Super Tuesday, What it means for Cambodia?

KI-Media Note

Dear Readers,

We are presenting below an opinion expressed by Cambodian-Americans on the US presidential primary. The opinion expressed below is solely that of the author of the article. We invite our readers to send in your opinions and reflections on other US presidential contenders. Please email them to us for posting at: kiletters@gmail.com

Thank you,

KI-Media Team
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Op-Ed by Khmer Quorum
Originally posted at http://khmerquorum.blogspot.com

A battlefield toward a presidential nomination for the two major parties--Democrat and Republican in the US, the largest democratic country in the world-- has turned fiercely on Tuesday night , February 5, 2008. While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s contest has turned into a deadlock , on the Republican side, John McCain has emerged as a front-runner among his opponents-- Mitt Romney and Mike Hukabee who have adopted more conservative approach on social issue-- after wining the two key states, New York and California.

What does it mean for Cambodia if Senator John McCain win the presidency in November? As an American hero during Vietnam War, McCain is prominent among American publics for his honesty and moderate political view. During Vietnam War, his air plane was shot down by the Vietnamese anti-aircraft missile , and his fade was ended up in a Vietnamese jail kwon as Hanoi Helton. As an air force commander, he refused to leave the jail until all American prisoners would be released with him.

For contemporary American politicians, McCain is the most knowledgeable politician for Southeast Asia politics, especially Vietnam and Cambodia. He is a staunch supporter of democratic cause in Cambodia. Since 1993, McCain has openly and fiercely criticized human rights record in Cambodia and condemned Hun Sen directly for his numerous ruthless actions against his opponents. Senator McCain also has a warm relationship with many Cambodian opposition leaders such as Mr. Son Subear, Mr. Sam Rainsey, Mr. Kem Sokha, and so on.

In the US, McCain is a political icon and a trusted politician among many Cambodian Americans. He always helps Cambodian Americans to address all issues related to their homeland. As a senator from Arizona where only a few Cambodians have settled, McCain possesses a limited power to help Cambodian people to fight for true democracy for their homeland. But if he become the president of the US, the most powerful country on earth, he will have more power to help Cambodian people to fight for their freedom.

Based on his background and good record for helping Cambodian community, all Cambodian Americans should consider John McCain as a first choice for their ballot in this November election. Although recently American foreign policy toward Cambodia has been changed drastically, do not discourage because Americans have never abandoned their principle as the great democratic champion in the world. When Americans win the war on terrorism, democracy will become their top priority for their foreign policy again.

The Concept of Nation and State

Sun, 6 Jan 2008
Op-Ed by Khmer Quorum
Originally posted online

Nation and state, which comes first? A nation is a population with a certain sense of itself, a share of common history and culture, and sometime language and religion. Whereas a state is a government structure, truly sovereign and powerful enough to protect itself and to enforce its writs. Nation always has developed before the state. People in the ancient time, lived in many small tribal societies. They perceived their tribal society or clans as a nation, for they shared common culture, language, and religious practice. Because of war and threats from outsiders, people started to create their own states in order to safeguard their lives, properties, and culture.

In modern time, nation has many defined characteristics: territory, sovereignty, population, independence, and government. In general, every nation occupies a specific geographical area; it is hard to have a nation without a territory. Sometime overlap territory claim results in violent conflicts. Few countries have natural boundaries. The German fought the French over Alsace, the Vietnamese fought Cambodian and Chinese in 1979 over border disputes. Every nation has people within its borders but most of those people are multi-nationalities. The multi-national nation tends to be unstable and fragile. The Kurds in Turkey and Iraq have struggled for decades to gain their nationhood. About eight millions of Khmer Krom who have lived in their homeland for centuries, now are struggling to gain their autonomous rule and nationhood from Vietnam. Today, they have their exile government that is a current member of the UNPO.

Nation should also be independent, meaning it can govern itself as a sovereign state without interfering from others. But many smaller and weaker countries have had difficulty with maintaining their independence and national sovereignty. For example, the two weak and small countries, Cambodia and Laos, for centuries have struggled to survive their independence from Vietnam and Thai Land--the bigger and stronger neighbors. Ho Chi Minh had dreamed of bigger Indochina Federation the same as Stalin's dream of bigger Soviet Union after the end of World War II. Stalin's dream had become true before his death, but Ho Chi Minh's dream has hardly become true. But, when it becomes true, it never disappears like Stalin's dream in 1991. Historically, Vietnamese were well-known as skillful warriors. They expelled the Chinese rulers after many hundreds years under their yoke. Then, they had marched toward the West to crush the kingdom of Champa in fourteenth century, and they went farther West to cut a half part of Cambodian territory known as Kampuchea Krom (Cambodian Lower Land) in sixteenth century. After defeating their stronger enemy-- the French colonizers in 1954-- The Vietnamese looked for Laos and Cambodia to fulfill their father Ho's dream. During the French and American occupation in Indochina until 1975, the Vietnamese communists under a leadership of Ho Chi Minh, tirelessly recruited and supplied Cambodians and Laotians factions to fight the French and American occupiers.

Unfortunately, the Geneva Peace Accord in 1954 put Vietnam in Political dilemma. Vietnam was unable to unify itself, and its Cambodian communist allies (Khmer Vietminh) were excluded from the peace process. However, the Vietnamese communists continued to train and equip their communist allies in Laos and Cambodia to fight the newly independent states. When the US sent its troop to protect its allies in Indochina, the Vietnamese communists saw their new opportunity to achieve their goal. They sent their troops into Cambodia and Laos under a banner to help their brothers from American imperialists. After the end of Vietnam War in 1975, about 50,000 Vietnamese communist fighters had occupied Laos . But at the same time, all Vietnamese occupiers were expelled from Cambodia because the Cambodian government under Pol Pot wanted to exercise its own sovereignty and independence based on the concept of nation state. However, Hanoi regime felt betrayed again, this time not by the Geneva Conference but by its own comrade regime led by Pol Pot.

In 1979, rumored of great purge inside the communist regime in Cambodia along with many unsettled border disputes had created an excuse for Vietnam to restore its "Status Quo" over Cambodia again. Hanoi Regime sent 200,000 troop equipped with the Soviet-made T-54 tanks and Mig-21 jets to invade Cambodia, this time under the banner to save Cambodian people from a genocide. With sophisticated weapons and stronger manpower, the Vietnamese troop captured Phnom Penh in two weeks, and they installed the other communist regime that has ruled Cambodia until today.

If Pol Pot had accepted the Vietnam's status quo as Laos had done, Hanoi would allow Pol Pot to rule Cambodia until today regardless of how much atrocity he had committed against Cambodian people. Recently, Hun Sen has kept claiming that January 7, 1979 has given a second birthday for every Cambodian people because Vietnam had saved us from Pol Pot's killing field. This claim is irrational and obsolete. It is too insane or absurd to see the Vietnamese behaving as Bodhisattva (Buddhist Saint). In reality, there is no free lunch in this world. Laos and Cambodia have never gained full independence since the French left Indochina in 1954. Their independence and sovereignty have been constantly interfered by Vietnam in all aspects of domestic and international affairs. No any government in Cambodia would be stable and last longer if it did not accept Vietnamese patronage. This is a real problem with the concept of nation and state. Who is going to insure that which nation has full or partial independence? The UN? Maybe only the people themselves in that nation can guarantee that their nation has full independence or not.

By Khmer Quorum, MN, US

Cambodians' Pride of Their Culture and New Lives

Map of Minnesota, USA, a new home for Cambodian-Americans in the US

Wat Munisoratam pagoda (Photo: http://www.wattmunisota.org)
Traditional Khmer dance at Watt Munisotaram pagoda (Photo: http://www.wattmunisota.org)

Thu, 3 Jan 2008
Op-Ed by Khmer Quorum

Minnesota is known as a land of ten thousand lakes and home of Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the US. Geographically, Minnesota is a large state in the Midwest of the US, which has an area a bit bigger than Cambodia, but it has a population of only 5 million. In term of climate, Minnesota is among the coldest state in the country; temperature in Winter can go as low as -60 degree Fahrenheit (-51 degree Celsius). However, this harsh and dangerous weather doesn't bother many Cambodian-Americans from choosing this state as their permanent place because of job availability, good quality of education and health care services, and moderate cost of living.

Roughly, there are about 10,000 Cambodian Americans currently live in Minnesota; most of them settle in the suburb area of the Twin City (Minneapolis and Saint Paul) where there are a lot of big beautiful homes,city parks, fancy shopping malls, and excellent schools for their children. About 80 percent of them own a single family home which has a price range from $200,000 to $1 million. And each family at least own two cars that are used as their personal transportation for their daily works. They work in different careers from factory workers to upper level of professional jobs such as technicians, engineers, teachers, police officers, lawyers, doctors ... Some successful Cambodian Americans here own restaurants, stores, and mid-size and small companies.

The remarkable success for Cambodian Americans here is based on their hard work, not from any mean of corruption. Most Cambodians like to work overtime from 10 to 12 hours a day, and some work two jobs seven day a week. Too much work load and less time with family has created a lot of stress and family problems also. To release their stress, they like to do party such as Birthday, Graduation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. These occasions have provided a great opportunity for them to socialize with relatives and friends. More than this, they have a chance to sing Karaoke and play games or cards together. Others probably choose fishing, camping, hunting, and sport for their leisure time.

Another remarkable success for Cambodian Americans in Minnesota is not about family's wealth but about community. Although we are from the country where national disunity has prevailed for decades, in here Theravada Buddhism has brought us together as a single community. To keep our religion to survive in the new land, All Cambodian here have come together to build a large temple (Wat) on 40 acre land with a price tage of almost $2 million, and it was named Munisotaram. It now become the largest Khmer Buddhist temple (Wat) in the US. The red, golden roof of a two story temple located on a top of the hill, about 20 miles from the Twin City has become a beautiful landmark in Minnesota. When we drive to Munisotaram on a road through the cornfield, we can see the red and golden roof miles away, which appears above the green cornfield during summer and the white snow carpet during winter. We are proud to see our culture still survives in a land that is ten thousand miles away from our motherland. We never know how much we love our culture and motherland until we have become the immigrant living in another country.

Minnesota has a very harsh and severe cold in Winter, but during Summer, it turns into the most beautiful state in the US. With beautiful nature of ten thousand of lakes and green cornfield, job availability, excellent health care and education services, and moderate cost of living, Minnesota has become an attractive place for many immigrants around the world, including Cambodian immigrants.

By Khmer Quorum, MN, USA

For additional information on Watt Munisotaram, please click here.

Legitimacy and Monarchy in Cambodia

King Sihamoni being greeted by the CPP trio (Hun Sen, Heng Samrin, Chea Sim) during the 2007 Water Festival (Photo: Reuters)

Tue, 1 Jan 2008
Op-Ed by Khmer Quorum
Posted online

Cambodia has experienced long rule of monarchy for centuries except from 1970-93. The monarchy is not only a top administrative body, but it is also a real symbol of legitimacy, sovereignty and independence of the country. When the royal institution has gradually lost its power and gotten weaker, many foreigners and politicians have used the monarchy as a tool to gain their political ambition and legitimacy.

Since the beginning of the first century, Cambodia was ruled by many kings, queens, and usurpers who had illegally seized the throne and proclaimed themselves as legitimate rulers. Without proclaiming themselves as a king or a queen, they would lose their legitimacy and recognition from the people. When foreigners had conquered the country, they also crowned the king or queen whom they had chosen. From 16th-19th centuries numerous kings and queens were put into the throne on the wills of Thai and Vietnamese conquerors in order to gain their legitimacy for their occupation.

In 1863, when the French had placed Cambodia under their protectorate, They still preserved the throne for King Ang Duong and his dynasty. The French realized that without the monarchy, they lacked legitimacy to rule Cambodia. The monarchy not only helped to legitimize the French rule, but it performed many functions that cemented the good relationship between the French administrators and the common people. When people were discontent with the French administrators, they always brought their complaints to the king and asking him to intervene. Sometimes the king took side with people or vice versa. The French also had to balance their own interest with the interest to preserve the throne too.

After independence from France, the monarchy still has been used by many politicians as a tool to gain their popularity and support from the people. In 1970s, Pol Pot used King Sihanouk's popularity and his image to mobilized poor peasants in his revolutionary movement to gain power in 1975. But after Pol Pot completely gained power in his hand, Sihanouk and his family members were put into house arrest, and some of royal family members were killed or starved to death.

In 1979, the Communist Vietnamese had invaded Cambodia and installed their puppet government to rule the country until today. But this government severely lacked its legitimacy because the UN and the international communities did not recognize it except a few countries in the Soviet's Bloc. Until 1990, when Vietnam unilaterally claimed that it fully had withdrawn its troops from Cambodia and allowed a free and fair election supervised by the UN. As a result, the Ex-communist Party (CPP) led by a strong man Hun Sen lost the 1993 election to the Royalist Party (FUNCINPEC). To save his power, Hun Sen proclaimed himself as a faithful royalist and even became an adopted son of King Sihanouk. At the same time, he threatened the civil war if Prince Ranariddh refused to share power with him.

To avoid an unpredictable civil war, Prince Ranariddh forced himself to accept a sharing power formula set by Hun Sen and approved by King father. The new coalition government was formed under a co-premiership of Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen. Again, Sihanouk was crowned as a constitutional monarch who has limited power in a new constitution. Not much different from his predecessor Pol Pot, Hun Sen has gradually consolidated all power into his hand and abused all King Sihanouk's constitutional power. Sihanouk then being used as a tool to legitimize Hun Sen's rule. Being abused and violated his constitutional power by Hun Sen, King Sihanouk had abdicated his throne in 2004, and he favored his son Prince Sihamoni, who has no political experience and a former ballet dancer, to succeed him.

Cambodia constitutional monarchy is meaningless compared to the other constitutional monarchies around the world such as Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Britain, Sweden and so on. Thai King, for instance, is highly respected by all Thai people regardless of what political and religious faith they have. Thai King sometimes intervenes in political conflicts by using his ultimate constitutional power to solve the problems based on his impartial judgment and wisdom. In 1992, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was praised by many political observers when he carefully helped to end a bloody military coup and to restore democracy to his kingdom. In 2001, when Cambodian mobs orchestrated by Hun Sen, stormed and burned Thai embassy and their business properties in Phnom Penh, and at the same time, Thai demonstrators were ready to storm Cambodian embassy in Bangkok in retaliation, King Adulyadej called for his people to go back home, for he believes that violence cannot subdue by violence but by tolerance. In 2006, Thailand again fell into political chaos; a number of large demonstrations on the streets in Bangkok demanding Prime Minister Thaksin to resign for his corruption and abuse of power. Thaksin had rejected the demand and continued to rule the country without parliament, which was previously dissolved. Legitimacy of Thaksin's government was in question, and it led to another military coup against the Thaksin government while he was outside of the country. Fortunately, no blood had been shed at this time, and the King again had used his constitutional power to appoint a new interim prime minister to rule the country until a new election took place on December 2007 that brought back the pro-Thaksin party to power. The Thai King is not only a real symbol of unity and legitimacy of the country, but he also represents a source of ultimate power and wisdom, who helps to preserve stability and democracy for the country.

On the contrary, Cambodian monarchy is so weak and not represented an ultimate source of power that can help to protect national sovereignty, stability, and democracy in the country even though the new constitution explicitly granted the power to the king in a chaos period. When Hun Sen launched a bloody coup to oust Prince Ranariddh from power in 1997, he ignored all King Sihanouk's calls for peaceful negotiation. And he continued his bloody battle until he gained full control of power. the King 's constitutional power has been deprived by Hun Sen, and he uses the king as a rubber stamp and shield to legitimize his dictatorship.

It is very shameful for our country which has claimed to embrace the constitutional monarchy based on democratic principle. In fact, the constitutional monarchy in Cambodia has only a title. In real practice, the country has been ruled by a dictatorial regime. Pol Pot and Hun Sen are the two famous dictators in Cambodian modern history; they have manipulated the royal institution to gain their legitimacy and political ambition. From now on, our king should no longer be a political captive of any politician. He should adhere to the principle of the constitutional monarchy which states that the king reigns but not rule. In this sense, the king and all royal family members must stay clear from politics in order to protect their royal integrity.

But if the politicians violate the king's constitutional power, he should abdicate the throne rather than reigning as a puppet king.