Click on the cartoon to zoom inCartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
PARIS MATCH
Issue # 1353 (May 3, 1975)
On the eve of the fall of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, Sihanouk who took refuge in Beijing since he was deposed by the Cambodian National Assembly and the Council of the Kingdom on March 18, 1970, gave a reception to Mr. Alain Peyrefitte, the former minister of General de Gaulle. Their talk was published in the French magazine “Paris Match”, No. 1353, dated May 3, 1975. A large excerpt of this talk is provided below:
“On September 1st, 1966, in Phnom Penh , the capital of a free and peaceful Cambodia , General de Gaulle publicly condemned (he did it confidentially since 1960 without anybody in the world ever heard about it) the US military intervention in Vietnam . He countered this US policy, which he claimed to be doomed with catastrophe, with the exemplary policy of neutrality maintained since 1954 by the young head of state who welcomed him: Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
The US underestimated Norodom Sihanouk’s personality. After chasing him out, he was thrown into the hands of the Khmer Rouge who, up to then, fought against him. When things turn sour, the US tried to separate Norodom Sihanouk from the Khmer Rouge. It was a lost cause! The US have hooked him up with the Khmer Rouge “in life as well as in death (i.e. for eternity)”, as he said it in his own words. I met the prince in Beijing where he took refuge after the coup d’état perpetrated against him while he was in Moscow.
Since 1971, the Chinese had magnificently installed him in the former French Embassy. He turned this sumptuous palace into the center of Cambodian resistance. He warmly received me, accompanied by Maurice Papon and Albert Marcenet. During two hours, he tiredlessly showed us, with his expressive mimics, his outburst of voice, his picturesque verbal inventions, that nothing would cut into his determination.
“I am General de Gaulle,” he declared to me, “the General de Gaulle in London .” The contrast between this chubby small man and the memory of the thin giant brought smiles to our faces.
“But of course,” he explained to us sharply, “like him, I have only one goal: to free my country, only one mean: to make war, to coordinate the resistance, to revive the courage by talking to the heart of my people. At the beginning, de Gaulle also was alone, nobody believed in him. Little by little, they joined him from all over the places. The Chinese welcome me just like the British welcomed him; I am their guest, I am not their man, no more than he was the host of the British.”
- The Khmer Rouge are communists, I noted.
- That’s true; but they have to go through me because I embody the legitimacy. They need me, and I know that Cambodia needs them. I will tell the Cambodian people and they will believe me.
- Are you becoming communist, Your Highness?
- No, I don’t think so, in our Southeast Asia , communism has its good sides. You can see what is happening in China . Furthermore, there is no choice. After what the Americans did, I have only one choice, that one.
- Fidel Castro in Havana, told me more or less the same thing: “I was never a Marxist-Leninist, but the US embargo took away from me all other possibilities except this one.”
Norodom Sihanouk invited us to pick up the ivory chopsticks to eat fried shrimps. Suddenly pensive, he started again: “After the victory, I will stay only maybe six months. It is not important. I will accomplish my duty. I will have led the resistance. I will have liberated my homeland. I will be able to leave. De Gaulle did not remain either. If the Khmer Rouge think they no longer need me when the enemy will be chased out, and the country pacified, I will not hold on. I will then ask France to welcome me in the Midi for the rest of my days.”
He took his breath for a short while before continuing with rage, and this time, his rage had a self-criticism tone to it: “There was too much corruption. There has always been, but with the Americans, now, the corruption has triumphed, it has spread all over. They symbolize the corruption. Everybody think only about money. From the top to the bottom, it is embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, corruption, servitude. They sell their souls for dollars. But every cloud has a silver lining. We were already corrupt and we did not know it. Now, we know and we find the strength to cleanse ourselves. The Americans create the hate of corruption because everything they symbolized is hated.”
His chopsticks quickly dropped in my plate some pieces of roast duck: “ Phnom Penh ,” he continued, “wallowed itself up in collaboration. It is an infected wound on the innocent face of Cambodia . Queen-Mother who abandoned me when I had my back turned, I will humiliate her. The middle-class of Phnom Penh who had betrayed their leader and their homeland, I will humiliate them; to punish them, I will not enter the capital with the troop, I will have them chased out first. I do not want to re-establish there after the Liberation. Instead, I will have a wooden hut built for me in the forest of Angkor , and it will be there that people will come to visit me. Phnom Penh is Vichy . Lon Nol is Laval . I will have him shot, of course. But, since he is Khmer, and that all Khmer people are my children, I will have him shot with tenderness.”
We have to recognize that the prophecy is realized in large part. Lon Nol escaped the firing squad but not his brother, it was said: Phnom Penh will be indeed humiliated, emptied of its inhabitants. And Sihanouk will put his legitimacy and his asset to the service of communism, maybe without too much illusions on the duration and the nature of his role.
He told me, with his flair for paradox which only serves to dress up his inner thoughts: “I do not hold a grudge against the Americans. They would have been the agents of the Providence . They will allow Cambodia to redeem itself. But I hold a grudge against France . Do you recall: de Gaulle held a grudge against the Americans for maintaining an embassy in Vichy? How can you maintain an embassy with the Phnom Penh puppets, and none with me?” I noted to the prince that we do not recognize regimes, but countries. The presence of an embassy in Phnom Penh simply meant that it is taking care on the spot of our citizens and our interests. “It’s the same,” he insisted, “I will see if France will have a friendly gesture towards me.”
“On September 1st, 1966, in Phnom Penh , the capital of a free and peaceful Cambodia , General de Gaulle publicly condemned (he did it confidentially since 1960 without anybody in the world ever heard about it) the US military intervention in Vietnam . He countered this US policy, which he claimed to be doomed with catastrophe, with the exemplary policy of neutrality maintained since 1954 by the young head of state who welcomed him: Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
The US underestimated Norodom Sihanouk’s personality. After chasing him out, he was thrown into the hands of the Khmer Rouge who, up to then, fought against him. When things turn sour, the US tried to separate Norodom Sihanouk from the Khmer Rouge. It was a lost cause! The US have hooked him up with the Khmer Rouge “in life as well as in death (i.e. for eternity)”, as he said it in his own words. I met the prince in Beijing where he took refuge after the coup d’état perpetrated against him while he was in Moscow.
Since 1971, the Chinese had magnificently installed him in the former French Embassy. He turned this sumptuous palace into the center of Cambodian resistance. He warmly received me, accompanied by Maurice Papon and Albert Marcenet. During two hours, he tiredlessly showed us, with his expressive mimics, his outburst of voice, his picturesque verbal inventions, that nothing would cut into his determination.
“I am General de Gaulle,” he declared to me, “the General de Gaulle in London .” The contrast between this chubby small man and the memory of the thin giant brought smiles to our faces.
“But of course,” he explained to us sharply, “like him, I have only one goal: to free my country, only one mean: to make war, to coordinate the resistance, to revive the courage by talking to the heart of my people. At the beginning, de Gaulle also was alone, nobody believed in him. Little by little, they joined him from all over the places. The Chinese welcome me just like the British welcomed him; I am their guest, I am not their man, no more than he was the host of the British.”
- The Khmer Rouge are communists, I noted.
- That’s true; but they have to go through me because I embody the legitimacy. They need me, and I know that Cambodia needs them. I will tell the Cambodian people and they will believe me.
- Are you becoming communist, Your Highness?
- No, I don’t think so, in our Southeast Asia , communism has its good sides. You can see what is happening in China . Furthermore, there is no choice. After what the Americans did, I have only one choice, that one.
- Fidel Castro in Havana, told me more or less the same thing: “I was never a Marxist-Leninist, but the US embargo took away from me all other possibilities except this one.”
Norodom Sihanouk invited us to pick up the ivory chopsticks to eat fried shrimps. Suddenly pensive, he started again: “After the victory, I will stay only maybe six months. It is not important. I will accomplish my duty. I will have led the resistance. I will have liberated my homeland. I will be able to leave. De Gaulle did not remain either. If the Khmer Rouge think they no longer need me when the enemy will be chased out, and the country pacified, I will not hold on. I will then ask France to welcome me in the Midi for the rest of my days.”
He took his breath for a short while before continuing with rage, and this time, his rage had a self-criticism tone to it: “There was too much corruption. There has always been, but with the Americans, now, the corruption has triumphed, it has spread all over. They symbolize the corruption. Everybody think only about money. From the top to the bottom, it is embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, corruption, servitude. They sell their souls for dollars. But every cloud has a silver lining. We were already corrupt and we did not know it. Now, we know and we find the strength to cleanse ourselves. The Americans create the hate of corruption because everything they symbolized is hated.”
His chopsticks quickly dropped in my plate some pieces of roast duck: “ Phnom Penh ,” he continued, “wallowed itself up in collaboration. It is an infected wound on the innocent face of Cambodia . Queen-Mother who abandoned me when I had my back turned, I will humiliate her. The middle-class of Phnom Penh who had betrayed their leader and their homeland, I will humiliate them; to punish them, I will not enter the capital with the troop, I will have them chased out first. I do not want to re-establish there after the Liberation. Instead, I will have a wooden hut built for me in the forest of Angkor , and it will be there that people will come to visit me. Phnom Penh is Vichy . Lon Nol is Laval . I will have him shot, of course. But, since he is Khmer, and that all Khmer people are my children, I will have him shot with tenderness.”
We have to recognize that the prophecy is realized in large part. Lon Nol escaped the firing squad but not his brother, it was said: Phnom Penh will be indeed humiliated, emptied of its inhabitants. And Sihanouk will put his legitimacy and his asset to the service of communism, maybe without too much illusions on the duration and the nature of his role.
He told me, with his flair for paradox which only serves to dress up his inner thoughts: “I do not hold a grudge against the Americans. They would have been the agents of the Providence . They will allow Cambodia to redeem itself. But I hold a grudge against France . Do you recall: de Gaulle held a grudge against the Americans for maintaining an embassy in Vichy? How can you maintain an embassy with the Phnom Penh puppets, and none with me?” I noted to the prince that we do not recognize regimes, but countries. The presence of an embassy in Phnom Penh simply meant that it is taking care on the spot of our citizens and our interests. “It’s the same,” he insisted, “I will see if France will have a friendly gesture towards me.”
13 comments:
This is the nature of ah sdach jkout,onthapeal,prette and arsorikai,if Cambodian people have this kind of terribly family exist we are not facing of hot shit like we have to face right now,to me personally ah jkout Sihaknuk not a real blood of famous king from Ankor era he just like Hun Sen to get to power by kill and kill innocent dirt poor and cling in it power never want to get off,it doesn't matters there are no progress except destroyed,go back to history why I claimed Sihaknuk is a ordinary person like every one else,in the history book the last Varamaan was killed by sweet cucumber already and buried under the cottage of sweet cucumber at the time perhaps there were not good idea with out the king ,so the sweet cucumber was picked by the palace elephant at that cottage but in the facts the elephant was given the respect to the real king grave not the rotten cucumber and why we have the devil king Sihaknuk and later devil Hun Sen ,so the conclusion all superstitious homy stop believe with those two devil son of the bitches born to destroy the country that give them the live and every thing,please stop believe all those crap open up the eyes ,ears mind to believe with realities and if we have some chances kill those son of the bitches ,there won't be any sin as the article above SIHAKNUK had order to kill khmer people so do Hun Sen why those two idiots not dying? So we have to get rid the traitors before they mess up country once again.
khmer adventurer.
Oh LA LA !
Thanks very much to whom were -
justice and honest to all Khmer
whom were victim .
I would like to see his face while
he said I knew how to smile and I
knew how to kill .
His face look like the lion's face .
Duch and others persons whom were
staying confront of justice in present day that are his tool to
build up his monarchy back in the
nation that all .
3:39 AM,
Very good comment. I like that!
Wow!
ពួកអាឆ្កូតឯងកុំជេរប្រមាតនៅព្រះមហាក្សត្យកម្ពជា
ប្រយ័ត្តរន្ទះបាញ់ក្បាលអាពួកឯងក្នុងពេលឆាប់ៗ
ហ្នឹងទៅ។
Toul Bangkum sam neung slab!
Toul Bangkum sam neung slab!
Toul Bangkum sam neung slab!
Saum preah kona mean chunameayuh yeun you nov Pekin! Soy ach eng!
Time will tell. This king and the others evils followers will go to HELL!!! They will pay the price for our "CAMBODIAN killing fields".
9:56 AM
Some comments are not different as the killing system of Khmer Rouge regime
History tells us that king norodom sihanouk helped cambodia to gain independence from france in 1952. What happened after 1952 was cambodia went into the grip of the communist states such as china which created khmer rouge to destroy our cambodia. Had cambodia stayed under french colonization, khmer rouge would not have been created, and cambodia would not have been involved with conflicts in southeast asia. IT's costly mistake made by king sihanouk. Millions of khmer died as a result of one man's political misjudgement. King sihanouk got fooled the viet during the vietnam conflict with usa in which he helped the viet to stay in cambodia and fight the war. In the end, the viet broke their promise with the king and took advantage of the rise of the khmer rouge. at first the khmer rouge colaborated with the viet to fight american then after the war the khmer rouge realized that the viets did not leave cambodia so they make an attempt to push the viets back to their country. However the viets used hun sen and hen somrin to assist them to invade cambodia. As a result you have two factions of khmers fighting each other for no real reason. then you had china who supported the khmer rouge on one side and the sosiet backed the hun sen, viet pupet government, to fight the khmer rouge. all these happened because of one man's miscalculation. king sihanouk is the head person whos responsible for all the tragedy and genocide that occured in cambodia
12:36PM
your comment are awesome ,I respect all your from California .
Thanks happy new year to you.
5:38 AM
It is bigoted to say 3:39 AM's comment is good. This 3:39AM is no better than the masses (KI's sick audiences). If you ask me who is 3:39AM? It's a Vietnamese sonofbicth spy.
Why does anyone who has at least some education believes this poster 3:39AM's story?
This folktale or folk story about Trasak Pha'em called sweet cucumber is being told in Burma from generation to anothers not only among us Khmers.
And about Varaman Kings this dumbest 3:39AM does not read the history to know Varaman Kings such as Jayavaraman 8 was a Buddhists' persecutor.
Jayavaraman 8 was so busy persecuting the Buddhists and changed the Buddhist Temples to Hindu. Then he surrendered to Kublai Khan that's why Khmer Empire declined.
May be Jayavaraman 8 was Trasak Pha'em who knows?
We don't have a clear story what happened in the past, and Jayavaraman 8 was not famous besides destroying the rich empire treasure to bankrupt. How can Khmer empire survive if he collected national treasure like gold and gem were parts of Khmer empire economy and gave to Kublai Khan every year just to keep Khmer empire alive? When the Empire declined, then Siam came in and sacked every little gold we had.
We faced bankrupcy for more than 600 years until now.
I can top that , that this 3:39AM is a dumbest below the dumbest.
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