via Phnom Penh Post, 08 February 2020: Unlike most stories about tourists behaving badly, this act of vandalism is done mainly by locals and thought to bring good luck – I assume as some devotional act to the deities involved.
The Apsara National Authority (ANA) has urged the public and tourists to stop writing or painting graffiti on the ancient temples in Siem Reap province which it said amounted to vandalism and undermined the value of Cambodia’s national cultural heritage.
ANA spokesman Long Kosal told The Post that there have been many incidents in the past of people writing graffiti on the ancient temple stones because they mistakenly believed that it would bring them good luck.
Kosal said the authorities had detained some citizens for guidance on this issue in the past and had also banned some troublemakers.
“We demand that people stop writing on the ancient temples, which are the heritage of our ancestors – our national heritage. Such graffiti does not help to maintain the temples or show love for them. It just damages them,” he said.
