Cambodia - Modern History
Written by Thomas Dembie Tuesday, 06 April 2010 01:05
Cambodia, Quick Read Modern History
1953-1968
On November 9th of 1953, Cambodia won its independence from France and twenty-two year old King Norodom Sihanouk returned from exile to lead the country. In 1955 he stepped down from the throne and became the country’s prime minister. One of the most important political ideologies Sihanouk had was that Cambodia remains neutral. As the United States feared that Cambodia might fall to communism, they offered aid to Cambodia, who apprehensively accepted it. Sihanouk was uneasy about outside interference in domestic affairs. By the mid 1960s, Sihanouk had distanced himself from the United States as they increased their military presence in Southeast Asia. His ties with the North Vietnamese were much stronger. Sihanouk approved of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong operating along Cambodia’s border with South Vietnam. With South Vietnam and the United States now involved in cross-border operations, to the dismay of Sihanouk, his political ideology of remaining neutral quickly faded.
Though the vast majority of the Cambodian people approved of Sihanouk’s handling of the country, opposition to his government’s corruption and lack of tolerance towards opposing views grew. The Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot, and Nuon Chea, was formed. They worked secretly in Phnom Penh until 1963, when they fled to the countryside and started a small, armed revolt. Sihanouk did not see the group as a threat, and he gave them the name Khmer Rouge.
1969-1974
On March 18,1969, the bombing of Cambodia began. B-52s carpet-bombed eastern Cambodia in what was known as “Operation Breakfast.” These bombings were also kept secret from the U.S. Congress for several months. 540,000 tons of bombs were dropped, killing somewhere between 150,000 and 500,000 civilians.
In March of 1970, U.S.-backed Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk, who was seen as untrustworthy by the Americans. When the U.S. forces entered Cambodia in April of the same year, news of this invasion sparked massive rallies and protests in America that resulted in the troops leaving, but the bombing continued.
By 1974, the Khmer Rouge, now backed by North Vietnam and China, was making tremendous progress in their fight to control the country. Sihanouk, living in exile, also supported the Khmer Rouge, as he saw them as a group fighting against the American puppet government in Phnom Penh. Sihanouk’s support of the Khmer, combined with the continued U.S. air assault in Cambodia, increased the Khmer’s popularity throughout the country.
Many people argued that the United States had a right to attack Cambodia because the Vietnamese were using the land as a refuge. Let us remember that during the Algerian war of independence, the United States rejected France's claimed right to attack a town in Tunisia where Algerian guerrillas hid, and in 1964 Adlai Stevenson condemned Britain for attacking a town in Yemen that was being used as a base by rebels to attack Aden.
1975-1979
On April 17th of 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh and immediately began to force the city’s entire population to desert the city. Though the city had a population of between 1.5 and 2 million, it is estimated that there were another 1 million refugees who had recently arrived in the city from the countryside. This mass exodus was the first stage of the Khmer Rouge’s attempt to convert the country into a rural utopia without money or private property.
Pol Pot believed that rice yields could be tripled and that it could be successfully planted in the malarial jungles of the northeast. The truth is, Pol Pot new very little about Cambodian agriculture, and his vision to finance the new nation with funds from the rice crops was bound to fail. People who were forced out of the city were called “new people,” as they were supposed to abandon all links with the past. Living in labour camps, the Cambodian people, now living in the Democratic Kampuchea, were barred from reading books, listening to music and practicing religion. Schools and hospitals were abolished, machinery banned and families were separated. Anyone wearing glasses was killed as they were assumed to be intellectuals. Anyone who spoke English, had sexual relations, grieved over the loss of a relative or friend or wore jewellery was also immediately executed. Pol Pot tried to erase Cambodian culture, which only barely exists today through the memory of the few survivors. Cambodia began again at Year Zero. In less then four years, the Khmer Rouge had managed to wipe out the country’s economy and kill between 1.7 and 2.5 million people (between 21% and 31% of the entire population). Many died from starvation or exhaustion, while others were tortured and executed. The outside world had very little knowledge of what was happening in the country. After the Vietnam War, the United States were tentative about getting involved in another conflict in Southeast Asia.
A border dispute between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea led to a full-scale war, and in January 1979 Vietnamese forces arrived in Phnom Penh. Norodom Sihanouk fled to China and many members of the defeated Khmer Rouge escaped into the western regions of Cambodia, and from there they continued to fight for another twenty years.
1980-1991
The United States gave millions of dollars to the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk to oust the Vietnamese and Soviet backed government in Cambodia. China also acted as a strong active supporter of the Khmer. The Carter administration even helped the Khmer Rouge keep their seat at the United Nations, which in a way implies that they are still the legitimate rulers of the country. The 80s were characterized by guerrilla war between the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition and the Vietnamese-backed government.
1992-Present
In 1992, United Nations peacekeepers arrived in Phnom Penh to oversee the restoration of Cambodia’s constitutional monarchy. Elections were held in 1993, and Norodom Sihanouk again took the throne, while Hun Sen shared the prime minister’s office with Sihanouk’s son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. In a 1997 bloody coup, Sen ousted Prince Ranariddh and was criticized for his autocratic style of governing and his human rights violations.
With over 8 million land mines still buried in the countryside, an economy that basically does not exist and thousands of people displaced, the task of rebuilding Cambodia will not be an easy one. Landmines still injure or kill as many as ninety people each month and there are more than 35,000 Cambodian amputees as a result of such injuries.
The country is still divided on what to do about the past. Should it be confronted or buried and forgotten? Families of the genocide continue to live side by side with their former executioners.
If you’re wondering what happened to Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders, they continued to live freely in Cambodia and Thailand. Pol Pot died in 1998 from heart failure, much to the disappointment of those who wanted to see him brought to trial. Finally, on June 6th of 2003, the United Nations and Cambodia signed an agreement to set up special courts to try the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Before the court can be set up, however, Cambodia’s National Assembly must ratify the deal, and this is not likely to happen for a while as Cambodia just recently (at the end of July 2003) went through general elections and a coalition government has yet to be formed. Money is also an issue. It is estimated that the trials will cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of $19 million. This is way beyond what the still impoverished Cambodia can afford.
