A recent spate of reports of magic cows in Cambodian provinces prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday to beg the public to be more rational in what they believe.
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony at a pagoda in the country’s north-eastern province of Kompong Cham, the prime minister pointed out two recent reports of people worshipping purportedly magic cows and said it is a trend that concerns him.
”The beliefs of human beings are different from person to person, but we should try to believe something reasonable,” he chided the public in a speech broadcast on national radio.
”In local newspapers we have heard about some cases [where] there was a ‘magic cow’, or at least people look upon it as magic and use its urine to cure their disease. Oh, dear, why do we do like this?
”In this province, recently there was a two-headed cow, and I think maybe some people use ‘magic’ cow excrement to boil in water and give to their children to drink. Don’t do this. Please don’t do like this! This is not a rational belief.”
He said the government ”is not able to prohibit people because this is their freedom of belief”, but added that he will appeal for common sense to prevail.
”They have the right to believe, but I would just remind them of what we have to believe and what we should not believe,” he concluded.
Cows are traditionally revered as an animal of particular religious significance by the kingdom’s mainly Buddhist population, which has also been heavily influenced by Brahmin beliefs.
Bovines such as a dead calf born with two heads last week are often featured in local newspapers and worshipped as having special powers — in this case, the ability to help students become more intelligent — especially among Cambodia’s largely poorly educated rural population. — Sapa-DPA