Cambodians oppressed, distracted, divided Posted: 23 Feb 2010 04:24 PM PST
February 24, 2010 By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth PACIFIC DAILY NEWS (Guam) Cambodians'public discussions of Cambodia's past, present and future churn throughcyberspace. A discussion that targets domestic political developments,particularly the perennial tensions between those who advocate civilrights and freedoms and those who support stability and economicdevelopment, foments passionate debate. When the debate turns toCambodia's external problems with her neighbors to the east and west --Vietnam and Thailand, both viewed historically as "swallowers of Khmerland" -- the conversation has fallen to the depths of racial slurs andintensified hatred. Premier Hun Sen's supporters and critics aredeaf to each other's arguments. Persuasion and compromise are foreignconcepts. Those who comment do so anonymously to more easily demonizethe opposition. Hun Sen has successfully used governmentaladministrative machinery to keep Cambodians intimidated and ignorant oftheir civil rights and the principles of good governance. He dangledshowy projects and physical improvements to infrastructure, while manyscavenge the city's dumps and live on rodent meat. Of late, Senhas succeeded, with Cambodians' complicity, to divert attention fromhis peoples' domestic plight to focus on the Thais, whose leader Senhas cursed publicly almost every day. His call to protect Cambodia'sPreah Vihear Temple from the Thais brings many Cambodians to his side,though they are mute over Vietnamese expansionism from the east. Thereis endless and mindless debate over the use of the term "Yuon," becausesome non-Khmers say it's "racial pejorative." Yet, the authoritativeBuddhist Institute's "Dictionnaire Cambodgien," 5th edition, 1967,defines "Yuon" as "Vietnamese," pure and simple. Sen's supporters lovethe debate: it divides and distracts critics. I have written onthe history of Vietnam's southward movement since the Vietnamese endedtheir thousand-year bondage to China in 939. They physically moved awayfrom Chinese threat while seizing and absorbing territories beforethem. Johns Hopkins retired professor Naranhkiri Tith's Web site dealsat length with the fundamentals of Vietnam's "Nam Tien" (southwardmovement) and his proposed roadmap to save Cambodia from it. Vietnam'smore recent attempts to integrate Cambodia into a Greater Vietnam maybe read in the Vietnam Workers' Party's (Lao Dong) political report toits second congress in February 1951: "We must strive to help ourCambodian and Laotian brothers ... and arrive at setting up aVietnam-Cambodian-Laotian Front" against the French. In March1951, the "Joint National United Front for Indochina" was formed. InNovember, the Lao Dong created the "Dang Nhan Dan Cach Mang Cao Mien"(Revolutionary Cambodian People's Party) -- with name and statutedrafted in the Vietnamese language. Brian Crozier, a former Reuters correspondent, quoted a captured November 1951 Viet Minh document: "The Vietnamese Party reserves the right to supervise the activities of its brother parties in Cambodian and Laos."Crozier also quoted a Viet Minh radio broadcast of April 1953: "The LaoDong Party and the people of Vietnam have the mission to makerevolution in Cambodia and Laos. We, the Viet Minh elements, have beensent to serve this revolution and to build the union of Vietnam,Cambodia, and Laos." Viet Minh administrations with their own armed forces and system of tax collection were established in Cambodia and Laos. But more than one reader has told me, "That was then, and this is now." Now,Cambodians inside the country affirm that one cannot distinguish who isKhmer and who is Vietnamese anymore: Khmers speak Vietnamese and dobusiness in Vietnamese language; and Vietnamese speak Khmer and haveKhmer names. When the July 1954 Geneva Accords ordered Viet Minhforces to leave Cambodia, they took with them between 4,500 (aconservative figure) and 8,000 (reportedly claimed by Vo Nguyen Giap in1971) Cambodians, mostly young children, who were raised, cultured andgiven political and military training. These Cambodians -- with "Khmerbodies but Vietnamese heads" -- returned to Cambodia after 1970 tofight Lon Nol, and to unsuccessfully wrest control of the CommunistParty of Kampuchea from Pol Pot. Some were arrested, otherspurged. In May 1977, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge units entered Vietnam'sborder towns between Ha Tien and Chau Doc, and by November theyoperated as deep as four miles inside Vietnam and inflicted casualties. In response, the Vietnamese built up units in Tay Ninh and by December operated as deep as 10 to 15 miles inside Cambodia. AfterChristmas 1977, eight Vietnamese military divisions, supported byartillery, tanks and planes, invaded Cambodia, cut off the Parrot'sBeak area and advanced as far as Neak Loeung, 40 miles from Phnom Penh.Out of fuel, they pulled back. On Nov. 3, 1978, Hanoi signed a25-year peace and cooperation treaty with Moscow. A month later, onDec. 3, Hanoi Radio announced the birth of the "Kampuchean NationalUnited Front of National Salvation," led by a 14-member CentralCommittee under Heng Samrin, a former commander of the Khmer Rouge's4th Division. Hun Sen was a former chief of staff and regimental deputycommander in Sector 21. On Christmas Eve 1978, 100,000Vietnamese troops led 18,000 KNUFNS soldiers across the border intoCambodia. They captured Phnom Penh on Jan. 7, 1979. On Feb. 18,1979, Heng Samrin and Pham Van Dong signed a 25-year treaty of peace,friendship and cooperation, a treaty that effectively integratedCambodia into a Greater Vietnam. I will discuss the treaty in my nextcolumn. A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at [email protected]. -- 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
