Prince Sirik Matak and Lynda Sisowath in Tokyo (

Lynda Sisowath (L) with Prince Sirik Matak (R) in Tokyo after his return from the Imperial Palace from an audience with Emperor Hirohito. Lynda is the daughter of Prince Youthevong ( Father and founder of our First Constitution ) who was also our former Prime Minister who died in office in 1947. (Photo: courtesy of Lynda Sisowath who now lives happily in Ajaccio, Corsica, south of France)

Open Letter to Prince Sihanouk by Sisowath Sirik Matak (Aug. 27, 1973) - in Khmer, English and French

http://www.box.net/shared/vftf15h9hhpc6bosg6rs

The embassy, the widow and the traitor

April 1975: Some French citizens can be seen discussing with KR soldiers
On this photo published by DPA, Mr. Ung Bun Hor (C) is surrounded by French cops and he seems to be resiting them (Photo: Ullstein, DPA)
Mr. Ung Bun Hor, former president the Khmer Republic regime National Assembly, and his wife, Mrs. Billon Ung during happier time.

By Jérôme Becquet and Adrien Le Gal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
No. 128, Vol. 3, 8-21 April 2010
Translated from French by Pheuk Silola

On 20 April 1975, high-ranking Khmer Republic officials crossed the gate into the French embassy where they would all find a certain death. Did a French citizen betrayed them by informing the Khmer Rouge of their presence? Can the French authorities be blamed for handingover these officials to the KR? The widow of one of these officials hopes to find the truth from the French justice, but she could also turn the ECCC for help.

“I hope that the truth will be given on the exact conditions in which my husband disappeared with the active complicity of the French authorities of the time which were led by President Valery Giscard d’Estaing and also under the Jacques Chirac administration,” claimed Billon Ung, the widow of the president of the Khmer Republic regime National Assembly. The latter took refuge inside the compound of the French embassy.

The date was 20 April 1975. The KR had entered Phnom Penh three days earlier and they emptied the city of all its residents. All foreigners living in the city had gathered at the French embassy, starting on 17 April, several high-ranking officials of the Lon Nol regime also came to find asylum there, including Ung Bun Hor, the president of the National Assembly. However, three days later, the “super-traitors” were sentenced to death by the new KR regime, and they were handed over to the KR who were waiting for them in front of the French embassy, at exactly 3PM, as confirmed by a telegram sent by Jean Dyrac, the French vice-consul, to the Quai d’Orsay [the French ministry of Foreign Affairs]. “I was able to escape with my children 10 days before the arrival of the communist soldiers in the city,” Billon Ung recalled. “In Paris, while watching the news on TV, I saw this photo of him, standing up, about to be handed over to the KR.” Since then, the photo disappeared from the archive of the French National Institute of Audiovisual, Billon Ung claimed.

A widow’s crusade

She obtained her French citizenship in 1976, at the age of 36. Twenty years later, she launched herself into a lengthy legal crusade accusing France of handing over her husband to the KR while he was asking for asylum. “I brought up a lawsuit against X in December 1999 at the Creteil Tribunal, for crime against humanity, assassination, as well as torture and barbaric acts,” she declared. Why did she wait so long? “For security reasons,” Billon Ung claimed.

Since then, the French justice system moved at a snail pace. “Just for my lawsuit case, three investigation judges had to take care of it,” she said. “The second judge to be involved in my case was able to lift the defense secret on one portion of the telegrams exchanged between Jean Dyrac and the then-French authorities. Then, in January 2007, young Judge Toublanc got involved in the case, and he finally declared himself incompetent to continue the investigation.” It was incomprehensible, said Patrick Baudoin, one of the two lawyers of Billon Ung. He also happens to be a lawyer for the International Federation of Human Rigths. “The reason given was that the conditions stipulated by the Penal Code to justify the universal competency of a French judge were not met. The Paris Appeal court confirmed this finding in October 2007, but in January 2009, the Court of Cassation [the equivalent of the Supreme Court] believed that it was the opposite, and that the conditions were all met and the investigation could continue. We cannot talk about active cooperation from the French authorities which are most often hostile to see the conclusion of this case, due to political considerations.”

A “traitor” inside the French embassy?

François Ponchaud who was present in the French embassy during that time, remains hesitant on the need to re-open this case. “I understand Billon Ung’s suffering … But, the KR are the ones who should be blamed, not French vice-consul Jean Dyrac! Nevertheless, if it was found that France gave him the order to hand over these officials [to the KR], then it would be a mistake from the [French] state.”

More troubling news: the fact that the KR knew about the presence of these high-ranking officials inside the French embassy. François Ponchaud added: “I would like to know who gave out the list of Cambodian officials who took refuge inside the embassy. For example, I met Prince Sirik Matak under a big tree on front of the Le Phnom hotel [currently Le Royal Hotel]. He was saying that he “was waiting” for his cousin Sihanouk. One of my friends, Bernard Berger, took him in his Ami 6 car, hid him under a blanket and sneaked him inside the French embassy through the back door. The [French] authorities hid him inside a locked office. Who revealed that he was there? Maybe a French citizen snitched? It is also possible that the KR intercepted the radio communications with France … To me, this remains a mystery.”

Patrice de Beer, then a reporter for the French newspaper Le Monde who was based in Thailand, was also inside the embassy on 17 April, but he said that he did not see “Ung Bun Hor, nor Prince Sirik Matak who, on 12 April, refused the offer made by US ambassador James Gunther Dean to leave Cambodia with him in a helicopter.” “But, we quickly learned that they were inside [the embassy],” he added.

Telegrams sent by Jean Dyrac to the Quai d’Orsay on the same day indicated that “Ung Bun Hor forced the entry [into the embassy], and that he is currently maintained under our control inside one of our rooms. Prince Sirik Matak succeeded in entering the embassy compound by stepping over the gate with two of his bodyguards dressed as civilians.” This story differs from the one told by François Ponchaud. Roland Neveu, a former war photographer, also presented a version that is different from the one told by the embassy. He remembered that members of the Khmer Republic regime were isolated. Patrice de Beer and Roland Neveu described Jean Dyrac as being “overwhelmed by the events,” as a “civil servant – albeit a consular one, i.e. not diplomatic – who takes orders given out by Paris.” “The KR demanded that all Khmer citizens leave the embassy,” Patrice de Beer added. “Curiously, they made an exception for the Cham people. Some Cambodians left on their own accord, such as [Dith Pran], the assistant of the New York Times, who was able to disappear with the crowd and was able to leave Phnom Penh and later survived. We helped him prepare his meager luggage, we gave him dollar bills which he sewed into his clothes. But, one can imagine that the KR would be more brutal against those who resisted their orders. Maybe, they [KR] would have entered the embassy compound.”

Giscard and Chirac targeted

Another telegram by Jean Dyrac dated 18 April 1975 sent to the Quai d’Orsay, informed about the KR demand to visit the embassy. “To this, we replied by a promise to set up a list of all the people present within three days,” Jean Dyrac indicated under increasing pressure. He also sent to Paris a list of people whom the KR wish to be handed over to them. Sirik Matak and Ung Bun Hor featured on that list.

To determine the responsibilities in this case, Billon Ung claimed that she has sufficient “documents that would compromise the French administration of that time.” With the help of William Bourdon and Patrick Beaudoin, her two lawyers, Billon Ung will ask that Valery Giscard d’Estaing and Jacques Chirac appear as a witness “to learn about their exact role during that time.” Giscard d’Estaing was the French president between 1974 and 1981, while Chirac was his prime minister, and both of them were the recipients of the telegrams sent over by Jean Dyrac and François Bizot. “I would like to come face to face with Jean Dyrac and François Bizot to learn the truth and to ask them how they can go to sleep peacefully at night time after handing over more than 800 people to the KR?”, she added.

The French magazine “L’Express” reported in 2009 about “troubling differences over the dates, the schedules, and the famous list … between those included in François Bizot’s book ‘Le Portail’ and some of the depositions transcript.” When asked by Cambodge Soir Hebdo about this topic, François Bizot declined to answer: “Now, I forget all of that. Since this affair is coming back up, I decline all interview requests sent to me. What can one try or want to understand still?” he said.

Another troubling factor: a photo showing Ung Bun Hor with arms raised up and surrounded by two French cops. Published by the US media as a proof to the effect that France handed over the former president of the Khmer Republic National Assembly, however, its origin remains uncertain. The author of this photo was never found. According to Claude Juvenal, a reporter for the AFP, the back of the photo, as also cited by L’Express magazine, showed the date as being 17 April rather than 20 April. Roland Neveu and Patrice de Beer were not there at the time the picture was taken, but the latter said that he did not believe the version in which Ung Bun Hor “left voluntarily as he was resigned to the fact, and that he was dignified,” as reported in Jean Dyrac’s telegram. Patrice de Beer’s version of the event is favored by Billon Ung. François Ponchaud who used to believe that Ung Bun Hor was “pushed out” of the embassy after seeing this photo, is currently no longer certain: “I was inside the embassy, but I did not see the event with my own eyes,” he indicated.

Where will the case head to next? Creteil or the ECCC?

Last January, the Paris Appeal Court confirmed the findings of the Court of Cassation. A new investigation judge should be appointed by the Creteil Tribunal. “The investigation should resume in the upcoming months,” Patrick Beaudoin indicated. Is there any real chance of success? “We are clearly in a case that calls for [the judge’s] universal competency,” Patrick Beaudoin said. “Billon Ung turned to the French justice because it was the only way for her husband’s disappearance not to be left unpunished, and also so that she could have a chance to understand what had happened. Let’s recall that that the French courts have issued two sentences on the basis of the universal competency,” Patrick Baudoin said. Billon Ung even wishes that France “recognizes the fact the French authorities under Giscard and Chirac committed a serious mistake, a criminal act or malfeasance, by handing over my husband to the KR.”

Billon Ung’s lengthy legal battle which was initiated in France ten years ago, will it have a better chance to reach a conclusion in Cambodia? Nowadays, she does not exclude the possibility of joining the civil parties at the ECCC (KR Tribunal, KRT). The events which took place after 17 April 1975 are part of the KRT investigation field. When asked whether it would be possible to summon as witness two former French presidents to Phnom Penh, like the KRT did to six high-ranking CPP officials, investigation Judge Marcel Lemonde declined to comment on the case.

Khmer Republic 1970-1975

KI-Media Note: The following is a compilation of documentaries (mainly from French news agencies) during the period between 1970 and 1975, i.e. under the Khmer Republic regime. The length of the compilation is approximately 120 minutes and it is mostly in French. The compilation is attributed to former Khmer Republic army officers and officials. Nevertheless, these reports can be qualified as independent and they are usually not always favorable toward the Lon Nol regime. Obviously the reports are shown only on the Khmer Republican side as the KR do not allow any access to reporters. Watching the interviews in these reports, with 20/20 hindsight, it is incredible to see the naiveté and the foolishness of some individuals from that period ... as well as, the persistent violence, the human suffering and the leadership blindness.

Part 1 of 15

Part 2 of 15


Part 3 of 15

Part 4 of 15
Part 5 of 15 (Missing: Removed)

Part 6 of 15

Part 7 of 15

Part 8 of 15

Part 9 of 15

Part 10 of 15

Part 11 of 15

Part 12 of 15

Part 13 of 15

Part 14 of 15

Part 15 of 15

Will the dead Lon Nol, Sirik Matak, In Tam, Cheng Heng rise up from their grave to answer King-Father's claim that they own foreign bank accounts?

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Dramatic-Funny Story
By N. Sihanouk

Following the 18 March 1970 anti-Sihanouk and anti-Khmer-monarchy Putsch led by Lon Nol and Sirik Matak, In Tam, Cheng Heng, Mr. In Tam said: “Mrs. Monique Sihanouk owns a large fortune, a huge mountain of US dollars stashed in a British bank. In a room of this British bank, Monique Sihanouk’s US dollar bills almost pierce the roof (sic!!) of this British bank.

Since Monique Sihanouk owns another mountain of US dollars, she decided to entrust this mountain of US dollars to a Swiss Bank.

x
x x

In Beijing, my wife, Monique, immediately convened the International media (their reporters in Beijing). She told them: “Ladies and gentlemen, I am giving you on this very same moment, in writing and with my signature, the authorization to do a research on British and Swiss banks that Mr. In Tam talked about on the so-called US dollars that I would have owned. If you find any, you can take them all (these US dollars). This fortune will belong to you.

Reporters of the major International media went to the banks involved (in the UK and Switzerland). They did not find anything which belonged to me or to my wife Monique. However, they discovered that Lon Nol and some of his accomplices in the 18 March 1970 Putsch in Cambodia had money deposited in foreign banks (overseas).

(Signed) N. Sihanouk
Beijing (P.R. of China), 26 November 2008.

Part 5 of the never-ending battle: When the 18 March 1970 Putschists and their young supporters were divided

Translated from French by Tola Ek

History

“When the 18 March 1970 Putschists and their young supporters were divided”
By N. Sihanouk

The great, serious and prestigious French newspaper, “Le Monde,” (successively) published in 1972, several articles dedicated to Lonnolian students who started to denounce the extreme decay of the Lonnolian regime (Khmer Republic), its dictatorship, its multiple other flaws; (several articles) dedicated also to In Tam, to the “famous” Sirik Matak and other “Khmer Republic” personalities who became fierce “opponents” to Lon Nol, (and) who denounced their own regime formed on 18 March 1970.

(80s Decade). H.E. In Tam even became “Sihanoukist” again, and I made him “Commander of the Sihanoukist armed forces” … until the moment when the Republic of Singapore told me “not to use In Tam anymore” –sic!–

H.E. Cheng Heng also “returned” back to me.

I consider that H.E. In Tam and H.E. Cheng Heng derserve my affection (or, more precisely, the return of my affection to the two of them). As for Prince Sirik Matak, I raised his wife and his children to the rank of Royal Highnesses.

(Signed) Nodorom Sihanouk
May 2008

Political Cartoon: The Great-Hero King & The Traitors

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Part 2 of the never-ending battle: Where King-Father duked it out with the dead Viscount-only Sirik Matak

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

History
“Sirik Matak”
By N. Sihanouk

1- Some “great” journalists and (false) Western historians wrote that Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, through his princely rank within the Khmer Royal Family, had at least as much right “as I (Norodom Sihanouk) do to the (claim) of the Throne of Cambodia,” that was why he was jealous of me and he reacted against me” by associating himself with Lon Nol in the 18 March 1970 Putsch.

2- In reality, Sirik Matak did not have the same princely rank as I (N. Sihanouk) did. According to the then-current rule for the Khmer Monarchy prior to “my reforms” during the years of 1941 to 1969, H.R.H. Sirik Matak only had the rank of “Viscount” –sic!– whereas Norodom Sihanouk (before being King) had the rank of “Duke” (sic!), (which was) ahead of Counts (Neak Ang Mchas) and Viscounts (Neak Ang).

The French Protectorate was only “interested” in “Princes taing Krom -> Krom Preah, Krom Luong, Krom Khun” and “Dukes” (Preah Ang Mchas) to choose somebody to take over the Khmer Throne.

3- (With) N. Sihanouk becoming King of Cambodia, “Prince” Sisowath Sirik Matak was among my “favorites.” I chose him to accompany me to Paris, to Rome (Italy), etc… I nominated him to positions he wanted to occupy.

4- One day before the entering into Phnom Penh of the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge, Sirik Matak publicly confessed that he committed a very serious mistake: he did not want an independent Cambodia, but a Cambodia lackey (he did not pronounce the world “lackey”) of the USA. (It was the reason why he (Sirik Matak) abandoned me to stay with the great, pro-US Imperialism Lon Nol).

(Signed) N. Sihanouk

Siem Reap-Angkor, 01 May 2008

Don't miss the upcoming episode of the never-ending battle: The coward and diabolic Long Boret

The miscalculation of Cambodia's shrewdest politician ... Prince Norodom Sihanouk

Part 1 (in French)
Part 2 (in French)

No More Vietnams (or Cambodias)

8.23.2007
Peter Wehner
CommentaryMagazine.com

In his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars yesterday, President Bush reminded us of the agony and genocide that followed the American retreat in Vietnam:

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution. In Vietnam, former allies of the United States and government workers and intellectuals and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens of thousands perished. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country on rickety boats, many of them going to their graves in the South China Sea. Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. . . . Whatever your position is on that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like “boat people,” “re-education camps,” and “killing fields.”

These words summon to mind a powerful passage from the third volume of Henry Kissinger’s memoirs, Years of Renewal, about the horror that befell Cambodia in the wake of Congress’s decision to cut off funding to the governments of Cambodia and South Vietnam.

Kissinger writes that messages were sent to top-level Cambodians offering to evacuate them, but to the astonishment and shame of Americans, the vast majority refused. Responding to one such offer, the former Prime Minister Sirik Matak sent a handwritten note to John Gunther Dean, the U.S. Ambassador, while the evacuation was in progress:

Dear Excellency and Friend:

I thank you very sincerely for your letter and for your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it.

You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is no matter, because we all are born and must die. I have only committed this mistake of believing in you [the Americans].

Please accept, Excellency and dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments.

S/Sirik Matak

Kissinger continues:

On April 13th, the New York Times correspondent [Sydney Schanberg] reported the American departure under the headline, “Indochina Without Americans: For Most, a Better Life.” The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on April 17th . . . . The 2 million citizens of Phnom Penh were ordered to evacuate the city for the countryside ravaged by war and incapable of supporting urban dwellers unused to fending for themselves. Between 1 and 2 million Khmer were murdered by the Khmer Rouge until Hanoi occupied the country at the end of 1978, after which a civil war raged for another decade. Sirik Matak was shot in the stomach and left without medical help. It took him three days to die.

This is a sober reminder that there are enormous human, as well as geopolitical, consequences when nations that fight for human rights and liberty grow weary and give way to barbaric and bloodthirsty enemies.