Cambodia's Ambassador to the United States, Chum Sounry, sent a personal letter to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, the renowned online retail giant and incidentally the world's richest man with an estimated fortune of $112 billion, to express his indignation. He was "shocked and appalled" to learn of the printing of images of the Angkor Wat temple and the Cambodian flag on textile accessories for the bathroom, sold on the website, such as bath mats, toilet seat covers, and shower curtains.

German radio station Deutsche Welle reported the ambassador's remarks, and he has since been joined by Cambodia's Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, Sackona Phoeurng, who assured that her office would file a complaint shortly. She encouraged Cambodians to inform the government of such sales, which "insult Cambodian culture," if they become aware of them. Chum Sounry himself condemned "the scandalous manner of using the flag of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a design for a set of bath mats. The distribution of these outrageous products must be stopped immediately."

It Doesn't Stop There

The Angkor Wat bath mats and toilet seat covers featuring the colors of the Cambodian flag are ultimately not the only representatives of Khmer culture on Amazon. Similar products printed with images of the Bayon and Angkor Thom temples are now available on the website. Countless images related to religion, printed on these bathroom accessories, are in fact being sold on Amazon. Here are a few examples featuring the Christian cross and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Thibault Bourru