7th January: A Liberation Through Invasion or a Day of Infamy and Deliverance?

7th January, 2010
Op-Ed by Khmerization

“7th January, 1979 is both a combination of a liberation and an invasion. Miss Theary Seng, former executive director of Centre for Social Development, called it a liberation through invasion, while Dr. A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, former professor of the University of Guam, called it a day of infamy and deliverance.”

The controversy surrounding the glorification or the celebration of January 7, 1979 has been hotly debated between the proponents of the Vietnamese intervention and its opponents since day one. Today marks the 31st anniversary of the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese forces and debates are again raging, as happened every year, as to whether this date should be celebrated as a liberation day or an invasion day.

Proponents of the Vietnamese intervention in 1979 celebrate 7th January as a liberation day. They believe that without the Vietnamese intervention of 1979, the whole population of Cambodia would have been wiped out by the Khmer Rouge genocide, while opponents of the Vietnamese intervention believe that it should be remembered as an invasion day.

Opponents of the Vietnamese intervention have instead called for the celebration of the Paris Peace Accords of 23rd of October 1991 instead of 7th January, 1979. On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese intervention of last year, Mr. Khieu Kanharith, Minister of Information and government spokesman, was adamant that 7th January was a more important date than the Paris Peace Accords. He said and I quote: “if there were no 07 January 1979, there wouldn’t be 23 October 1991 either.” By saying this, he seems to believe that 7th January, 1979 is the cornerstone that has laid a foundation for the Paris Peace Accords of 23rd October, 1991.

Mr. Kanharith statement seems to resonate an admission of 7th January as an invasion day. By saying that without 7th January, the day of the Vietnamese invasion, and that there wouldn’t be 23 October 1991, the day that Cambodia achieved peace, Mr. Kanharith is unconsciously admitting that 7th January, 1979 is an invasion day because if there wasn’t any invasion, there wouldn’t be a need for any peace accords.

Opponents of the Vietnamese intervention, on the other hand, are adamantly and vehemently insisting that 7th January is an invasion day. They have accused Vietnam of abetting the Khmer Rouge to take powers in Cambodia on 17th April, 1975 and aiding the massacres of 1.7 million Cambodians. They believe that Vietnam did not voluntarily invade Cambodia solely for the purpose of liberating the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge genocide, but rather Vietnam invaded Cambodia because the Khmer Rouge has turned down its overtures of subordination to Vietnam and because of border clashes due to Vietnamese border encroachments. They also accused that, after the 1979 invasion, the killings of the Cambodian people continued unabated through the so-called “K-5 Plan” and that the Vietnamese army had plundered the Cambodian wealth and resources by transporting them back to their country.

Opposition parties also insisted that 7th January is an invasion day. They consider that it is a product of the 17th April, 1975, the date of the Khmer Rouge takeover and the beginning of the Cambodian genocide, aided and abetted by the present leaders of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), because the majority of them, like PM Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly Chairman Heng Samrin, are important ex-leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

Mr. Sam Rainsy, an arch-opponent of the 7th January, in a letter to The Cambodia Daily in January 2009, said and I quote: “But it is worth realizing that without April 17, 1975, there would be no need for January 7, 1979.” Mr. Sam Rainsy’s statement seem to concur the above statements which consider that both dates (7th January, 1979 and 17th April, 1975) as the by-products of the Vietnamese creations, aided and abetted by the present CPP leaders who were important ex-leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

In conclusion, for me personally, 7th January, 1979 is both a combination of a liberation and an invasion. Miss Theary Seng, former executive director of Centre for Social Development, called it a liberation through invasion, while Dr. A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, former professor of the University of Guam, called it a day of infamy and deliverance.

I believe it is a liberation day in the sense that, whether it was an intention of Vietnam or not, millions of Cambodian lives have been saved from the Khmer Rouge regime. I also consider it as an invasion day because it was an invasion: pure and simple, because I believe that Vietnam had helped the Khmer Rouge to take powers in 1975 and aided and abetted in the subsequent massacres of 1.7 million Cambodian lives. I also believe that the Vietnamese intervention in 1979 was not born out of any sympathy for the Cambodian people, but rather Vietnam had taken that course of actions because of a breakdown of relations with the Khmer Rouge and because of border clashes resulting from border encroachments by Vietnam.

So, is 7th of January, 1979 a liberation day or is it an invasion day? The answer is both, depending on who we are talking to. Or, as Miss Theary Seng puts it, it is a liberation through invasion.