ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

Cambodian Beauty Pageant Acknowledges Mistaken Use of Thai Historical Photograph

The unresolved border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand has given rise to a rash of online disputes over cultural “ownership.”

A photograph of Thai women taken in Kamphaeng Phet province in 1906, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn.

The organizers of a Cambodian beauty pageant have been forced to acknowledge their use of a historical photograph from Thailand, saying the mistake was unintentional and resulted from “insufficient verification” of the original sources.

The Miss Universe Cambodia pageant came under fire on social media after images of women dressed in traditional attire were displayed on stage during the pageant’s preliminary round last week, along with a description saying they were wearing traditional Khmer clothing.

One of the photographs, which showed seven Thai women in traditional dress, was taken in Kamphaeng Phet province in 1906, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. According to the Bangkok Post, the photograph is part of a large collection of glass-plate negatives that is preserved at the Phra Vajirayana Royal Library in Bangkok.

The revelation prompted a social media flame-war between Thai and Cambodian nationalists, each of whom accused the other of stealing or appropriating the other’s culture.

Thailand’s Ministry of Culture subsequently sent a letter to the pageant organizers on Monday, demanding an apology and correction for its use of the Thai photograph, which it said “was done intentionally to cause misunderstanding about the picture’s origin,” the Bangkok Post reported. Culture Minister Sabeeda Thaised told reporters that the original photograph contained a watermark, which the Miss Universe Cambodia organizers appeared to have cropped out.

The Miss Universe Cambodia statement, signed by the pageant’s national director Prasat Davin, said that the photograph was intended to highlight the traditional sbai garment, and that its incorrect attribution resulted from “insufficient verification of the original sources of those images.”

“We would like to emphasize that there was no intention to cause misunderstanding, controversy or offend the feelings of any member of........

© The Diplomat