Welcome to World Cambodian Congress

Chapter 1: examines the different political regimes that have been in place and their impact on the ability of the people of Cambodia to survive as a nation. Starting with the observation that the political institution based on the concept of Devaraja (God-King) and on the economic system based on a coercive system of labor management in an agrarian society coupled with a rapid urbanization without productivity increase as was practiced in the Angkor era, it concludes that this system was not sustainable. This analysis covers the period stretching from the beginning of the 9^th century until Cambodia’s independence in 1953.

Chapter 2: examines and analyzes the main features of the different political regimes in Cambodia since independent in 1953 until today. These regimes include: the autocratic regime under King Norodom Sihanouk; the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge; and the current regime under the dictatorship of Cambodian People’s Party of Hun Sen. Contemporary history of Cambodia is dominated by one person, that is by Norodom Sihanouk. Therefore, in this chapter, the character, personality, role, and the policies adopted by Sihanouk and its consequences on the destiny of Cambodia are examined and analyzed.

Part II: analyzes and discusses the international aspects of the causes that led to the endangerment of Cambodia as a nation. It shows that because of an exhausted, disoriented and traumatized population, and a depleted resource base, coupled with a weakened, incompetent, and deceitful leadership has resulted in the inability of the Cambodian people to defend itself against increased and more aggressive foreign interventions. This is still happening today, despite the improvement in the world order and system based on market economics, human rights protection, and democratic values. The causes, objectives, strategies, and increased frequency of aggression by foreign interventions in Cambodian affairs from France during the colonial era, and from Thailand, and especially from Vietnam in present-day Cambodia are examined. The policy responses to these foreign challenges from the Cambodian leaders and their consequences are also assessed.

Chapter 3: examines the relations between Thailand and Cambodia. Specifically, it discusses and analyzes the causes, objectives, policies, strategies, and consequences of Siamese interventions in Cambodia. In this context, it takes a closer look at the major, economic, political, institutional, and social features in the Siamese society that led it to be comparatively more dynamic and stronger than the Cambodian did. In the contemporary setting, the impact of Thailand evolving toward a more open society on the relations with Cambodia will also be analyzed.

Chapter 4: examines the relations between Vietnam and Cambodia. Specifically, it discusses and analyses the causes, objective, policies, strategies, and consequences of Vietnamese interventions and continued attempts to colonize Cambodia. In this context, it looks at the major elements in the Vietnamese society that led it to be comparatively more dynamic and stronger than the Cambodian did. In the contemporary setting, the persistence of Vietnam to cling to communism and its impact on its relations with Cambodia will also be examined.

Chapter 5: examines the colonial regime under the French protectorate. It discusses and analyses the causes, policies, strategies, and consequences of French colonialism in Cambodia. Especially, it examines whether France had really contributed to the modernization and the survival of Cambodia, by its “Mission Civilisatrice”, as it claimed.

Part III: discusses and analyzes some possible international and domestic political framework and remedies that would give Cambodia a better chance to survive.

Chapter 6: shows that the present world system based on an open society, market system, and the rule of law should allow Cambodia to reemerge as a free nation, if and when new leaders can be formed and allowed to participate freely in the political life of the country. This hinges on the condition that Cambodians know how to play by the ‘rules of the game’ of the current world system.

Chapter 7: suggests some new approaches to helping Cambodia recover its liberty, sovereignty, prosperity, and peace. More specifically, this chapter argues in favor of the establishment of the trial of the Khmer Rouge under international supervision. It argues that the establishment of a credible tribunal for trying the Khmer Rouge is not only the best way to reestablish the rule of law and justice and democracy in Cambodia, but, also as a practical, just, and economical way of treating and curing the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that has been plaguing successive generations of Cambodians since the Angkor period, and more recently, during the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge. It also suggests some concrete and practical steps to solving the Cambodian-Vietnamese conflict.

Finally, some concluding remarks are offered on the probability for the Cambodian people to survive given the new world system based on open society, market system and globalization, if and when some basic and critical mass in the behavioral, economical, educational, ethical, institutional (especially statecraft), political, and social conditions, in Cambodia, are fulfilled.

Most books analyzing historical and contemporary developments in Cambodia have been written by non-Cambodians. This book written by a Cambodian is an attempt to fill that gap by providing an analytical framework for a better understanding of the complex and tangled issues in Cambodia’ s continuous decline as a nation and society since the ninth century, when it became unified for the first time under King Jayavarman II. It was he who introduced the coercive and deceptive concept of Kingship known as Devaraja (God-King). Cambodia reached the apex of its power, artistic glory, and territorial expansion in the early thirteenth century under King Jayavarman VII. Over the next century, Cambodia’ s self-undermining turned into decline, culminating in 1431 with the invasion and the sack of Angkor by the conquering Siamese army. This slow but continuous decline, as perceived by most Cambodians and most foreign observers, is still taking place in present-day Cambodia, despite a seemingly more favorable international order.

The main analytical tool used in this book is to compare the organization and functioning of Cambodian society during the period of Khmer Empire with that of Cambodia’s contemporary setting. The author would argue that although the external constant threat to Cambodia from Vietnam and Thailand is real and dangerous, it is a difficult but not insoluble factor in the equation explaining the Cambodian decline.

For instance, the improvement in the international political, legal, and economic system, especially since the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989, should favor Cambodia’ s chances for survival. Among those improvements, one can cite the enhanced role of the United Nations and its affiliated agencies as keeper of international order and the promoter of economic and social developments. Moreover, democratic values, the open society and free market systems have slowly but firmly been taking hold in different regions in the world, including Asia.

However, from the author’ s perspective, the real and more intractable factors behind Cambodia’ s regression largely reside in the internal inertia and the inability of society, and its leaders in particular, to evolve and to change, so as to adjust and adapt to new economic, political and social realities and environment in the world and especially in the region. This stark factor of Cambodia’ s continuous deterioration stems mainly from its archaic and stagnant political, social and economic organization, and a narrow understanding and conceptualization of the fast-evolving world by its leaders.

The author was born and raised in Cambodia and lived there until his early twenties, when he left to pursue his higher education abroad. While, the author has never actively participated in Cambodian political life, he was determined to remain very much involved in Cambodian affairs. He had had unique opportunities to observe closely the major phases of Cambodian economic, political and social developments, since Sihanouk became king of Cambodia in 1941.

Through family relations and personal acquaintance with Cambodians who went abroad for higher education, the author had the opportunity to get to know most of the major actors who were involved in Cambodian politics during the last six decades, especially the royal family. This period covers numerous political regimes: (1) the Kingdom of Cambodia under Norodom Sihanouk as King (1941-1955); (2) Sihanouk as Chief of State (1955-70); (3) the Lon Nol Khmer Republic (1970-75); (4) the Khmer Rouge (KR) (1975-78); (5) The People’ s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) led by Pen Sovann and Heng Samrin under the Vietnamese occupation (1979-89); (6) the State of Cambodia (SOC) of Hun Sen (1989-91); (7) the UNTACT interregnum (1991-93); (8) The first royal coalition government led by co-prime ministers Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen(1993-97); and (9) the current second royal coalition government led Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’ s Party (CPP) (1998-present).

Although the author has been living in the United States since 1960, he has had numerous opportunities to return to Cambodia and other Asian countries - China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Laos, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam - on private visits as well as on official missions a senior civil servant with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As a faculty member of a major university in Washington DC, lecturing on International Economics and Asian Studies, the author also had opportunities to exchange views on Cambodia and related issues with members of the academic, political, and think-tank institutions, as well as the Press Corps from all over the world, especially from the United States and Asia. In addition, the author has been very involved in advocating the defense and development of democracy and human rights, in Cambodia, and the efforts to integrate Cambodians into the American society here in the United States. In this capacity he has been working with many overseas Cambodians who share the same democratic values.

Being involved in the above-mentioned activities has provided the author with a good grasp and understanding of the contemporary Cambodian tragedy during this period of turmoil. The author hopes that this book will provide a modest contribution, from an independent Cambodian perspective, to an understanding of the struggle of Cambodia for survival during this long, turbulent and tragic period, beginning with the sack of Angkor by the Siamese in the first half of the fifteenth century.

The author has relied on and benefited a great deal from numerous scholarly works of Cambodian and non-Cambodian authors who are specializing in the analysis of archeological, economic, diplomatic, political and social developments of Cambodia during the early period until the present day. These materials will provide the bulk of background information for the reconstitution and the analysis of the Cambodian society from the ninth century until the present day.

It is also important to note that non-Cambodians have written most books on Cambodia. They rarely reflect a Cambodian view. They also tend be constrained by their respective political, ideological, or the theoretical background. They usually lack in comprehensiveness in the treatment of the Cambodian problem. In addition, to providing the analysis of causes for the rise and fall of the Cambodian nation, this book will suggest a practical framework and a roadmap for reversing this deadly trend centered on an early establishment of an internationally acceptable tribunal for the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders. It is hoped that younger generations of Cambodians, at home and abroad, would be able to use this book as a guide to prepare them for the challenging task of making Cambodia a more peaceful, hospitable, and stable nation. This opportunity will arise when King Sihanouk is no longer directly or indirectly involved in the political activities of Cambodia, as he is, at the same time, the problem and the solution. A more peaceful Cambodia would be of benefit to both Asia and the world at large, where the threat of a faceless international terrorism is becoming more dangerous and spreading across continents.

Although trained as an economist, the author has had the opportunity to be familiar with other disciplines in social science, such as history, anthropology, international relations, and political science. The author hopes to bring these disciplines to bear on the subject matter analyzed this book.

The author also hopes that this book will provide a practical and balanced framework for future Cambodian generations to better understand what has been lost and why, and as well, for those persons in the international community truly interested in giving the Cambodian people a real chance to progress. However, the author firmly believes that ultimately the destiny of Cambodia rests with the perseverance and efforts of the Cambodian people alone. In the animal world, putting it on an endangered list would save an endangered species. Even if such a list existed for endangered nations, Cambodia must not be on that list, as Cambodians must fight for their survival as a people so as to deserve a dignified and rightful place in the world.

Finally, this book will deal only with the institutional, internal relations, political, and social aspects of Cambodia during the Angkor period in comparison with contemporary Cambodia. The economic history of the analysis will be treated only superficially in order to keep the content manageable. This book will also serve as the background of companion book, to be published at a future date, which will treat more thoroughly the economic aspects of Cambodia during the two periods under analysis.

³Civilizations are mortal but also long-lived; they evolve, adapt, and are the most enduring of human associationsŠ While civilizations endure, they also evolve. They are dynamic, they rise and fall, they merge and divide; and any student of history knows, they also disappear and are buried in the sands of time.²

Most Cambodians believe that their country is facing the grave danger of disappearing from the map of the world. This opinion is also reflected in the writing of non-Cambodian scholars specializing in Cambodian affairs. However, these two groups, differ in their assessment of the causes of this threat to Cambodia as a nation and a society. Most Cambodians believe that the threat comes from an outside source, especially, from Vietnam, while non-Cambodian scholars attribute it to internal factors, namely, the lack of honest, caring, and capable leadership.

This rather pessimistic view of Cambodia by both Cambodians and non-Cambodians alike can easily be verified through information contained in numerous reports on Cambodia by the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, and by local and international Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs).1 For instance, Cambodia is classified by the United Nations Organization (UN) as one of the poorest countries in the world. Some of the main characteristics used by these organizations to describe present day Cambodia are: wide spread poverty, malnutrition, poor health and sanitary conditions, lack of a strong legal and judicial frameworks, systemic corruption, human and drug trafficking, unchecked illegal immigration, uncontrolled and illegal deforestation leading to pronounced and recurrent flood and drought condition, lack of physical and institutional infrastructure, mob killings, and bloated, corrupt, non-existence of judicial due process, and weak civilian and military administrations.

Comparing these dismal realities of present-day Cambodia with the standard function and role of nation-states – namely, that they “… maintain armies, conduct diplomacy, negotiate treaties, fight wars, control international organizations, influence and in considerable measure shape production and commerce.”2 - Cambodia clearly shows all the signs of a failed state.

Perhaps more applicable to the analysis of the rise and fall of Cambodia as a nation is to look at the rising power of two neighboring states – Thailand and Vietnam - that have been pursuing their consolidation and expansion as nations at the expense of Cambodia. Paul Kennedy suggested this method of analysis when he observed that “…. economic resources are necessary to support a large military establishment. … and so far as the international system is concerned, both wealth and power are always relative and should be seen as such.”3 Cambodia was able to become an important political and economic power in mainland Southeast Asian from the early 9^th century until the mid-15^th century, primarily because there were no rival states to challenge its power. As new and more dynamic states started to make their presence felt in Mainland Southeast Asia, Cambodia’ s conservative and backward looking society started to crumble, a process that has continued until the present day.

The long-term decline is exacerbated by the more recent fact that, a generally recognized that the majority of the Cambodian people today suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The main cause of this mental illness is generally attributed to the horrendous and tragic experience that they suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime (see Box.1)

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Box. 1

A Cambodian American Psychologist Explains How Deep Most Cambodians are Affected by PTSD

Most Cambodians have experienced traumatic events of killing in the Pol Pot's regime. This is a strong emotional reaction, which have the potential to interfere with people's ability to function their lives in Hun Sen' s regime. Even though the killing was over years ago, but the emotional and the physical reactions still have major roles in Cambodian society. If you visit Cambodia today, you can see signs and symptoms of a Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) everywhere. Some express in a most painful way. There is no professional assistance.

What Hun Sen's regime is doing is bringing a hell type environment so that Cambodian people can enjoy at least at the moment or they can make comparison with the old Pol Pot's. This only makes it worst for the majority of real Cambodians. Here are some signs of symptoms that I studied during my visit to Cambodia in July of 1998:

PHYSICAL: fatigue, nausea, muscle cramps, twitches, chest pain difficult breathing, rapid heart beat, thirst, headaches, visual difficulties, vomiting, grinding teeth, weakness, dizziness, chills, shock symptoms, fainting etc.

COGNITIVE: blaming someone, confusion, poor attention, poor decision, poor concentration, memory problem, hypervigilance, poor problem solving, poor abstract thinking, disturbed thinking, nightmare, intrusive images etc..

EMOTIONAL: anxiety, guilt, grief, denial, severe panic, fear, uncertainty, loss of emotional control, depression, inappropriate emotional response, feeling overwhelmed, intense anger, irritability, agitation, etc..

BEHAVIORAL: change in activity, change in speech pattern, withdrawal, emotional outburst, suspiciousness, change communication, alcohol consumption, cannot rest, antisocial acts, nonspecific bodily complaints, hyperalert to environment, erratic movement, change in sexual functioning, etc....

The killing of Pol Pot's regime was too much and just too powerful for the Cambodians to manage by themselves. If Hun Sen continues to rule Cambodia in this harmful way, Cambodians should expect several steps they will have to pass: increase of violence, unrest demonstration and rallies, increase of AIDS patients, become the most undeveloped nation in the world, corruption addictive, Pol Pot once more, or a whole country will be part of Vietnam (to be simple) etc....

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Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Cambodian people have suffered such a debilitating mental illness. The Cambodian people have been subjected to several major psychological shocks since the founding of the Khmer Empire in the ninth Century until today. These psychological shocks include successive physical and mental repression perpetrated against the majority of the Cambodian people by their leaders during different political regimes throughout a long and turbulent Cambodian history. In addition, they have also suffered physical and mental repression from foreign interference in internal Cambodian affairs, namely, from Thai and Vietnamese invasions and occupations, and from French colonialism.

The change in behavior of most Cambodians resulting from PTSD, namely, withdrawal, emotional outbursts, suspiciousness, and anti-social acts, has weakened the ability of the Cambodian people to act coherently, consistently, and rationally in the defense of their vital interests in domestic and international affairs.

This book attempts to shed some light on the rise and fall of the Cambodian nation and its people, by examining the strength and weakness of its institutions, organizations, the political strategies, domestic and external policies, of Cambodia, and by comparing them with those of the two neighboring emerging powers, Thailand and Vietnam. This book is organized in the following manner:

Part I: describes and analyzes the internal causes affecting the determination, social and political cohesiveness and strength of the Cambodian people to defend themselves, starting from the ninth century when Cambodia became known as Kambujadesa, or Kampuchea, during the Angkor period until today. The discussion on the period before independence in 1953 is examined within the prevailing international system during that period of analysis, which was dominated by autocratic regimes. While the period after independence is examined within the context of the New World Order where democracy and the market system are its main features.

Part III: discusses and analyzes some possible international and domestic political framework and remedies that would give Cambodia a better chance to survive.

The author is fully aware of the difficulties involved in attempting to write this book requiring the mastering of several disciplines of the social sciences, but also the fear of not being sufficiently objective because of too a closely an involvement in the Cambodian tragedy. Despite his acute awareness of his limitations, he came to the conclusion that not to write this book would not be justified. Whether or not this book will meet all the intended purposes as stated in the preface, the author will permit the readers to make the final judgment as to the value of this book in terms of real contribution to a better understanding of the tragedy that the Cambodian people have been bearing for generations and continue to bear today.

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1 World Bank, World Development Report (Washington, DC, World Bank publishers, 2002); Human Rights Watch, A report on Human Rights in the year 2001 in Cambodia, (Phnom Penh, Cambodia, The Phnom Penh Post, January 4-17, 2002), Amnesty International, Report 1998 (New York, Amnesty International Publishers, 1998); Global Witness, Reports on Deforestation in Cambodia (London, Global Witness, several reports); International Crisis Group, Cambodia: The Elusive Peace Dividend (Brussels Belgium, August, 2000); ADHOC, LICADHO, and HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, Impunity in Cambodia: How Human Rights offenders Escape Justice (A Joint report by ADHOC, LICADHO, & HUMAN RIGHT WATCH, 1999)

2 Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations: Ranking of World Order, p. 34 (New York; A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster 1997)

3 Paul Kennedy, The rise and fall of the Great Powers, p. xxii (New York, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House 1989)

Cambodia: Anatomy of an Endangered Nation

Box. 1