The Denial of Khmer Culture
When Khmer culture cannot be directly appropriated as Tai, its true origins are often
obscured. Such is the case with manuscripts written in Khmer Mul script, for example,
most of which are religious tracts written on palm leaves. In Thailand, this written
language is frequently not referred to as Khmer at all, but as Khom, an old Mon word
for Khmer (Bauer, 1989, p. 77). I suspect this usage was popularized precisely to
obscure Khmer influence by the Fine Arts Department formed during the rule of
military dictator Phibulsongkhram in the 1930s. Whether doing so was the actual
motivation or not, using a Mon name for Khmer writing alienates these written
artefacts from their Khmer heritage. During my fieldwork, I regularly asked Northern
Khmer-speaking villagers if they knew what Khom was; most had only a dim or
tentative awareness, and many did not know at all. That is, they knew the word Khom,
but they did not immediately associate it with Khmer. Those who knew or suspected
the script was Khmer were generally older villagers, especially those few who,
‘traditionally educated’ in local temples, knew how to write Mul script themselves. Still
others would recognize a script as Khmer, and not realize it was being designated as
Khom. Formal education certainly did not help: a highly educated doctor I met in
Buriram province had dug up an ancient inscription in his garden and asked me if I
could read it. Looking at it, I told him it was difficult for me to read Khmer, especially
old Khmer, to which he responded ‘It isn’t Khmer, it’s Khom.’ When I pointed out that
Thailand’s Khmer as ‘Invisible Minority’ 115 Khom was Khmer, he looked puzzled and asked, ‘Really?’ This is unsurprising given the emphasis in state education on producing national citizens. Northern Khmer speakers in Thailand, have, in other words, been alienated from a part of their cultural heritage through an obfuscatory change of name.