Hi Kenneth, I'm sorry. I did not have time this Morning. Yes, I was playing with you. I knew you always serious on any subject. I would like to share with you this article. =========================================
*Seng Ngoc Thanh, the Viet Minh, and the Japanese: the culture of dependency * "Cambodia's postwar relations with its immediate neighbors and with regard to world alignments were fashioned almost entirely by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, first as king and later as Prime-Minister and political boss. The ephemeral Japanese-sponsored Free Khmer movement led by Seng Ngoc Thanh, which was set up at the end of World War II, was ousted without serious difficulty by returning French General Leclerc in October 1945. Son Ngoc Thanh escaped to anti-French Thailand for one time, but eventually led a portion of his Free Khmer following into a more vigorous anti-imperialist collaboration sponsored by Viet Minh agents. The original French political concession to King Sihanouk's seemingly plaint regime, made in January 1946, pledged self-government for Cambodia within the French Union, but it left the colonial authorities in control of all economic activities and all important governmental operations. The King, in 1953, blackmailed the French into granting substantial additional concessions by simply going temporary exile in Thailand . Cambodia 's independence was fully acknowledged by the Geneva settlement of 1954, following the French military debacle at Dienbienphu, King Norodom Sihanouk emerged as a national hero. " John F. Cady; *Thailand, Burma, Laos, & Cambodia;* (Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood, N. J. 1966), p.17 ======================================== Cambodians are intelligent as anybody else. But what differentiate Cambodians form others is that culture of dependency, which starts form the Angkor time. At that time, those kings were so selfish and autocratic that they had treated all Khmer commoners, as their slaves. That is why the word 'I" in Cambodian is "Knhom", and it means "servant" or "slave." So, unless we change we are going to feel inferior to other people, and that is deadly. How can we change? First by knowing our history as well as we can. In order to know history, we can read books. But that takes a lot of time. Also we can't the books 100%... So, we have to think..share the discussion with each others.. I f we don't know history, we cannot distinguish who's doing good things who is doing bad things. We should look at the action of the current & past leaders of Cambodia based on their actions....There are the good, the bad and the ugly in any society...We can look back to "Ang Mey/ Troeung Minh Yang" period....How Ang Duong and Oknha Son Kuy liberated Cambodia..Thhere were only less than 1 million Cambodians during that period..There was the sacrifice of the common people under the leaders like Ang Duong and Oknha Son Kuy. And yet , we should not worship anyone, king or commoner as god. There are still some good Cambodian left like yourself. But, there must be more. Only by changing our mentality from total submission to the authoritarian people, to a more open society and more human and capable leadership, can we regain our dignity and freedom. It won't be easy, but , it is not impossible. Best regards. Keep in touch. On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Kenneth So <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Dear Perom, > > I assume you are kidding, aren't you? > > Thanks, > > Kenneth > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
