Cambodian History: A Brief Review

Cambodia

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s vote by the Lowell City Council to renounce the upcoming visit to the city by Hun Manet, a general in the Cambodian Army and the son of that nation’s prime minister, a number of non-Cambodian residents have expressed their unfamiliarity with Cambodian history and politics. I’m certainly no expert, but over the past few years, I have tried to learn what I could, so I’ll share some of my impressions here.

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, most Cambodians “consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries.” The Angkor Empire “was greatly weakened” by and entered “a long period of decline” after attacks from the peoples who inhabit present day Thailand and Vietnam.

That dominance by neighbors persisted until the 1860s when the king of Cambodia agreed to a French protectorate and the country became part of French Indochina. During World War Two, the region was occupied by the Japanese. After the war, France returned to restore “French Indochina” to its empire. The French were mostly interested in Vietnam and its rich, natural resources and not Cambodia, so in 1953, France granted Cambodia its independence.

You can’t understand modern Cambodian history without also understanding Vietnam, so let’s take a brief detour to that country. Fredrik Logevall, in his Pulitzer Prize winning history, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam, contends that once it became clear that the Allies would prevail in World War Two, Western European countries began maneuvering to restore their pre-war empires around the globe. American President Franklin Roosevelt opposed any kind of imperial restoration, especially in Southeast Asia. He favored granting Vietnam its independence once the Japanese withdrew.

Roosevelt died before the war ended, and post-war geopolitical realities forced his successor, Harry Truman, to focus almost exclusively on keeping the Soviets out of Western Europe. France was critical to this anti-Soviet alliance, but France refused to cooperate on the defense of Western Europe unless the United States, in particular, supported the restoration of its Asian Empire. Truman, who lacked Roosevelt’s anti-imperialist sentiments anyway, consented and France returned to Vietnam, armed, supplied, and financed by America.

By the time France’s military campaign to gain full control of Indochina ended in humiliating defeat, China had gone Communist and McCarthyism reigned in Washington. America felt compelled to prevent Vietnam from becoming a Communist state. Beginning with advisors and air support in the early 1960s, America’s military involvement in Vietnam grew until 1968 when more than 500,000 American troops were stationed there. However, no matter how many American troops were committed, there was little evidence of progress as the war ground on and American casualties mounted.

The apparent stalemate in Vietnam cost Lyndon Johnson a second term as president as the majority in this country lost enthusiasm for the war. Richard Nixon, who succeeded Johnson in 1968, gradually reduced US troop strength (while increasing the tonnage of bombs dropped) in a quest for “peace with honor.” After years of negotiations with North Vietnam, the final American combat troops withdrew in 1973, leaving the defense of the country up to the South Vietnamese military.

To the North Vietnamese, the treaty was only a temporary pause and when they resumed the offensive in 1975, the South Vietnamese Army collapsed and the American Congress refused the request of President Gerald Ford (Nixon had resigned because of Watergate) to resume American combat operations. In April 1975, Vietnam was reunited under Communist control.

Throughout America’s military involvement in Vietnam, Cambodia, under the rule of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, maintained a position of official neutrality. However, Sihanouk played a devious game behind the scenes, granting North Vietnam tacit permission to set up supply lines and bases within Cambodia to assist their efforts against the Americans in Vietnam. Then, when the Vietnamese lost favor with Sihanouk, the ruler collaborated with the Americans in secretly bombing the Vietnamese forces in Cambodia.

In 1970, the Cambodian military led by General Lon Nol staged a coup and overthrew Sihanouk. Cambodian communists, with the support of Sihanouk and the Chinese, formed a broad coalition against the Lon Nol government and civil war waged within Cambodia. At about the same time that Vietnam fell to the Communists, the Lon Nol government collapsed and the Communist insurgents, led by Pol Pot and called the Khmer Rouge, took control of the country.

In his 2004 book, Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, Philip Short writes that Pol Pot maintained a radical view of Communism that went far beyond anything ever considered by China’s Mao Zedong. The Khmer Rouge attempted to impose a medieval agricultural regime by evacuating cities and eradicating all aspects of modernity. Hundreds of thousands from the educated middle class were tortured and killed and countless others died from starvation and exhaustion. From 1975 to 1979, 1.7 million people – 21% of the country’s population – lost their lives in what the Yale University Cambodian Genocide Program identifies as “one of the worst human tragedies of the last century.”

To other countries, geopolitics was more important than genocide, and so despite the unthinkable tragedy occurring within the country, Cambodia continued as a pawn in regional and international conflict. Not content with slaughtering their own population, the Khmer Rouge frequently crossed into Vietnam, massacring Vietnamese villagers on both sides of the border. When Vietnam retaliated, Cambodia turned for support to China, Vietnam’s traditional adversary. In response to Chinese support to Cambodia, Vietnam turned to the Soviet Union for money and arms. This prompted America, now led by President Jimmy Carter, to encourage China and Cambodia, reasoning that if the Soviet Union had to deal with a conflict of proxies in Southeast Asia, it might ease its threatening moves in Western Europe.

Vietnam began organizing and training Cambodians exiled to Vietnam (including current Prime Minister Hun Sen, who Short identifies as “a young Khmer Rouge military commander who had defected [to Vietnam] in 1978”). On Christmas Day 1978, the Vietnamese invasion commenced. The Cambodian military quickly collapsed and Vietnam soon controlled Phnom Penh and the countryside around it. The Khmer Rouge did not surrender, but fled to the difficult terrain near the border with Thailand.

A new regime, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, was established in Phnom Penh. Elections were held in 1981 and a pro-Vietnamese coalition government (which included Hun Sen) took over. The international community condemned Vietnam’s invasion and refused to recognize the new government. With Vietnamese troops still occupying the country, Hun Sen became Prime Minister in 1985.

The Khmer Rouge continued waging a guerilla war against the new government until a peace treaty was signed in Paris in 1991. Elections were held, the country was re-named Cambodia, and the international community officially recognized the new government.

In 1997, Hun Sen staged a coup and took full control of the government. Elections were held in 1998, and Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won a majority of seats in parliament, but there were widespread allegations of intimidation and voter fraud.

Hun Sen has remained at the head of government ever since. There have been frequent elections but always of questionable legitimacy.  A 2013 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report called the Cambodian elections “a flawed and poorly managed electoral process.” Besides flawed elections, the State Department cited as the three biggest human right problems in Cambodia, a politicized and ineffective judiciary; constraints on freedom of press and assembly; and abuse of prison detainees. The report did close by saying “in the recent election, all parties participated unimpeded, largely free of intimidation in contrast to previous national elections; but the voting process was fraught with irregularities.”

The 2013 election results and irregularities led to widespread protests in Phnom Penh which were met by a violent response from the police. In recent years, striking textile workers and small land owners protesting government policies have also been violently suppressed by the police.

Cambodia’s history since the end of World War Two has been tragic and complex. The passion on display by Cambodian residents of Lowell makes it clear that the wounds from that history will linger for generations. It is also clear that the grievances are not just part of history, but continue to exist today and will extend into the future. While an outsider can never fully comprehend the experience, feelings, and motives of the Cambodian people of Lowell, I think it incumbent on the rest of us, as good and caring neighbors, to better educate ourselves about the history of Cambodia, both past and present.

7 Responses to Cambodian History: A Brief Review

  1. Anonymous says:

    Thanks for this. What is your source for the statement Sihanouk collaborated with American bombing of Cambodia?

  2. DickH says:

    Nixon and Kissinger both said Sihanouk signaled that he would not object to the bombings as long as they targeted the Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia and that they remained secret. For more credible sources, several journalists and diplomats who met with Sihanouk said the same thing. Sihanouk always denied that he agreed to the bombing, but no one said he expressly agreed; just that he indicated he would tolerate it.

    I did delete any mention of the US ground invasion of Cambodia because that didn’t happen until April 1970, a week after Lon Nol seized power in Cambodia.

  3. Synoun Kham says:

    The Cambodian-Americans are grateful for the city Council’s for banning the son of dictator from entering the City Hall. The Councilors do understand the pains and suffering inflicted by the Communist regime. Every Cambodian household experienced the lost of family members. Lowell Community has been kind offering shelters, friendship, comfort, and loves. Many Cambodians find their home here after escaping from the genocide, the Killing Fields.

  4. Teviny says:

    The article is well written. Thank you Mr. Howe for your time and effort. Young Cambodian will now have a better understanding to why the protest that took place in Long Beach CA, Lowell MA on 3/29/16 and many other cities that will come out to denounce the Hun family and his regime to not welcome them to USA. Hun Sen and his regime are crook and inhumane. There was a great speech by one of the speaker that night at Lowell city hall. That gentleman had lived through the Pol Pot and then Hun Sen. His speech was based on his life experience and so as many others that have been suffered from these regimes.

  5. SisowathSirikMatak says:

    God is Crazy. Why Cambodia Don’t Have Cancer!

    Khmers are Crazy, that’s what they say.
    There are three (3) traits of Khmers in modern days.

    (1.) Khmers who are afraid, go to hiding and scared.
    Is that Crazy or they just don’t want to care?

    (2.) Khmers who think that they have good intention go to the streets of their town.
    They scream for help and ask Europe, America and elsewhere to find justice for Cambodia and for Cambodian people and powerlessly demand Prime Minister to step down.
    They spend a lot of their own money too;
    not to mention other sacrifices that they do.
    Some people call them “disease” to the Cambodia society.
    Some people think that they are Crazy.

    (3.) Khmers who have wealth; have power and have guns; suddenly have a lot of money as of late.
    Say they want to kill them Two(s) who are Crazy and like to demonstrate.
    Why? Because they can. If they kill Khmers the government may not even care…
    Those Crazy people, number two(s), are “disease” and mostly on Welfare
    Are infected with a malignant tumor called “Democracy.”
    “Hey you! You don’t have anything bad to say about the tumor and its metastasis, then maybe you are not honest to our Committee!”

    People in Thailand believe in reincarnations.
    Next life, they do not wish to be borned to Khmer parents.

    People in Vietnam, in the contrary, are nice to Khmers and want to live in Cambodia…
    Yes, we love you Cambodia. Party up! Dance, toast and drink! Get rich! Have fun! How about the pretty one for the road!
    Life is short make sure you don’t miss the boat.
    We care so much about you. We do what we can to help you win.
    Just do not mention that we violate Article 8 of 1991 Paris Agreement.
    Don’t forget to remind the world that we rescue you from Pol Pot’s genocide
    We make you ruler of your country- VIETNAMESE STYLE.
    But … Sir Dai Viet, of course, me, my children, and their children are forever in debt to you.
    I will make sure that my people do too!

    Politicians in Hanoi are celebrating and laughing. Is that because they will AGAIN see more comics about Khmers killing Khmers with no lenient?
    Or maybe because they are making a lot of friends with Khmers who are super-smart and obedient.

    Politicians in Europe, America and elsewhere don’t know who is number one, two or three. They think that Khmers are just crazy…
    How could these Cambodian people only kill each other and think it is right.
    There are a lot of crazy people in this world. How sad that Khmers are near sight.
    They look in their own mirror and always find an enemy and terror.

    If so…

    Then which trait of Khmers are crazy? Did you say number one, two or all three?

    There is a tiger cub… actually… a super-smart man; well known to the City.
    Hiding his dagger behind his degree from USMA he deviously preaches “unity”!
    Do you think they are Khmers that embrace him?
    They LOOK Khmers, number three if you ask me, wicked determined, and not a wimp.
    they are proud to be number three and be part of a Committee called CPP.
    Having opportunities to take an oath to live in the US
    they still do whatever CPP suggests.

    Three decades, four in my opinion, they make threats and intimidations in Cambodia.
    You can see what they have done to Khmers all over the medias.
    Now they are flexing their muscles overseas.
    Do you stay home and hide if you are not number three?
    Evidence based is that they are brutal. They are anti a cancer called “Democracy.”
    Unless them government changes, then how could there possibly be a unity?