Trampolines and live music: Carnival mood at Thai evacuation camp can’t mask villagers’ anxiety

BURIRAM, Thailand – As night falls, there is an incongruous carnival-like atmosphere brewing under the bright floodlights of what is usually Buriram’s international-grade motorsport racetrack.

A live band in military fatigues starts playing to a small but enthused crowd, its uptempo music blaring through the public announcement system. Swarms of young children are wreaking havoc on an inflatable bouncing castle and two giant trampolines. Older teenagers form a long line for free pizza from a food truck.

It does not take long to work out, however, that the buffet of entertainment is but a well-meaning attempt to provide comfort in a frankly miserable situation.

The resumption of hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia on Dec 8 has forced more than half a million people to flee their homes in villages caught up in conflict red zones on both sides of the border.

Fighting entered its fourth day on Dec 11

, even as US President Donald Trump is expected to call both sides to try to end the conflict.

The Straits Times visited the large, centralised evacuation centre at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram on Dec 10, where thousands of families – some 15,000 people, according to the local authorities – are crammed under massive open-air marquees, with plastic warehouse pallets arranged to fashion makeshift sleeping platforms raised off the ground.

Mr Weerasak Buengloi, a 33-year-old air-conditioning repairman, said he was coping poorly with anxiety and flashbacks from what he described as earth-shattering blasts near his home in Sai Tho 4 Tai village, a stone’s throw from the contested ancient Khmer-Hindu temple Prasat Ta Muen Thom.

“I can’t sleep well around all these people and I get anxious when I hear loud sounds,” Mr Weerasak said, his bloodshot eyes telling their own story. With a red blanket draped around his shoulders, he was settling in to watch a movie being shown on a giant screen to try to take his mind off things.

The array of facilities – and how quickly they materialised – demonstrates a local administration that has learnt from previous experience; everyone involved has been through this drill before.

While

a ceasefire was reached

after five days of fighting in July, Mr Weerasak, like many others, had to wait nearly two weeks in the evacuation centre for the army to sweep for unexploded ordnance and conduct other security checks before getting the all-clear to return home.

One issue is just the sheer tedium and finding ways to occupy time besides scrolling on their phones, especially for children, while inevitably worrying about lost income and untended crops, livestock and pets.

Furore over the handling of the July conflict, in particular

a leaked phone call with Cambodian Senate president Hun Sen

, led to the removal of Thailand’s then Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

Current Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, of the conservative pro-monarchist Bhumjaithai Party,

took office in September

and has taken an outwardly tougher stance on the Cambodia border issue amid heightened nationalistic sentiment.

At the Chang International Circuit, there is a wide range of emotion, from sadness and anxiety to sheer frustration at being forced to leave home once again – but most uniformly there is a palpable sense of anger, if not deep-seated hatred, directed at the perceived common enemy across the border.

“I don’t like Cambodia. They are stealing our land,” said Ms Rabiab Fusang, a 56-year-old retired finance worker and devout Buddhist who said she had earlier donated a buffalo to make merit and prayed daily for the success of Thailand’s military efforts. “I want the Thai army to fight.”

To be sure, the proficient organisation and relative comfort at the Buriram racetrack is not necessarily representative of all 600 of the Thai evacuation centres operating across seven border provinces, ranging from larger centralised ones to more modest improvised shelters in schools and temples.

Buriram is an electoral stronghold of the Bhumjaithai, which swept all 10 constituency seats in the province in the 2023 General Election, albeit some by a thin margin.

The Chang International Circuit is owned by prominent business tycoon Newin Chidchob, a political mentor of Mr Anutin and founder of the Bhumjaithai who also owns Buriram United, a dominant force in Thai football.

With a general election expected to be called early in 2026, Mr Anutin’s popularity has taken a beating over perceived high-level links with Cambodian-headquartered scam syndicates and ineffective management of

devastating floods

that inundated Thailand’s southern provinces.

Mr Anutin has empowered the military with greater control of dictating border policy and backed his army chief’s calls to assert its considerable military superiority to “cripple” Cambodia’s fighting capabilities and put an end to continuous cycles of what Bangkok describes as repeated incursions and acts of provocation.

That includes

accusations of Cambodian troops laying new landmines

that have injured Thai soldiers, prompting Mr Anutin to suspend an expanded ceasefire and peace deal brokered by Mr Trump in Kuala Lumpur in October. Mr Anutin and senior Thai diplomats have ruled out negotiations until Cambodia is brought to heel, and Thailand has formally notified the United Nations Security Council that it is exercising its right to self-defence over “grave violations” of Thailand’s territorial integrity.

Cambodia, meanwhile, denies Thailand’s claims and said it is preparing to file a case with the International Criminal Court in response to Thailand’s armed aggression against Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which it says has killed nine civilians, including one infant, as at Dec 10.

Back at the Chang International Circuit, the overworked bouncing castle has been deflated for the night.

The scattered crowd that gathered to watch a movie on the giant screen is standing to attention for the royal anthem – customarily played before Thai movies – with considerably greater stoicism than usually observed in cinemas in larger urban centres like Bangkok. Across the marquee tents, it is lights out by 10pm.

Despite Bhumjaithai’s strong local electoral record, Ms Rabiab questioned the sincerity of Mr Anutin’s tough talk given his need to win votes ahead of the election. She said many saw him as no better than the previous governments that sought to restrain the military’s prerogative to deal a crushing blow to Cambodian forces.

“I don’t want the one who talks about ceasefire, I want the one who wins,” Ms Rabiab said, hugging a large pillow while getting ready to turn in for the night.