or London.

However, I was still concerned about those poverty-stricken peasants forced to loot temples in an attempt to find a better quality of life. When I voiced these concerns to a senior Cambodian diplomat, he roared with laughter. This, he said, was cocktail party romanticism. Temples are not looted by local peasants, who revere the holiness of these sites, but by organized and efficient teams of bandits who are aware of the prices these artifacts fetch in places like Bangkok, Hong Kong and New York, and have no scruples about their actions.

The push to protect cultural heritage in Cambodia is therefore not just a question of national self-esteem. It is also an extension of the fight against bandits who stalk large parts of the countryside and jeopardize everybody’s safety.

If you get the urge to tell your cocktail party guests that you have a 14th century piece of Cambodia’s heritage, remember that this is soon to be something that people will seek to hide, rather than boast about.

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