A Clash of Innocents

02 September 2011
Female First (UK)

Against the evocative backdrop of Cambodia unfolds the beguiling story of a spirited sixty-year-old 'mother' of a children’s orphanage, whose struggle to reconcile her past mirrors that of her adopted country, as it battles to come to terms with its own bloody history.

As Deborah Youngman is heading back to the Khmer Home for Blessed Children - an orphanage she has managed since its founding ten years ago - she cannot get over the unseasonal chill in the air. It isn’t supposed to be cold in February, at least not in Phnom Penh.

As she draws nearer to the Khmer Home, it quickly becomes clear that the weather is not the only enigma in store for her.

Upon her return, Deborah is confronted by Amanda, a twenty-something American backpacker who has travelled the length and breadth of rugged Cambodia in order to offer her services at the children’s home. As the two women collide, a story of hidden identities and secret agendas is set in motion. Exactly who is this strange young woman? Why is she here and where has she come from?

Book Review of "Vandy Kaonn - History of Cambodia in Three Volumes" by Chuth Khay

A Googlish version in English is provided at the end of the original text in French

Meilleur titre de l’année 2010

VANDY Kaonn

Histoire du Cambodge en trois volumes

(Vol.1 : 352 p ; Vol.2 : 358p ; Vol.3 : 320p)

Manuel de référence

Une oeuvre colossale de trois volumes jamais réalisée par les historiens khmers et qui a sorti récemment en France et fait beaucoup de bruits parmi la diaspora khmère. Je l’ai lue. Et voici la recension qui ne reflète que mon opinion. Chaque lecteur jugera l’oeuvre comme il l’entend.

Dans l’écriture, VANDY Kaonn n’est pas le premier venu. Au Cambodge comme en France, il a déjà publié plusieurs ouvrages : livres didactiques, essais, romans. Je les ai tous parcourus. Pour son dernier titre « Histoire du Cambodge », l’auteur s’est donné corps et âme pour le faire pondre, et ce malgré son état de santé. Et comment ne pas réagir à cette oeuvre imposante surtout lorsqu’elle a été écrite par un grand intellectuel cambodgien qui est en même temps historien, sociologue, journaliste et écrivain. Nos compatriotes ont fait grand cas de lui. Mais ce qui est regrettable pour moi c’est que l’ouvrage ne couvre qu’à partir de l’époque coloniale à 1992. S’il commençait des origines jusqu’à aujourd’hui le livre serait composé d’une dizaine de volumes. Cependant l’auteur relate succinctement dans le volume 3 les faits historiques s’étendant de 1993 à 2000. Ce sont en quelque sorte des documents additifs pour mieux comprendre l’histoire contemporaine de notre pays.

Avec la fluidité du style, le livre de Kaonn est passionnant, captivant, poétique, pathétique et agréable à lire. On dirait un roman historique ou policier. Ses analyses et descriptions sont objectives et cohérentes. Au-delà de celles-ci, il s’autorise aussi à faire des commentaires et des réflexions personnelles. On y trouve quelque chose de solaire. L’auteur ne s’écarte pas de la déontologie des historiens qui est celle de l’impartialité.

Et voici un extrait d’un paragraphe du volume 2 page 18 : «.. On peut dire que l’histoire est l’âme d’une nation, un patrimoine commun. Plusieurs évènements y ont été relatés pour que les générations futures sachent ce que faisaient nos ancêtres et leurs réactions devant les obstacles qui surgissaient….L’histoire n’est pas seulement ces divers évènements mais c’est la lutte et le combat d’une nation. Une nation ne pourrait vivre que si elle avait comme preuve son histoire, sa mémoire et sa culture. Et c’est dans cet esprit que j’ai écrit Histoire du Cambodge..) .

Pendant 90 ans de protectorat français (1963-1953), notre pays a connu des hauts et des bas : évitement de justesse le partage de notre pays par les Yuons et les Siems, abolition de l’esclavage (V.I, page 77) et restitution en 1946 de nos deux provinces de l’Ouest (Battambang et Siemreap. Mais nous avons connu aussi des déboires par la perte en 1949 d’une grande partie de notre territoire, la Cochinchine ou Kampuchea Krom.

Dans les années 40 et 50, notre pays était endeuillé par la déportation, la disparition et la mort de plusieurs de nos patriotes : déportation en 1942 de Achar Hèm Chiev, Pach Chhoeun et leurs amis au bagne de Poulo Condor ; mort prématurée du prince Sissovath Yutévong, Président du Conseil des Ministres et du parti démocrate (11 juillet 1947), assassinat de Iv Koes, président de l’assemblée nationale (14 janvier 1950) puis de Saint Savat janvier 1959), écrivain et auteur du célèbre roman (Mohar Chor Neou tul Dèn). Janvier 1959 était marqué aussi par la disparition d’une grande figure de notre histoire, Sam Sary, père de Sam Rainsy, un des artisans de l’Indépendance du Cambodge et un négociateur coriace à la conférence de Genève de 1954. Il a été accusé de traître par le roi Sihanouk, et réhabilité par celui-ci en 2003 (V.I, pages : 102, 110, 210 ).

A mon avis jusqu’en 1955, date de son abdication, Sihanouk était très animé par un élan patriotique. Mais à partir de cette date son parcours était étonnant. En effet l’écrasement du parti démocrate après la création du Sangkum Reastr Niyum, le règne sans partage, sa politique de bascule entre les deux grandes puissances et de fausse neutralité, l’autorisation aux troupes vietcong et nord vietnamiennes d’installer leur base militaire sur notre territoire puis l’exécution des Khmers rouges et sérey sonnaient le glas de la fin prochaine du régime de Notre Samdach Euv . Il me semble que Sihanouk, en créant dans son royaume, le poste de Chef de l’Etat (1960), une institution républicaine, était le précurseur du régime républicain (a.122 de la constitution de 1947). Il l’occupait de 1960 jusqu’à sa chute le 18 mars 1970. Selon cet article, le Chef de l’Etat était élu par les deux assemblées réunies en congrès. Et d’après l’avis d’un éminent juriste (cf. Le Cambodge de Jean Delvert, collection « Que sais-je ? » ) « .. toute l’action de Sihanouk gouvernant à partir de 1960 était anticonstitutionnelle ».

Mais ce qui est absolument inadmissible et incompréhensible pour nos compatriotes c’est qu’après sa déposition par les deux assemblées, le prince a fait appel aux troupes vietcong et nord vietnamiennes installées sur notre territoire d’envahir le Cambodge. Ensuite il s’est jeté dans les bras des Khmers rouges qu’il avait qualifiés de Khmers dékhmèrisés (V.I, page 276 ; V.II, pages 30 à 33 – Cf. aussi mon livre « Comment j’ai menti aux Khmers rouges » publié en 2004 chez l’Harmattan). A partir d’avril 1970 jusqu’à le « retrait » des troupes de l’occupation (1989), notre pays était plongé dans un océan de sang et de larmes, et que même les eaux du vaste Mékong ne suffiront pas à les laver. Des millions de morts et de blessés jonchaient le sol de notre chère patrie Quant aux sans-abris ils y erraient comme des âmes de nos morts.

Notons aussi que la construction du Mur de bambou, K5, sous le gouvernement de Chan Sy (1984) (Cf.Esmeralda Luciolli) a coûté aussi des milliers de morts, de blessés et de malades. Sur ce drame, l’auteur dépeint avec réalisme la douleur et la déchéance de notre peuple (V.II, pages 229, 230 et 231). « Les rescapés de K.5 rentrent chez eux mais tous sont porteurs de paludisme. Ils meurent à petit feu. Tous les jours la musique funèbre déchire le ciel. Les gens jasent : Après les Chinois ce sont les Vietnamiens et vice versa. Et ce sont les Cambodgiens qui payent leurs frais. Si cette guerre continue la race khmère sera éteinte ».

Après l’accord de Paris de 1991, notre pays a retrouvé le calme. Une élection libre organisée par l’ONU en 1993 s’est déroulée aussi dans le calme. Le parti royaliste du prince Ranariddh a été déclaré vainqueur. Mais un coup de théâtre s’est produit. Hun Sèn contestait le résultat. Tandis que Chakrapong, vice Premier ministre du gouvernement de celui-ci, préférait la sécession de la partie Est du Cambodge au lieu d’aider son frère à diriger le pays. Quant à Samdech Euv, il obligeait Ranariddh à partager le pouvoir avec Hun Sèn oubliant ainsi la volonté du peuple khmer. La démocratie a été mise au rancart. Les vainqueurs sont devenus vaincus. Et un gouvernement avec deux Premiers Ministres ( bicéphalisme ou dyarchie) a été formé, une histoire que l’on n’a jamais vue depuis que le monde est monde. Comment deux tigres pouvaient vivre ensemble dans une même montagne. Le coup de force de 1998 en était la preuve. Ainsi se termine les trois volumes de l’Histoire du Cambodge de

Kaonn.

Fleuron de nos lettres, le livre de Vandy Kaonn est, en quelque sorte, un patrimoine commun qui honore notre pays et qui finira par profiter à nos compatriotes, aux chercheurs et à tous ceux qui sont friands de l’histoire de notre pays.

CHUTH Khay

Ancien doyen de la faculté de droit de Phnom Penh

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The following is an automated English translation by Google

Best title of 2010

Vandy Kaon

Cambodian history in three volumes

(Vol.1: 352 p., Vol.2: 358p; Vol.3: 320p)

Reference Manual

A colossal work of three volumes by historians ever Khmer and has recently released in France and made much noise among the Khmer diaspora. I read it. And here's the review that reflects only my opinion. Each reader will work as it sees fit.

In writing, Vandy Kaon is not the first comer. In Cambodia as in France, he has published several books: educational books, essays, novels. I have them all covered. For his latest title "History of Cambodia", the author has given body and soul for the spawn, and despite his condition. And how not to react to this imposing work especially when it was written by a great intellectual Cambodian is also a historian, sociologist, journalist and writer. Our compatriots have made much of him. But what is unfortunate for me is that the book does that from colonial times to 1992. If the origins until today began the book would consist of ten volumes. However, the author recounts briefly in Volume 3 of the historical facts from 1993 to 2000. This is somewhat of additional documents to better understand the contemporary history of our country.

With the fluidity of style, the book kaon is exciting, exciting, poetic, touching and fun to read. It looks like a historical novel or a policeman. Its analysis and descriptions are objective and consistent. Beyond these, he also allows himself to make comments and personal reflections. There is something solar. The author does not depart from the ethics of historians is that of impartiality.

And here is an excerpt from a paragraph of Volume 2 page 18: ".. We can say that history is the soul of a nation, a common heritage. Several events have been recounted so that future generations know what our ancestors did and their reactions to the obstacles that arose. ... The story is not only the various events but the struggle and the struggle of a nation. A nation can not live like that if it had proof its history, memory and culture. And in this spirit that I wrote History of Cambodia ..).

During 90 years of French protectorate (1963-1953), our country has had its ups and downs: narrowly avoiding the sharing of our country by Yuon and Siems, abolition of slavery (VI, page 77) and restitution in 1946 our two western provinces (Battambang and Siem Reap. But we also know the setbacks in 1949 by the loss of much of our territory, Cochin or Kampuchea Krom.

In years 40 and 50, our country was plunged into mourning by deportation, disappearance and death of many of our patriots deportation in 1942 of Achar Hem Chiev, Pach Chhoeun and their friends in the galleys of Pulo Condor, untimely death of Prince Sissovath Yutévong, Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Democratic Party (July 11, 1947), murder of Iv Koes, president of the National Assembly (January 14, 1950) and Saint Savat January 1959), writer and author of famous novel (Mohar Chor Neou tul Den). January 1959 was also marked by the disappearance of a major figure in our history, Sam Sary, father of Sam Rainsy, one of the architects of the Independence of Cambodia and a tough negotiator at the Geneva Conference of 1954. He was charged as a traitor by King Sihanouk, and refurbished by it in 2003 (VI, pages 102, 110, 210).

In my opinion until 1955, the date of his abdication, Sihanouk was very animated by a patriotic fervor. But from that time his career was amazing. Indeed, the crash of the Democratic Party after the creation of Sangkum Reastr Niyum the reigns supreme, his policy flip-flop between the two superpowers and false neutrality, permitting the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops set up their military base our territory and then execution of the Khmer Rouge and Serey sounded the death knell of the approaching end of the regime of Our Samdach Euv. It seems to me that Sihanouk, in his kingdom by creating the post of Head of State (1960), a republican institution, was the precursor of the Republican (s.122 of the Constitution of 1947). He held from 1960 until his fall March 18, 1970. According to this article, the Head of State was elected by both houses met in Congress. And in the opinion of an eminent jurist (cf. John Delvert Cambodia, collection "Que sais-je?") ".. all the action of governing Sihanouk from 1960 was unconstitutional. "

But what is absolutely unacceptable and incomprehensible to our countrymen that after his deposition by the two assemblies, the prince called upon Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops installed on our territory to invade Cambodia. Then he threw himself into the arms of the Khmer Rouge that he had qualified Khmer dékhmèrisés (VI, p. 276; V. II, pages 30 to 33 - see also my book "How I lied to the Khmer Rouge" published in 2004 by L'Harmattan). From April 1970 until the "withdrawal" of troops from the occupation (1989), our country was plunged into an ocean of blood and tears, and even the vast waters of the Mekong are not enough to wash . Millions of dead and wounded littered the floor of our beloved country As for the homeless as they wandered the souls of our dead.

Note also that the Wall bamboo, K5, under the government of Chan Sy (1984) (Cf.Esmeralda Luciolli) also claimed thousands of dead, wounded and sick. In this drama, the author realistically depicts the pain and deprivation of our people (V. II, pages 229, 230 and 231). "The survivors K.5 go home but all are carriers of malaria. They die slowly. Every day the funeral music rips the sky. People chatting: After the Chinese are the Vietnamese and vice versa. And what are the Cambodians who pay their fees. If this war continues the Khmer race will be extinct. "

After the Paris Agreement of 1991, our country has returned to calm. A free election organized by the UN in 1993 also took place peacefully. The royalist party of Prince Ranariddh was declared the winner. But a dramatic turn of events occurred. Hun Sen challenged the result. While Chakrapong, Vice Prime Minister of the Government thereof, preferred secession of the eastern part of Cambodia instead of helping his brother to lead the country. As for Samdech Euv, he forced Ranariddh to share power with Hun Sen forgetting the will of the Khmer people. Democracy has been scrapped. The winners become losers. And a government with two prime ministers (two-headedness or diarchy) was formed, a story that has never seen since the world began. How could two tigers to live together in a mountain. The coup of 1998 was proof. Thus ended the three-volume History of Cambodia

Kaons.

The flagship of our letters, the book is Vandy Kaon, somehow, a common heritage that honors our country and that will eventually benefit our compatriots, researchers and all those who are fond of the history of our country.

CHUTH Khay

Former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Phnom Penh

Deconstructing Cambodia's modernist heritage

Oct 27, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
Building Cambodia by Helen Grant Ross and Darryl Leon Collins

Reviewed by Andrew Symon
Asia Times (Hong Kong)

PHNOM PENH - Despite the scars of war and strains of poverty, Cambodia's capital city is visually one of Asia's most attractive. Now with the peace-time rush towards modernity and cookie-cutter-shaped urban development threatening its unique and regionally unrivalled low-rise scale, Phnom Penh finds itself at important architectural crossroads.

Architect Helen Ross and historian Darryl Collins, two long-term residents of Cambodia, address this threatened heritage in their new compelling book, Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture: 1953-1970. A product of careful French colonial design in the early part of the 20th century, and a striking Khmer modernist architectural movement after independence in the 1950s and 1960s, the inland city nestles at the junction of the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers.

As more money and people flow into the city to share in the new buoyancy of the Cambodian economy, nondescript, unimaginative glass tower architecture is beginning to erode the city's old world character. Arguably historical Phnom Penh is no longer protected by the time warp created by the lost years of the Khmer Rouge tyranny of the 1970s and the subsequent two decades of civil war, upheaval and economic stagnation.

Times are now better for Cambodians than they have been for the past 40 years. But whether the city can preserve its heritage and charm while making wise choices for future development - and avoid the fate of the now congested and mostly ugly Southeast Asian mega-cities elsewhere in the region - remains to be seen.

It is not just a matter of protecting French colonial period boulevards, villas and public buildings - of which the city has in virtually complete precincts. At risk also is a very Cambodian legacy in the many distinctive modernist buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s by largely Khmer architects.

It was a true local school of design - a "new Khmer architecture" - as it was described at the time. It expressed a fast lost golden age of optimism and modernization after independence in 1953. Yet this story, and the movement's architectural legacy, are not well appreciated - not internationally and perhaps even less so in Cambodia itself. Ross and Collins attempt to fill that gap in their magnificent multi-dimensional new work.

The book, a product of seven years of research and the beneficiary of a grant from Japan's Toyota Foundation, was launched in September at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand. Through a rich mix of contemporary and current photos, it documents an extraordinary period of construction.

After nearly a century of colonialism, there was a great nationalist excitement at being able to shape a new Cambodia and this was driven by a wave of public construction inspired by the country's mercurial head of government, Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

Young architects, engineers and town planners newly returned from studies overseas, mostly in France, enthusiastically combined Western modernist forms, materials and functions with traditional Cambodian designs, practices and local materials. They often drew on inspiration from the temples at the world-renowned ancient Angkor complex, although they did not seek to recreate its monumentalism.

One structure that especially stands out is the Institute of Languages, formerly the library for the teacher's training college. It is a small but striking circular building whose form was inspired by the traditional Khmer woven palm leaf hat still worn throughout the countryside - though the structure makes use of ribs of concrete rather than rattan.

Designed by Vann Molyvann, one of the most influential of the Khmer architects, and today still living in Phnom Penh, its circular concrete roof is indented with concrete rays and seems to almost float in a circular glass wall. Inside light is filtered by the careful location of windows so that the interior is not exposed to intense illuminant contrasts.

Architects like Molyvann (as well as the economists, political scientists and lawyers, including those who would lead the Khmer Rouge) who went abroad to study after World War II were the first Cambodians of any significant number to do so. They returned, Ross and Collins note, with both the new ideas of Western modernism - the simplification of form and design following function - with designs and motifs inspired by Cambodian historical and contemporary architectures built in harmony with the country's tropical environment.

For instance, glass was not used on the extensive scale common to Western modernist buildings of the era. Rather - and sensibly so - there was great reliance on open spaces and verandahs allowing natural ventilation. Water was often used as moats around buildings and in courtyard ponds. Spaces under buildings are common as well as roof terraces. Concrete was often combined with brick and stone.

The largest construction of the era is the National Sports Complex, finished in 1964 and built on a 40-hectare site originally designed to host the inaugural Southeast Asian Games in 1963 - but which in fact came to be held in Jakarta. The complex was also designed by Molyvann and made great use of earthworks to shape the site. Half a million cubic meters of earth were dug out of the site and piled up to create an elliptical stadium able to seat 60,000 people.

Royal builder

The authors set their story in the wider context of Cambodia's political and economic development over those years. At the heart of this expansion was Sihanouk, who believed that a widespread pubic construction program was a key to shaping a confident new Cambodia. In this pursuit, the royal figure reportedly saw himself in the tradition of the great Angkor kings of the country's ancient past, emulating in small scale their monumental architectural achievements.

While Sihanouk's leadership has often been criticized as verging on the dictatorial, leading in part perhaps to the country's later traumas, Ross and Collins argue the architecture he oversaw was certainly not that of an authoritarian state. There was diversity, subtlety and innovation and there were no monumental works that de-humanize by their scale. And construction was not just limited to government buildings, monuments, arts and sports centers, hotels and homes for the wealthy.

There were also uniquely constructed schools, university buildings, commercial offices, model factories, churches and private homes for the middle class as well as housing estates for low wage earners. Nor was building limited to just Phnom Penh; works were done all over Cambodia. And it was often meshed with astute town planning, as manifested in the expansion of Phnom Penh.

This was also seen in other newly independent countries in the period. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the Cambodian experience brings to mind Indonesia and president Sukarno's promotion of urban development and architecture. But there seems nothing elsewhere quite like the coherence and extent of the Khmer modernist movement.

So impressed was Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, with the new buildings and gardens of the well-planned Phnom Penh during his visit in 1967 that he saw it as a model for his vision of a modern Singapore. Vann Molyvann recalled decades later that Lee unsuccessfully requested Sihanouk to allow Cambodia's state architects to work in his city-state.

"The term 'new Khmer architecture' was in fact coined in the 1960s, but the detail of this school was later largely forgotten in Cambodia," Collins says. Collins originally came to Cambodia in 1994 as part of an Australian government-funded program to assist with the restoration of Phnom Penh's national museum. Ross, originally from the United Kingdom, moved to Phonm Penh in 1997 from Thailand after having worked on the development of Bangkok's rapid transit system.

Unfortunately, both authors note, much is now being lost or threatened through demolition and unregulated development as more money flows into Cambodia. For instance, chipping away at Molyvann's national sports center is a dense Taiwanese-invested office, shopping and apartment development which is being built literally to encircle the architectural masterpiece.

One of the greatest losses has been the Preah Suramarit national theater, which was opened in 1968 and also designed by Molyvann. Much of the building was gutted by fire in 1994 and no attempt at restoration followed. It has continued to be used by local musicians, dancers and singers as a place for rehearsals, but a recent deal between the Ministry of Culture and the locally-owned Royal Group has the structure scheduled for demolition.

Khmer-designed modernist buildings are at more risk than the old French colonial architecture and planning, Ross and Collins say. That's because the older European structures tend to be more accepted internationally for their heritage value than those of the more recent modernist style - although belatedly world bodies such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization are making efforts to encourage preservation of the mid-20th century legacy.

"These buildings show a real Cambodian spirit," said Collins. "It was a real experiment that worked." So, too, does the authors' book in detailing how the vitality and promise of that short but golden era was captured in the then young country's architecture.

Building Cambodia: New Khmer Architecture 1953-1970 by Helen Grant Ross and Darry Leon Collins, including a preface by His Majesty King Shamoni. The Key Publisher, Bangkok, 2007. ISBN: 974934121. Price US$65, 333 pages.

Andrew Symon is a Singapore-based journalist and analyst specializing in energy and mining issues.