T he fact that Thai people are not coming out to demand a ceasefire or an end to this unnecessary war between Thailand and Cambodia is tantamount to granting a license for the Thai Government to allow the killing to continue.
Yesterday, 13 December 2025, on Day 6 of the renewed military clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, there were only six anti-war protesters in Bangkok at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) and another half dozen in Chiang Mai. Even the main opposition People’s Party, the party that claims to be the most progressive, held an event yesterday afternoon dubbed by themselves as a “picnic” with party supporters in Bangkok and remained obsessed over the upcoming election and their failed attempts to push for a new Constitution, without paying attention to—or daring to go against—the tide of ultranationalism by calling for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, most people in Bangkok, some 250–300 kilometres from the Thai–Cambodian border, and who live beyond the reach of Cambodia’s most lethal arsenal, the PHL-03 Chinese-made truck-mounted self-propelled 12-tube 300 mm long-range multiple rocket launcher with a range of 130 kilometres, are going about their lives during the year-end festive season as normal, while fierce fighting is entering its seventh day today.
People, particularly soldiers of both sides, are dying, and more than half a million civilians on both sides of the border have been displaced, forced to flee the war.
Thai-based Cambodian labour activist, Saing Ry, told me this morning that the number of registered migrant workers from Cambodia in Thailand is 407,013, and as many as 103,711 of them will see their work permits expiring on 31 March 2026.
“Many are worried,” she told me.
Basically, some ultranationalists view them as either potential spies, a spy, or an enemy.
Meanwhile, across the Thai border in Cambodia, some 600–700 Thais are trapped in Poipet town, Cambodia, and are not allowed to cross the border, pending an investigation into whether they have committed any crime or not.
As of press time Sunday, 16 Thai soldiers have died, and some 270 soldiers have been injured, on top of two civilians injured.
The latest information from Cambodia, two days ago, was a claim by its Government as reported on the Phnom Penh Post that 11 Cambodian civilians have been killed and 76 injured, most of them requiring emergency treatment.
Most conspicuous is the absence of any figures released by the Cambodian Government regarding military fatalities and injuries while the Thai army claimed over two hundred Cambodian soldiers have been killed so far. (The fact that no figures were released and no questions asked by the Cambodian press reflects the autocratic state of Cambodian society at present.)
Back to Bangkok, this writer witnessed hundreds of young Bangkokians enjoying multiple-stage concerts at the fashionable Siam area of Bangkok in the evening, just three-minutes’ walk from where the six anti-war protesters stood just a few hours earlier on the same day.
I posted a clip of the young people enjoying themselves in both Thai and English on my X account (@PravitR) saying:
“As war between Thailand and Cambodia rages and is entering its seventh day tomorrow, 14 December 2025, young Thais in Bangkok enjoy Siam Music Fest with multiple stages on Saturday evening, 13 December.”
The clip in the Thai-language version has attracted over 1.8 million views in less than 24 hours.
One fellow Thai journalist (@erich_parpart) reacted (to the English-version of my post) by tweetung to me on X saying:
“What do you want them to do? Stay home and watch a bullshit war that politicians on both sides started for their own gain? Cry about it? Or join the fight?”
My reply was: “I am just a messenger. What young Thais do is up to them. Just pointing out what they are doing while war is raging just 250–300 kilometres from Bangkok. Let me quote what you told your Cambodian trolls. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
#ThailandCambodia #ไทยกัมพูชา #ป #หยุดสงคราม”
Thinking about it today, it seems some people are disturbed to be reminded of the irony, the contradiction, or the indifference even, in Thai society at present.
Years from now, I believe historians will ask how the majority of the Thai people could remain so indifferent in the face of such killings now. As for myself, having grown up too late to experience the 6 October 1976 massacre as an adult, I have often wondered and asked myself how people lived at that time, and why they allowed the situation to spiral out of control.
Less than a day after one of the six anti-war protesters staged a lonely protest, with myself as the only journalist covering and interviewing one of the protesters (See here: [https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BBZHyoZrv/]), a protester posted an observation on Facebook today saying they were faced with a barrage of criticisms on social media “but should continue protesting against the war.”
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