ABSTRACT
Thailand’s memory of its neighbours Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam is a site of “us and them” dominated by contemptuous, fearful or hateful thoughts. The Burmese are described as aggressive and murderous, the Cambodians duplicitous and the Vietnamese arrogant. This chapter argues that this site of memory is beginning to evolve as Thais look to shift their attitudes and recollections of their neighbours into a more positive light, in line with Abhisit’s observations, and in line with aspirations for ASEAN and their Suvarnabhumi project. Thai memories of Laos are shaped particularly by two critical events in the pre-colonial period. The first is the case of the Prakaew Morakot , the Emerald Buddha. Located at Thailand’s spiritual core in the Wat Prakaew temple, site of Thailand’s most sacred royal ceremonies, the Emerald Buddha is a small jadeite statuette of the Buddha.
