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As is expected in country generally lacking in education, superstition plays a significant role in the everyday lives of ordinary Khmers. People regularly consult fortune tellers and practitioners of magic to drive away evil spirits, make life decisions, and even cast spells on their enemies and love interests. The Buddhist temples largely have become vehicles to facilitate people’s beliefs in the supernatural.

Of course, as Buddhists we should be tolerant to the beliefs of others. However, to the extent that superstitious beliefs contradict the Buddha’s teachings themselves, I think such tolerance can go only so far. People tend to become lazy when they rely on superstitions to raise their children, conduct business, and make other life decisions. If one is clueless about something, they could go to the library or bookstore, search on the internet, or ask someone who is an expert in that field. Of course, relying on superstitious beliefs frees one from the need to make an effort to learn and think logically and rationally. In the long run, such practices will hamper the development of a nation.

It’s not surprising that the belief in superstition is most prevalent in the poorest and least educated countries around the world. Poor education contributes to superstitious beliefs, which in turn contributes to a culture of ignorance, which in turn contributes to even more superstition. It’s a pretty vicious cycle, really.

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I went to a convenience store here in Phnom Penh this afternoon to pick up a couple of items. As I arrived at the checkout counter, I took my position behind another person who got there a few seconds earlier, patiently waiting for the cashier to ring him up. As the cashier handed him his change, I picked up my items to give to the cashier. Then, all of a sudden, another customer came out of nowhere and handed his goods to the cashier right in front of me. The cashier proceeded to ring him up despite knowing that I have been in line. But he didn’t stop there. A moment later, as the cashier was finished with this intruding customer, another one cut in to hand his items to the cashier.

When I first arrived in Cambodia a couple of years ago, things like this used to piss me off. I would scold at the cashier and demand he or she ring me up before anyone cuts in line. Nowadays, I’ve gotten so used to these incidences that I’ve learned to greet them with casual curiosity rather than indignation. This happens not only at convenient stores but everywhere people should be taking turns, such as ticket counters, government offices, and street intersections. When Phnom Penh motorists in Phnom Pehn approach an intersection, for instance, many look for the presence of police rather at the traffic lights.

In an impoverished country like this, people will take advantage of any opening they see, often without considering the consequences of their actions. Cutting in line to save a couple of minutes at a convenience store is totally unnecessary, but people do it anyway because they’re so used to doing things that way. It’s one thing when someone does something wrong without realizing what they’re doing is wrong. It’s another when they do not realize what they’re doing is wrong and is simply doing it out of habit. That’s not to say that bad habits are excusable. For instance, people who indulge in bad habits like drugs and gambling, they probably will eventually meet a very unpleasant fate. What will be the fate of a nation whose citizens habitually bribe, cheat and steal, without realizing what they’re doing is wrong? I think it’s great that Khmer people are patriotic enough to defend Preah Vihear to try to keep what we still have. But I think the enemy within pose a much greater threat to our civilization. It always has.

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As you already may have heard, there is a new movie being made about the “Great Khmer Empire”. John Cena, the former pro wrestler, will star as the great Khmer King Jayavarman VII. Angelina Jolie, Jet Li, and a few other recognizable Hollywood names will be in it, too.

Currently, the movie is still in production. The last time I read about the movie, they were “consulting” with the Cambodian government about the “historical accuracy” of the film. It’s interesting that they’re consulting with government officials, rather than scholars and historians, about the film’s historical accuracy.

Obviously, many Khmer people are very excited about this project because they think Hollywood is showing interest in our culture. Personally, I don’t think there is anything in this movie for Khmer people to celebrate about. Casting John Cena as Jayavarman VII, the greatest of Khmer kings, is about as credible as casting some Chinese guy as George Washington in a movie about the American Revolution. And the idea of making King Jayavarman VII look like some sort of Conan the Barbarian is a complete joke.

So why aren’t Khmer people laughing? Why are most Khmers embracing this movie as some sort of honor to them? I for one would feel rather awkward watching a movie supposedly about the The Great Khmer Empire in which none of the main characters could even pronounce the word “Khmer” properly. (No, it’s not “Khmair” or “Ga-mair” or “Xmer”.)

I think that we Khmers are so beleaguered– militarily, economically, morally, and psychologically– as a people that there’s hardly any objection within our community to the making of a movie about Khmer civilization where the main roles are being played exclusively by non-Khmer actors. Beleaguered means besieged, defeated, down and out. Granted, our civilization has endured a streak of bad luck for the last several centuries. Cambodia today is reduced to a small fraction of the Great Khmer Empire that we once were and our people scattered throughout the world. When foreigners visit Angkor Wat, they often express disbelief, in a mocking way, how a people once capable of building a monument of such grandeur could have declined to our present state.

While I am pleased that Hollywood is shown interest in our great past, I think it’s insulting to reduce the real Khmer people to token roles in a movie about our great ancestors. If the makers of this movie do not deem Khmer actors marketable to the Western audience, then the movie is probably better off done entirely in CGI (computer generated imagery). Can you imagine the outrage in the African American community if they were to make a movie about Martin Luther King, Jr., casting a white actor in black face as the great civil rights leader?

Speaking of civil rights, I think it’s absolutely wonderful to have an African American holding the highest office of the most powerful country on the planet. As brilliant as Barack Obama is, his success cannot be credited entirely to his own efforts alone. The rise of a black man to the US presidency did not start in Uncle Tom’s cabin. Rather, it is the culmination of the sacrifice, devotion, courage, and moral defiance of Abe Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and countless other great people.

King Jayavarman VII was a great warrior. More than a warrior, he was a great intellectual, a planner and builder, a deeply spiritual person. Above all, he was a proud Khmer, a strong and assertive leader who probably would not have been very amused by this Hollywood shenanigan.

Come to think of it, the Khmers of the Angkorian period were so different from what we’ve become today that it might be more fitting– in a sad way– to have non-Khmer actors play the roles of great Khmer figures from the past. And with proper “consultation” with Cambodian government officials, they might even portray Jayavarman VII as an alien from outer space who descended temporarily upon Earth in the 12th century and chose present-day Siem Reap to build Angkor.

I think Khmer people can become great again, but it’s going to take a bit of awakening. We must understand what it takes to become great. Greatness does not come from subservience or passiveness. Greatness starts with knowing where we are and where we need to go. Greatness takes strength, vision, purpose, hard work, unity, courage, and determination. It takes pride, confidence, and assertiveness, tempered by compassion, tolerance, humility, and flexibility. Greatness takes creativity, gumption, and willingness to adapt to changing circumstances. To be great one must constantly pursue excellence and higher good on one’s own initiative and personal moral convictions, not simply to win the approval of others.

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Boiled corn is a favorite snack food here in Cambodia, found at just about every street corner. Since there are so many vendors competing to make a living selling boiled corn, the profit margins are razor-thin. If one vendor tries to sell a cob of corn for just 100 riels (about 2.5 cents US) more than the going price, then people will just go to the next stall to get theirs.

So if you sell boiled corn for a living, you’re always looking for a way to increase your margins while staying competitive. The solution?

Acid.

Yes, acid! Yet another brilliant idea that can only come from Cambodia!

I have been hearing that the vendors are adding a small amount of acid to the boil to make their corns cook faster. The acid supposedly renders the kernels tender faster, reducing the cooking time and hence the amount of coal used to boil the corn. It’s the savings from using less coal or wood, not the saved time, that add to the profits.

Although I haven’t tried acid-boiled corn myself, I’ve been told that you could feel a slight tingling and irritating sensation in your mouth and esophagus when you eat it. One could only imagine what the acid would do to your stomach linings and intestines.

Acid-boiled corn is just the latest brilliant invention that comes out of Cambodia, where the margins of profit and safety are usually thin, and one often compromised for the other. In the past you may have heard of people selling watered-down beer laced with cyanide, a deadly poison, to increase the beer’s potency (i.e., mask its reduced alcohol content) and spraying dried fish with chemicals that even the flies wouldn’t go near. Yet, somehow these foods are deemed fit for human consumption.

Brilliant, just brilliant!

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Everyone in Cambodia, from top to bottom, still operates on a survivalist mentality. This is understandable because of our recent past. The country has found relative stability just 10 years ago when the final remnants of the Khmer Rouge were eliminated.

When one works on a survival instinct, one has a tendency to hoard resources, often to the detriment of others’ livelihoods, and to flee (to a more survivable place). The survival mentality promotes selfishness– help yourself before helping others.

Selfishness, as it addresses more basic human needs like food and shelter, takes precedence over selflessness, a quality identified with higher needs like altruism and idealism. That’s why Khmer leaders don’t like to lose their seats. Their survival would be threatened. We don’t live in a country where a president who earns just $400K a year in office could make tens of millions of dollars writing books, giving speeches and working for private companies when he is out of office.

Most of us are frustrated with the slow transition from selfishness to selflessness, from the individual fulfillment to collective fulfillment, from pragmatism to idealism, from survival to living. It’s going to take some time and patience. In the meantime, we have to avoid replaying same old tunes like a broken record, because it seems like whenever someone comes up with a bright idea that would radically transform Khmer society, the country is set back to year zero.

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