Editorial | Articles about Cambodia | Khmer
Reshuffle Priority
September 27, 2005
By Kok Sap
Since France regrettably spat it out in the 50's, Cambodia desperately needs others to respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity to the fullest.But most non compliant. It lives with intolerable sense of inferiority and insecurity. The cunning neighbors continue to mull Cambodia left and right whether economically or militarily up to this moment. In order to command respect from others, a nation needs a strong well trained and compensated force that is willing to lie down and defend it. This may be unappetizing to many but undeniably Cambodia has always put its priority backward. No other way but to put this bluntly in order to re-evaluate what's important to resolve the situation. Truth is not pretty but each must accept this unjust prejudice and bias.
For its national security and self determination, however, Cambodia had short changed its active armed force men at best. For the longest it is irresponsible of the governments that its armed forces have to argue to get fed and paid. Of course this seems provocatively relevant to one another in term of societal responsibility and reciprocity.
Appallingly the society was more responsive and readily to provide to the massive of ordained men without reservation in the whole land. My question here is what most of these men have done for Cambodia beside their most willingness to elevate and influence people with no comprehensibility of the dead foreign languages daily. Practically playing flute for the buffalo ears. What's Khmerization to them? Khmerization is nationalism.
Shame to say at least other religion for instance Christianity is on target as it readily in providing its following its Holy book in excellent Khmer translation. Other hand Buddhism in Cambodia is still remaining critically ineptitude and servitude in term of literacy and comprehension since mid 1200's. Is it a coincidence? Not really.
Buddhism is an extended arm of monarchy to solidify its control over population at the expense of real democracy as each has its own dialect respectively to belittle Cambodia intelligence. In return Cambodia Constitution is falsely stipulating its present motto: Nation? Religion? King? Implied one can't do without other. As far as the religion, Cambodia is no longer a single religion country but its Constitution overtly misrepresented its true intent. Not a law but a lie.
Do not get this wrong it will not be a respectable democracy if people can't have rights to believe and practice beliefs.
Regardless of what period, it is absurd and indicative disrespect for the government to mistreat armed forces which bear a sacred duty of its defense. The existence of Cambodia thus far is not because of the religion or the King but purely nationalism of the falling men and women of generational armed forces. Other thing armed forces are not to be bought or affiliated with any particular party otherwise it will be fallen into the feudalistic fiefdom wherein this regard Cambodia is exactly.
Defense depends on force which made up of men who need decent and respectable livelihood in orderly society. These men trade their life and family hope for less than a bottle of whiskey cost per month for some high ranking officials in Phnom Penh. They are proudly to die if needed be for the country. Why people and government do not try to uplift these men necessity. Is it making sense, if we do not want to feed people but yet force them to do the utmost extreme for our very existence?
A lot of people say quantity but I say quality is much important. For example Israel of less than 2 million people in the 60's but it had beaten Arabs of hundreds million pants downed .Each of its citizen has an obligation to serve and defend the nation. They did not fight harder but smarter with tremendous support from their compatriots and government. Remember Israel is no better than Cambodia now it still lives off US charity all these years since its illegal homestead of Palestine after WWII.
In real life people tell me all the times "Every man for his Own" and I agree "So Does the Country." If a man can't be decent how can be his government? For that reason, just look at the Cambodia so called modern armed forces, you'll see.
Astoundingly true that Cambodia people would do what it takes to defend their land as long as their government is for them. There were times that Cambodia had broken down its enemies will despite of capability and size. Therefore the government needs to give undivided attention and respect to armed forces in case Cambodia facing its hereditary violators unexpectedly.
If Hun Sen requires two thousand strong men to protect his, so what's the real need for Cambodia of 13 millions? How comes these men will indiscriminately killed anyone who may attempt to harm their feeder? It is not out of natural love but mere survival as Hun Sen beefing up these men with vanities. Therefore they are more than willing to take bullets for the sake of their rice pot as supposed to the whole nation.
SUBMITTED BY: Kok Sap, Email: koks....@yahoo.com Tue, 27 Sep 2005
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Angkor Wat by Bicycle
by Antonio Graceffo
“Gi gong. Gi gong!” I repeated, switching to Khmer. “I want to ride a bicycle around Angkor Wat.” I insisted.
“But it is more than thirty kilometers.” Protested the clerk at the bicycle shop. “And besides, it is raining.”
Thirty kilometers isn’t a huge distance for a bicycle. But, he did have a point about the rain.
“When do you think it will let up?” I asked, considering postponing.“In a month or two.”
“Give me a bicycle now.” I decided. I paid my two dollars rental, and made the clerk’s day. Now, when he went for lunch with his colleagues, he would
have a great story to tell.
Cambodia is great for adventure tours, but if you are afraid of water, (is that called hydrophobic?) you shouldn’t come in the rainy season. The air temperature is always pretty high, so a cool drizzle feels good. Besides,
twenty minutes into a bike ride I am usually dripping with sweat anyway.
The bicycle, a cheap Chinese copy of a mountain bike, was easily the worst
bicycle I had ever ridden. Neither the gears nor the brakes worked, which
was a lot of fun in the rain. The seat post and wheels were bent, and the
rear axles made a loud klunking noise once each revolution of the wheel. The
chain also went completely slack at times, causing the pedals to spin
independently. They would usually come around and crack me on the shins. It
was a lot like when I was learning Khmer Kickboxing and had to kick tree
trunks with my shins.
“You will be a champion some day.” Said Thavrin, who would be my companion
for the entire Cambodian adventure.
I’ve had better bicycles. But no bicycle ever gave me as much as this one
did, taking me around Angkor Wat. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the
World, and I was there on a bicycle. Not bad for a boy from Brooklyn who
once believed you would fall off the Earth if you went beyond East 78th
street.
Khmers think foreigners are all insane. In Khmer culture, anyone with enough
money to go on vacation could afford a driver, or at least a car. They don’t
quite understand why we would chose to ride a bicycle. For me, aside from a
need to work off all of the free four-star meals I had been eating in this
trip, I feel a bicycle is the best way to tour anything. It is faster than
walking, which can sometimes get tedious. You can barely walk thirty
kilometers in a day, much less stop off and look at interesting temples. A
car is too fast. And there is something both decadent and displeasing about
stepping out of an air-conditioned vehicle, snapping a digital photo, and
then driving to the next interesting temple. A bicycle is somehow more
honest.
From the town of Siem Reap to the Angkor Wat complex is only about two or
three kilometers. Less than one kilometer out of Siem Reap, the noise level
drops to zero. You follow a beautiful, tree-lined path to the mote. No
matter how many photos you have seen of Angkor Wat, nothing will prepare you
for your first glimpse of the actual temple. It rises up like some beautiful
creation of the gods.
Entrance into the park is free for Khmers. For foreigners, it costs $20 for
a day pass, or $40 for a three-day pass. The park is so incredibly large,
that it cannot be seen in a day, or even three for that matter. If you have
already paid thousands of dollars for a plane ticket to Cambodia, you might
as well stay the extra two or three days and really experience Angkor Wat.
Once again, like all of the temple complexes in Cambodia you are free to
wander and do pretty much whatever you want to inside of the park. But, it
would be recommended to hire a guide. English speaking guides run about $20
per day. Guides for other languages are more expensive. The guides will
explain the intricacies of ancient Khmer architecture, as well as all of the
legends from the Ramayana and elsewhere, which appear on the walls of the
great temple. Without a guide you are just wandering aimlessly about,
snapping photos of interesting stoneworks, which will all look the same to
you when you get the photos developed after you return home.
At the park entrance, the guard told me I had to buy a ticket. Since I had a
krama, a traditional Khmer scarf, wrapped around my head, and I speak Khmer,
I tried to get in for free.
“I am Khmer.” I told him. “I don’t have to pay.”
Many Khmers have never heard a foreigner speak their language, and the guard
was noticeably taken off balance. Finally, he formulated the question that
had been running around his head. “If you are Khmer why is your skin so
white?”
“My father is Chinese.” I said.
“But your Khmer doesn’t sound perfect.”
“My mother died in the war.”
This almost convinced him. But then he asked. “Why do you have round eyes?”
“I was adopted by an American family.” I said.
I don’t think he actually believed the story. But there must have been
nothing in his training course to prepare him for a foreigner trying to pass
himself off as a half Chinese war orphan. Finally, we both burst out
laughing, and I felt a little guilty about my clumsy attempt at deception.
Of course, the joke was on me, because now I had to shell out $40 for a
three-day pass.
“Tell your mother she can get in for free.” He told me, as he waved me
through.
Maybe he had believed me after all.
Once through the gates, there is a choice of two routes to take, the Grand
Loop or the Small Loop. I chose the Grand Loop, which measures about thirty
kilometres all the way around the complex. Roughly the first kilometer takes
you past the main Angkor Wat temple, which you are familiar with from
postcards and T-Shirts. And, if you have had the good fortune of living in
Cambodia for a year and a half, as I have, you will have received at least
one gift, a dinner plate, paperweight, or toothbrush, which bears the sacred
image. Angkor Wat is the symbol of Khmer pride; its image even adorns the
Cambodian flag. The time of the Angkor Empire, 1100 AD is also referred to
as The Glorious Age, when Khmer civilization was at its peak, and Cambodia
was more than twice its current size.
According to my guide, Samban, from Phnom Penh Tours, in ancient times,
Cambodia bordered China, Thailand, Lao, and Myanmar. Effectively, there was
no Vietnam at that time. Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, was part of Cambodia.
But, eventually, the Kingdom of Vietnam encroached on Khmer soil, until
Cambodia no longer reached to China. Later, the French ceded the lower half
of Cambodia, called Kampuchea Krom, to Vietnam. Thailand also infringed on
Cambodian territory, even occupying Angkor Wat for some brief periods of
history.
Although Angkor Wat is both a world heritage site and the single most
important, artefact of Cambodian history, the temple is not some isolated
relic. It is a living, breathing part of modern Khmer life. Bamboo huts of
neighbouring villages are built right up to the mote of the ancient temple.
Hawkers earn their living selling products to the visitors, with constant
shouts of “Mr, OK, you come eat drink, ok.” The mote is so large, that
people make a profession of fishing in it. Children ride bicycles along the
great stone walls, but not the whole thirty kilometers, only foreigners were
that dumb, and we saw several others doing the same as us.
One of the nice things about travelling by bicycle is that you are
guaranteed a warm reception wherever you go. I wanted my first day at Angkor
Wat to be about the people who lived along its perimiter or made their
living directly from the temple. On a bicycle it was easy to stop and
converse with people anytime we chose. And of course the Khmer people were
always willing to chat.
The first people we stopped to talk to was a group of small children doing
traditional fishing. They waded into the marshy areas on the fringes of the
mote carrying a scoop-shaped screen made of woven bamboo. They stooped down,
and pushed the screen, like a sledge, through the water. Similar to panning
for gold, when the screen was full, they would pick through the silt and
weeds. After discarding the muck on his screen, a small boy put a handful of
tiny fish in a plastic jug.
“Do you do this for business?” I asked him.
“No, for soup.” He answered.
The children tried to teach me to use the screen but I couldn’t get the hang
of it. The trick was to trawl jut deep enough to collect water, but not so
deep that the screen fowled on the long weeds growing up out of the water.
Even for experienced fishers the job was not very rewarding. After hours of
fishing, the children had collected about thirty fish, each the size of your
thumb.
We crossed over the bridge at the North Gate of Angkor Tom. The tops of the
railings along the sides of the bridge were seven-headed naga (giant
serpents from Hindu/Buddhist mythology). The thirty-meter long naga were
supported by stone figures, each of which depicted a different character
from Hindu/Buddhist mythology. The figures fighting for good were on the
left side of the bridge. And the evil characters were on the right.
At the end of the bridge we passed beneath a massive stone arch, which
displayed bas-reliefs from the myth, entitled, The Churning Sea of Milk (Go
Samut Duk Dah). Set atop the arch was a Buddhist satva. Samban explained. “A
satva is someone on his way to becoming Buddha. The Dali Lama would be an
example of a Satva.”
We rode on to a lesser-visited attraction, which is not on the itinerary of
the one-day tourists. Samban led me from the road, down a quiet green path.
We climbed up an embankment, and stood atop a stone parapet. In the ground
below us gaped an oval shaped hole reminiscent of an ancient area. The pit
was approximately three meters deep, and the area measured approximately
100m squared.
“It is believed.” Said Samban “That the ancient Khmers would drive wild
elephants into this put and train them for the army.”
At that moment it dawned on me that not only were the ancient Khmers gone,
but the elephants as well. In addition to being home to the most powerful
empire in Indochina, Cambodia had also been home to elephants and tigers.
But, like so many other resources in the country, countless years of civil
war, poverty, and corruption have driven the animals nearly to extinction.
Back on the bicycles we enjoyed the serenity and invasive green of the Khmer
rainy season. It would probably have been better to ride a bike on a sunny
day, but at least the rain kept us cool. In the dry season the heat would
have been oppressive.
Our next stop was at Preah Khan, which was originally built as a Buddhist
temple in 1191 by King Jaya Varaman VII, who instituted Buddhism as the
national religion of Cambodia. But, when he died, King Jaya Varaman VIII
changed the national religion back to Hinduism. The new king ordered the
faces of the Buddhist statues destroyed. Today, the temple is adorned with
15,000 faceless Buddas.
The temple was topped by a tile roof, and constructed of heavy stone blocks
connected with metal joints. Temples were protected by tremendous bas
reliefs of the three mythical animals garuda (half man/half bird), naga, and
lions. These were the symbols of power and were permitted to remain on the
temple after the ascension of Jaya Varaman VIII. All three figures garuda,
naga, and lion have since been accepted by both Buddhist and Hindu kings of
Cambodia.
Both the enormity of these temples and the beauty of the detailed
craftsmanship is difficult to take in. That devotion to a god unseen drove
men to create such structures is unfathomable today, when most of us cant be
bothered to go to church. But, one of the most amazing aspects of the
temples is that no one ever lived in them. Even monks and kings were housed
outside, in wooden structures. The temples were strictly the dwelling places
of the gods.
Many of the temples were surrounded by a mote, and enclosed behind
stonewalls, which bore a martial appearance. Reminded of European castles, I
asked Samban if the temples had played any military role, if perhaps in
times of war, they would have been used as fortresses. Any discussion of
Cambodian history always tuns to the unhealed scars left by the Khmer Rouge.
The Angkor Empire had departed from the Earth hundreds of years before
anyone had heard of Pol Pot. But the precious stones of Angkor Wat were
witnesses to genocide.
Samban explained that during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, form
1979 to 1987, the Vietcong turned these temples into garrisons. Siem Reap
was the primary battleground during the war between the Khmer Rouge and Lon
Nol, 1970-1975. So, obviously tourists weren’t able t visit the temples at
that time. During the Khmer Rouge period, 1975-1979, no foreigners were even
allowed to enter Cambodia. The first tourism officially began in 1987, when
the Vietnamese government created a state-run tourist agency. At that time,
there were very few tourists, and mostly from Communist Block countries.
But, the area around the temples had been so heavily mined by Vietnamese
soldiers that you couldn’t visit most of them. Siem Reap remained a Khmer
Rouge stronghold until 19991 when UNTAC arrived (The UN peace keeping
mission).
“In the 60s there were tourists here.” Exclaimed Samban. But then, because
of the KR, the temples were neglected or destroyed. “I saw photos of the
temples in 1989, they were completely overgrown, reclaimed by the jungle.”
On the way back to our bicycles we stopped off to interview a band of
musicians, all landmine victims. They were seated on the ground, displaying
their amputations, playing traditional Khmer instruments. One man, Wan Yun,
was only 32 but already blind in one eye and was missing a leg.
“Did this happen to you in the army?” I asked.
“Yes.” Answered Wan Yun. He looked sad, but he was still smiling politely,
which is the Khmer way. One would think that working at Angkor Wat he would
be tired of tourists. But, he seemed genuinely excited to be talking to me.
Maybe it was because most tourists just walked past him, or gave him money,
without taking the time to recognise that he was a human being who needed to
talk.
In most countries, asking if someone had been in the army was enough. But in
Cambodia the next question had to be “Which one?” In recent memory, Khmer
men and women have served in the Royal Army, under King Norodom Sihanouk,
the Republican army, under Lon Nol, the Khmer Rouge, Under Pol Pot, The
Khmer Serai (free Khmer army) under a number of different leaders, the
Kampuchea army, under the Vietcong, or finally, the Royal Cambodian Armed
Forces, under Prime Minister Hun Sen. If you conducted enough interviews, it
was not difficult to find men in their early fifties, who had served in
several, or all of the Cambodian armies.
Wan Yun told me that he had been injured in 1993, while serving in Hun Sen’s
army, fighting the Khmer Rouge near the Thai border. Two years ago, he had
been taken into a government program, and was taught to play music. Now, he
and the rest of the band members lived in a government run shelter, and
supported themselves by performing for tourists.
Two massive, headless guardians protected the entrance to the temple. “I
brought a tourist here in 1999.” Explained Samban. “She was shocked when she
saw the heads were missing from the statues. After she returned to her
country she sent me copies of the photos she had made here in 1969. The
heads were on the statues at that time.”
“Who stole them?” I asked.
“It could have been a number of people.” Answered Samban. “The Vietnamese
took a lot of our historical artefacts with them when they left. It also
could have been Khmer Rouge.”
“Could it have been some poor people who sold them for food?” I suggested.
“Absolutely not!” Samban was emphatic here. “Poor people have no idea the
value of these artefacts. They would also have no idea how to sell them.”
“How are they sold?” I asked, just in case things didn’t work out as a
writer, maybe I could become a temple raider.
“The artefacts have to be transported to Thailand, then smuggled across the
border, and sold on the Thai black market.” The border with Thailand was
still quite pores, but in the Khmer Rouge time, before 1994, it was even
worse, with KR cadres passing back and forth at will. It is also a
well-known secret that Thai border police accept bribes. Some Khmers go as
far as saying that the Thai allow the transport and sale of the Khmer
artefacts out of spite, just to rid the Cambodians of their cultural
heritage.
Regardless of Thai complicity, to take a massive stone sculpture and
transport it through numerous military blockades and police roadblocks,
before even getting to the Thai border, would require permission and
protection from someone high up. Said another way, the sculptures weren’t
sold by a poor farmer trying to feed his starving family. They were sold by
powerful people, Vietnamese or otherwise, to buy a new Land Cruiser, while
the family of the poor farmer continued to starve.
The sheer mass of the temple construction is impressive enough. But, then
you see the intricate details. Every inch of the lintels is covered in bas
relief depicting the Ramayana, the central myth of Hindu and Buddhism. The
walls inside the temple were rough and pockmarked. Samban explained that
they were once covered in bronze plates, many of which were gilded. In the
entire Angkor complex not a single metallic plate remains. They were all
stolen.
The rain let up, and we continued on our bicycles, burning off the 18,000
calorie meals we had been eating. At the twenty-kilometre mark the tour
ended. Now, we had about fifteen kilometres to ride back to town, and return
the bikes. On the way, we passed some men throwing fishing nets from an
embankment. We stopped off to get our second fishing lesson of the day.
“Do you sell these fish?” I asked.
“No, we just catch them for our mothers and wives.” Answered one of the men.
“And if we don’t, there is trouble at home.” he joked.
The men explained that they were full time farmers and just enjoyed fishing.
Seeing them standing side by side, laughing and talking I realized that for
these men, throwing their nets out together was a social occasion, the
equivalent of an afternoon in the local pub. They could meet their friends
and discuss the things that mattered to them as well as those that didn’t.
But unlike westerners in a pub, these men were burning calories, not
absorbing them. And they were earning money, not spending it.
Even the rural poor had a lesson to teach the west.
Working a full day they could collect about half a kilo, or about $1 worth
of fish. Many poor Khmers exist on a diet of almost nothing but rice. Even
in Phnom Penh, some of the boxers I train with only get about 100 grams of
meat a day, not enough to build muscle. These fishermen were luckier than
inland farmers because the fish would add much needed protein to their diet.
Clumsily, I took the net from one of the men. They all laughed at how out of
my element I looked.
“You don’t have a wife or mother, do you?” Asked one of the men.
“No.” I answered.
“That’s good.” He said. “Because you would never be able to feed them.”
The net is large, perhaps three meters squared. The edges of the net are
weighted with bits of metal. The secret, apparently, is in the packing. The
fishermen knew exactly how to gather and fold the net, wrapping it over the
left shoulder and left elbow, and then dividing the weighted bottom between
their left and right hands. They would twist at the waist, and launch the
net into the air. The trick here was to throw the net high enough that it
would open completely before hitting the water, but not so high that it
would begin to ball up before submerging. Once thrown, the net would be
retracted using a lanyard attached to the left wrist.
When it came my turn to throw, I was surprised at how much the net weighed.
In fact, I handed my phone and valuables to Thavrin. “Just in case I wind up
following the net into the water.” I said. I could just see me throwing
myself off balance, falling in the lake, getting tangled in the net, and
then drowning in three feet of water. I put my pocket-knife between my teeth
just in case.
“Ang ay dong ut ite?” I asked my teacher.
He jut stared at me, wonderingly.
“Am I doing it right?” I repeated, after temporarily removing the knife from
between my teeth.
“Yes.” He said with a big smile.
We both knew he was lying, but he didn’t want to hurt my feelings.
I made a feeble attempt at a throw, and the net became hopelessly tangled.
“How did I do?” I asked Thavrin, hoping he would use Khmer decorum, and find
something positive to say about my failed effort.
“Your gums are bleeding.” He said, pointing at the knife marks on my mouth.
My cell phone rang. It was my sponsor, Long Leng. “I have been trying to
reach you all day.” He began. “Have you been going to look at the
attractions so you can write something?”
“Sorry.” I said, quoting a sign I had once seen on a country store in
Alabama. “Gone fishing.”
Contact the author at: antonio_graceffo@hotmail.com
You can reach Long Leng of Phnom Penh Tours at ppenhtourism@camnet.com.kh
SUBMITTED BY: Antonio Graceffo, Email: antonio.....@hotmail.com Sat, 17 Sep 2005
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Adventure Khmer
Introduction
Prelude to a Journey of Discovery
by "Antonio Graceffo" antonio_graceffo@hotmail.com
After nearly a year and a half in Cambodia I had finally finished writing my
Phnom Penh book, Letters from the Penh. A hands-on adventure-writer, in that
book, like all of my others, I had participated in every exciting or interesting situation I could find in Phnom Penh. I had boxed professionally, attended the coronation of the new king, interviewed colonies of families living in the city’s garbage dump, spent some time with the ethnic Cham Muslim minority, stared in a kung fu movie with the national boxing campion, attended a cock fight, interview survivors of the Khmer Rouge prisons, followed a group of glue addicted street children, freelanced for the Ministry of the Interior, learned about micro-credit and poverty, interviewed the commandant of a Khmer Rouge prison, appeared on TV,
movies, and posters, met an entire village whose homes had been stolen by the army, free lanced for magazines, heard gunshots, learned to speak and read Khmer language, caught the explanation of grenade attacks the next morning, got caught up in the internal squablings of the Communist Party, seen an entire street pick up sticks and beat an alleged thief to a pulp, surrounded myself with Chinese, listened to the vile talk of sex-pats, made a lot of friends, taught at the university, and become both enamoured with and repelled by my Khmer hosts.
In short, I was exhausted, completely out of energy and out of new ideas. I was disheartened and disenchanted with Cambodia. The country had shown me so much, but at the same time, buying in to Cambodia, developing an emotional attachment to the people and the nation had worn me down. It was human to care about the people and their future, but the roller-coaster of emotion, the ups and downs of a corruption ridden society where my young friends seemed to have very little hope for the future, had defeated me. I wanted to leave, although, like any addict, I was hooked. Filthy, dangerous, corrupt, violent, depraved, and alluring once Cambodia got under your skin, it wouldn’t let go.
In my time in Phnom Penh, I had met all too many lifers, ex-pats who swore they hated Cambodia, and talked about nothing other than the negative aspects of the country. Each year, they swore they were leaving. And each year, the signed on for one more year. Some of them had been here since UNTAC in the early 1990s. The most extreme ones had come on special visas immediately after the Vietnamese pullout or even before Poll Pot.
The bad ones were bound to the land by the easy availability of cheap drugs and depraved sex. The good ones couldn’t let go out of some unwillingness to accept a system so completely lawless. Not wanting to leave a mystery unsolved, they sacrificed years of their lives, trying to make sense of a world where up was down, black was white, and George W. Bush was a liberal. In reality, everything in Phnom Penh was shades of grey, but the images only made sense if viewed through lenses of experience.
My bags were packed. I was nearly out the door, but I just couldn’t leave. What if I had gotten it wrong in the first book? What if there were more to see? Maybe they had a cure for cancer out in the provinces? Maybe there was some truth to the myth of Angkor Wat…
I was wrestling with my departure, both craving an dreading the finality of the steel door slamming shut when I had left Cambodia for good. I knew that the moment I hit the submit-to-publisher button on Letters to the Penh, it wouldn’t be safe for me to return to Cambodia, possibly forever.
That was when my good friend, and sometimes sponsor, Bill Whurst showed up in Phnom Penh, and took me to dinner at Le Royal. Bill was a rarity, an educated gentleman in the classic sense, who dedicated his entire life to travel and adventure. He was a renaissance man, pursing intellectual interests in a variety of topics, reading and ingesting extensively the history of everything. It was Bill who had urged me to cross the Taklamakan Desert, Bill who had supported much of my writing in Phnom Penh, and Bill who was about to put up a large chunk of the money I needed to escape Cambodia and begin a months long expedition in Borneo.
And, it was also Bill who introduced me to Long Leng, of Phnom Penh Tours. They had been looking for an adventure writer who already knew a lot about Cambodia and who spoke Khmer, to travel the entire country, getting to know the remote regions and completing adventures as he went. They wanted someone who could ride elephants, scuba dive, handle a kayak, live with hill tribes, trek long distances, train with the Khmer traditional grapplers, fly a space shuttle, and cure lepers. Although I couldn’t I couldn’t do the last two, it seemed like a perfect fit.
“I have to warn you.” I said, honestly. “I am completely burned out on Cambodia.” “That’s OK.” Smiled Long Leng. “I will show you things you never even dreamed of.” “You aren’t just going to drive me around in an air-conditioned mini-van, looking at temples are you? Also, we aren’t planning to eat spiders, I hope.”
The look on Long Leng’s face said, that was the original plan, but that it had now changed. So, we made a deal. Long Leng made up a deluxe tour package for me. But, to jazz it up, we made the agreement, that where possible, I would travel under my own power, either on a bicycle, in a kayak, or on an elephant (elephant power). And, any crazy ideas I had, destinations and events to be added, Long Leng was happy to agree, and modify the trip.
But I still won’t be eating any spiders.
On our agenda is full of kayaks, bicycles, canoes, elephants, and some professional boxing (participating, not watching), but no spiders.
The benefit of travelling with Long Leng and Phnom Penh Tours was that I was going to be driven in an air-conditioned minibus between my destinations. I had a translator and guide, Mr. Thavrin, and everywhere we went, we were met by professionals who could give me great information. At night, we slept in four and five star accommodations, and ate gourmet Khmer food.
This is an experiment in travel writing. Perhaps for the first time in the history of adventure, every single adventure in a country, namely Cambodia, has been carefully mapped out and planned. And I, an adventure writer, will follow the adventure trail, through the Khmer Kingdom, completing ALL of the adventures which the country has to offer. As I go, I will file stories daily, or as close to daily as time and energy permit. This makes my trip a nearly real-time web-broadcast of the printed word.
Not just another self-serving, diversion of a journey, this is adventure with a purpose. First, using my background and knowledge of Khmer language, culture, history, and customs, I will attempt to interpret and understand each adventure, giving the reader a unique cultural education on this land of turmoil. At the same time, I am on a personal quest to fall back in
love with this country, which has grown on me like an addiction.
And, if I run out of things to write, maybe I will just east some spiders.
Contact the author at Antonio....@hotmail.com
You can reach Long Leng of Phnom Penh Tours at
le...@abercrombiekent.com.kh
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There are several thousand politicians in the country but it appears only a handful qualified for Premiership or the Assembly Speaker. Undeniably that grants Princely Rannaridh or Prime Minister Hun Sen tremendous power in suppressing potential rivalry in ministerial or mid level executive ranks. The impression is Cambodia will is not functional if both of them continue to serve as head of Executive or Legislative Branches. Barely 2005 ending, Samdech Krom Preah Rannaridh started his Wai tuk bong oeul trey prophetic propaganda already. Isn't he too anxious?
It appears that Legislative Chief begins to wield power in crossing line of Executive Branch , supposedly under Prime Minister jurisdiction,he threatens to do without individual partisan whom he thinks is not up to par.That should be Prime Minister discretionary call then submit it to Legislatures for approval, right? It is likely not only a confusion but plain conflict of jurisdiction and interest. Cambodia is still in state of divisive as my people and your people in term of true and valid democracy.
Timely 2008 are still far ahead yet and those endeavor democratic change need to pay close attention. Cambodia needs a fresh and new dynamic system of democracy to replace its present dilapidated and backward politic.
Without true non violent change and democracy in place Cambodia will live in inferior complexity, fear, and poverty ever. The world will abandon Cambodia once again if we, the people, do not take our own initiative. Let's take up responsibility to uplift the spirit of freedom and democracy in keeping Cambodia alive.
By Kok Sap
SUBMITTED BY: Kok Sap
Email: koks....@yahoo.com
Mon, 5 Sep 2005
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The Honorable Norodom Sihanouk
Former King of Cambodia
Official Residence,
15 Dong Jiao Min Xiang
Beijing 100006, China.
Subject: Former King Open letter to UN Court dated and posted on September 1, 2005
Dear Mr. Sihanouk:
First of let me say thank you for the opportunity but before I go on I wish to point out that I have adhered to your decree on how to address you or proper salutation after your abrupt abdication.
Sir, frankly I am not impressed of your half hearted and history stated in letter addressing to the UN sponsored Court in regard to the long overdue tragic events before and after April 17, 1975 which despicably led to worst heinous crime in century done by people of whom you referred in this letter. Nonetheless the essence of this letter had not shown clear credibility of your claimed totally innocence of such crimes.
Undeniably Cambodia was ruled and suppressed by whether you and your governments up to the day that your very creation of National Salvation Government led by your very own friends and trust worthy generals Lon Nol Sisowath Sirikmatak at the urge of people representatives via your own well calculated plots to remove yourself from responsibility of your bilateral contractual agreement (treaties) executed by you and your paternal allies Viet Cong and Hanoi government personnel. Notably this self incriminatory evidence you dared not expressing of any bit in your entire letter.
On personal note, both generals especially Prince Sisowath Sirikmatak who shared your lineage and blood but he was more courageous and loyal to his homeland. He could have fled, but refused French diplomats invitation to leave his people. Too many mortals including French diplomats surprise, he showed his manly conviction of love for his motherland and feared not death done by your DK elements.
Other hand General Lon Nol with agony of half body paralysis versus life and death decision at the US final urge to leave Phnom Penh. The last we saw of him as he waved and cried out loud like a true patriot who felt unease of what would happen to people he left behind. All the times of his rule General Lon Nol had not belittled you or your blood line. He went out of his ways to provide safe passages for your ailing mother and your son Prince Rannaridh and family to join you abroad. With this gesture General Lon Nol showed how genuine a friend he was and died with dignity and more mercy in his heart.
As for Mr. Son Ngoc Thanh had done what necessary for his beloved country and made ways for you to be known as the Father of Cambodia Independence from France. He showed no bitterness and ego against you and yet expressively pointed out the dangers resulted from your sweetheart relations with Viet Cong and Hanoi to his fellow compatriots. Categorically you owed the gentlemen Prime Ministers: General Lon Nol, Mr. Son Ngoc Thanh, and your Princely relative Sisowath Sirikmatak the eternal apology and obligation.
The US's CIA and Defense strategies have pointed out in letter that you were actually in violation of UN recognized non aligned and neutrality act since you switched allegiance from US in 1964. Sometimes, you have ignored that US, in fact, is one of the Permanent Security Council who steer the UN. Undoubtedly some keys players in DK regime as you have noted in letter were also claimed to be the instigators of violent protest in raiding US embassy in Phnom Penh in 1964. This may be a retaliation that no one knew surely but you. For this, you purposely omitted it for own skin sake. Everyone knew that you were no less but the trigger of such revolt. Many accounts showed you had arbitrarily dodged every question and delayed every of its inspection request. Since Cambodia had never been treated the same in the eye of UN Commission of Neutrality led by Poland.
The documents and history included your closed high ranking officers' witnesses proving the non transparency policy crafted by you in sheltering Viet Cong and serving as its primary arm conduit which was indeed a violation of your own declaration and UN. Some of them are still alive and well abroad. They said you were the primary haven of Viet Cong who subsequently manipulated the arm struggle between Khmer Nationalists as you conveniently called Lon Nolans and Khmer Rouge Rebel once you condemned that turned DK later which in fact you were their worldly victorious leader. In common sense as the leader you were responsible for everything they did whether at your direct or indirect directives.
You have said so people have the right to seek justice and defend themselves so should the country when its leader betrayed his own conscience and willingly in service of enemy agendas. In this case of whom other than US, that the very Cambodia government created by you should logically turn to for arm and financial assistance since the national treasury and arm forces was allegedly plundered under your watch. Can you please people in this with the exactly treasury and asset accounts at the moment you still at the helm before March 18, 1970. Can you also please people on what rational you had eliminated arm forces almost entirely as you were so intimidated by state enemy then?
Many sources and well respected intellectuals whom you also labeled as Thanhists and Nolans persistently pointed out that your leadership were hyperventilated and out of venue to appease US sympathy which you left the country under false pretense to allow the National Salvation Government under General Lon Nol lead opportunity to trump up US support to rid Viet Cong whom you had so much difficulties with then. Can you please people curiosity on this? In regard to that was it not true you had secretly sent letters to Kissinger and Nixon and lowly implored their assistance?
Again in 1979, was it true you cried out loud and sneakily begged Mr. Richard Holbrook mercy to haul you away from your beloved comrade Ieng Sary unrelenting watch at the UN? Was it not true you played US secret services and US Department of State to gain momentum from China in rendering unconditional assistance to you including your palatial residence staffed in hundred personnel in Beijing? Wasn't it an interest of Cambodia salvation or yours and crony skin?
Many people thought you were true Buddhist but we awkwardly shame to say that you have had breached every one of Panca Sila not to mention the Eight or Ten ones. You must need to reevaluate what you have done to Cambodia and citizens up to now. Repeatedly you have said one thing and done the other. It is to our dismay and disheartening to continue hearing you bashing the innocent who truly loyal to their mother and father land. A true statesman should ever utter such vulgarity against people who sheltered and forgave you for what you failed them over and over.
In belief each and every one of us was born naked and cried out loud to pronounce our suffering in entering the world yet live on. This means from birth on up you and the rest of us are not different in humanity. The real difference is that we make a man out of ourselves, our deeds, and true allegiance to our birth rights. In your letter shows there are so many differences in you as far as first being a man not to say as a statesman.
Retrospectively what you have said here was one thing what we have seen and witnessed have been other things. Which one of you shall people trust and believe? Overtly you have expressed your love for your families and children in this we are not less different than you. For the longest time you have also claimed you are adherent to laws of man made and god but up to this point there are so many evidences of your violations.
One thing to consider that each of us still has common intelligence and dignity to judge your deeds based on history and human conscience. It is my hope for my loved ones who cruelly perished during your DK regime shall reap confidence of the legal prudence, morality and weight of human dignity. I laud the relentless effort of UN and the humanitarian nations to bring closure to survivors and families in spite of implied objection. Thus the humanitarian court shall prevail and eventually determine any guilt and crime which you have perpetuated upon Cambodia people.
I thank you for your letter and time.
Sincerely,
Prak Hap
Survivor of Killing Fields
SUBMITTED BY: Kok Sap
Email: koks....@yahoo.com
September 3, 2005
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Hypothetical Scenario:
Wouldn’t it be???
August 28, 2005
By Kok Sap
It scares the day light out of me for Cambodia and my fellow compatriots as I thought of this scenario in my head:
” If Sihanouk would die of his terminal cancer before next election and the new young and docile King would be on the job for less than 42 months with no solid allegiance from people and foreign friend such as China.”
Wouldn’t it be possible for Cambodia to repeat China syndrome in the 40’s after Dr. Sun Yat Sen the leader of democratic revolution confined the last Emperor Pu Yi in Forbidden City until he exiled himself to Japan which it later artificially made him Emperor of the colonized territory of Manchuria. When Japan lost the war to the peasant Emperor Mao Tse Dung who sneakily arm twisted the Sun Yat Sen revolutionaries and republicans alike to finish off China last imperial blood line in prison and proclaimed China as his new proletarian empire.
What would the peasant King Hun Sen do to Cambodia monarchy? Would he confine young Sihamoni in the Palace liked his great leap mentor Pol Pot did in 1976 to Sihanouk and his followers?
Wouldn’t Hun Sen arrest all royalty and send them off to Koh Trolach? Wouldn’t the peasant King Hun Sen exile all royalty to China and enthrone himself? Wouldn’t Hun Sen eliminate all of his contenders in CPP to monopolize all the power? Wouldn’t he run the lotus kingdom in the shadow of obsolete monarchy?
Wouldn’t Hun Sen self proclaim as the new rightful heir of Cambodia leadership for life in the form of absolute republic like Kim Jong Il of North Kolea?
Would it not be impossible if any of these would not happen to Cambodia again? Hope not.
SUBMITTED BY: Kok Sap
Email: koks....@yahoo.com
Mon, 29 Aug 2005
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Cambodia Treacherous Mascot
By Kok Sap
August 24.2005
For years Mr. Norodom Sihanouk has been known as Cambodia main mascot to the outside world via China back door. Sihanouk is a known champion of vulgarity and public indecency in Cambodia airwave back in his glorious days. He shamelessly used national radio as his launching pad for his irresponsible and self serving agendas.
Now he couldn't do it anymore yet he has heavily relied on cyber page which is his mere goal to seek foreign approval and pity. Westerners treated Sihanouk no less of instable sickening mind person. The same breath France and Viet Nam treated Sihanouk no less than its non paid colonial-feudal do boy. Presently too many intelligent and informed younger Cambodians begin to see Sihanouk as nothing more but a yellow belly politician who habitually committed treacherous acts against Cambodia.
As Viet Nam is desperately imploring US strategic support posture in the South China Sea to weigh out its ancient nemesis China domination we see China is starting to look for its do boy alternative to do away with Sihanouk. To protect its interest in former Indo-Khmer peninsula, China is prompting Cambodia once again to leverage out Viet Nam's ingrate hand biting nature.
Recently Hun Sen has frequented and asserted his boldness to impress China in speaking for Myanmar 2006 leadership role in the rubber stamp ASEAN club. Momentary Hun Sen has screwed Sihanouk over royally already as we speak. Evidently China plays a liaison double to elevate Hun Sen in the eye of US and other main players at the UN to brush off Viet Nam emerged Phan Van Khai in the shadow of US reconciliatory.
Therefore, it is logical for the profiteering China to side with Hun Sen.
At the same token Japan has befriended with Hun Sen in order for it to undermine China as it bolsters up its quest for UN Permanent Security Council seat. As the world observes not very long Mr. Hun Sen portrait will be hailed and hung next to Mao Tse Dung in Tien An Mien square. Who knows Sihanouk's palatial housing in Beijing may hand down to Hun Sen in case when people got tired of his dictatorial rule in near future.
Momentary Hun Sen has screwed Sihanouk over royally. Thus far in the eyes of China Hun Sen is more valuable than tiger testicles (China popular sexual booster) ever before in term of geopolitical strategy. Oddly, Hun Sen pledged support to world reactionary imperialistic ONE CHINA endeavor as the pacifist Tibet and Taiwan struggling for independence and free of China annexation.
As always China apparently does not do thing without its meticulous and well calculated agendas. May be China may finance Sihanouk funeral and a burial site next to Ho Chi Minh if Hun Sen finally removed Sihanouk from world politic for good.
For Cambodia, Sihanouk had never been the gentleman of statesmanship of Cambodian heritage at all but the worldly tyrant and mass murderer master of the century. To many compatriots he is nothing more but a China made wind chime hung at the windows of his Mao's mausoleum. How rubbish Sihanouk to Cambodia then?
SUBMITTED BY: Kok Sap
Email: koks....@yahoo.com
Wed, 24 Aug 2005
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Dear community members and friends:
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc., I would like to extend a personal invitation to you to join us at the ninth annual Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival. As you may know, the festival celebrates an important aspect of Lowell's cultural diversity: the Southeast Asian community is Lowell's third largest ethnic population. It showcases Southeast Asian boat races, traditional and contemporary performances and dances, international foods, handcrafted arts, and an art exhibit.
The festival usually draws 50,000 to 60,000 visitors to Lowell's Merrimack River area each year. This year's event will take place on Saturday, August 20. Prior to the main event, we will have the Floating Candles Ceremony on Friday evening, August 19, in downtown Lowell at the Middlesex Community College Plaza, Lower Locks. This ceremony, which includes floating candles, incense, and flowers, is dedicated to each of our personal hopes and aspirations for a prosperous, dignified, and healthy life. Festival admission for both days is free.
The Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival has a number of volunteer opportunities. We are recruiting volunteers to help out on various committees including Entertainment, Media and Public Relations, Fund-raising, Volunteer Recruitment, Booth and Vendors, Logistics, Branding, Boat Team, and Trash and Recycling. Volunteers will have the opportunity to coordinate and manage different projects and activities as well as to handle administrative tasks in the office. This is a wonderful opportunity for youths looking for volunteer experience. For others, you can both contribute to the community and experience a sense of pride in helping to celebrate your own and other ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and arts. It's a special opportunity to help others and to build bridges among peoples, cultures, and customs.
If you are interested in volunteering, download a copy of the Southeast Asian Water Festival volunteer form from www.lowellwaterfestival.org and send the completed form to Mr. Tooch Van or Dr. Phala Chea, co-chairs of Volunteer Recruitment at the Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. c/o CMAA building, 165 Jackson St. Lowell, MA 01852 or Fax the form to 978-454-1806.
Once again, I hope you will join us to explore and experience the cultural enrichment the Southeast Asian Water Festival provides.
Sincerely,
Tooch Van, Event Coordinator Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival Inc.
SUBMITTED BY: Tooch Van
Email: Tooch....@hotmail.com
Wed, 3 Aug 2005
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The Loss of Cambodia's Territorial Integrity Part 2:
The Real Defenders of Khmer Land
By AnetKhmer
Border problems with Vietnam have made headline news again with the recent incident in Ta Poeu village, Bavet commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province where a young Khmer man whose buffaloes and farm equipments were confiscated, was beaten savagely and kicked severely three times in the chest by the Vietnamese border security forces for attempting to work in his own fields and in his own country. His escape from the Vietnamese border security forces was only made possible by the courageous actions of his loving mother who, despite being alone, continued to struggle without regards to her own life to help free him from their bondage.
This is once again very sad news for Cambodia. I remember hearing Cambodian prime minister, Mr. Hun Sen declare at the top of his voice, while he was making his usual speech at his usual inauguration ceremony, that there were no encroachments on Khmer territory at all on the part of Vietnam, that he should be informed if such an encroachment existed and that Cambodia had never lost her territory to her neighbours.
Well, this recent incident is one of them and by far, I hope he has been fully informed, as there seems to be no reaction at all from him publicly, especially if the incident happens on the eastern border. This is quite surprising from a vocal and quick-tempered prime minister whose capricious arousal of patriotism led to the destruction of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh a few years ago and the loss of more than 50 million US dollars from the foreign donors-dependent state budget. For the prime minister's personal information, there was also a recent incident on the high sea inside Cambodian water where the Vietnamese fishermen mistreated very badly the Khmer fishermen and two Khmer fishing boats were sunk. The question he should ask is what on earth the Vietnamese fishermen were doing inside Cambodian territorial water and the answer the Khmers should expect from him is what he intends to do about these maritime violations.
We should also note that Mr. Var Kim Hong, Hun Sen's minister in charge of negotiating to accept the status quo as far as Cambodia's territorial integrity is concerned, did admit that the Vietnameses violated his own illegal Jan 17, 1995 agreement signed by the two countries in Hanoi. Obviously, he must have known without any doubt that this agreement is illegal as it violates totally the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement with respect to the protection of Cambodia's territorial integrity.
Why Mr. Var Kim Hong did not seek to initiate the talk with his Vietnamese counterpart promptly at a national level and to protest in the strongest sense of the word against such abominable violation and simply delegated this immense responsibility to the local governments to handle this case is beyond me. Mr. Suos Kang, deputy chief of the Bavet commune criticized the district and provincial authorities for having failed many times to denounce the violations of the Khmer territory by the Vietnameses. This delegation of responsibility will amount to nothing being done concretely and the poor Khmer peasants who live along the Khmer-Vietnamese border will continue to suffer and will have to resort to depending upon themselves as a group to work in their fields and to protect their land.
We should also keep in mind that Mr. Var Kim Hong's illegal Jan 17, 1995 agreement has already given illegally to Vietnam a large chunk of Cambodian terrestrial and maritime territory and the Vietnameses continue to desire more and more. Is it possible that Mr Var Kim Hong and his boss, Mr. Hun Sen are afraid to upset their Vietnamese master? However, please help me, as I am totally confused as I thought that the Khmer people are supposed to be their boss and didn't both of them swear to serve and protect the Khmer people and defend their land, which, of course, are also the two gentlemen's land? If you love your job so much and do not want to give it to others who truly care for Cambodia, then why wouldn't you, Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Minister, do this job properly? For the sake of Cambodia and your own ancestors, please wake up! It is better to go into history as a poor man with no prestige rather than as a strongman who sold his own country and people for the ill-gotten power.
It seems to me that the Royal Government of Cambodia is composed of so many officials, but only a few persons, namely Mr. Hun Sen, Mr. Sok An, who is a supernatural minister with more than a few dozen of ministerial portfolios to himself, Mr. Hor Nam Hong, Mr. Var Kim Hong and a few others of the same kind are the decision makers. What happens to the institutions such as the National Assembly and the Senate? I haven't heard any reactions from them either. Do they exist to simply rubber-stamp everything Mr. Hun Sen and his government wish to do? Where is the Member of Parliament in the constituency of Bavet/Chantrea? Doesn't he/she want to visit his/her constituents at all? I guess not as election is far away yet in the future.
I have never seen any government in this world of this century turn such a blind eye to the plight of its citizens. The villagers of Ta Poeu village themselves complained of receiving no assistance from the Cambodian authority whenever they encountered the problems with the Vietnameses; on the contrary they were scolded for defending their land and thus defending Cambodia's territorial integrity. They are indeed the true defenders of Cambodia's territorial integrity. The Cambodian security forces, police and army are too busy setting up illegal checkpoints to rob the Khmers of their daily meagre earnings, grabbing lands from various villagers in Kampong Speu and other parts of the country, protecting foreign logging company, brothels, casinos, squashing any peaceful demonstrations and engaging in all sorts of illegal activities to really have time or concern about the poor people living along the borders.
Perhaps the Royal Government of Cambodia should realize that, even though they themselves love to live on the hand-out from the international community for a long time to come, hoping that the world community's mercy on them doesn't run out, the Khmer peasants do not really want the hand-out from their government every now and then, especially around the election time; they would rather have their land so they can work on it and proudly enjoy the fruits of their labours. All they ask from their government is a simple protection and help which constitute the responsibility of a government anyway and that's why people in different communities form government. Remember the good period of the 60s when they had worked their fields happily and proudly and they were well fed and very well defended by their leader, Norodom Sihanouk. I have a saying for the Royal Government of Cambodia to ponder over: Feed me daily and I am forced to call you God, Help me learn to feed myself and I will become like you and I do want to become like you.
Some of the villagers at Ta Poeu village are even jealous of the good and guaranteed protection the Vietnameses receive from their caring authority. The Khmer peasants receive no protection for themselves or for their crops from the Khmer authority on their own land inside Cambodia. They have now decided to go farming in groups at the same time so they can help each other. How long they can last trying to fight to protect their land and their country on their own is simply a matter of time and for sure, it won't be long. The farming land they possess is their livelihood. To lose it is simply to lose their livelihood. These villagers are truly the real defenders of Cambodia's territorial integrity in the area where they live!
History has shown clearly that the Khmers will never go and take the land that belongs to Vietnam. The Khmers will not even think of going to live in Kampuchea Krom. It is always the Vietnameses who not only are born to be expansionists and aggressors, but also ambitious settlers. Mr. Hun Sen and his government must also be very happy to see so many illegal Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia as they all vote for him anyway because they know he willingly serve their interest very well. The continued influx of these illegal immigrants to the detriment of the Khmers economically, socially and politically and the on-going nibbling at the Khmer land constitute a serious danger for the always-divided and never-united children of Angkor.
We know for a fact that the Royal Government of Cambodia under Mr. Hun Sen is incapable and unwilling to restore Cambodia's territorial integrity to that between 1963 and 1969. The land area of Cambodia under Norodom Sihanouk, who successfully defended Cambodia's territorial integrity, was 181, 035 square kilometres. It was too bad for the Khmers that a genuine and dedicated leader and great defender of Cambodia's territorial integrity such as Norodom Sihanouk was overthrown in an illegal coup by those who served only their own interest at the expense of the little Khmer people.
How committed and willing the Royal Government of Cambodia is at defending the current and undeniably smaller Cambodia's territory remains to be seen; after all, the responsibility before the Khmer people, nation and history is now in the hand of Mr. Hun Sen and his Royal Government after the Supreme National Council on Border Affairs has been sidelined and marginalized drastically.
For whatever reason, the attempt made by the Royal Government of Cambodia to marginalize the great role of Norodom Sihanouk, the man who is the champion and successful defender of Cambodia's territorial integrity, in the struggle to restore Cambodia's territory to 181, 035 square kilometres is a serious and fatal mistake. This mistake will come to haunt the Khmer nation as long as it exists as a dwindling nation among others in this world.
Cambodia still can and should pursue to get back its lost land. However, there is absolutely no political will on the part of the current Royal Government to do so. In fact, this government will work very hard to obstruct instead any attempt by anyone to restore Cambodia's territorial integrity to that of Sihanouk's regime. As it stands right now, the restoration of Cambodia's territorial integrity to that of the 60s is out of the question. Even the protection of what is left is not solidly put in place. Will one day the Khmers in Cambodia become a minority in their own land? Only time will and can tell.
SUBMITTED BY: AnetKhmer
Email: anet....@yahoo.com
Fri, 29 Jul 2005
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Cambodia, a land once beautiful, proud, independent, sovereign, neutral and prosperous, is now facing several mortal dangers. One of these dangers is Her continued loss of territorial integrity to Her neighbours. Vietnamese encroachments upon the Khmer territory continue unabated with the Royal Government of Cambodia turning a blind eye completely to these serious problems.
The leaders of the present Royal Government of Cambodia, for their own selfish and personal ambitions and interests, have never acted, do not act and will never act to prevent these illegal and outrageous encroachments, much less attempt to restore Cambodia's territorial integrity to that of the golden era of Sangkum Reastr Niyum.
Unfortunately, but expectedly the Supreme National Council on Border Affairs presided by His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk was killed before it was even born by a new royal decree of June 14, 2005 which granted full authority to Mr. Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia to resolve the border problems.
The sole person who can tackle successfully these very complex and difficult border demarcation problems with Cambodia's ambitious neighbours is none other than His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk. Norodom Sihanouk known as Samdech Euv is Cambodia's last and only hope to get back what She has lost to Her neighbours. Hun Sen has always been part of the problems of Cambodia's territorial integrity loss to Her neighbours. For his own personal power and glory and his readiness to be subservient to Vietnam he is always a bad choice when it comes to dealing with Cambodia's border problems.
Listening to Hun Sen's statements in the past several months, one cannot miss noticing several inconsistencies and threats he has used against border activists. What Hun Sen and his group forget is that he is only one single Cambodian and his group consists of a few number of Cambodians only and Cambodia belongs to all Cambodians no matter where they happen to be. He may not have any serious concern about the loss of territorial integrity as long as he can remain to be the Prime Minister and they are his ministers, but the rest of the Cambodians do! This responsibility of defending and restoring Cambodia's territorial integrity is so heavy that Hun Sen and his small group, even though they want to, can definitely not bear the responsibility. Just look at Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouges. They have continuously denied their responsibilities, even if they want to assume them and I don't think they will, who has so far suffered tremendously?
Using threats against those who want to defend their lands is not helping to defend the lands. With this logic in mind one can ask how Cambodians should entrust to Hun Sen and his group the responsibility to resolve Cambodia's border problems with Her neighbours, especially Vietnam. Perhaps Hun Sen should concentrate his efforts more on fighting endemic corruptions within his own government and cronies and work very hard on his failed plans to reduce poverty in Cambodia, a country that has received massive foreign aids, sold its state properties and destroyed rapidly its national resources, i.e. deforestation and leave this task of restoring Cambodia's territorial integrity to His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk who alone can and will solve this territorial integrity issues.
For Hun Sen and his government it is not too late to pull themselves out of this deep trap and disgrace by granting full authority to His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and standing steadfastly behind Him (the King-Father) so that He (the King-Father) can successfully carry out His difficult and complex Mission to restore Cambodia's territorial integrity. This way he and his government will be remembered in history as equal patriotic partners in His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk's crusade to restore Cambodia's territorial integrity.
For Cambodia to survive this forever loss of territorial integrity and to get back the territorial integrity of the golden time of Sangkum Reastr Niyum, every single Cambodian must stand firmly and unanimously behind His Majesty, the King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and demands to the Royal Government of Cambodia that His Majesty, the King-Father be the only person to lead and carry out this vital mission with full authority.
By Anet Khmer
SUBMITTED BY: AnetKhmer
Email: anet....@yahoo.com
Fri, 29 Jul 2005
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I LIKE TO DISCUSS HOW TO BRING THE WHOLE OF CAMBODIA TO BECOME FREE + PROSPER + EDUCATED + HEALTHY + UNDERSTAND TRUE DEMOCRACY + FULLY EMPLOY WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE + STOP KILLIG EACH OTHER BY TOO GREEDY, TOO CORRUPTED LEADERS AND BY FILTHY BUSINESSMEN+WOMEN. ESPECIALLY FREE FROM ANY COMMUNISTS OR BAD CAPITALIST DOMINATION COUNTRIES. MAY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND BUDDHA BLESS CAMBODIA TOMORROW.
SUBMITTED BY: KIRIRUM
Email: ki....@yahoo.com
Wed, 20 Jul 2005
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By Prak Hap
June 8, 2005
Per Reuters - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday (6-8-2005) relatives of the 1.7 million people who died under the Khmer Rouge should not be paying for genocide trials, fuelling concern that he did not want them to take place.
This lame excuse may come as a no surprise that Mr. Hun Sen and former King Sihanouk somewhat shared the same view. No one seems to know for certain either man real motif. But it is clearly alarming how this government downplaying people suffering and anguish over its own inability. People are not that ignorant after all. They already understand why such culpable obstructions took place. Both Mr. Hun Sen and Sihanouk are directly linked to the rise and demise of DK-GRUNK. So far it appears the process has been solely delayed in part by the government of the kingdom. Other hand KR Trial could have been done along time ago if the men of power would really seek justice for society and humanity.
We can understand the political implication if the opposition succeeded in this Endeavour then the raw straw poll may measure up the real mood of voters in term of responsibility on government part. Some officials may feel embarrass since they should have shown own cognizance of justice for the mass along time ago. This delicate challenge may cause unfavorable outcome for the ruling party credibility if people determined to mobilize this important task ahead which has been 30 years passed already.
Traditionally people of common background are not driven by greed but survival. It is a prime example of their resilience in rebuilding thousands of pagoda or sanctuary or school after DK-GRUNK treacherous and self destruction over the period 70-79. Citizens of Cambodia have shown support to redeem what important to their society. Inevitably this will serve as a national drive for people of Cambodia to fulfill their long overdue closure.
Most people recognized their situation but bound by tradition of generosity and sacrifice. Thus financially ONE dollar is a lot for poor family but it deems significant impact on communal duty. They have been starved before yet most managed to survive due to their strong will. Yet if this is a moral calling at the most sincere admission of government failure, people will cooperate and achieve such task.
Comparably if this is an indirect denial of failure on government part which is another strike on its habitual poor performance for the last 20 years. The snow ball effect may play a part in transition of new era of responsible governance and leadership which clearly damper the future of the existing one. That will be a poor calculation on RGC leadership, and only time will tell.
Constitutionally people can exercise the rights in accordance with the lotus kingdom 1993 Constitution articles 39 &41 either to overtly express their concerns necessary included public demonstration or rally or lodging written grievance to the legislative branch demanding its prompt attention on matter. This is based on its principle frame of democracy which stipulates government by the people to serve or protect people. In any case if the government is no longer in the best interest of people then people have choices to correct the problem.
Nonetheless Cambodia is not belonged to Mr. Hun Sen personal but its citizenry as member nation to UN general assembly. With due respect UN has paid much expenses for Cambodia stability therefore UN earned the right to do what necessary in order to preserve justice for all mankind. Additionally the trial matter is no longer just Cambodia humanity but worldly affair. Cambodia people earned the rights to receive full justice for their losses and sufferings now. Importantly it is people justice, therefore democratic government may need to heed the people call accordingly.
SUBMITTED BY: Hap Prak
Email: prakh....@hotmail.com
Wed, 8 Jun 2005
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Mealtime of Street Children
He had a meal in a local restaurant without having to pay. Is it a free meal for this kid? He is a boy of about 12 years old. He is neither a son of high ranking officials, nor of wealthy families. He trades his own labor to make a living.
As a shoes polish boy in the city of Phnom Penh, he work more than 8 hours a day, much more than ordinary people. Unfortunately he earns much less than them. At dinner time, I chose to eat outside. I went to a local store for dinner. It was where I observe him. After two guests sitting at another table left, he was there. It was his turn. As some food left, it was his. He grabbed the left food into a plastic bag, and handed it his another younger boy, probably his colleague. I was asked to have my shoes polished, but unfortunately it was black sandal, not my dress shoes. At least he works for himself and by himself. And it is a life of many street children in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. He will never starve to death.
Everyone learn to live their lives on their own and in their own ways.
SUBMITTED BY: ThaRum
Email: thar....@gmail.com
Thu, 26 May 2005
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Sihanouk Incredulously Bias
By Prak Hap May 8, 2005
In the wake of recent development of the so called Supreme Border Council of seven members headed by former King, Mr. Sihanouk, has grabbed many headlines in Cambodia press circle including state manipulated TVK. Apparently Cambodia real detrimental problems i. e UN KR Trial, Human Rights Deprivation, Reduction of Poverty have been cleverly diverged by the true masters once again. Relatively all played down as non-urgent.
On May 5, 2005 Mr. Sihanouk made known to his targeted website surfers most external and non Cambodians likely press that he was not granting audience to people advocates such Mr. Sean Peng Se, Mr. Sam Raingsi and Ms. Chak Saroeun prior to the so called official meeting scheduled for May 11, 2005 at his residence in Beijing due to his eminent physician order and avoiding appearance of reconciliatory with opposition of CPP+ FUNC agendas.
I assumed these three individuals may not be strangers to his residence and diner companionship in the recent past. I am wondering why he is denying his acquaintances request to privately and sincerely pay his royal homage. Two strokes already within few weeks of his announcement, first the delayed return and meeting then the second denials of his own responsibility that France ceded lands to neighbors but not his fore bearers, or DK-PRK's Hun Sen- his immediate superior.
Obviously Mr. Sihanouk curled up in his own created biases and self-excuses. He shamelessly linked up his own poor excuses with France's Napoleonic's likened Pol Pot personas who slaughtered millions and had allowed Siam or An Nam to carved up Khmer territories prior to Nay Duong or the French protectorate arrival. For the record Sihanouk liked to relive the Napoleonic personas and glory as he wished was his own. Unfortunately he was no Napoleonic nor was Cambodia no France then or now.
Is there CPP conditional and fearful directive upon its subordinate namely Sihanouk from revealing?
With this scenario reminded many of us of the DK-FUNK 75-91 scare tactic to hold people hostage under their suppressive and dictatorial control. No one dared to resist or displeased rulers otherwise the rest of family would be accounted for the fatal consequences. Undoubtedly this reflected CPP's Hun Sen convenient leverage and very same tactic to blackmail Mr. Sihanouk as his naive son King and the rest of his royal clans be easily contained by CPP supreme enforcer order. Once Cambodia record shown Mr. Sihanouk was a fearful Maccu Raj (King of Death) but today that authority belongs to his superior instead.
Unadvisedly Mr. Iron Fists got a grab of Mr. Sihanouk by the be-all (the usual discretely where and what), therefore, his Endeavour is not so immune and impartial as he would have claimed to be. Clearly he was not as smart as many seemed to think.
This is his last breath to implore Hun Sen for merciful amnesty and pardon if the UN sponsored KR Trial found him guilty of heinous crime against humanity. The sentence could carry out after his death as he personally had ordered Dap Chhuon Mochul Pech body chained up to the grave site as a stern warning to the livings that treason was the serious crime even after death the victim still bore eternal court sentence and some form of imprisonment.
According to Buddhist teaching, Mr. Sihanouk has willfully violated Pancca Sila and Eight Fold Paths profoundly. Therefore his bad deeds slowly come to haunt him and oblige his siblings to weigh in their share while still living. All of his words and deeds or whatsoever were groundless and incredible.
The history has shown over and over how cruel Sihanouk was and all about him and cliques not Cambodia people. Therefore it is time for all to re-evaluate his action and responsibility to safe keep lives and nation from his self delusion and disorientation.
Please don't mistake wolf hidden violent nature for a shepherd dog appearance. Wake up people, Sihanouk is no friend of your dead or alive family members as he had colluded with colonialist France and expansionist An Nam, devious killers, and dictators for all of his living years.
SUBMITTED BY: prak hap
Email: prak....@hotmail.com
Sun, 8 May 2005
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Cambodia's troublesome borders
By Verghese Mathews
Just last week the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first ever Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, Indonesia, and separately remembered the 30th anniversary of the arrival in Phnom Penh of the Khmer Rouge. Both, in retrospect, were audacious events; both had outrageously held out promises of hope at a time when such hope was at a premium. Neither delivered.
Bandung collapsed within a decade, though it arguably was a catalyst in the subsequent formation of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Khmer Rouge effectively held demonic control of a dehumanized people for all of three years, eight months and 20 days - but managed within that short span to unleash an unprecedented and unimaginable brutality on a gentle land.
One person who would have vivid memories of both events is former Cambodian monarch Norodom Sihanouk, who now goes by the revered title Father-King.
Sihanouk, 33 years old at the time of the first Bandung summit, had a couple of years earlier secured Cambodia's independence from the mighty French. He will remember it was at Bandung that he was introduced to and became a life-long friend and admirer of then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai and, subsequently, of succeeding Chinese leaders.
That relationship probably saved Sihanouk's life when he became a virtual prisoner in his palace during the Khmer Rouge regime. Like other Cambodian families, Sihanouk lost several of his children to the brutality inflicted by the Khmer Rouge. In 1979, the Chinese airlifted Sihanouk and the surviving members of the royal family to Beijing just before the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia began.
Sihanouk is now 82, and far less healthy, with multiple medical problems, such as cancer. According to the latest report, posted on May 1 on the royal website, "recent follow-up showed progression of a tumor [related to a gastric lymphoma]. Another course of chemotherapy [has been] suggested."
Still, there is the old fire in his belly. Nobody writes Sihanouk off. He remains an extraordinary patriot and a force to contend with in Cambodian politics.
Since January this year he has traveled overseas - initially for his regular medical treatments, but he stayed on as an open expression of his unhappiness with political developments at home. One long-standing peeve of his has been the question of Cambodia's territorial integrity; in particular, the bilateral border agreements signed with Vietnam at the time of its occupation of Cambodia.
Sihanouk never recognized those agreements. Neither have several other groups, including the royalists and the Cambodian diaspora.
On March 31, Sihanouk unexpectedly wrote an open letter in French accusing Thailand, Vietnam and Laos of continuing "to nibble away little by little the villages, lands, seas, and islands belonging to Cambodia, an ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] member just like you".
In an unofficial English translation of the letter Sihanouk declared that, "The nation, the people and the state of Cambodia (Kampuchea) would not accept to lose (unfairly and illegally to your unjustifiable gain) even one square meter, one-tenth of a square meter, or a square centimeter of her (land and maritime) territorial integrity, which she owned in all legality and legitimacy as clearly indicated in the military maps produced by the USA (your friends, an ex-enemy of Norodom Sihanouk). These are maps produced between 1963 (one year after the equitable verdict on Preah Vihear by the Hague International Court of Justice) and 1969 (one year before the anti-constitutional putsch by Lon Nol, Sirik Matak and co, the satellites of Uncle Sam and President Richard Nixon)."
Sihanouk went on, in the same tone, to point out that numerous villages belonging to poor Khmer people living well within Cambodia during his reign (1955-1969) now find themselves located in Vietnamese territory.
"Everyone knows that the new maritime borders delimitation between Cambodia and Thailand on one hand, and between Cambodia and Vietnam on the other hand, gave enormous advantages, in terms of seas and islands, to these two large neighbors with respect to what these two large neighbors owned up to 1969."
Sihanouk called on his neighbors to respect international law, the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, and the UN Charter, "by accepting, with a fair play which will avoid you dishonor, to surrender to the current Cambodia the villages, lands, seas, and islands that you had stolen and took away from us".
Sihanouk invited Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to join Cambodia "with an open heart, and as soon as possible" to jointly verify "kilometer by kilometer, on the ground and on the spot of the delimitation of our common borders found in the US geographic maps produced by Washington DC between 1963 and 1969".
The stridency in Sihanouk's letter may have surprised many, as he is by nature and reputation extremely polite and ever conscious of proper protocol. Writing in his personal capacity, as an ordinary citizen, he let his emotions flow.
Territorial integrity and border encroachment remain a sensitive issue in Cambodia's relations with its neighbors and in domestic Cambodian politics. Sihanouk has himself been a severe critic of the border agreements reached between Cambodia and its neighbors during the 1979 to 1991 period of the Vietnamese occupation.
Sihanouk is not alone in this. The Paris-based Cambodian Border Committee (CBC), which is dedicated to the return of territory lost during the Vietnamese occupation, has outlined the most significant border agreements as:
The Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation Treaty dated February 18, 1979: valid for a period of 25 years, and [which] will tacitly be renewed every 10 years if one of the two contracting parties does not notify in writing to the other party its desire to repeal it one year before its expiration date; the agreement on the maritime zone, also known as the Historical Waters Agreement, dated July 7, 1982, which recognized both the SRV [Socialist Republic of Vietnam] annexation of many Cambodian islands, along with a considerable portion (30,000 square kilometers) of its sea water; the Agreement on the Border Statute and the Treaty on the Principle of Resolution of Borders Issues, dated July 20, 1983, which recognized the free crossing of the Cambodian border and the surge of Vietnamese settlers into Cambodia, along with a new border delineation; the Treaty on the Border Delimitation, dated December 27, 1985, which recognized new settlements (on the demarcation) of land borders between the two countries from north to the south along an overall border length of 1,230km - settlements imposed by Vietnam in accordance to the agreements with the PRK [People's Republic of Kampuchea] dated July 20, 1983, July 13, 1984, and November 6, 1984.
Within Cambodia, Sihanouk's letter accelerated the implementation of an agreement that had earlier been reached between the dominant Cambodian People's Party of Hun Sen and the royalist Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh to form a seven-member Supreme National Council on Border Issues to resolve the long-standing and acutely sensitive, emotional issue.
Each of the three political parties, including the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, has nominated a member to the national council, as have the Senate, the National Assembly and the government. Cambodia's current King Norodom Sihamoni had the prerogative of appointing the chairman, and in the event he invited his father, Sihanouk, who accepted. The king said that Sihanouk, in his sunset years, wished "to serve the nation and the people in the framework of his mission to protect the kingdom's territorial integrity".
It is more than likely that King Sihamoni had the tacit understanding of Hun Sen and Ranariddh in the offer. A long-time observer privately suggested that since Sihanouk has been highly critical of an existing border committee of officials, appointing him to chair the new supra body was one way of resolving the problem.
Sihanouk has mighty problems ahead of him. He intends to meet with all council members soon after his return to Phnom Penh - members who are clearly divided down the middle with some supporting the validity of the agreements reached during the Vietnamese occupation and others rejecting it outright and demanding demarcation on the basis of detailed maps issued by the US in the 1960s.
The Cambodians need to speak with one voice, otherwise their cause is lost even before the negotiations begin. A far greater problem for Sihanouk will be with the neighbors whose feathers he has already ruffled with his open letter. Emotions must necessarily give way to hard facts, legitimate documents and much patience and tolerance.
Notwithstanding his well-honed skills, his subtle persuasiveness and his renowned charm, Sihanouk has a mammoth problem ahead. The negotiations could drag and perhaps take more years than Sihanouk can spare.
SUBMITTED BY: Verghese Mathews
Email: math....@iseas.edu.sg
4 May 2005
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Former King Sihanouk to head a sensitive and difficult mission
Tue, 3 May 2005
Former King Norodom Sihanouk, who has been on an extended stay in Beijing since January this year, partly for his regular medical consultations and partly as an expression of his unhappiness over certain domestic political developments, is now expected to return soon to Phnom Penh.
Concern and speculation over the health of the 82 year old King-Father, as he has been designated since his retirement in Oct 2004, were heightened when his son, King Norodom Sihamoni, left for Beijing on 23 April to be with his father.
A newspaper hastily contacted Sihanouk's biographer in its preparation of an obituary. This and other speculation prompted the former King to apologise, tongue-in-cheek, for not being able to oblige those who were prematurely predicting his demise explaining that "for the moment, God and the Buddha have not decided to send me to the afterlife."
While this was welcome news and put an end to fears about the health of the much-loved former monarch, most Cambodians were not prepared for an unexpected development that followed - the retired King accepted an invitation to chair the newly formed Supreme National Council on Border Issues.
In a letter from Beijing to Prime Minister Hun Sen, King Sihamoni said that his father had accepted his invitation to lead the Council explaining that, "at the end of his life, he wishes to serve the nation and the people in the framework of his mission to protect the kingdom's territorial integrity". The King added that Sihanouk was "still full of energy to fulfill this duty"
The King went on to mention that if neighbours Vietnam, Thailand and Laos were agreeable to appoint representatives, Sihanouk would enter into discussions with them on the modality for undertaking the demarcation of the disputed borders based on detailed maps prepared by the US in the sixties.
Border integrity is a sensitive issue in Cambodia's relations with its neighbours and in domestic Cambodian politics. Sihanouk has himself been a severe critic of the border agreements reached between Cambodia and her neighbours during the 1979 to 1991 Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. Sihanouk is not alone in this. There is a strong and vocal lobby not only in the country but among overseas Cambodians who argue that not only had Cambodia significantly lost out territories in these agreements but that encroachment of Cambodian land has continued unabated to this day.
To drive home the point, a story circulated not too long ago that the family home along the Cambodian Vietnam border, of Heng Samrin, the Honorary President of the CPP, was now in Vietnamese territory.
Not surprisingly, too, border integrity was an issue during the last elections and again factored in the negotiations between the dominant Cambodian Peoples Party and the royalist Funcinpec (FCP). Interestingly, it is now FCP, the party founded by Sihanouk, which is championing the border cause and calling for the implementation of the previously-agreed seven-member supra-council in which the King, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Government and the three political parties nominate a representative each.
The King nominates the Chairman of the Council and in the event has chosen his father, a decision that must have had the tacit support of CPP leader Hun Sen and FCP leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the King's half-brother.
The former King's acceptance of the important post suggests a much-welcomed easing of tensions between him and the politicians and paves the way for him to return home to the welcome of a people he genuinely cares for.
There are, however, serious difficulties ahead for Sihanouk's Council. In the first instance, he has to work out an internal consensus among the heavyweight politicians who are Council members. They represent those who want the cancellation of all bilateral border treaties entered upon between 1979 and 1991 and those who uphold the validity of the existing treaties.
Sihanouk has the skills, the experience and the personal standing to hammer out a loose working arrangement.
His major difficulty will be in dealing with his neighbours - especially given his intention of basing the negotiations on the maps prepared by the Americans in the sixties. Even if the modality for the negotiations are agreed upon, the process can take years.
There is already in existence a Border Committee which has been negotiating with the neighbouring countries on the basis of the border agreements already in force. There has yet been no official disclosure on the future of this Committee,which is not universally popular, but which some believe can serve the new body on technical matters.
Given Sihanouk's strident criticisms about the loss of Khmer land, there are those who believe that heading the Supreme Border Council presents him the opportunity to bring his wisdom to bear on this sensitive issue.
The neighbours, however, will not easily forget a strongly worded open letter Sihanouk sent on 31 March this year to the governments of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on the loss of Khmer land. He pointed out that Cambodia was not clamouring for "her lands, seas, and islands" lost during "the post-Angokorian Period from the 15th to 19th century and even after that"
Sihanouk continued, however, that " the Nation, the People, and the State of Cambodia (Kampuchea) would not accept to loose (unfairly and illegally to Your unjustifiable gain) even one square meter, one-tenth of a square meter, or a square centimeter of her (land and maritime) territorial integrity which she owned in all legality and legitimacy as clearly indicated in the military maps produced by the U.S.A. (Your Friends, an ex-Enemy of Norodom Sihanouk): these are maps produced between 1963 (one year after the equitable Verdict on Preah Vihear by the Hague International Court of Justice) and 1969 (one year before the anti-constitutional Putsch by Lon Nol, Sirik Matak and Co., the satellites of Uncle Sam and President Richard Nixon).
"Since my return to my Homeland, in 1991 up until now, I had, alas, observed that You 3 (Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos) never ceased, do not cease and continue to nibble away little by little the villages, lands, seas, and islands belonging to Cambodia, an ASEAN member just like You. "To cite only the villages belonging to poor Khmer people [living] near Vietnam, numerous of these villages which, under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum Era (1955-1969), were well within Cambodia, now find themselves located within the S.R. of Vietnam boundary; these villages are well kept and protected by militia and soldiers of this S.R.V. Everyone knows that the new maritime borders delimitation between Cambodia and Thailand on one hand, and between Cambodia and Vietnam, on the other hand, gave enormous advantages, in terms of seas and islands, to these 2 large neighbors with respect to what these 2 large neighbors owned up to 1969.
"The Cambodian People, all Khmer men and women both inside and outside of Cambodia, who are not traitors to their Homeland, request that You nobly come to respect international Law, the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia, and the UN Charter, by accepting, with a fair play which will avoid you dishonor, to surrender to the current Cambodia the villages, lands, seas, and islands that You had stolen and took away from us.
"Since You had claimed to the world that You are neither thieves nor gulpers of Khmer villages, lands, seas, and islands, please accept with open heart and as soon as possible, my Proposal of verification, kilometer by kilometer, on the ground and on the spot of the delimitation of our common borders found in the U.S. geographic Maps produced by Washington D.C.between 1963 and 1969) by both Your accredited envoys and by those of Cambodia."
These are tough words which explains the deep emotions over the issue. Emotions, however, will not resolve border problems anywhere in the world - what's needed are documents, maps, goodwill,patience and tolerance. Fortunately, Sihanouk has the astute political sense and the long experience to rise above emotions. He,nevertheless, has a tough job ahead of him.
Postscript: Sihanouk was expected to return to Cambodia on 8 May but this has had to be delayed as his doctors in Beijing have just recommended further treatment. Given this, Sihanouk has invited the members of the Supreme National Council to travel to Beijing for the inaugural meeting.
The writer, until recently Singapore's Ambassador to Cambodia, is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
SUBMITTED BY: Verghese Mathews
Email: math....@iseas.edu.sg
Tue, 3 May 2005
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