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| Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com) |
Showing posts with label Vietnamese aggression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnamese aggression. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Rainsy Prediction
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Sam Rainsy: "I never consider any Cambodian as my enemy, but I must confront the Vietnamese aggression"
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| លោក សម រង្ស៊ី ប្រធានគណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី - Opposition leader Sam Rainsy |
លោក សម រង្ស៊ី៖ «ខ្ញុំមិនដែលចាត់ទុកខ្មែរណា ជាសត្រូវទេ តែខ្ញុំប្រឈមមុខជាមួយយួនឈ្លានពាន»
សុក្រ 08 មិថុនា 2012
ដោយ គួច គន្ធារ៉ា
Radio France Internationale
ភ្ញៀវប្រចំាសប្តាហ៍របស់វិទ្យុបារំាងអន្តរជាតិនៅថ្ងៃសៅរ៍ ទី៩ មិថុនានេះ គឺលោក សម រង្ស៊ី ប្រធានគណបក្ស សម រង្ស៊ី។ ឆ្លើយនឹងសំណួររបស់គួច គន្ធារ៉ា លោកសម រង្ស៊ីបានបញ្ជាក់ថា ការវិលមកបង្កើតសម្ព័ន្ធភាពជាថ្មីរវាងគណបក្សសម រង្ស៊ី និងគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សពេលនេះ គឺដើម្បីទប់ទល់នឹងគណបក្សប្រជាជន និងដើម្បីដណ្តើមជោគជ័យនាការបោះឆ្នោតជាតិនៅឆ្នំា ២០១៣ ខាងមុខ។ ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងការវិលត្រឡប់ចូលប្រទេសកម្ពុជាវិញ លោក សម រង្ស៊ីបានអះអាងថា លោកមិនត្រូវការឲ្យមានការសម្របសម្រួលផ្ទៃក្នុងដូចមុនទៀតឡើយ តែស្វែងរកអន្តរាគមន៍ពីបរទេសឲ្យគាបសង្កត់ចៅហ្វាយកម្ពុជាដែលលោកបានចង្អុលចំ គឺប្រទេសវៀតណាម៕
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Sam Rainsy: "I never consider any Cambodian as my enemy, but I must confront the Vietnamese aggression"
Friday 08 June 2012
By Kuoch Kuntheara
Radio France Internationale
RFI’s guest for this Saturday 09 June is Mr. Sam Rainsy, President of the Sam Rainsy Party. In response to questions raised by Kuoch Kuntheara, Sam Rainsy confirmed that the renewed talk on the alliance between the SRP and the HRP is done to confront the CPP and to bring victory for the upcoming 2013 general election. Regarding his return to Cambodia, Sam Rainsy claimed that he does not need any internal arrangement like he had in the past, but he is looking for pressure intervention from foreign countries on Cambodia’s boss: Vietnam.
Click on the control below to listen to the interview
Saturday, June 09, 2012
កូនជឹងយួន និងមេវា នឹង សម្ពោធបង្គោលព្រំដែន ដែលយួនឈ្លានពាន
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| Left: Dung; Right: Viet's Dung ឆ្វេង៖ អាចម៏គោ; ស្តាំ៖ អាចម៏គោយួន |
ថ្ងៃទី 9 មិថុនា 2012
ដោយ: គ្រីទិច
Cambodia Express News
ភ្នំពេញ: សម្តេចនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន និងលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីវៀតណាម ង្វៀន តាន់យុង ( Nguyen Tan Dung ) នឹងជួបជុំដើម្បីបើកសម្ពោធបង្គោលព្រំដែនចុងក្រោយលេខ ៣១៤ នៅក្នុងខេត្តកំពត និងខេត្តហាលទៀង ( Ha Tien ) ប្រទេសវៀតណាម នាព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី២៤ ខែមិថុនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២។ ពិធីសម្ពោធបង្គោលព្រំដែននោះ គឺធ្វើឡើង ចំខួប ៥០ ឆ្នាំ នៃទំនាក់ទំនងការទូតរវាងកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម។
ក្រោយពិធីនោះ ប្រមុខរដ្ឋាភិបាលទាំងពីរ ក៏ចូលរួមក្នុងវេទិកាសន្និសីទរួមគ្នានៅខេត្តឆ្នេរសមុទ្ររបស់វៀតណាម ដើម្បីទាក់ទាញអ្នកវិនិយោគរវាងកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម។
លោក វ៉ា គីមហុង ទេសរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ទទួលបន្ទុកកិច្ចការព្រំដែន របស់រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា បង្គោលព្រំដែនកម្ពុជា-វៀតណាម លេខ ៣១៤ ក្នុងខេត្តកំពតដែលជាបង្គោលព្រំដែនចុងក្រោយគេ រវាងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម បានបោះរួចរាល់ ហើយសម្តេចនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន និងលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីវៀតណាម នឹងអញ្ជើញទៅបើកសម្ពោធជាផ្លូវការនាព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី២៤ ខែមិថុនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២។
លោកទេសរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី វ៉ា គីមហុង បានបន្ថែមថា បន្ទាប់ពីពិធីបើកសម្ពោធបង្គោលព្រំដែនចុងក្រោយរវាងកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម សម្តេចនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន និងលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីវៀតណាម នឹងចូលរួមក្នុងសន្និសីទរួមគ្នា និយាយពីការទាក់ទាញអ្នកវិនិយោគកម្ពុជា និងវៀតណាម។ សន្និសីទនោះនឹងធ្វើឡើងនៅខេត្តហាលទៀង ប្រទេសវៀតណាម។
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Why we threw Sihanouk out - By Yem Sambaur, Cambodian Justice Minister
http://www.box.com/s/010b42f7ecaef548b152
Why we threw Sihanouk out
by Yem Sambaur, Cambodian Justice Minister
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| Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com) |
To give a general view of the problem being set actually in my country, to the distinguished delegates present, 1 am going with your permission to set forth successively:
Firstly, what was the Vietcong-North Vietnamese forces implantation in Cambodia at the beginning of March 1970, that means before the characterized aggression of my country by those forces.
Secondly, what was the chronology of the recent political events which preceded, then followed that aggression perpetrated by the Vietcong-North Vietnamese forces.
Thirdly, what is the present record of damage caused in Cambodia by that aggression.
Lastly, what were the means used by the Cambodian Government with a view to avoiding the crisis provoked by the Republic of North Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, and then when the crisis exploded, with a view to solving it by means of safeguarding my country's neutrality.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Hanoi, Go Home!
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| Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com) |
Monday, September 05, 2011
Two HRP activists arrested for accusing Vietnam of aggression
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| The two HRP activists arrested in Kampong Cham (Photo: CEN) |
02 Sept 2011
By Den Ayuhyea
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Click here to read the original article in Khmer
HRP leaders declared that the recent arrest of their activists is a case of intimidation.
On Saturday 03 September, Kem Sokha, HRP president, called on his party members and local supporters to be courageous and to fight all obstacles and they should not fall on tricks set by the ruling party against the HRP.
Kem Sokha’s call came after cops from Kampong Cham arrested two HRP activists on 01 September and sent them to court. In the afternoon of 02 September, Kampong Cham court judge accused the two activists of incitation to criminal act and of creating social unrest.
In the evening of Thursday 01 September 2011, two HRP activists were arrested by Kampong Cham cops because they were distributing party documents involving Vietnam’s hegemony on Cambodia. Currently, the pair is ordered detained while waiting for their sentence.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The Heart of Khmer Krom Women - by Ms. Sim Touch (Khmer Republic era song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hk7haK2Gz8
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Scholar Suggests Forgotten Era in Vietnam Relations
The Overseas Vietnamese Associations in Cambodia worry Khmer citizens (Photo and article: Khmer Nation newspaper)By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
06 April 2009
Behind the bitter sentiment toward the Vietnamese in Cambodia is a forgotten, significant piece of history that only goes back about 60 years, according to a US researcher.
Shawn McHale, a professor at George Washington University, told a US audience recently that the period between 1945 and 1949 marked the turning point in the sour relationship between the two neighbors, including Cambodia’s claim to land in southern Vietnam, Vietnamese settlement and intervention in Cambodia and anti-Vietnamese propaganda by the French.
Many Cambodians point to a long history of strife with their eastern neighbors. But past researchers have also failed to look at the Vietnamese perspective, McHale said, in arguments rejected by other researchers and representatives of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the Khmer ethnic group living in southern Vietnam.
As the French were leaving what was then called Indochina, an area that took up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, they partitioned the Mekong Delta into southern Vietnam. However, McHale says, recognizing that anti-Vietnamese sentiment could be stirred up in the Khmers, they used the latter in an alliance against the Viet Minh, the anti-colonialist group fighting for independence in northern Vietnam.
“The French actually played off, in certain times, the ethnic Khmer against the ethnic Vietnamese,” McHale told a group of some 20 professors and students. “The French actually came to realize that the ethnic Khmers could be a staunch ally against the communist-led Viet Minh, so they allied more with ethnic Khmers.”
McHale claims the French aligned with Cambodia, staging racist propaganda against the Vietnamese. That anti-Vietnamese sentiment was then picked up by the Khmer Rouge, whose racist policies led to the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese.
McHale, who took several research trips to Vietnam and three trips to Cambodia, criticized past researchers for not looking at root causes leading to the controversy between Cambodia and Vietnam. Researchers tend to look at the existing hatred between Cambodia and Vietnam, but they did not take into account the periods when both sides got along, he said.
“The fact is the Khmers and Vietnamese manage to get along most of the time, whether they are in Vietnam or in Cambodia,” he said. “So any explanation has to explain why people didn’t get along sometimes and other times [they]…actually end up butchering each other.”
While some research looks at discrimination against the Khmer ethnic group by Vietnamese, they fail to look at the voice of the Vietnamese. For instance, McHale said, the Vietnamese suffered under a movement he called “Kap Yuon” or, the Yuon Beheadings, which he said took place in 1945. Yuon is derogatory term in Khmer for the Vietnamese.
Some of McHale’s arguments, however, met criticism from the Khmer Krom community.
“The French did not favor the Khmers more than the Vietnamese. If they did, they would not have given Khmer territory to Vietnam,” said Thach Setha, a former Cambodian senator and chairman of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, in a phone interview with VOA Khmer. “This is an analysis that I would say does not match with the real history of the Khmer people.”
It was not territorial issues alone that led to the rivalry between the two neighbors, but a long history of cultural and religious repression, he said.
Some researchers point to periods between the 17th Century and 19th centuries, when Cambodia fell under Vietnamese hegemony.
“There were uprisings against the Vietnamese in the 18th Century, when the Vietnamese forced the Khmers to change their traditions and to dress like Vietnamese,” said Ros Chantraboth, a Cambodian history and vice president of the Cambodian Royal Academy.
The “Kap Yuon” uprising could not have taken place during the near-century rule of the French, which ended in 1954, he said.
Whatever the past history, more recent events have also strained the relationship between citizens in the two countries.
The Cambodian government enjoys a strong relationship with Vietnam, with many of its senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, placed in administrative positions after Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and began a decade-long occupation.
Now, Vietnamese associations exist in all 24 municipalities and provinces in Cambodia.
“In general, Vietnamese and Cambodians live together in harmony,” said Sem Chi, chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia.
Still, fear of Vietnamese integration into Cambodia, whether through political influence from Hanoi or by immigration from Vietnamese into Cambodia, is a sensitive subject for some everyday Cambodians.
McHale argues that a better understanding of the history between the two neighbors, and the period of 1945, could help smooth tensions between them.
Shawn McHale, a professor at George Washington University, told a US audience recently that the period between 1945 and 1949 marked the turning point in the sour relationship between the two neighbors, including Cambodia’s claim to land in southern Vietnam, Vietnamese settlement and intervention in Cambodia and anti-Vietnamese propaganda by the French.
Many Cambodians point to a long history of strife with their eastern neighbors. But past researchers have also failed to look at the Vietnamese perspective, McHale said, in arguments rejected by other researchers and representatives of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the Khmer ethnic group living in southern Vietnam.
As the French were leaving what was then called Indochina, an area that took up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, they partitioned the Mekong Delta into southern Vietnam. However, McHale says, recognizing that anti-Vietnamese sentiment could be stirred up in the Khmers, they used the latter in an alliance against the Viet Minh, the anti-colonialist group fighting for independence in northern Vietnam.
“The French actually played off, in certain times, the ethnic Khmer against the ethnic Vietnamese,” McHale told a group of some 20 professors and students. “The French actually came to realize that the ethnic Khmers could be a staunch ally against the communist-led Viet Minh, so they allied more with ethnic Khmers.”
McHale claims the French aligned with Cambodia, staging racist propaganda against the Vietnamese. That anti-Vietnamese sentiment was then picked up by the Khmer Rouge, whose racist policies led to the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese.
McHale, who took several research trips to Vietnam and three trips to Cambodia, criticized past researchers for not looking at root causes leading to the controversy between Cambodia and Vietnam. Researchers tend to look at the existing hatred between Cambodia and Vietnam, but they did not take into account the periods when both sides got along, he said.
“The fact is the Khmers and Vietnamese manage to get along most of the time, whether they are in Vietnam or in Cambodia,” he said. “So any explanation has to explain why people didn’t get along sometimes and other times [they]…actually end up butchering each other.”
While some research looks at discrimination against the Khmer ethnic group by Vietnamese, they fail to look at the voice of the Vietnamese. For instance, McHale said, the Vietnamese suffered under a movement he called “Kap Yuon” or, the Yuon Beheadings, which he said took place in 1945. Yuon is derogatory term in Khmer for the Vietnamese.
Some of McHale’s arguments, however, met criticism from the Khmer Krom community.
“The French did not favor the Khmers more than the Vietnamese. If they did, they would not have given Khmer territory to Vietnam,” said Thach Setha, a former Cambodian senator and chairman of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, in a phone interview with VOA Khmer. “This is an analysis that I would say does not match with the real history of the Khmer people.”
It was not territorial issues alone that led to the rivalry between the two neighbors, but a long history of cultural and religious repression, he said.
Some researchers point to periods between the 17th Century and 19th centuries, when Cambodia fell under Vietnamese hegemony.
“There were uprisings against the Vietnamese in the 18th Century, when the Vietnamese forced the Khmers to change their traditions and to dress like Vietnamese,” said Ros Chantraboth, a Cambodian history and vice president of the Cambodian Royal Academy.
The “Kap Yuon” uprising could not have taken place during the near-century rule of the French, which ended in 1954, he said.
Whatever the past history, more recent events have also strained the relationship between citizens in the two countries.
The Cambodian government enjoys a strong relationship with Vietnam, with many of its senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, placed in administrative positions after Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and began a decade-long occupation.
Now, Vietnamese associations exist in all 24 municipalities and provinces in Cambodia.
“In general, Vietnamese and Cambodians live together in harmony,” said Sem Chi, chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia.
Still, fear of Vietnamese integration into Cambodia, whether through political influence from Hanoi or by immigration from Vietnamese into Cambodia, is a sensitive subject for some everyday Cambodians.
McHale argues that a better understanding of the history between the two neighbors, and the period of 1945, could help smooth tensions between them.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Koh Tral real owners are becoming the slaves while the aggressors become the new owners
Discussion on the ownership of the island taken away by Vietnam
The Free Press Magazine
Vol. 1, No. 2
January 2008
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
On the busy island which looks like a modern city, no more than 10 families of Cambodian-origin people are living there. Their lives are likened to those of slaves, they do not own lands, have no land titles to survive, unlike the Vietnamese people who settled on the Khmer Koh Tral Island, dubbed Phu Quoc by the Vietnamese.
61-year-old Ly Kim Chin and his family live in a miserable hut next to the beach on the southern side of Koh Tral Island. His livelihood and that his 63-year-old wife, Chau Thi Linh, depends on his fishing labor job, and construction work for a group of rich group of Vietnamese people and businessmen.
60-year-old Chau Si Dorn indicated that he was born and always lived on Koh Tral Island, but he claimed that he does not own lands to grow crops like the Vietnamese people: “I live in a hut along the beach for almost 60-year already, but I don’t own land and I don’t have a steady job besides working as a laborer for the Vietnamese.”
Cambodian people living on the island said that the Vietnamese people who lived there became rich and owned hotels, guesthouses, boats, motorboats, large ships, and they collect incomes from fishing, tourism, and Casinos.
Currently, Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) has a seaport, an airport, and the Duong Dong city was also established here.
A Vietnamese teacher, who provides tourism training in hotels and boat stewardship on the island, told The Free Press Magazine (FPM) that this island is located about 15-km from Kampot province, and 45-km from Ha Tien province (Peam province in Khmer), Vietnam, and about 120-km from Rach Gia (Kramuon Sar in Khmer) port, Vietnam. She added that Koh Tral is currently a district of Kien Giang province, Vietnam (Kramuon Sar province in Khmer).
Cambodian fishermen living along the seas said that Cambodian people not holding the Vietnamese citizenship are prohibited from entering Koh Tral, and they are required to obtain a visa to visit the island.
An anonymous Cambodian navy soldier based in the Cambodian seas in Kampot province, revealed that if someone owns a CPP party membership card, then he/she is allowed to visit the island by Vietnamese border patrol and immigration officers, and that person does not need any visa.
Ly Kim Chin said that Koh Tral Island is really a Cambodian island, he said that several generations of Cambodians living there have passed down this information to their offspring. Originally, there were only 4 to 5 Cambodian families living there, however, starting from the 17th century, a flow of Vietnamese settlers came to occupy the island. “From what I know, Koh Tral is a Cambodian island, but the French gave this Cambodian island to Vietnam in 1939.”
Lawyer Touch Bora from Sydney, Australia, wrote that, in spite of the fact that France gave this island to Vietnam, the sovereignty of the island by Cambodia is not lost yet. He recognized that the Vietnamese people came to settle on this island in the past centuries, however, past Cambodian kings have claimed the ownership of this island, as well as several other territories occupied by Vietnam by force, from one generation to the next.
Touch Bora added that, since the mid-19th century, i.e. starting from 1856, King Ang Duong demanded these lands and island back to Cambodia, and this action continued all the way to his great-grandson, King Norodom Sihanouk.
Sean Pengse, President of the Cambodia’s Border Committee and former Mining, Industry and Energy Minister, indicated that the 01 July 1972 decree issued by Marshall Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic regime claimed anew the sovereignty of Koh Tral Island as being Cambodian territories.
Prince Sisowath Thomico, the former secretary of the king, used to say that, based on recent Cambodian historical documents, Koh Tral was lost in 1982, following the border treaty concluded between Hun Sen, then-foreign minister of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea regime, and Nguyen Co Thach, the Democratic Vietnam minister. The prince was threatened with a lawsuit by the Hun Sen’s regime for expressing this opinion.
The Free Press Magazine
Vol. 1, No. 2
January 2008
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
On the busy island which looks like a modern city, no more than 10 families of Cambodian-origin people are living there. Their lives are likened to those of slaves, they do not own lands, have no land titles to survive, unlike the Vietnamese people who settled on the Khmer Koh Tral Island, dubbed Phu Quoc by the Vietnamese.
61-year-old Ly Kim Chin and his family live in a miserable hut next to the beach on the southern side of Koh Tral Island. His livelihood and that his 63-year-old wife, Chau Thi Linh, depends on his fishing labor job, and construction work for a group of rich group of Vietnamese people and businessmen.
60-year-old Chau Si Dorn indicated that he was born and always lived on Koh Tral Island, but he claimed that he does not own lands to grow crops like the Vietnamese people: “I live in a hut along the beach for almost 60-year already, but I don’t own land and I don’t have a steady job besides working as a laborer for the Vietnamese.”
Cambodian people living on the island said that the Vietnamese people who lived there became rich and owned hotels, guesthouses, boats, motorboats, large ships, and they collect incomes from fishing, tourism, and Casinos.
Currently, Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) has a seaport, an airport, and the Duong Dong city was also established here.
A Vietnamese teacher, who provides tourism training in hotels and boat stewardship on the island, told The Free Press Magazine (FPM) that this island is located about 15-km from Kampot province, and 45-km from Ha Tien province (Peam province in Khmer), Vietnam, and about 120-km from Rach Gia (Kramuon Sar in Khmer) port, Vietnam. She added that Koh Tral is currently a district of Kien Giang province, Vietnam (Kramuon Sar province in Khmer).
Cambodian fishermen living along the seas said that Cambodian people not holding the Vietnamese citizenship are prohibited from entering Koh Tral, and they are required to obtain a visa to visit the island.
An anonymous Cambodian navy soldier based in the Cambodian seas in Kampot province, revealed that if someone owns a CPP party membership card, then he/she is allowed to visit the island by Vietnamese border patrol and immigration officers, and that person does not need any visa.
Ly Kim Chin said that Koh Tral Island is really a Cambodian island, he said that several generations of Cambodians living there have passed down this information to their offspring. Originally, there were only 4 to 5 Cambodian families living there, however, starting from the 17th century, a flow of Vietnamese settlers came to occupy the island. “From what I know, Koh Tral is a Cambodian island, but the French gave this Cambodian island to Vietnam in 1939.”
Lawyer Touch Bora from Sydney, Australia, wrote that, in spite of the fact that France gave this island to Vietnam, the sovereignty of the island by Cambodia is not lost yet. He recognized that the Vietnamese people came to settle on this island in the past centuries, however, past Cambodian kings have claimed the ownership of this island, as well as several other territories occupied by Vietnam by force, from one generation to the next.
Touch Bora added that, since the mid-19th century, i.e. starting from 1856, King Ang Duong demanded these lands and island back to Cambodia, and this action continued all the way to his great-grandson, King Norodom Sihanouk.
Sean Pengse, President of the Cambodia’s Border Committee and former Mining, Industry and Energy Minister, indicated that the 01 July 1972 decree issued by Marshall Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic regime claimed anew the sovereignty of Koh Tral Island as being Cambodian territories.
Prince Sisowath Thomico, the former secretary of the king, used to say that, based on recent Cambodian historical documents, Koh Tral was lost in 1982, following the border treaty concluded between Hun Sen, then-foreign minister of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea regime, and Nguyen Co Thach, the Democratic Vietnam minister. The prince was threatened with a lawsuit by the Hun Sen’s regime for expressing this opinion.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Khieu Samphan: "Black becomes white, and the truth becomes the enemy. Do not believe foreigners, and don't be divided"
'Truth Becomes the Enemy' for Former Public Face of Khmer RougeHeng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Exclusive Interview from Phnom Penh
12 October 2007
[Editor's note: Head of state and spokesman for the Khmer Rouge when it rose to power, Khieu Samphan is widely believed under investigation by the special tribunal courts for trial on atrocity crimes. On Oct. 11, he gave VOA Khmer his longest interview since the indictments of two of his comrades, chief ideologue Nuon Chea and torture center director Duch. This is part two of a five-part series.]
Khieu Samphan, the former public face of the Khmer Rouge, said this week the truth was being manipulated to become his enemy.
The Khmer Rouge had fought hard to keep Cambodia sovereign, "but in the end we are charged with genocide," Khieu Samphan said during a 90-minute phone interview with VOA Khmer.
In rhetoric peppered with the kind of paranoia that eventually manifested itself in homicidal purges within the regime, Khieu Samphan said Vietnam would have annexed Cambodia into an Indochinese federation had the Khmer Rouge not risen against it.
Vietnamese overtures to the Khmer Rouge to become "like the Viet Minh" were rebuffed, Khieu Samphan said, because Pol Pot wanted to be "independent and self-sufficient."
Khieu Samphan was educated in France. He moved back to Cambodia a math teacher and became progressively political. In 1967 he fled secret police of then-prince Norodom Sihanouk. He joined the communist guerrillas at Oral Mountain and rose through their ranks as they slowly took over the country. By the time the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh, he was one of the most-trusted leaders, becoming their spokesman and nominal head of state. He has said was not involved in the policies that led to the mass death and torture of his countrymen.
Khieu Samphan said this week he was an intellectual and did not command troops. "I cannot command my own people to die," he said.
He declined to say whom he thought might be indicted by Cambodia's hybrid genocide tribunal.
"I only want to talk about history, which is the truth, so that the Khmer people know their own history," said the man whose regime dismantled Cambodia's education system and executed its teachers.
"[The Khmer Rouge] fought very hard, we had a hard time, and there were many deaths, but in the end [we were] charged with genocide," he said. "Black becomes white, and the truth becomes the enemy. Do not believe foreigners, and don't be divided."
Khieu Samphan, the former public face of the Khmer Rouge, said this week the truth was being manipulated to become his enemy.
The Khmer Rouge had fought hard to keep Cambodia sovereign, "but in the end we are charged with genocide," Khieu Samphan said during a 90-minute phone interview with VOA Khmer.
In rhetoric peppered with the kind of paranoia that eventually manifested itself in homicidal purges within the regime, Khieu Samphan said Vietnam would have annexed Cambodia into an Indochinese federation had the Khmer Rouge not risen against it.
Vietnamese overtures to the Khmer Rouge to become "like the Viet Minh" were rebuffed, Khieu Samphan said, because Pol Pot wanted to be "independent and self-sufficient."
Khieu Samphan was educated in France. He moved back to Cambodia a math teacher and became progressively political. In 1967 he fled secret police of then-prince Norodom Sihanouk. He joined the communist guerrillas at Oral Mountain and rose through their ranks as they slowly took over the country. By the time the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh, he was one of the most-trusted leaders, becoming their spokesman and nominal head of state. He has said was not involved in the policies that led to the mass death and torture of his countrymen.
Khieu Samphan said this week he was an intellectual and did not command troops. "I cannot command my own people to die," he said.
He declined to say whom he thought might be indicted by Cambodia's hybrid genocide tribunal.
"I only want to talk about history, which is the truth, so that the Khmer people know their own history," said the man whose regime dismantled Cambodia's education system and executed its teachers.
"[The Khmer Rouge] fought very hard, we had a hard time, and there were many deaths, but in the end [we were] charged with genocide," he said. "Black becomes white, and the truth becomes the enemy. Do not believe foreigners, and don't be divided."
VN embassy on Khieu Samphan's charges: Deny! Deny! Deny! and Deny again! ... as usual
Vietnamese Embassy Denies Khieu Samphan's Charges
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 October 2007
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 October 2007
A Vietnamese Embassy official on Friday denied charges by former Khmer Rouge cadre Khieu Samphan that Vietnam had contributed to the genocide of Cambodia by interfering in the internal affairs of Cambodia during conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s.
Khieu Samphan said this week that Vietnam tried to press Cambodia into an Indochinese federation, by making overtures to Pol Pot as the Khmer Rouge rose to power.
Former Khmer Rouge leaders continually point to Vietnam's alleged designs on Cambodia as a main reason the regime was necessary.
Both Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the regime arrested by the Khmer Rouge tribunal in September on charges of atrocity crimes, have said Vietnam would have taken over Cambodia if not for the Khmer Rouge.
"Khieu Samphan wants to put the blame on Vietnam, and it is his fabrication to reduce his wrongdoings," Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said. "The Khmer Rouge leaders are being indicted, and now they can say whatever they want to so that they can find a way out. His words cannot be trusted or believed."
Khieu Samphan said this week that Vietnam tried to press Cambodia into an Indochinese federation, by making overtures to Pol Pot as the Khmer Rouge rose to power.
Former Khmer Rouge leaders continually point to Vietnam's alleged designs on Cambodia as a main reason the regime was necessary.
Both Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, the chief ideologue of the regime arrested by the Khmer Rouge tribunal in September on charges of atrocity crimes, have said Vietnam would have taken over Cambodia if not for the Khmer Rouge.
"Khieu Samphan wants to put the blame on Vietnam, and it is his fabrication to reduce his wrongdoings," Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Trinh Ba Cam said. "The Khmer Rouge leaders are being indicted, and now they can say whatever they want to so that they can find a way out. His words cannot be trusted or believed."
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