Monday, July 8, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
95) General Lon Nol
(1970--1975, Capital: Phnom Penh)
General Lon Nol was Prince Sihanouk’s minister of defense. After successfully removing Prince Sihanouk from power in a coup d’etat in 1970, Lon Nol set about to establish a republic on the skeleton of a roughly 2000-year old Cambodian kingdom. He renamed the country Khmer Republic and proclaimed himself as head of state. Lon Nol’s first political move was to order the North Vietnamese communist troops, who had quietly been using Cambodian northeastern territory along their border as a staging area for guerrilla warfare against the U.S.-back government of South Vietnam, to leave Cambodia’s soil within a few days. His order fell into a deaf ear, for it was neither possible, nor realistic for the battle-hardened North Vietnamese troops to obey a government which had hardly any standing army to challenge them. Responding to the North Vietnamese disregard of his order, Lon Nol then embarked on a military campaign known as Chenla I and Chenla II to drive them out. Sadly, Lon Nol’s military campaign against the North Vietnamese troops was a failure, and many of his badly-trained, poorly-equipped amateur soldiers were killed in the expedition. In the mean time, the North Vietnamese troops began to militarily train, supply, and assist the Prince Sihanouk-supported Cambodian communists known as Khmer Rouge to wage a full-scale civil war against Lon Nol. For five years, the civil war between the North Vietnamese/Sihanouk-supported Khmer Rouge led by a man named Pol Pot (a.k.a. Saloth Sar) and Lon Nol’s government spread throughout the country. As the war raged on, living condition in Cambodia began to deteriorate and worsen every day. Hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted from their homes, and they were forced to live as refugees or displaced persons on the margin of society. On the battle fronts, the fighting grew even more savage as both sides resorted to killing each other indiscriminately. With regard to government, the Lon Nol’s regime appeared to be both incapable and corrupt. The leadership was utterly weak and incompetent. Many politicians cared more about amassing wealth for themselves than tending to the suffering of the population or preserving the nation as a whole. As a result, more and more alienated people began to rally to or join the Khmer Rouge in their revolution to overthrow the decadent and corrupted Lon Nol’s government. After five years of fighting a losing battle, Lon Nol fled Cambodia in early March of 1975. He went into exile in the United States of America. One month later on 17 of April, the communist Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot took over Phnom Penh and effectively put an end to Lon Nol’s rule and his republic. 96) Pol Pot [a.k.a. Saloth Sar] (1975--1979, Capital: Phnom Penh) Pol Pot was Secretary General of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), better known as the Khmer Rouge. He was born in Prek Sbov village, Kompong Thom province--the son of a middle class farmer. During his early childhood, Pol Pot was brought up, educated, and partly raised in Phnom Penh by one of his older brothers named Lot Suong who was a staff protocol (clerk) in the royal palace. He also had a sister and a cousin who were consorts of Prince Sihanouk’s grandfather, King Sisowath Monivong. It was believed that, through the helps of some influential government officials and his siblings and cousin who had links to the royal palace, Pol Pot was able to obtain a government scholarship in 1949 to go to study in France where he met fellow Cambodian communists such as Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, and Son Sen and begin to form a communist movement. Pol Pot was an obscure politician who lived his life in secrecy. Little was known about his personal background and political activities. Presumably, he joined the left-wing, communist-oriented political movement in the late 1940’s when Cambodian resentment against the French colonial rule was at its peak. During the mid 1950’s and early 60’s, Pol Pot worked as a schoolteacher in Phnom Penh and secretly participated in an underground communist movement to bring reform to Cambodia and/or overthrow the corrupt and decadent government led by Prince Sihanouk. In 1962, Pol Pot was appointed Secretary General of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and one year later in 1963, fearful of Prince Sihanouk’s prosecution of leftist-communist-oriented politicians, he went into hiding in the jungle in northeastern part of Cambodia where he organized and launched a successful communist revolution. Upon taking over the power in Cambodia in 1975, Pol Pot and his fellow communists embarked on a swift and radical change in an attempt to transform Cambodia into a utopian society according to their communist vision. They changed the country’s name from the Khmer Republic to Democratic Kampuchea and immediately ordered people to evacuate the cities and urban centers. Within the first few days of their rule, Pol Pot and his associates instituted the abolition of private properties, money, market, religion, and all other societal practices which they considered contradictory to the communist doctrine. In a fervent revolutionary zeal, Pol Pot had completely transformed Cambodia into a primitive agrarian society. The whole country was turned into a gigantic agricultural production camp in which people from all walks of life were forced to work without adequate foods and medicines or any regard of their health and abilities to perform the tasks. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were starved or worked to death, and the whole endeavor became a terrible disaster. In an attempt to find scapegoats for his failure, Pol Pot unleashed a punitive purge among the ranks and files of both his communist associates and those suspected of engaging in counter-revolutionary activities. The purge lasted for a few years, and hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and executed ruthlessly. As the purge was intensified, many of Pol Pot’s army officers, fearful for their lives, escaped to neighboring Vietnam and began to organize a resistance to his rule. In 1979, with the help from the Vietnamese army, they invaded Cambodia and, eventually, overthrew Pol Pot from power. In a tumultuous retreat, Pol Pot and his associates along with thousands of loyal supporters were able to escape to Thailand and, with the support of the Chinese communist government, began to reorganize their forces to wage another insurgency against the rebels who had just toppled them from power. For the record, Pol Pot’s ruthless rule had led to the loss of about 1.7 million lives. Roughly, one out of every four Cambodians died as a result of his utopian communist policy. And Cambodia was left in ruin, economically and socially. Most of the surviving population was badly malnourished and left in a horrible condition. Almost every infrastructure throughout the country was destroyed or neglected. By the end of Pol Pot’s rule, Cambodia was brought down to its knees and in need of everything imaginable in order to survive the nightmare and ordeal it had been through.
(To be continued)
Monday, July 1, 2013
WAR AND GENOCIDE
Prisoner of the Humanitarian (Cont.)
During our stay in Khao I Dang camp, Om Ok and his extended family found a couple of empty houses, whose occupants had been accepted to resettle in a third country, and settled there, while my mother, Buntha, and I went to lodge with a friend named Saiy. After talking with our friends and neighbors, we quickly learned that as new comers to Khao I Dang camp, we were considered illegal residents and would frequently be rounded up by the Thai security taskforces. All illegal residents who had been rounded up would eventually be sent back to the border camps. UNHCR could not protect us and would not grant us legal statuses. What a dilemma! We went from one refugee limbo to another.
Our friends suggested that, for the time being, we should live separately, which was easy for us to find a place to hide within the house, or rather hut. Saiy, who had offered us shelter, had a hiding place for one person in his hut. He came to occupy that hut after its original owners left for a third country and discovered that hiding place by accident while he was cleaning the kitchen area. It was a large, empty water jar placed underground below the stove. Saiy pulled a piece of metal sheet, which was placed under the stove and over the mouth of the water jar to the side and showed us where the hiding place was. Saiy told us that it was common for houses in Khao I Dang camp to have hiding places as it was the only way for illegal residents to remain there and escape arrest when the Thai security guards conducted their round-up raids.
With this grim information of what life in Khao I Dang camp would be like, Buntha and I went to seek shelter with our other friends and left our mother staying with Saiy, for his house already had a place for her to hide should a raid occur. Buntha went to stay with a mutual friend, named Eang, while I was lodging with another, named Kol. All people who lived in Khao I Dang camp were required to wear name badges whenever they went about their business. Those name badges were given to them when they became legal residents. However, people didn’t always remember to wear their name badges; therefore, many of them went about the camp without wearing their name badges. Taking that lax attitude to our advantage, Buntha and I surreptitiously went to see our mother every weekend. It was the only time that we could be together while living in Khao I Dang camp.
One day, Kol brought me an old name badge belonging to someone who had left for a third country. He told me that I could use that name badge to escape one arrest, for if I were stopped by the Thai security guards to check for my legal status I could present the fake name badge to them. And if they still suspected that I was living in the camp illegally, the Thai guards would only keep the name badge and let me go home to get family documents to claim it back from their headquarters. There were no pictures on name badges; only different colors -- green and pink, to indicate when the name badges were issued. Everyone who had left for a third country was supposed to surrender his or her name badge along with other family documents to the camp’s authority. But the name badge, which Kol had obtained and given to me somehow got lost in the bureaucratic process. After possessing that fake name badge, I decided to go back to attend the secondary school in Khao I Dang camp.
It was late January 1987 when I walked into the campus of Khao I Dang secondary school, which was formally named Angkor Wat Secondary School, to register my name for enrollment. To my surprise, the school officials did not inquire whether I was a legal or illegal resident. They just added my name to the enrollment list. I told the registrar that I would like to enroll in the eighth grade, which was two grade levels above what I had learned in Site 2. Once again, I was told to take a placement test before I could officially attend the eighth grade. Thus, with some knowledge obtained through my informal training by sitting in and watching the upper classmates doing their homework in Site 2, I humbly accepted the challenge of taking a placement test. To my yet another surprise, the teacher who came to administer my placement test was a former teacher from Site 2 camp. I used to see him teach the seventh graders when I was attending the fifth grade in Site 2. After I greeted him, he acknowledged that he used to see me in Site 2. He handed me the test and left the room to let me work on it. I started with the math section solving a series of two variable equations before moving on to more challenging problems. About 15 minutes later, the teacher returned to check on my progress. He looked over my shoulder and, after seeing that I was struggling to figure out how to solve geometric problems dealing with triangles, took the test from my hand and showed me how to solve them. Afterward, he told me to go attend the eighth grade, and that was the end of my testing ordeal.
I attended the eighth grade at Angkor Wat Secondary School for six months before misfortune took me away from schooling again. During my stint at that school, I once again sought help from classmates who were willing to give me a hand. I met a number of good friends there who would help me with both academic studies and looking out for my safety. Whenever they heard rumors that Thai security guards might come to conduct searches for illegal persons in the school compound, my friends would tell me to go home and skip classes for that day. Though most of the time the rumors of round-up raids had never materialized, many of my friends admonished me to take precautions because they witnessed the searches had taken place before.
Living in a place illegally with the knowledge that one could be arrested any time put a lot of stress on my mental well being. I tried my best to instill normalcy within my life. At school, I interacted with my classmates as if I was a legal resident and tried to hide my anxiety as much as I could. Throughout the six-months period I spent in Khao I Dang camp, the school had been a place where I sought solace. I tried to persuade Buntha to attend school as well, but he was too fearful to walk about the camp because the school was located rather far away from where he lived. Hence, to comfort each other mentally, Buntha and I took one risk each week to gather at our mom’s house and had meals there as a family. We would spend the entire day with our mom talking among ourselves. Sometimes, we just sat quietly in the house to keep company with one another until evening when we went back to our separate shelters.
One Saturday evening during our weekly reunion in July, 1987, my mother asked that we all spent the night together at her house as she had never seen or heard of any Thai security round-up raid in that area since the day she came to live there. After weighing the risks, Buntha and I decided to spend the night at our mom’s house. It was a fateful decision. At about midnight, we heard the sound of a pickup truck coming to a stop in front of the house. Saiy, our host, peeked through a small hole on the door and found that there were Thai security guards jumping off the pickup truck. Instantly, he knew that a round-up raid was about to take place. Saiy tried frantically to get us into the hiding place. But there was a problem with space as the hiding place was built for only one person to hide, and there were three of us. So a quick decision was made that my mother and Buntha would squeeze into the hiding place while I stayed outside to face the inevitable arrest. After having my mother and Buntha hidden inside the empty water jar underneath the stove, Saiy told me to crawl under a bed and stay there in case the Thai security taskforces overlooked that area. I crawled under our bed and stayed there nervously waiting for the search to occur. About five minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. Saiy opened the door and three armed Thai soldiers along with two Cambodian interpreters entered the house. They asked Saiy if there were any illegal residents staying with him. In a rather vain attempt to hide me, Saiy said no. But his lie was exposed when one of the soldiers shined his flashlight on me. Another soldier pointed his M-16 rifle at me and using it to motion me to crawl out from under the bed. One of the soldiers pointed his finger at Saiy’s face in an angry gesture for telling him a lie. But, the soldiers didn’t give him a hard time despite their anger. They only took me to the pickup truck where several other illegal residents were sitting inside under the watchful eye of an armed guard. The soldiers motioned for me to climb onto the truck’s bed and sit among other arrestees while turning around to look for more victims. After making several more arrests of illegal residents, the Thai security taskforces called it a night and brought us to their headquarters to be processed for incarceration.
Among the people who were arrested along with me that night, there were a few women and children. We were taken to the Thai taskforce’s headquarters, which was located across the street from the prison near the main entrance to the camp. After having us register our names, we were ordered to walk across the street toward the prison. Several armed soldiers with their guns held at a ready-to-shoot position escorted us there to ensure that no one escaped. I should point out, at this point, that most refugees knew how indiscriminate the Thai soldiers were regarding our lives. We could be shot and killed for even the most trivial infraction. To the Thai soldiers who guarded us, a refugee’s life was as disposable as a piece of trash.
(To be Continued)
During our stay in Khao I Dang camp, Om Ok and his extended family found a couple of empty houses, whose occupants had been accepted to resettle in a third country, and settled there, while my mother, Buntha, and I went to lodge with a friend named Saiy. After talking with our friends and neighbors, we quickly learned that as new comers to Khao I Dang camp, we were considered illegal residents and would frequently be rounded up by the Thai security taskforces. All illegal residents who had been rounded up would eventually be sent back to the border camps. UNHCR could not protect us and would not grant us legal statuses. What a dilemma! We went from one refugee limbo to another.
Our friends suggested that, for the time being, we should live separately, which was easy for us to find a place to hide within the house, or rather hut. Saiy, who had offered us shelter, had a hiding place for one person in his hut. He came to occupy that hut after its original owners left for a third country and discovered that hiding place by accident while he was cleaning the kitchen area. It was a large, empty water jar placed underground below the stove. Saiy pulled a piece of metal sheet, which was placed under the stove and over the mouth of the water jar to the side and showed us where the hiding place was. Saiy told us that it was common for houses in Khao I Dang camp to have hiding places as it was the only way for illegal residents to remain there and escape arrest when the Thai security guards conducted their round-up raids.
With this grim information of what life in Khao I Dang camp would be like, Buntha and I went to seek shelter with our other friends and left our mother staying with Saiy, for his house already had a place for her to hide should a raid occur. Buntha went to stay with a mutual friend, named Eang, while I was lodging with another, named Kol. All people who lived in Khao I Dang camp were required to wear name badges whenever they went about their business. Those name badges were given to them when they became legal residents. However, people didn’t always remember to wear their name badges; therefore, many of them went about the camp without wearing their name badges. Taking that lax attitude to our advantage, Buntha and I surreptitiously went to see our mother every weekend. It was the only time that we could be together while living in Khao I Dang camp.
One day, Kol brought me an old name badge belonging to someone who had left for a third country. He told me that I could use that name badge to escape one arrest, for if I were stopped by the Thai security guards to check for my legal status I could present the fake name badge to them. And if they still suspected that I was living in the camp illegally, the Thai guards would only keep the name badge and let me go home to get family documents to claim it back from their headquarters. There were no pictures on name badges; only different colors -- green and pink, to indicate when the name badges were issued. Everyone who had left for a third country was supposed to surrender his or her name badge along with other family documents to the camp’s authority. But the name badge, which Kol had obtained and given to me somehow got lost in the bureaucratic process. After possessing that fake name badge, I decided to go back to attend the secondary school in Khao I Dang camp.
It was late January 1987 when I walked into the campus of Khao I Dang secondary school, which was formally named Angkor Wat Secondary School, to register my name for enrollment. To my surprise, the school officials did not inquire whether I was a legal or illegal resident. They just added my name to the enrollment list. I told the registrar that I would like to enroll in the eighth grade, which was two grade levels above what I had learned in Site 2. Once again, I was told to take a placement test before I could officially attend the eighth grade. Thus, with some knowledge obtained through my informal training by sitting in and watching the upper classmates doing their homework in Site 2, I humbly accepted the challenge of taking a placement test. To my yet another surprise, the teacher who came to administer my placement test was a former teacher from Site 2 camp. I used to see him teach the seventh graders when I was attending the fifth grade in Site 2. After I greeted him, he acknowledged that he used to see me in Site 2. He handed me the test and left the room to let me work on it. I started with the math section solving a series of two variable equations before moving on to more challenging problems. About 15 minutes later, the teacher returned to check on my progress. He looked over my shoulder and, after seeing that I was struggling to figure out how to solve geometric problems dealing with triangles, took the test from my hand and showed me how to solve them. Afterward, he told me to go attend the eighth grade, and that was the end of my testing ordeal.
I attended the eighth grade at Angkor Wat Secondary School for six months before misfortune took me away from schooling again. During my stint at that school, I once again sought help from classmates who were willing to give me a hand. I met a number of good friends there who would help me with both academic studies and looking out for my safety. Whenever they heard rumors that Thai security guards might come to conduct searches for illegal persons in the school compound, my friends would tell me to go home and skip classes for that day. Though most of the time the rumors of round-up raids had never materialized, many of my friends admonished me to take precautions because they witnessed the searches had taken place before.
Living in a place illegally with the knowledge that one could be arrested any time put a lot of stress on my mental well being. I tried my best to instill normalcy within my life. At school, I interacted with my classmates as if I was a legal resident and tried to hide my anxiety as much as I could. Throughout the six-months period I spent in Khao I Dang camp, the school had been a place where I sought solace. I tried to persuade Buntha to attend school as well, but he was too fearful to walk about the camp because the school was located rather far away from where he lived. Hence, to comfort each other mentally, Buntha and I took one risk each week to gather at our mom’s house and had meals there as a family. We would spend the entire day with our mom talking among ourselves. Sometimes, we just sat quietly in the house to keep company with one another until evening when we went back to our separate shelters.
One Saturday evening during our weekly reunion in July, 1987, my mother asked that we all spent the night together at her house as she had never seen or heard of any Thai security round-up raid in that area since the day she came to live there. After weighing the risks, Buntha and I decided to spend the night at our mom’s house. It was a fateful decision. At about midnight, we heard the sound of a pickup truck coming to a stop in front of the house. Saiy, our host, peeked through a small hole on the door and found that there were Thai security guards jumping off the pickup truck. Instantly, he knew that a round-up raid was about to take place. Saiy tried frantically to get us into the hiding place. But there was a problem with space as the hiding place was built for only one person to hide, and there were three of us. So a quick decision was made that my mother and Buntha would squeeze into the hiding place while I stayed outside to face the inevitable arrest. After having my mother and Buntha hidden inside the empty water jar underneath the stove, Saiy told me to crawl under a bed and stay there in case the Thai security taskforces overlooked that area. I crawled under our bed and stayed there nervously waiting for the search to occur. About five minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. Saiy opened the door and three armed Thai soldiers along with two Cambodian interpreters entered the house. They asked Saiy if there were any illegal residents staying with him. In a rather vain attempt to hide me, Saiy said no. But his lie was exposed when one of the soldiers shined his flashlight on me. Another soldier pointed his M-16 rifle at me and using it to motion me to crawl out from under the bed. One of the soldiers pointed his finger at Saiy’s face in an angry gesture for telling him a lie. But, the soldiers didn’t give him a hard time despite their anger. They only took me to the pickup truck where several other illegal residents were sitting inside under the watchful eye of an armed guard. The soldiers motioned for me to climb onto the truck’s bed and sit among other arrestees while turning around to look for more victims. After making several more arrests of illegal residents, the Thai security taskforces called it a night and brought us to their headquarters to be processed for incarceration.
Among the people who were arrested along with me that night, there were a few women and children. We were taken to the Thai taskforce’s headquarters, which was located across the street from the prison near the main entrance to the camp. After having us register our names, we were ordered to walk across the street toward the prison. Several armed soldiers with their guns held at a ready-to-shoot position escorted us there to ensure that no one escaped. I should point out, at this point, that most refugees knew how indiscriminate the Thai soldiers were regarding our lives. We could be shot and killed for even the most trivial infraction. To the Thai soldiers who guarded us, a refugee’s life was as disposable as a piece of trash.
(To be Continued)
Friday, June 28, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
92) King Norodom Sihanouk
(1st reign 1941--1955, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Norodom Sihanouk was the son of Prince Norodom Suramarit and Princess Sisowath Kossamak. Both of his parents were third cousins. Thus, King Sihanouk was the great, great grandchild of King Ang Duong, the man who put Cambodia under the French protection and averted a possible Siam-Vietnamese elimination of the Khmer Kingdom.
After the death of King Sisowath Monivong, King Sihanouk’s grandfather, the royal council agreed to ascend King Sihanouk to the throne in 1941. At the time, Cambodia was still a French colony. However, the breakout of World War II in 1939 had traumatically changed the course of world history. The Germans had overtaken France, and, by 1945, the Japanese had also taken over the French colonies in Indochinese Peninsula. After the takeover, Japan had given independence to all the former French colony-countries. But the independence was short-lived. After the defeats of Germany and Japan, the main World War II’s antagonists, the French had returned to re-establish its colonies over Indochinese Peninsula. However, the taste of a short-lived independence had eventually made the colonized people increasingly resentful of the French rule. Thus, in 1949, the French was obliged to sign an agreement giving its former colonies quasi-independence by making them form a Federation of French Indochina with a common currency.
In 1953, King Norodom Sihanouk embarked on a royal crusade on the international arena in order to demand complete independence from France. After returning to Cambodia, he introduced a plan, appropriately called the Sihanouk Plan, by organizing non-violent mass struggle, similar to that of Mohandas Gandhi’s movement in India, against France’s rule. The crusade and the plan eventually pressured the French to grant complete independence to Cambodia in 1954.
King Sihanouk was a charismatic and populist leader. He was also a Machiavellian1 ruler who could be both benevolent and ruthless. To his supporters, he was Father of the Cambodian Independence, warrior, and champion of many causes. However, to his critics, King Sihanouk was nothing but a mercurial ruler, feisty leader, and a dictator who was ruthless to both his friends and foes who dared to voice their opinions against his.
Despite his political absolutism, King Sihanouk had made a number of noticeable accomplishments. During his reign, he had created a national welfare and relief systems to help alleviate the plight of poor people and those who suffered from natural disaster. He had also donated his personal finance to help build a number of schools such as Sihanouk High School in Kompong Cham, Suryavarman II Middle School in Siem Reap, and the Buddhist College in Phnom Penh. In addition to the building of national infrastructure, King Sihanouk had also encouraged the government to give scholarship to Cambodian students to study abroad. All in all, King Sihanouk had done an admirable job during his first reign. Perhaps most admirable of all was the introduction of a constitution giving limited democracy to the people of Cambodia who, for the first time in ages, had been exposed to the novelty of voting.
In 1955, after 13 years of ruling, King Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father as he (Sihanouk) was preparing to lead a political party called the Sangkum Reastr Niyum in a national election.
93) King Norodom Suramarit
(1955--1960, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Norodom Suramarit was the father of King Norodom Sihanouk. He succeeded the throne in 1955 after the abdication of his son. During his reign, Cambodia had enjoyed a relatively peaceful and tranquil existence.
After almost 100 years under French rule, the Khmer Kingdom was once again free from outside influence. However, the introduction of democracy and voting had nevertheless stirred tremendous political passion throughout the country. The students and former students who had been studying abroad and exposed to the concept of liberal democracy began to question and challenge the existing ruler, namely the monarch. Thus, throughout King Suramarit’s reign, Cambodia was mired in political struggle between the needs for greater freedom for the people and the monarch’s retaining of absolute power. King Norodom Suramarit died in 1960.
94) Prince Norodom Sihanouk/Queen Sisowath Kossamak
(Ruling as Chief of State, 1960--1970, Capital: Phnom Penh)
After King Suramarit’s death, Cambodia had fallen into what could be called a constitutional crisis. The problem derived largely from Prince Sihanouk’s unwillingness to name a successor to the throne, for he feared that it would jeopardize his consolidation of power in Cambodia.
Since the inception of a constitution in 1947, the center of governmental power in Cambodia began to move from the hands of the monarch to the National Assembly. The king would only reign but no longer rule. It was this shift that led to King Sihanouk’s abdication in 1955 in favor of his father, King Suramarit, so that he could free himself from the constraint of monarchy and be able to contest in the national elections which was, needless to say, farces that served his interests.
Now that the king was dead, the need to ascend a new king to the throne was paramount because it would make no sense for a kingdom without a king. As a requirement, once the king died, the Royal Council which was composed of a senior member of the royal family, the prime minister, the presidents of the two houses of the National Assembly, and the heads of the two Buddhist orders was to convene and name a successor. But the process was put to a halt when Prince Sihanouk, who was prime minister at the time, opposed to naming a successor. Thus, a special Bill was rushed through the National Assembly to create a Regency Council which was to represent the throne but to have no executive power.
After the creation of the Regency Council, Prince Sihanouk then resigned as prime minister and initiated a referendum to seek popular support for his idea of not naming a successor to the throne. In his campaign, he argued that the royal institution was full of corruption and decadence, which needed to be reformed. His proposal for reform was to have a popularly elected ruler who would be neither king, nor prime minister, nor president, but a leader who represented the general will of the people and the kingdom. With this proposed reform set in motion, a nationwide referendum was held and Prince Sihanouk was elected to become Cambodian ruler as chief of state. As chief of state, Sihanouk would neither be king, nor prime minister, nor president, but the combination of them all. He was to represent the throne as well as the government and everything else in between. In order to legitimize this new position, the National Assembly hastily added amendments to the constitution recognizing as chief of state a person who was “incontestably and expressly designated by the vote of the nation”. With this successful reform, Prince Sihanouk had accomplished what amounted to a constitutional coup d’etat. In a sense, he had established an absolute ruler behind the veil of democracy and without having to become a king. After accepting his new role as chief of state, Prince Sihanouk asked the ever-compliant National Assembly to recognize his mother, Queen Kossamak, as symbolic representative of the throne.
As chief of state, Prince Sihanouk’s rule was marred with political crises and violence. Domestically, political factionalism had created tremendous fracture within the government. Both right-wing conservative and left-wing communist inspired politicians were increasingly alienated toward his one-man policy and rule. Internationally, the pro-American governments of then South Vietnam and Thailand had also been increasingly critical of Sihanouk’s neutral policy, which appeared to be biased toward the communist camp. As a result, tensions and hostilities began to emerge and threaten Cambodia’s stability. In response to these crises, Prince Sihanouk embarked on a violent and ruthless campaign against anyone who opposed his rule or linked to the Thai-South Vietnamese-support Khmer Serei’s (Free Khmer) movement led by a man named Son Ngoc Thanh. As the tension grew, a rebellion broke out in 1967 at Samlaut village located at the northwestern corner of the kingdom in Battambang province. The rebellion was successfully quelled by Prince Sihanouk and his army, and a number of people who were suspected or believed to be rebels were mercilessly killed.
After the Samlaut Rebellion, Prince Sihanouk began to intensify his violent campaign against his opponents. Anyone who was suspected of rebellious activities or openly questioned and challenged his policy or rule was brutally persecuted or killed. This heavy-handed totalitarian policy eventually led to further deterioration within the government. Many left-wing communist-oriented politicians began to secretly go underground and form clandestine resistance to overthrow his government while a number of right-wing conservative politicians were planning to remove him from power in a coup d’etat. Thus, Prince Sihanouk’s fate as the chief of state was sealed when, in early 1970, his cousin, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, colluded with his defense minister, General Lon Nol, to overthrow him in a mildly violent coup d’etat. Prince Sihanouk was on a routine trip to France for medical check up when the coup d’etat against him broke out. He was condemned to death by the coup’s instigators and, eventually, went into exile in China where he became a figurehead leader of the communist-oriented revolutionary movement led by a man named Pol Pot (a.k.a. Saloth Sar) who was waging war against the newly formed Lon Nol’s government.
(To be continued)
(1st reign 1941--1955, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Norodom Sihanouk was the son of Prince Norodom Suramarit and Princess Sisowath Kossamak. Both of his parents were third cousins. Thus, King Sihanouk was the great, great grandchild of King Ang Duong, the man who put Cambodia under the French protection and averted a possible Siam-Vietnamese elimination of the Khmer Kingdom.
After the death of King Sisowath Monivong, King Sihanouk’s grandfather, the royal council agreed to ascend King Sihanouk to the throne in 1941. At the time, Cambodia was still a French colony. However, the breakout of World War II in 1939 had traumatically changed the course of world history. The Germans had overtaken France, and, by 1945, the Japanese had also taken over the French colonies in Indochinese Peninsula. After the takeover, Japan had given independence to all the former French colony-countries. But the independence was short-lived. After the defeats of Germany and Japan, the main World War II’s antagonists, the French had returned to re-establish its colonies over Indochinese Peninsula. However, the taste of a short-lived independence had eventually made the colonized people increasingly resentful of the French rule. Thus, in 1949, the French was obliged to sign an agreement giving its former colonies quasi-independence by making them form a Federation of French Indochina with a common currency.
In 1953, King Norodom Sihanouk embarked on a royal crusade on the international arena in order to demand complete independence from France. After returning to Cambodia, he introduced a plan, appropriately called the Sihanouk Plan, by organizing non-violent mass struggle, similar to that of Mohandas Gandhi’s movement in India, against France’s rule. The crusade and the plan eventually pressured the French to grant complete independence to Cambodia in 1954.
King Sihanouk was a charismatic and populist leader. He was also a Machiavellian1 ruler who could be both benevolent and ruthless. To his supporters, he was Father of the Cambodian Independence, warrior, and champion of many causes. However, to his critics, King Sihanouk was nothing but a mercurial ruler, feisty leader, and a dictator who was ruthless to both his friends and foes who dared to voice their opinions against his.
Despite his political absolutism, King Sihanouk had made a number of noticeable accomplishments. During his reign, he had created a national welfare and relief systems to help alleviate the plight of poor people and those who suffered from natural disaster. He had also donated his personal finance to help build a number of schools such as Sihanouk High School in Kompong Cham, Suryavarman II Middle School in Siem Reap, and the Buddhist College in Phnom Penh. In addition to the building of national infrastructure, King Sihanouk had also encouraged the government to give scholarship to Cambodian students to study abroad. All in all, King Sihanouk had done an admirable job during his first reign. Perhaps most admirable of all was the introduction of a constitution giving limited democracy to the people of Cambodia who, for the first time in ages, had been exposed to the novelty of voting.
In 1955, after 13 years of ruling, King Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father as he (Sihanouk) was preparing to lead a political party called the Sangkum Reastr Niyum in a national election.
93) King Norodom Suramarit
(1955--1960, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Norodom Suramarit was the father of King Norodom Sihanouk. He succeeded the throne in 1955 after the abdication of his son. During his reign, Cambodia had enjoyed a relatively peaceful and tranquil existence.
After almost 100 years under French rule, the Khmer Kingdom was once again free from outside influence. However, the introduction of democracy and voting had nevertheless stirred tremendous political passion throughout the country. The students and former students who had been studying abroad and exposed to the concept of liberal democracy began to question and challenge the existing ruler, namely the monarch. Thus, throughout King Suramarit’s reign, Cambodia was mired in political struggle between the needs for greater freedom for the people and the monarch’s retaining of absolute power. King Norodom Suramarit died in 1960.
94) Prince Norodom Sihanouk/Queen Sisowath Kossamak
(Ruling as Chief of State, 1960--1970, Capital: Phnom Penh)
After King Suramarit’s death, Cambodia had fallen into what could be called a constitutional crisis. The problem derived largely from Prince Sihanouk’s unwillingness to name a successor to the throne, for he feared that it would jeopardize his consolidation of power in Cambodia.
Since the inception of a constitution in 1947, the center of governmental power in Cambodia began to move from the hands of the monarch to the National Assembly. The king would only reign but no longer rule. It was this shift that led to King Sihanouk’s abdication in 1955 in favor of his father, King Suramarit, so that he could free himself from the constraint of monarchy and be able to contest in the national elections which was, needless to say, farces that served his interests.
Now that the king was dead, the need to ascend a new king to the throne was paramount because it would make no sense for a kingdom without a king. As a requirement, once the king died, the Royal Council which was composed of a senior member of the royal family, the prime minister, the presidents of the two houses of the National Assembly, and the heads of the two Buddhist orders was to convene and name a successor. But the process was put to a halt when Prince Sihanouk, who was prime minister at the time, opposed to naming a successor. Thus, a special Bill was rushed through the National Assembly to create a Regency Council which was to represent the throne but to have no executive power.
After the creation of the Regency Council, Prince Sihanouk then resigned as prime minister and initiated a referendum to seek popular support for his idea of not naming a successor to the throne. In his campaign, he argued that the royal institution was full of corruption and decadence, which needed to be reformed. His proposal for reform was to have a popularly elected ruler who would be neither king, nor prime minister, nor president, but a leader who represented the general will of the people and the kingdom. With this proposed reform set in motion, a nationwide referendum was held and Prince Sihanouk was elected to become Cambodian ruler as chief of state. As chief of state, Sihanouk would neither be king, nor prime minister, nor president, but the combination of them all. He was to represent the throne as well as the government and everything else in between. In order to legitimize this new position, the National Assembly hastily added amendments to the constitution recognizing as chief of state a person who was “incontestably and expressly designated by the vote of the nation”. With this successful reform, Prince Sihanouk had accomplished what amounted to a constitutional coup d’etat. In a sense, he had established an absolute ruler behind the veil of democracy and without having to become a king. After accepting his new role as chief of state, Prince Sihanouk asked the ever-compliant National Assembly to recognize his mother, Queen Kossamak, as symbolic representative of the throne.
As chief of state, Prince Sihanouk’s rule was marred with political crises and violence. Domestically, political factionalism had created tremendous fracture within the government. Both right-wing conservative and left-wing communist inspired politicians were increasingly alienated toward his one-man policy and rule. Internationally, the pro-American governments of then South Vietnam and Thailand had also been increasingly critical of Sihanouk’s neutral policy, which appeared to be biased toward the communist camp. As a result, tensions and hostilities began to emerge and threaten Cambodia’s stability. In response to these crises, Prince Sihanouk embarked on a violent and ruthless campaign against anyone who opposed his rule or linked to the Thai-South Vietnamese-support Khmer Serei’s (Free Khmer) movement led by a man named Son Ngoc Thanh. As the tension grew, a rebellion broke out in 1967 at Samlaut village located at the northwestern corner of the kingdom in Battambang province. The rebellion was successfully quelled by Prince Sihanouk and his army, and a number of people who were suspected or believed to be rebels were mercilessly killed.
After the Samlaut Rebellion, Prince Sihanouk began to intensify his violent campaign against his opponents. Anyone who was suspected of rebellious activities or openly questioned and challenged his policy or rule was brutally persecuted or killed. This heavy-handed totalitarian policy eventually led to further deterioration within the government. Many left-wing communist-oriented politicians began to secretly go underground and form clandestine resistance to overthrow his government while a number of right-wing conservative politicians were planning to remove him from power in a coup d’etat. Thus, Prince Sihanouk’s fate as the chief of state was sealed when, in early 1970, his cousin, Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, colluded with his defense minister, General Lon Nol, to overthrow him in a mildly violent coup d’etat. Prince Sihanouk was on a routine trip to France for medical check up when the coup d’etat against him broke out. He was condemned to death by the coup’s instigators and, eventually, went into exile in China where he became a figurehead leader of the communist-oriented revolutionary movement led by a man named Pol Pot (a.k.a. Saloth Sar) who was waging war against the newly formed Lon Nol’s government.
(To be continued)
Sunday, June 23, 2013
WAR AND GENOCIDE
Prisoners of the Humanitarian
After my mother’s arrival in Site 2, I sent a letter to Heang informing him of our reunion. Heang was so happy to learn of our being together in a refugee camp. He said that he would try his best to sponsor us to live with him in the United States, which gave us some sense of hope, even though such hope for us was quite remote knowing what his life’s situation was. But it was nevertheless reassuring for us to know that we, at least, had some support while living in an isolated place fenced around with barbed wire. My other brother, Sokha, who at that point resided in the state of Ohio, had also provided us with some financial support.
Despite having been supplied with food and water, life in Site 2 was a bit depressing. One could not escape the feeling of being confined like a prisoner whenever one walked to the edge of camp and saw the barbed wire and the guard posts of Thai soldiers who kept watch over the camp’s residents day and night. However, the Thai authority which oversaw the camps seemed to sense that many camp’s residents had relatives living abroad and that they had money to spend. Therefore, to exploit the wealth that existed within Site 2, a sort of informal farmer’s market was set up on a strip of land within the premises of the camp where local Thai farmers and merchants could bring in produce, scrap meats, canned foods, dried goods, and clothes to sell to the refugees. The market was open only until noon time each day; and it was through this informal trade that we, refugees, could imagine what the outside world might look like.
For the rest of 1986, life for me was a bit less depressing after having been reunited with my mother and younger brother. Despite being confined within the premises of a refugee camp, we were able to establish some sense of normalcy living as a family unit. During this relative peace and comfort, I was able to devote much of my energy to educating myself as rigorously as possible. My plan was to skip one grade level every couple of years so that I could compensate for lost time. Everyday, I spent most of my spare time studying mathematics and other subjects with my friends who were one or two grade levels ahead of me. I would go to sit and listen to them while they were doing their homework and, if possible, ask them some questions. Though the subjects were sometimes beyond my grasp, I felt that I learned something in the process. This somewhat informal self-training eventually became the backbone of my educational background.
Toward the end of 1986, another life-changing event had befallen me. This time, it was another quest to reach yet another point of our journey. Om Ok’s son-in-law, Chantha, who had been working with the rebel’s intelligence services, learned that in order to be eligible to immigrate to another country we must be classified and recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those of us who lived in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border were not refugees; we were classified as displaced people. There was only one camp called Khao I Dang (KID) which was run by UNHCR. People could be recognized as refugees when they arrived and lived there for some time.
With this information, Chantha began to talk about the possibility of going to Khao I Dang to seek refugee status so that we would stand a better chance of immigrating to the United States. He said that it was pointless for us to leave everything behind and travel across so many perils to reach a place but stop short just as we were about to reach the end point. Khao I Dang was not that far and reaching it was not that dangerous compared to what we had faced leaving Cambodia for the border camp. Thus, with that powerful argument, Chantha had made a compelling case. Om Ok and Om Ky soon agreed with their son-in-law’s idea of moving to Khao I Dang camp. They began to make preparation and look for means to get there.
As soon as she learned that her only relatives in Site 2 were about to move to another camp, my mother began to worry about our fate. She, too, left Cambodia for the opportunity to go live with her sons in the United States of America, not to languish in a refugee or displaced people camp. Hence, my mother insisted that we, too, move to Khao I Dang. I was reluctant to go to Khao I Dang as it meant that my education would once again be interrupted and put on hold. After all of those painful and difficult efforts to gain a foothold in bringing myself back into schooling, the idea of letting it slip out of my life and future was too much for me to take. I initially refused to go along with my mother’s insistence to move to Khao I Dang camp. But, after seeing how sad and anxious she was, I relented.
Khao I Dang was located some 50 miles or so from Site 2. It was not within walking distance. But distance was not a problem for the human traffickers who would take us there. As long as we were willing to risk our lives and had the money to pay for our transport, the traffickers would take us anywhere we wanted to go in Thailand. It appeared that these human traffickers seemed to thrive wherever desperate people lived. In Site 2, it didn’t take long for Chantha to locate a small group of human traffickers who would take us to Khao I Dang for a fee. One morning in late December, 1986, we surreptitiously left our huts and went to a departure point where our traffickers arranged for their Thai counterparts to come pick us up and transport us to Khao I Dang. Vuthda, my good friend, and his family did not go with us as they were reluctant to take the risk of being trafficked in a foreign country.
The group of human traffickers with whom we entrusted our lives, were composed of three Cambodian refugees and several Thai nationals. Their operation was a classic case of caged birds and wild birds cooperating to exploit a common interest. Together, they created elaborate steps to bring us to Khao I Dang undetected, or maybe they already bribed the various officials for passages. Whatever they did, I was quite amazed to see that these human traffickers were very brazen in going about transporting us to Khao I Dang.
We slipped out of Site 2 at about five o’clock in the evening at a secluded area. There was a small gap in the barbed wire fence, made by either the human traffickers or smugglers for people to slip in and out of the camp. Two of the Cambodian guides led us through the forests while the third stayed behind inside the camp to give some sort of signals to their colleagues that it was safe to slip back into the camp. We walked on a rather well trodden path for about half a mile before coming to a stop under a thicket. Judging from the well-worn path, it appeared that we were not the only group of people who used that trail. There must be countless other people who went through that secret trail before us. From our hiding place, we could hear the sounds of automobiles traveling back and forth rather clearly. Hence, the road must be nearby. One of our guides went ahead to scout in the direction from which we heard the sounds of automobiles. About 15 minutes later, he returned and motioned for us to move forward. We walked for a couple hundred yards more and emerged at a small clearance on the edge of the forest where a pickup truck was waiting for us. The two Thai nationals who were driving the truck motioned for us to climb on board the truck’s bed quickly before we could be spotted by Thai border police. With fear and anxiety, we scrambled onto the truck’s bed in less than five minutes. Once we all packed into the pickup truck, the driver took off quickly. One of our Cambodian guides who spoke Thai came along with us while the other returned to the camp.
We traveled through several Thai villages disguised as farmers returning from their fields. To avoid suspicion from onlookers, all the children were seated in the middle of the truck’s bed while adults were sitting around them. At one point, our truck made a detour onto a dirt path where a man riding on a motorcycle was waiting to lead the way. A couple of miles later, we emerged back onto the paved road and continued on toward Khao I Dang camp. Our Cambodian guide told us that the detour was necessary to avoid a Thai police checkpoint. At about 7:30 p.m., we arrived at an isolated safe house located on a field adjacent to Khao I Dang camp. We spent the night in that house and remained there until four p.m. the next day, before preparation was made to get us into Khao I Dang. Through the house’s windows, we could see the light brown huts of Khao I Dang camp with our naked eyes. Located not far from our safe house was a small villa belonging to an affluent family who had a connection with the Thai monarch. During our stay in the safe house, we were invited to visit that villa, which some of us did. The owners gave us a tour of the house and we were quite impressed. Apparently, like Odom in Cambodia, the Thai human traffickers also had powerful people behind them. I presumed that the wealthy residents who had a connection with the Thai monarch must receive some payments from the traffickers for providing a protective umbrella for them.
At about 4:30 p.m. we made our way into Khao I Dang camp. After bribing a Thai taskforce who guarded a secluded area behind Khao I Dang camp’s hospital, our guides got a go-ahead signal to drop us off near a small bridge built over a dry creek. We walked along that dry creek and after passing under that small bridge for about a hundred yards, we reached the smuggling entry point where a wide gap in the barbed wire fence was made to enable people to walk in and out of the camp without hindrance. At this point, only our Cambodian guide remained with us to take us to another safe house in Khao I Dang camp, which belonged to a middle-aged couple known informally as the four aces family. The four aces were referred to their four beautiful daughters, one of whom was married to a Thai taskforce official in charge of guarding Khao I Dang camp. I had a glimpse of that Thai official and a couple of the beautiful daughters before being surreptitiously moved to hide in small group in different houses in the camp. At that point, I began to realize that life in Khao I Dang camp wasn’t what we had expected—a refugee camp with humanitarian protection.
(To be continued)
After my mother’s arrival in Site 2, I sent a letter to Heang informing him of our reunion. Heang was so happy to learn of our being together in a refugee camp. He said that he would try his best to sponsor us to live with him in the United States, which gave us some sense of hope, even though such hope for us was quite remote knowing what his life’s situation was. But it was nevertheless reassuring for us to know that we, at least, had some support while living in an isolated place fenced around with barbed wire. My other brother, Sokha, who at that point resided in the state of Ohio, had also provided us with some financial support.
Despite having been supplied with food and water, life in Site 2 was a bit depressing. One could not escape the feeling of being confined like a prisoner whenever one walked to the edge of camp and saw the barbed wire and the guard posts of Thai soldiers who kept watch over the camp’s residents day and night. However, the Thai authority which oversaw the camps seemed to sense that many camp’s residents had relatives living abroad and that they had money to spend. Therefore, to exploit the wealth that existed within Site 2, a sort of informal farmer’s market was set up on a strip of land within the premises of the camp where local Thai farmers and merchants could bring in produce, scrap meats, canned foods, dried goods, and clothes to sell to the refugees. The market was open only until noon time each day; and it was through this informal trade that we, refugees, could imagine what the outside world might look like.
For the rest of 1986, life for me was a bit less depressing after having been reunited with my mother and younger brother. Despite being confined within the premises of a refugee camp, we were able to establish some sense of normalcy living as a family unit. During this relative peace and comfort, I was able to devote much of my energy to educating myself as rigorously as possible. My plan was to skip one grade level every couple of years so that I could compensate for lost time. Everyday, I spent most of my spare time studying mathematics and other subjects with my friends who were one or two grade levels ahead of me. I would go to sit and listen to them while they were doing their homework and, if possible, ask them some questions. Though the subjects were sometimes beyond my grasp, I felt that I learned something in the process. This somewhat informal self-training eventually became the backbone of my educational background.
Toward the end of 1986, another life-changing event had befallen me. This time, it was another quest to reach yet another point of our journey. Om Ok’s son-in-law, Chantha, who had been working with the rebel’s intelligence services, learned that in order to be eligible to immigrate to another country we must be classified and recognized as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those of us who lived in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border were not refugees; we were classified as displaced people. There was only one camp called Khao I Dang (KID) which was run by UNHCR. People could be recognized as refugees when they arrived and lived there for some time.
With this information, Chantha began to talk about the possibility of going to Khao I Dang to seek refugee status so that we would stand a better chance of immigrating to the United States. He said that it was pointless for us to leave everything behind and travel across so many perils to reach a place but stop short just as we were about to reach the end point. Khao I Dang was not that far and reaching it was not that dangerous compared to what we had faced leaving Cambodia for the border camp. Thus, with that powerful argument, Chantha had made a compelling case. Om Ok and Om Ky soon agreed with their son-in-law’s idea of moving to Khao I Dang camp. They began to make preparation and look for means to get there.
As soon as she learned that her only relatives in Site 2 were about to move to another camp, my mother began to worry about our fate. She, too, left Cambodia for the opportunity to go live with her sons in the United States of America, not to languish in a refugee or displaced people camp. Hence, my mother insisted that we, too, move to Khao I Dang. I was reluctant to go to Khao I Dang as it meant that my education would once again be interrupted and put on hold. After all of those painful and difficult efforts to gain a foothold in bringing myself back into schooling, the idea of letting it slip out of my life and future was too much for me to take. I initially refused to go along with my mother’s insistence to move to Khao I Dang camp. But, after seeing how sad and anxious she was, I relented.
Khao I Dang was located some 50 miles or so from Site 2. It was not within walking distance. But distance was not a problem for the human traffickers who would take us there. As long as we were willing to risk our lives and had the money to pay for our transport, the traffickers would take us anywhere we wanted to go in Thailand. It appeared that these human traffickers seemed to thrive wherever desperate people lived. In Site 2, it didn’t take long for Chantha to locate a small group of human traffickers who would take us to Khao I Dang for a fee. One morning in late December, 1986, we surreptitiously left our huts and went to a departure point where our traffickers arranged for their Thai counterparts to come pick us up and transport us to Khao I Dang. Vuthda, my good friend, and his family did not go with us as they were reluctant to take the risk of being trafficked in a foreign country.
The group of human traffickers with whom we entrusted our lives, were composed of three Cambodian refugees and several Thai nationals. Their operation was a classic case of caged birds and wild birds cooperating to exploit a common interest. Together, they created elaborate steps to bring us to Khao I Dang undetected, or maybe they already bribed the various officials for passages. Whatever they did, I was quite amazed to see that these human traffickers were very brazen in going about transporting us to Khao I Dang.
We slipped out of Site 2 at about five o’clock in the evening at a secluded area. There was a small gap in the barbed wire fence, made by either the human traffickers or smugglers for people to slip in and out of the camp. Two of the Cambodian guides led us through the forests while the third stayed behind inside the camp to give some sort of signals to their colleagues that it was safe to slip back into the camp. We walked on a rather well trodden path for about half a mile before coming to a stop under a thicket. Judging from the well-worn path, it appeared that we were not the only group of people who used that trail. There must be countless other people who went through that secret trail before us. From our hiding place, we could hear the sounds of automobiles traveling back and forth rather clearly. Hence, the road must be nearby. One of our guides went ahead to scout in the direction from which we heard the sounds of automobiles. About 15 minutes later, he returned and motioned for us to move forward. We walked for a couple hundred yards more and emerged at a small clearance on the edge of the forest where a pickup truck was waiting for us. The two Thai nationals who were driving the truck motioned for us to climb on board the truck’s bed quickly before we could be spotted by Thai border police. With fear and anxiety, we scrambled onto the truck’s bed in less than five minutes. Once we all packed into the pickup truck, the driver took off quickly. One of our Cambodian guides who spoke Thai came along with us while the other returned to the camp.
We traveled through several Thai villages disguised as farmers returning from their fields. To avoid suspicion from onlookers, all the children were seated in the middle of the truck’s bed while adults were sitting around them. At one point, our truck made a detour onto a dirt path where a man riding on a motorcycle was waiting to lead the way. A couple of miles later, we emerged back onto the paved road and continued on toward Khao I Dang camp. Our Cambodian guide told us that the detour was necessary to avoid a Thai police checkpoint. At about 7:30 p.m., we arrived at an isolated safe house located on a field adjacent to Khao I Dang camp. We spent the night in that house and remained there until four p.m. the next day, before preparation was made to get us into Khao I Dang. Through the house’s windows, we could see the light brown huts of Khao I Dang camp with our naked eyes. Located not far from our safe house was a small villa belonging to an affluent family who had a connection with the Thai monarch. During our stay in the safe house, we were invited to visit that villa, which some of us did. The owners gave us a tour of the house and we were quite impressed. Apparently, like Odom in Cambodia, the Thai human traffickers also had powerful people behind them. I presumed that the wealthy residents who had a connection with the Thai monarch must receive some payments from the traffickers for providing a protective umbrella for them.
At about 4:30 p.m. we made our way into Khao I Dang camp. After bribing a Thai taskforce who guarded a secluded area behind Khao I Dang camp’s hospital, our guides got a go-ahead signal to drop us off near a small bridge built over a dry creek. We walked along that dry creek and after passing under that small bridge for about a hundred yards, we reached the smuggling entry point where a wide gap in the barbed wire fence was made to enable people to walk in and out of the camp without hindrance. At this point, only our Cambodian guide remained with us to take us to another safe house in Khao I Dang camp, which belonged to a middle-aged couple known informally as the four aces family. The four aces were referred to their four beautiful daughters, one of whom was married to a Thai taskforce official in charge of guarding Khao I Dang camp. I had a glimpse of that Thai official and a couple of the beautiful daughters before being surreptitiously moved to hide in small group in different houses in the camp. At that point, I began to realize that life in Khao I Dang camp wasn’t what we had expected—a refugee camp with humanitarian protection.
(To be continued)
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
4) The Phnom Penh Period
89) King Norodom
(1860--1904, Capital: Oudong & Phnom Penh)
King Norodom was the oldest son of King Ang Duong. He succeeded the throne in 1860 after the death of his father. He also inherited the support or indirect rule from France which was establishing colonies over the Indochinese Peninsula.
In the first year of his reign, King Norodom faced a familiar royal crisis. His brother, prince Siwatha was envious of his leadership and enlisted two people named Snong So and Mano Keo to instigate a rebellion against the King. However, the rebels were defeated by the royal army and Mano Keo was captured and executed. As for Snong So, he escaped to Cochinchina’s territory (now Southern Vietnam). Prince Siwatha had also escaped. After this incident, King Norodom moved the Capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh which was to remain until today.
In 1865, two other people named Achar Sva and Po Kambo instigated another rebellion1. But, once again, the royal army had defeated , captured, and executed the two instigators. After these two rebellions, Cambodia had experienced a period of tranquility. During his reign, King Norodom had built a temple called Preah Keo Morakot on the southern flank of the Royal Palace’s compound in Phnom Penh. He died in 1904.
90) King Sisowath
(1904--1927, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Sisowath was the younger brother of King Norodom. After King Norodom’s death, the royal council, the two leaders of the Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist sects, and the French Resident Superieur agreed to ascend King Sisowath to the throne.
Soon after his succession, Siam, under pressure from the French, had returned the provinces of Stung Treng, Tonle Pov, and Mlu Prey to Cambodia. Later on in 1907, Siam had also signed a treaty with the French and returned the provinces of Battambang, Serey Sauphorn, and Siem Reap, in which the City of Angkor was located, to Cambodia. Thus, Cambodia regained some of its lost territories including its ancient city of Angkor at this point. During World War I (1914-18), King Sisowath sent the Khmer army volunteers to help France fight with Germany.
Throughout his reign, Cambodia had enjoyed a peaceful existence. King Sisowath had ordered the building of many institutions. Among these were the famed Lycee Sisowath, the Royal Library, the Pali School of Higher Learning, the School of Fine Arts, and the Royal School of Administration, etc. He also undertook the road building projects throughout the country.
91) King Sisowath Monivong
(1927--1941, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Sisowath Monivong was the oldest son of King Sisowath. He succeeded the throne in 1927. During his reign, Cambodia had, in effect, become a French colony. The French gave little freedom to ordinary Khmer people, and the French exploitation of local economy was enormous. As a result, the Khmers were just as miserable under the French protection as they were under the protection/oppression of their two neighboring nemeses, Siam and Vietnam.
Using local labors, the French established one of the world’s largest rubber plantations in Me Muth, Kompong Cham. The plantation had an area of 6,000 hectares and contained some 550,000 rubber trees.
Though King Sisowath Monivong was, in effect, a French tutelage, his royal government had nevertheless made some progresses. In 1932, the government had completed the construction of a railroad running across several provinces and linking Phnom Penh to the Siamese (Thai) border. Also, a bridge was built across the Bassac River which gave the people who lived on the other side of the river easy access to the Capital. King Sisowath Monivong died in 1941.
(To be continued)
89) King Norodom
(1860--1904, Capital: Oudong & Phnom Penh)
King Norodom was the oldest son of King Ang Duong. He succeeded the throne in 1860 after the death of his father. He also inherited the support or indirect rule from France which was establishing colonies over the Indochinese Peninsula.
In the first year of his reign, King Norodom faced a familiar royal crisis. His brother, prince Siwatha was envious of his leadership and enlisted two people named Snong So and Mano Keo to instigate a rebellion against the King. However, the rebels were defeated by the royal army and Mano Keo was captured and executed. As for Snong So, he escaped to Cochinchina’s territory (now Southern Vietnam). Prince Siwatha had also escaped. After this incident, King Norodom moved the Capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh which was to remain until today.
In 1865, two other people named Achar Sva and Po Kambo instigated another rebellion1. But, once again, the royal army had defeated , captured, and executed the two instigators. After these two rebellions, Cambodia had experienced a period of tranquility. During his reign, King Norodom had built a temple called Preah Keo Morakot on the southern flank of the Royal Palace’s compound in Phnom Penh. He died in 1904.
90) King Sisowath
(1904--1927, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Sisowath was the younger brother of King Norodom. After King Norodom’s death, the royal council, the two leaders of the Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist sects, and the French Resident Superieur agreed to ascend King Sisowath to the throne.
Soon after his succession, Siam, under pressure from the French, had returned the provinces of Stung Treng, Tonle Pov, and Mlu Prey to Cambodia. Later on in 1907, Siam had also signed a treaty with the French and returned the provinces of Battambang, Serey Sauphorn, and Siem Reap, in which the City of Angkor was located, to Cambodia. Thus, Cambodia regained some of its lost territories including its ancient city of Angkor at this point. During World War I (1914-18), King Sisowath sent the Khmer army volunteers to help France fight with Germany.
Throughout his reign, Cambodia had enjoyed a peaceful existence. King Sisowath had ordered the building of many institutions. Among these were the famed Lycee Sisowath, the Royal Library, the Pali School of Higher Learning, the School of Fine Arts, and the Royal School of Administration, etc. He also undertook the road building projects throughout the country.
91) King Sisowath Monivong
(1927--1941, Capital: Phnom Penh)
King Sisowath Monivong was the oldest son of King Sisowath. He succeeded the throne in 1927. During his reign, Cambodia had, in effect, become a French colony. The French gave little freedom to ordinary Khmer people, and the French exploitation of local economy was enormous. As a result, the Khmers were just as miserable under the French protection as they were under the protection/oppression of their two neighboring nemeses, Siam and Vietnam.
Using local labors, the French established one of the world’s largest rubber plantations in Me Muth, Kompong Cham. The plantation had an area of 6,000 hectares and contained some 550,000 rubber trees.
Though King Sisowath Monivong was, in effect, a French tutelage, his royal government had nevertheless made some progresses. In 1932, the government had completed the construction of a railroad running across several provinces and linking Phnom Penh to the Siamese (Thai) border. Also, a bridge was built across the Bassac River which gave the people who lived on the other side of the river easy access to the Capital. King Sisowath Monivong died in 1941.
(To be continued)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
WAR AND GENOCIDE
The Jungle of Refugees (cont.)
In a society where a child’s success became a bragging right of the parents, my success of becoming one of the top three students on test scores gave teachers at Nong Chan Primary School some senses of pride. To reward my good performance, the assistant principal allowed me to attend English courses taught by Father John Kennedy Bingham to the school staff, hoping that upon my completion of secondary school education I would return to teach at Nong Chan Primary School. To those who might wonder who Father John Kennedy Bingham was, he, as the name suggested, was related to the famous Kennedy family of America.
I started the first year of my secondary school education some time in December of 1985. As one of the top students who received high score on the entrance exam, I was chosen to become the classroom’s major. Because UNBRO did not provide support for secondary school education, the Cambodian camp administrators had to divert some of the building materials, mostly bamboo and thatch, from other building projects to construct several rudimentary classrooms for us. As for educational materials such as textbooks, notebooks, pens, and pencils, we had to rely on charity organizations. COERR, Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees, was one such organization which provided us with much needed support.
As students, we did not have the luxury of possessing textbooks. Only teachers were given textbooks for teaching. Hence, we had to write down our lessons, either copying them from the blackboard after our teacher, or writing them down onto our notebooks as our teacher dictated them to us. As the classroom’s major, I was frequently given the tasks of writing our lessons on the blackboard for my classmates to copy them down while our teacher was preparing other lessons.
Soon after I started my first year at the secondary school, my younger brother, Buntha arrived in the camp. Without dilly-dally, I arranged to have him attended school immediately. Buntha had already reached the seventh grade when he left Cambodia. Our secondary school had one seventh grade class, two sixth grade classes, and six fifth grade classes. However, Buntha was a bit reluctant to attend the seventh grade as I was lagging behind him in the fifth grade. Thus, he decided to enroll in the fifth grade with me. I should point out that the secondary school curricula in the refugee camp was somewhat more advanced than those being carried out in Cambodia, for they were modeled after the free world countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and the U.S.; whereas in Cambodia, they were restricted by Communist ideology. For instance, students in Cambodia at that time could not study unsanctioned foreign languages such as English or French, while their counterparts in the refugee camp could study any subject. That was why Buntha decided to roll back his grade level to fill in the gap.
After having his name registered, Buntha was placed in the same class with me. Hence, I had another competitor who was my younger brother. As a class major, I was expected to maintain good standing academically, which meant that I should score higher than my peers on the various subjects we studied. It was tough, given the fact that I had not had a solid basic educational background. As a result, I found myself frequently being beaten by my little brother, academically.
By about mid 1986, my mother had finally made it to one of the rebel’s military camps, which located about 70 miles from where we were. Despite the isolation of Site 2, where all civilian refugee camps under the control of a rebel group called the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF) were relocated, people inside Cambodia, who had troubles with the Cambodian communist government, still trickled into those rebel military camps to escape persecution. The rebel forces periodically made arrangements to transport those civilian people to Site 2 in their military trucks, which brought soldiers every month or so to visit their families who lived in Site 2 camp complex.
Upon learning of my mother’s arrival in the rebel’s military camp, we immediately tried to find ways to get her to Site 2 as soon as possible. Om Ok’s son-in-law, Chantha, at that point, had joined the rebel’s intelligence services called KISA, Khmer Intelligence Services Agency, as a desk officer. Using his connections, Chantha asked the rebel officers at the frontline to help send my mother to Site 2 as soon as possible. However, before the officers could locate my mother, she had been robbed by some foot soldiers who guarded the camp. According to a witness, from whom we learned afterward, the rebel robbers took my mother aside and ordered her to take off her clothes to see if she hid any valuable in the private areas. It must have been a humiliating experience for my mother. But she said nothing to us about the incident.
In an attempt to right the wrong and punish the culprits, their officer summoned those who guarded the area where my mother was robbed to stand in line and had my mother pointed out the ones who robbed her. But, my mother was too smart to make enemies in the jungle where only jungle law prevailed. She told the officer that it was rather dark, and she couldn’t recognize the faces of the people who robbed her. To amend the misdeed of their soldiers, the officials in charge of the military camp put my Mom in a special car and brought her to Site 2 immediately.
(To be continued)
In a society where a child’s success became a bragging right of the parents, my success of becoming one of the top three students on test scores gave teachers at Nong Chan Primary School some senses of pride. To reward my good performance, the assistant principal allowed me to attend English courses taught by Father John Kennedy Bingham to the school staff, hoping that upon my completion of secondary school education I would return to teach at Nong Chan Primary School. To those who might wonder who Father John Kennedy Bingham was, he, as the name suggested, was related to the famous Kennedy family of America.
I started the first year of my secondary school education some time in December of 1985. As one of the top students who received high score on the entrance exam, I was chosen to become the classroom’s major. Because UNBRO did not provide support for secondary school education, the Cambodian camp administrators had to divert some of the building materials, mostly bamboo and thatch, from other building projects to construct several rudimentary classrooms for us. As for educational materials such as textbooks, notebooks, pens, and pencils, we had to rely on charity organizations. COERR, Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees, was one such organization which provided us with much needed support.
As students, we did not have the luxury of possessing textbooks. Only teachers were given textbooks for teaching. Hence, we had to write down our lessons, either copying them from the blackboard after our teacher, or writing them down onto our notebooks as our teacher dictated them to us. As the classroom’s major, I was frequently given the tasks of writing our lessons on the blackboard for my classmates to copy them down while our teacher was preparing other lessons.
Soon after I started my first year at the secondary school, my younger brother, Buntha arrived in the camp. Without dilly-dally, I arranged to have him attended school immediately. Buntha had already reached the seventh grade when he left Cambodia. Our secondary school had one seventh grade class, two sixth grade classes, and six fifth grade classes. However, Buntha was a bit reluctant to attend the seventh grade as I was lagging behind him in the fifth grade. Thus, he decided to enroll in the fifth grade with me. I should point out that the secondary school curricula in the refugee camp was somewhat more advanced than those being carried out in Cambodia, for they were modeled after the free world countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and the U.S.; whereas in Cambodia, they were restricted by Communist ideology. For instance, students in Cambodia at that time could not study unsanctioned foreign languages such as English or French, while their counterparts in the refugee camp could study any subject. That was why Buntha decided to roll back his grade level to fill in the gap.
After having his name registered, Buntha was placed in the same class with me. Hence, I had another competitor who was my younger brother. As a class major, I was expected to maintain good standing academically, which meant that I should score higher than my peers on the various subjects we studied. It was tough, given the fact that I had not had a solid basic educational background. As a result, I found myself frequently being beaten by my little brother, academically.
By about mid 1986, my mother had finally made it to one of the rebel’s military camps, which located about 70 miles from where we were. Despite the isolation of Site 2, where all civilian refugee camps under the control of a rebel group called the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF) were relocated, people inside Cambodia, who had troubles with the Cambodian communist government, still trickled into those rebel military camps to escape persecution. The rebel forces periodically made arrangements to transport those civilian people to Site 2 in their military trucks, which brought soldiers every month or so to visit their families who lived in Site 2 camp complex.
Upon learning of my mother’s arrival in the rebel’s military camp, we immediately tried to find ways to get her to Site 2 as soon as possible. Om Ok’s son-in-law, Chantha, at that point, had joined the rebel’s intelligence services called KISA, Khmer Intelligence Services Agency, as a desk officer. Using his connections, Chantha asked the rebel officers at the frontline to help send my mother to Site 2 as soon as possible. However, before the officers could locate my mother, she had been robbed by some foot soldiers who guarded the camp. According to a witness, from whom we learned afterward, the rebel robbers took my mother aside and ordered her to take off her clothes to see if she hid any valuable in the private areas. It must have been a humiliating experience for my mother. But she said nothing to us about the incident.
In an attempt to right the wrong and punish the culprits, their officer summoned those who guarded the area where my mother was robbed to stand in line and had my mother pointed out the ones who robbed her. But, my mother was too smart to make enemies in the jungle where only jungle law prevailed. She told the officer that it was rather dark, and she couldn’t recognize the faces of the people who robbed her. To amend the misdeed of their soldiers, the officials in charge of the military camp put my Mom in a special car and brought her to Site 2 immediately.
(To be continued)
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
ចំណីខួរក្បាល (ប្រចាំសប្តាហ៍)
"ព្រុសខុសដើមឈើ"
នៅក្នុងភាសាអង់គ្លេស មានពាក្យអត្ថប្បដិរូបមួយឃ្លាពោលថា៖
"Barking up the wrong tree." ពាក្យនេះមានន័យថា "រកខុសកន្លែង"
ឬក៏ ធ្វើកិច្ចការខុសគោលដៅ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ បើយើងបកប្រែពាក្យនេះ
តាមន័យត្រង់ យើងអាចប្រៀបធៀបពាក្យនេះទៅនឹងសត្វឆ្កែ
ប្រមាញ់ដែលព្រុសកោះរកសត្វមិនត្រូវចំដើមឈើដែលសត្វព្រៃ
កំពុងពួន ។ ឆ្កែប្រមាញ់គឺជាឆ្កែដែលគេចិញ្ចឹមសម្រាប់ស្វែងរក
និងដេញខាំសត្វព្រៃ ។ កាលខ្ញុំរស់នៅក្នុងតំបន់ចុងកាត់មាត់ញក
មួយនាសម័យខ្មែរក្រហមគ្រប់គ្រងប្រទេសកម្ពុជានៅអំឡុងចុង
ទសវត្សរ៍ឆ្នាំ ១៩៧០ ខ្ញុំធ្លាប់ឃើញក្មេងៗដែលជាកូនកម្មាភិបាល
ខ្មែរក្រហមនាំឆ្កែដើរម្រមាញ់សត្វព្រៃ ។ ជារឿយៗ ខ្ញុំសង្កេតឃើញ
ថា នៅពេលដែលហ្វូងឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ហិតប្រទះក្លិនសត្វសំពោចក្រអូប
ពួកវាហាក់ដូចជាវង្វេងវង្វាន់ ហើយនាំគ្នាទៅព្រុសសំដៅដើមឈើ
ឬគុម្ពោតព្រៃ ដែលមិនមែនជាទីដែលសត្វសំពោចកំពុងលាក់ខ្លួន
ទៅវិញ ។ ជាលទ្ធផល ទាំងឆ្កែទាំងម្ចាស់ គឺបានត្រឹមតែរុករកហត់
អត់អំពើ ។
ថ្មីៗនេះ រដ្ឋសភានៃព្រះរាជាណាចក្រ កម្ពុជា បានធ្វើច្បាប់មួយ
ដើម្បីផ្តន្ទាទោសដល់បុគ្គលណាដែលនិយាយថា គ្មានអំពើប្រល័យ
ពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម ឬថាគុកទួលស្លែងជាគុក
សិប្បនិម្មិត ។ ក្នុងនាមយើងជាអតីតជនរងគ្រោះនៃរបបខ្មែរ
ក្រហម យើងសូមស្វាគមនិងគាំទ្រច្បាប់នេះយ៉ាងពេញទំហឹង ។
ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលគួរឲ្យសោកស្តាយ គឺថា ការធ្វើច្បាប់សម្រាប់ដាក់
ទណ្ឌកម្មអ្នកនិយាយមិនពិតអំពីរបបប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ
ក្រហមនោះ គឺមិនខុសអ្វីអំពីសត្វឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ ដែលព្រុសខុសដើម
ឈើឡើយ ។ និយាយឲ្យងាយគិត ទោសនិយាយមិនពិត គឺមាន
ស្ថានទម្ងន់មិនដូចទោសដែលបានប្រព្រឹត្តិនោះទេ ។ ដូច្នេះ រដ្ឋ
សភាកម្ពុជាគួរណាស់តែយកពេលវេលាដ៏មានតម្លៃរបស់ខ្លួន ទៅ
ធ្វើច្បាប់បញ្ជាក់វែកញែកឲ្យបានច្បាស់ នូវទម្ងន់ទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋ
សម្រាប់អ្នកដែលបានប្រព្រឹត្តិអំពើឧក្រិដ្ឋ មកលើពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរនៅក្នុង
សម័យខ្មែរក្រហមគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋអំណាចនោះវិញ ទើបប្រសើរ ។
បច្ចុប្បន្ន តុលាការកូនកាត់មួយដែលមនុស្សទូទៅហៅកាត់ថា "តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម" ត្រូវបានរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជាសហការជា
មួយនឹងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិបង្កើតឡើង ដើម្បីកាត់ទោសអតីត
មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ។ មកទល់នឹងថ្ងៃនេះ ដំណើរការកាត់ទោស
អតីតមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម បាននិងកំពុងតែប្រឈមនឹងភាពចម្រូង
ចម្រាសយ៉ាងខ្លាំង រហូតដល់ចៅក្រមអន្តរជាតិមួយចំនួនលាឈប់
ពីដំណែង ដោយសារតែការខ្វែងគំនិតគ្នារវាងសហចៅក្រមជាតិ
ខ្មែរនិងអន្តរជាតិ ។ យោងតាមពត៌មានចេញមកពីតុលាការខ្មែរ
ក្រហម ចំណុចចម្រូងចម្រាសដែលនាំឲ្យមានការខ្វែងមតិគ្នារវាង
ចៅក្រមខ្មែរនិងចៅក្រមអន្តរជាតិនោះ គឺស្ថិតនៅត្រង់មាត្រាមួយ
នៃច្បាប់កាត់ទោសអតីតមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ដែលតម្រូវឲ្យផ្តន្ទា
ទោសតែបុគ្គលណាដែលទទួលខុសត្រូវខ្ពស់បំផុត (Most Responsible
Persons) ។
សម្រាប់អ្នកដែលធ្លាប់បានសិក្សា ឬក៏ធ្លាប់រស់នៅក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម
បុគ្គលដែលទទួលខុសត្រូវខ្ពស់បំផុតនោះ គឺគ្មាននរណាដឹងឬអាច
សន្មត់បានទេ ។ យើងគ្រាន់តែដឹងថា អង្គការជាអ្នកទទួលខុសត្រូវ
ខ្ពស់បំផុត ក្នុងការកាប់សម្លាប់ពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរទូទាំងប្រទេសនាសម័យ
នោះ ។ ហើយនៅពីក្រោយអង្គការគឺថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ដែល
គេហៅថា៖ គណមជ្ឈឹម គណភូមិភាគ គណតំបន់ គណស្រុក
គណឃុំ គណសហករណ៍ និង ពួកឈ្លបនិងយោធា ដែលទទួល
ខុសត្រូវផ្នែកសន្តិសុខជាតិ ។ នៅក្នុងចំណោមថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រ
ហមទាំងនេះ មានបុគ្គលមួយចំនួនធំបានប្រព្រឹត្តិឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មយ៉ាង
ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ ។ ដូច្នេះ បុគ្គលដែលធ្លាប់ធ្វើជាតំណាងអង្គការខ្មែរក្រហម
ទាំងនេះវិញទេ ដែលរដ្ឋសភាខ្មែរគួរតែធ្វើច្បាប់ដាក់ស្ថានទម្ងន់
ទោសឲ្យបានច្បាស់សាល់ និងឲ្យបានឆាប់ ដើម្បីជួយសម្រួល
ដល់តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម ចាត់វិធានការទៅតាមនិតិវិធីរបស់ខ្លួន
ក្នុងការវិនិច្ឆ័យទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋជនទាំងនេះ ឲ្យបានសមរម្យ ។ ចំ
ណែកឯអ្នកដែលនិយាយមិនពិត ឬក៏បដិសេធថា គ្មានអំពើប្រ
ល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ វាមិនចាំបាច់អ្វី
នឹងតម្រូវឲ្យរដ្ឋសភាជាតិខ្មែរ ធ្វើច្បាប់ដើម្បីដាក់ទោសទណ្ឌនោះ
ទេ ព្រោះថា ពាក្យសម្តីដែលមិនពិត មិនអាចកែប្រែរឿងពិតបាន
ឡើយ ។ មូលហេតុដែលយើងហ៊ានអះអាងដូច្នេះ ព្រោះយើងធ្លាប់
បានឮលោក ខៀវ សំផន ដែលជាអតីតប្រមុខរដ្ឋខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ និយាយបដិសេធថាគ្មានអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យ
ខ្មែរក្រហម អស់រយៈពេលជាង ៣០ឆ្នាំមកហើយ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ សម្តី
ប្រាសចាកការពិតរបស់គាត់ មិនបានធ្វើឲ្យប្រវិត្តិសាស្ត្រខ្មែរក្រហម
កែប្រែទេ ។ ផ្ទុយទៅវិញ វាបានធ្វើឲ្យសាធារណមតិនៅលើសកល
លោក រឹតតែមានជំនឿនិងឆន្ទៈ ក្នុងការសិក្សា និងរក្សាប្រវត្តិ
សាស្ត្រ នៃអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍របស់ពួកខ្មែរក្រហម យ៉ាងមុត
មាំថែមទៀត ។ ការអូសក្បាលលោក ខៀវ សំផន មកកាត់ទោស
នៅក្នុងតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម គឺជាតឹកតាងដ៏ប្រត្យក្សមួយ ។
ការធ្វើច្បាប់ផ្តន្ទាទោសអ្នកនិយាយប្រឌិត ជាជាងធ្វើច្បាប់បញ្ជាក់
លម្អិត ក្នុងការវិនិច្ឆ័យទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋដែលត្រូវបានប្រព្រឹត្តិដោយអតីត
ថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ គឺមិនខុសអ្វីអំពីឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ ដែលទៅ
ព្រុសកោះខុសដើមឈើដែលសត្វសំពោចក្រអូប កំពុងតែលាក់
ខ្លួនពួនអាត្មានោះទេ ។ បើយើងធ្វើការប្រៀបធៀបវិភាគឲ្យបាន
ល្អិតល្អន់ យើងនឹងមើលឃើញថា អ្នកដែលនិយាយប្រាសចាកការ
ពិតអំពីអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម គឺគ្រាន់តែ
ជាខ្លិនសត្វសំពោចក្រអូបតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។ វាគ្មានប្រយោជន៍អ្វីនឹងទៅ
រុករកចាប់សត្វសំពោចនៅក្នុងទីកន្លែងដែលយើងគ្រាន់តែធំខ្លិន
របស់វានោះទេ ។ បើបំណាច់នឹងចំណាយពេលវេលា ដើម្បីរុករក
ចាប់សត្វសំពោចក្រអូបនោះ យើងគួរតែទៅរុករក នៅក្នុងគុម្ពោត
ឈើណា ដែលវាកំពុងពួន ៕
នៅក្នុងភាសាអង់គ្លេស មានពាក្យអត្ថប្បដិរូបមួយឃ្លាពោលថា៖
"Barking up the wrong tree." ពាក្យនេះមានន័យថា "រកខុសកន្លែង"
ឬក៏ ធ្វើកិច្ចការខុសគោលដៅ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ បើយើងបកប្រែពាក្យនេះ
តាមន័យត្រង់ យើងអាចប្រៀបធៀបពាក្យនេះទៅនឹងសត្វឆ្កែ
ប្រមាញ់ដែលព្រុសកោះរកសត្វមិនត្រូវចំដើមឈើដែលសត្វព្រៃ
កំពុងពួន ។ ឆ្កែប្រមាញ់គឺជាឆ្កែដែលគេចិញ្ចឹមសម្រាប់ស្វែងរក
និងដេញខាំសត្វព្រៃ ។ កាលខ្ញុំរស់នៅក្នុងតំបន់ចុងកាត់មាត់ញក
មួយនាសម័យខ្មែរក្រហមគ្រប់គ្រងប្រទេសកម្ពុជានៅអំឡុងចុង
ទសវត្សរ៍ឆ្នាំ ១៩៧០ ខ្ញុំធ្លាប់ឃើញក្មេងៗដែលជាកូនកម្មាភិបាល
ខ្មែរក្រហមនាំឆ្កែដើរម្រមាញ់សត្វព្រៃ ។ ជារឿយៗ ខ្ញុំសង្កេតឃើញ
ថា នៅពេលដែលហ្វូងឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ហិតប្រទះក្លិនសត្វសំពោចក្រអូប
ពួកវាហាក់ដូចជាវង្វេងវង្វាន់ ហើយនាំគ្នាទៅព្រុសសំដៅដើមឈើ
ឬគុម្ពោតព្រៃ ដែលមិនមែនជាទីដែលសត្វសំពោចកំពុងលាក់ខ្លួន
ទៅវិញ ។ ជាលទ្ធផល ទាំងឆ្កែទាំងម្ចាស់ គឺបានត្រឹមតែរុករកហត់
អត់អំពើ ។
ថ្មីៗនេះ រដ្ឋសភានៃព្រះរាជាណាចក្រ កម្ពុជា បានធ្វើច្បាប់មួយ
ដើម្បីផ្តន្ទាទោសដល់បុគ្គលណាដែលនិយាយថា គ្មានអំពើប្រល័យ
ពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យខ្មែរក្រហម ឬថាគុកទួលស្លែងជាគុក
សិប្បនិម្មិត ។ ក្នុងនាមយើងជាអតីតជនរងគ្រោះនៃរបបខ្មែរ
ក្រហម យើងសូមស្វាគមនិងគាំទ្រច្បាប់នេះយ៉ាងពេញទំហឹង ។
ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលគួរឲ្យសោកស្តាយ គឺថា ការធ្វើច្បាប់សម្រាប់ដាក់
ទណ្ឌកម្មអ្នកនិយាយមិនពិតអំពីរបបប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ
ក្រហមនោះ គឺមិនខុសអ្វីអំពីសត្វឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ ដែលព្រុសខុសដើម
ឈើឡើយ ។ និយាយឲ្យងាយគិត ទោសនិយាយមិនពិត គឺមាន
ស្ថានទម្ងន់មិនដូចទោសដែលបានប្រព្រឹត្តិនោះទេ ។ ដូច្នេះ រដ្ឋ
សភាកម្ពុជាគួរណាស់តែយកពេលវេលាដ៏មានតម្លៃរបស់ខ្លួន ទៅ
ធ្វើច្បាប់បញ្ជាក់វែកញែកឲ្យបានច្បាស់ នូវទម្ងន់ទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋ
សម្រាប់អ្នកដែលបានប្រព្រឹត្តិអំពើឧក្រិដ្ឋ មកលើពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរនៅក្នុង
សម័យខ្មែរក្រហមគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋអំណាចនោះវិញ ទើបប្រសើរ ។
បច្ចុប្បន្ន តុលាការកូនកាត់មួយដែលមនុស្សទូទៅហៅកាត់ថា "តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម" ត្រូវបានរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជាសហការជា
មួយនឹងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិបង្កើតឡើង ដើម្បីកាត់ទោសអតីត
មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ។ មកទល់នឹងថ្ងៃនេះ ដំណើរការកាត់ទោស
អតីតមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម បាននិងកំពុងតែប្រឈមនឹងភាពចម្រូង
ចម្រាសយ៉ាងខ្លាំង រហូតដល់ចៅក្រមអន្តរជាតិមួយចំនួនលាឈប់
ពីដំណែង ដោយសារតែការខ្វែងគំនិតគ្នារវាងសហចៅក្រមជាតិ
ខ្មែរនិងអន្តរជាតិ ។ យោងតាមពត៌មានចេញមកពីតុលាការខ្មែរ
ក្រហម ចំណុចចម្រូងចម្រាសដែលនាំឲ្យមានការខ្វែងមតិគ្នារវាង
ចៅក្រមខ្មែរនិងចៅក្រមអន្តរជាតិនោះ គឺស្ថិតនៅត្រង់មាត្រាមួយ
នៃច្បាប់កាត់ទោសអតីតមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ដែលតម្រូវឲ្យផ្តន្ទា
ទោសតែបុគ្គលណាដែលទទួលខុសត្រូវខ្ពស់បំផុត (Most Responsible
Persons) ។
សម្រាប់អ្នកដែលធ្លាប់បានសិក្សា ឬក៏ធ្លាប់រស់នៅក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម
បុគ្គលដែលទទួលខុសត្រូវខ្ពស់បំផុតនោះ គឺគ្មាននរណាដឹងឬអាច
សន្មត់បានទេ ។ យើងគ្រាន់តែដឹងថា អង្គការជាអ្នកទទួលខុសត្រូវ
ខ្ពស់បំផុត ក្នុងការកាប់សម្លាប់ពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរទូទាំងប្រទេសនាសម័យ
នោះ ។ ហើយនៅពីក្រោយអង្គការគឺថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហម ដែល
គេហៅថា៖ គណមជ្ឈឹម គណភូមិភាគ គណតំបន់ គណស្រុក
គណឃុំ គណសហករណ៍ និង ពួកឈ្លបនិងយោធា ដែលទទួល
ខុសត្រូវផ្នែកសន្តិសុខជាតិ ។ នៅក្នុងចំណោមថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រ
ហមទាំងនេះ មានបុគ្គលមួយចំនួនធំបានប្រព្រឹត្តិឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មយ៉ាង
ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ ។ ដូច្នេះ បុគ្គលដែលធ្លាប់ធ្វើជាតំណាងអង្គការខ្មែរក្រហម
ទាំងនេះវិញទេ ដែលរដ្ឋសភាខ្មែរគួរតែធ្វើច្បាប់ដាក់ស្ថានទម្ងន់
ទោសឲ្យបានច្បាស់សាល់ និងឲ្យបានឆាប់ ដើម្បីជួយសម្រួល
ដល់តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម ចាត់វិធានការទៅតាមនិតិវិធីរបស់ខ្លួន
ក្នុងការវិនិច្ឆ័យទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋជនទាំងនេះ ឲ្យបានសមរម្យ ។ ចំ
ណែកឯអ្នកដែលនិយាយមិនពិត ឬក៏បដិសេធថា គ្មានអំពើប្រ
ល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ វាមិនចាំបាច់អ្វី
នឹងតម្រូវឲ្យរដ្ឋសភាជាតិខ្មែរ ធ្វើច្បាប់ដើម្បីដាក់ទោសទណ្ឌនោះ
ទេ ព្រោះថា ពាក្យសម្តីដែលមិនពិត មិនអាចកែប្រែរឿងពិតបាន
ឡើយ ។ មូលហេតុដែលយើងហ៊ានអះអាងដូច្នេះ ព្រោះយើងធ្លាប់
បានឮលោក ខៀវ សំផន ដែលជាអតីតប្រមុខរដ្ឋខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ និយាយបដិសេធថាគ្មានអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងសម័យ
ខ្មែរក្រហម អស់រយៈពេលជាង ៣០ឆ្នាំមកហើយ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ សម្តី
ប្រាសចាកការពិតរបស់គាត់ មិនបានធ្វើឲ្យប្រវិត្តិសាស្ត្រខ្មែរក្រហម
កែប្រែទេ ។ ផ្ទុយទៅវិញ វាបានធ្វើឲ្យសាធារណមតិនៅលើសកល
លោក រឹតតែមានជំនឿនិងឆន្ទៈ ក្នុងការសិក្សា និងរក្សាប្រវត្តិ
សាស្ត្រ នៃអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍របស់ពួកខ្មែរក្រហម យ៉ាងមុត
មាំថែមទៀត ។ ការអូសក្បាលលោក ខៀវ សំផន មកកាត់ទោស
នៅក្នុងតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម គឺជាតឹកតាងដ៏ប្រត្យក្សមួយ ។
ការធ្វើច្បាប់ផ្តន្ទាទោសអ្នកនិយាយប្រឌិត ជាជាងធ្វើច្បាប់បញ្ជាក់
លម្អិត ក្នុងការវិនិច្ឆ័យទោសឧក្រិដ្ឋដែលត្រូវបានប្រព្រឹត្តិដោយអតីត
ថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរក្រហមនោះ គឺមិនខុសអ្វីអំពីឆ្កែប្រមាញ់ ដែលទៅ
ព្រុសកោះខុសដើមឈើដែលសត្វសំពោចក្រអូប កំពុងតែលាក់
ខ្លួនពួនអាត្មានោះទេ ។ បើយើងធ្វើការប្រៀបធៀបវិភាគឲ្យបាន
ល្អិតល្អន់ យើងនឹងមើលឃើញថា អ្នកដែលនិយាយប្រាសចាកការ
ពិតអំពីអំពើប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍នៅក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម គឺគ្រាន់តែ
ជាខ្លិនសត្វសំពោចក្រអូបតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។ វាគ្មានប្រយោជន៍អ្វីនឹងទៅ
រុករកចាប់សត្វសំពោចនៅក្នុងទីកន្លែងដែលយើងគ្រាន់តែធំខ្លិន
របស់វានោះទេ ។ បើបំណាច់នឹងចំណាយពេលវេលា ដើម្បីរុករក
ចាប់សត្វសំពោចក្រអូបនោះ យើងគួរតែទៅរុករក នៅក្នុងគុម្ពោត
ឈើណា ដែលវាកំពុងពួន ៕
Friday, May 31, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
85) Lord Chaovar (Talaha1) Poc
(1796--1806)
After King Ang Eng’s death, Cambodia was without ruler-king for 10 years (from 1796-1806) because King Rama I of Siam did not allow any of King Ang Eng’s children to succeed the throne. The reason was that these princes were too young. Therefore, the Siamese court appointed Lord Chaovar Poc to rule Cambodia for the time being.
During the period of Lord Chaovar Poc’s rule, Cambodia was filled with turmoil and chaos. On one hand, the Siamese king, Rama I, obliged Lord Chaovar Poc to send Khmer army to help fight the Burmese. On the other hand, Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam asked the king of Siam to order Lord Chaovar Poc to send Khmer army to help him fight against the Tyson Rebellion. Lord Chaovar Poc obliged to both demands. As a result, people began to rebel against his rule. Many provincial governors began to establish independence fiefdoms and stop paying taxes to the kingdom.
Seeing this dire situation, King Rama I of Siam sent Prince Ang Chan to ascend the Khmer throne. As for Lord Chaovar Poc, he was taken back to Siam and reprimanded for his failure to pacify the Cambodians. Lord Chaovar Poc died at the age of 65.
86) King Ang Chan II
(1806--1834, Oudong)
King Ang Chan II was the oldest son of King Ang Eng. He succeeded the throne in 1806 at the age of 16 under the blessing of the Siamese court. At the same time, Vietnam threatened to wage war with Cambodia unless King Ang Chan II agrees to make the Khmer Kingdom its tributary state. In order to avoid war with Vietnam, King Ang Chan II agreed to the Vietnamese demand.
During King Ang Chan II’s reign, there were numerous conflicts with the Siamese court. The king of Siam ordered the Khmers to send soldiers to help protect Siamese territory. But King Ang Chan II ignored the order. Not only that, he imposed capital punishment on Oknha Krolahom Moeurng and Oknha Chakrey Baen who colluded with prince Ang Snguon and secretly mobilized an army to help Siam. Later on, Techou Moeurng (Oknha Krolahom Moeurng?), Governor of Kompong Svay (now Kompong Thom province), led an uprising against King Ang Chan II. However, he was defeated by the royal army.
In 1814, Siam sent an army to invade and capture the provinces of Mlu Prey, Tonle Pov, and Stung Treng. In 1828, the Governor of Pursat colluded with Siam and asked King Nang Klao (Rama III) of Siam to send an army to invade Cambodia. One year later in 1829, Siam secretly sent an army led by Ponhea Bodin to invade Cambodia. After the Siamese troops captured Pursat, King Ang Chan II fled to Saigon (Vietnam). But, by 1831, Vietnam sent an army to expel the Siamese from Cambodia and returned King Ang Chan II to the throne. King Ang Chan II died in 1834.
87) Queen Ang Mey
(1834--1841, Capital: Oudong)
After the death of King Ang Chan II, there was no heir apparent to the Khmer throne, for King Ang Chan II had no son except for 4 daughters, princesses Ben, Mey, Pov, and Snguon. This delighted both Vietnam and Siam, the two nemeses who wanted to eliminate the royal rulers in Cambodia. The Vietnamese, who were occupying Cambodia, did not allow either Princes Ang Em or Ang Duong to succeed the throne. They instead appointed Princess Ben to succeed her father. However, she declined. Thus, the Vietnamese chose Princess Mey to ascend the throne.
During Queen Ang Mey’s reign, Vietnam appointed a general named Truong Minh Giang to supervise and rule Cambodia. Following order from Emperor Minh Mang of Vietnam, Truong Minh Giang introduced a radical change in Cambodia by forcing the Khmer officials to dress like Vietnamese and ordered them to feed and support the Vietnamese soldiers who were occupying Cambodia. The Vietnamese ordered that the sacred banyan trees be cut down, the statues of Buddha be destroyed, and the name of Capital-to-be Phnom Penh be changed to Nam Giang1.
These radical changes had gone a bit too far that the Khmers could no longer stand the Vietnamese overlord. A general uprising against Vietnamese occupation was ensued and the Vietnamese were eventually expelled from Cambodia. After the expulsion of the Vietnamese, the Khmers repatriated Prince Ang Duong, who was staying in Siam, to ascend the throne in 1841.
88) King Harirak Reamia Thibadey [a.k.a. Ang Duong]
(1841--1860, Capital: Oudong)
King Harirak Reamia Thibadey (Ang Duong hereafter) was the youngest son of King Ang Eng. At the onset of his repatriation from Siam to succeed the Khmer throne, Cambodia had become a pariah state because of ceaseless warfare. The Vietnamese had waged war with Khmers for 6 years from 1841-47. But this conflict was at a stalemate. Thus, King Ang Duong, after being repatriated to succeed the throne, had to wait out for 6 years before he could formally ascend the throne in 1847.
During his succession, both Vietnam and Siam acted as overlords upon the Khmers. Soon after King Ang Duong’s coronation, Siam demanded to annex the provinces of Battambang, Tonle Pov, and Mlu Prey. However, King Ang Duong did not bow to the Siamese demand.
In order to avoid war with both Siam and Vietnam, King Ang Duong decided to put the Khmer Kingdom under France’s protection which, in effect, made Cambodia a French protectorate. After Cambodia became a French protectorate, Vietnam agreed to repatriate Queen Ang Mey and many other members of the royal family, who were taken as hostages, back to Cambodia.
King Ang Duong was a kind, caring, honest, and pacifist ruler. He was a devout Buddhist, a great poet, and was very fond of literature. During his reign, he managed to build a road from Oudong to Kampot, linking the Capital to the sea port, and many other infrastructures for the kingdom. King Ang Duong died in 1860. He was survived by 3 sons, Princes Norodom, Sisowath, and Siwatha.
(To be continued)
(1796--1806)
After King Ang Eng’s death, Cambodia was without ruler-king for 10 years (from 1796-1806) because King Rama I of Siam did not allow any of King Ang Eng’s children to succeed the throne. The reason was that these princes were too young. Therefore, the Siamese court appointed Lord Chaovar Poc to rule Cambodia for the time being.
During the period of Lord Chaovar Poc’s rule, Cambodia was filled with turmoil and chaos. On one hand, the Siamese king, Rama I, obliged Lord Chaovar Poc to send Khmer army to help fight the Burmese. On the other hand, Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam asked the king of Siam to order Lord Chaovar Poc to send Khmer army to help him fight against the Tyson Rebellion. Lord Chaovar Poc obliged to both demands. As a result, people began to rebel against his rule. Many provincial governors began to establish independence fiefdoms and stop paying taxes to the kingdom.
Seeing this dire situation, King Rama I of Siam sent Prince Ang Chan to ascend the Khmer throne. As for Lord Chaovar Poc, he was taken back to Siam and reprimanded for his failure to pacify the Cambodians. Lord Chaovar Poc died at the age of 65.
86) King Ang Chan II
(1806--1834, Oudong)
King Ang Chan II was the oldest son of King Ang Eng. He succeeded the throne in 1806 at the age of 16 under the blessing of the Siamese court. At the same time, Vietnam threatened to wage war with Cambodia unless King Ang Chan II agrees to make the Khmer Kingdom its tributary state. In order to avoid war with Vietnam, King Ang Chan II agreed to the Vietnamese demand.
During King Ang Chan II’s reign, there were numerous conflicts with the Siamese court. The king of Siam ordered the Khmers to send soldiers to help protect Siamese territory. But King Ang Chan II ignored the order. Not only that, he imposed capital punishment on Oknha Krolahom Moeurng and Oknha Chakrey Baen who colluded with prince Ang Snguon and secretly mobilized an army to help Siam. Later on, Techou Moeurng (Oknha Krolahom Moeurng?), Governor of Kompong Svay (now Kompong Thom province), led an uprising against King Ang Chan II. However, he was defeated by the royal army.
In 1814, Siam sent an army to invade and capture the provinces of Mlu Prey, Tonle Pov, and Stung Treng. In 1828, the Governor of Pursat colluded with Siam and asked King Nang Klao (Rama III) of Siam to send an army to invade Cambodia. One year later in 1829, Siam secretly sent an army led by Ponhea Bodin to invade Cambodia. After the Siamese troops captured Pursat, King Ang Chan II fled to Saigon (Vietnam). But, by 1831, Vietnam sent an army to expel the Siamese from Cambodia and returned King Ang Chan II to the throne. King Ang Chan II died in 1834.
87) Queen Ang Mey
(1834--1841, Capital: Oudong)
After the death of King Ang Chan II, there was no heir apparent to the Khmer throne, for King Ang Chan II had no son except for 4 daughters, princesses Ben, Mey, Pov, and Snguon. This delighted both Vietnam and Siam, the two nemeses who wanted to eliminate the royal rulers in Cambodia. The Vietnamese, who were occupying Cambodia, did not allow either Princes Ang Em or Ang Duong to succeed the throne. They instead appointed Princess Ben to succeed her father. However, she declined. Thus, the Vietnamese chose Princess Mey to ascend the throne.
During Queen Ang Mey’s reign, Vietnam appointed a general named Truong Minh Giang to supervise and rule Cambodia. Following order from Emperor Minh Mang of Vietnam, Truong Minh Giang introduced a radical change in Cambodia by forcing the Khmer officials to dress like Vietnamese and ordered them to feed and support the Vietnamese soldiers who were occupying Cambodia. The Vietnamese ordered that the sacred banyan trees be cut down, the statues of Buddha be destroyed, and the name of Capital-to-be Phnom Penh be changed to Nam Giang1.
These radical changes had gone a bit too far that the Khmers could no longer stand the Vietnamese overlord. A general uprising against Vietnamese occupation was ensued and the Vietnamese were eventually expelled from Cambodia. After the expulsion of the Vietnamese, the Khmers repatriated Prince Ang Duong, who was staying in Siam, to ascend the throne in 1841.
88) King Harirak Reamia Thibadey [a.k.a. Ang Duong]
(1841--1860, Capital: Oudong)
King Harirak Reamia Thibadey (Ang Duong hereafter) was the youngest son of King Ang Eng. At the onset of his repatriation from Siam to succeed the Khmer throne, Cambodia had become a pariah state because of ceaseless warfare. The Vietnamese had waged war with Khmers for 6 years from 1841-47. But this conflict was at a stalemate. Thus, King Ang Duong, after being repatriated to succeed the throne, had to wait out for 6 years before he could formally ascend the throne in 1847.
During his succession, both Vietnam and Siam acted as overlords upon the Khmers. Soon after King Ang Duong’s coronation, Siam demanded to annex the provinces of Battambang, Tonle Pov, and Mlu Prey. However, King Ang Duong did not bow to the Siamese demand.
In order to avoid war with both Siam and Vietnam, King Ang Duong decided to put the Khmer Kingdom under France’s protection which, in effect, made Cambodia a French protectorate. After Cambodia became a French protectorate, Vietnam agreed to repatriate Queen Ang Mey and many other members of the royal family, who were taken as hostages, back to Cambodia.
King Ang Duong was a kind, caring, honest, and pacifist ruler. He was a devout Buddhist, a great poet, and was very fond of literature. During his reign, he managed to build a road from Oudong to Kampot, linking the Capital to the sea port, and many other infrastructures for the kingdom. King Ang Duong died in 1860. He was survived by 3 sons, Princes Norodom, Sisowath, and Siwatha.
(To be continued)
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
WAR AND GENOCIDE
The Jungle of Refugees (Cont.)
I went to attend the fourth grade in Nong Chan Primary School the next day. It was around mid May of 1985. There were some older students in my class, but they were not as old as I was. The oldest ones were about five years my junior. Because of the Khmer Rouge’s abolition of education and the frequent moves among the refugees who lived in camps along the border, enforcement of the regulation on student’s ages and grade level was lax. Still, people could physically tell that I was the oldest student in the class.
My going to school full time presented a bit of a challenge for me, domestically, for I was expected to perform many household chores. I could tell that Om Kin and Om Ok, the sibling elder with whom I lived, were not happy about my almost day-long absence every day from the house/hut because, when the water trucks arrived, I needed to go fetch water from the communal tanks for our daily use before it all was taken by other camp residents. To ease our concern about water, Vuthda and I used a blue plastic sheet to construct a water container by using bamboo strips to build a large basket and placed the plastic sheet within it to store water. Thus, I was reprieved from being fussed at on failing to fetch enough water for the daily consumption as I would fill our water container to capacity, which could last us for a few days, whenever I had the opportunity to obtain more. As for firewood for cooking, the entire Site 2 camp was fenced off with barbed wires and people were not allowed to venture outside the fences. Therefore, UNBRO had to truck in firewood to provide for every family’s cooking needs. This made my life a bit easier. I would just go to the firewood storage area and presented our family ID card to obtain the wood every week.
After getting my daily routine in place, I began to concentrate on my studies in earnest, in both Khmer and English. The primary school which I attended offered basic level English courses as part of its curriculum. Thus, with the other two private basic level English courses I took, I had a total of three basic level classes going on at the same time. To avoid redundancy, I made sure that the classes I took were given out of different textbooks: one was based on an American textbook called Lado, the other two were based on the British texts called Oxford and Essential English. To remind myself of those formative times, I still keep some of those old English textbooks with me.
Despite my long absence from school, I was able to catch up with the learning process relatively well. However, some subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, biology, and other science-based courses presented tremendous challenges for me. I had a hard time trying to understand the conceptual frameworks of many problems. One of these problems which I dreaded most was courier, a kind of mathematic problem involving runners who started running from point A to point B at different points of departure with different speeds. We needed to figure out how long would it take for runner number two to catch up with runner number one. To this day, I am still unable to master the conceptual framework upon which a formula could be used to solve such problems.
After evaluating myself and assessing my strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the fourth grade courses I was studying, I realized that I needed a lot of help with mathematics and science-related subjects. Thus, I approached a smart young boy named Von Vattara and asked if he would be willing to spend some of his spare times to teach me how to solve complex mathematical problems. Vattara agreed to help me. Each day, Vattara and I would come to class about half an hour before it started and used the time to go over our lessons. Vattara patiently explained to me how to solve mathematical problems by making me write down the different formulae and theorems and memorizing them. He further told me how to look for clues in each problem, and what kind of formula or theorem to use to solve it, accordingly. After a few months of diligent effort and rigorous practice, my ability to deal with fourth grade mathematical problems improved markedly. I was able to solve most problems, if not all.
By about mid August, Om Ok’s wife, Om Ky, along with two of his children and about half a dozen of his grandchildren, arrived in the camp. In the letter, Om Ok had only asked Odom to bring his wife to reunite with him, but, obviously Odom had persuaded his children to come as well. To my absolute surprise, I learned that my mother and younger brother, Buntha, had also attempted to come to the camp. But, because of lack of funds to pay for their passage across the border, my brother was stuck in a Cambodian village near the border along with Om Ok’s adopted daughter and one of his grandchildren while my mother returned to stay with one of my paternal cousins in Phnom Penh. Odom did not come to Site 2, but one of his lieutenants did, to collect trafficking fares from family members of his human cargo. At that point, I realized that my brother and Om Ok’s adopted daughter were kept on the other side of the border to ensure that we pay what was still owed to the smugglers before further services were rendered. I also began to realize why Odom brought Om Ok and me to the border camp almost free in the first place. It was very likely that he knew that the relatives we left behind would eventually come to the refugee camp as well, for life in a communist-ruled country had never been desirable. To this end, Odom was not only a human trafficker but also a shrewd businessman.
After learning of the situation my brother, Buntha, was in, I decided to send whatever money I had to have him come to reunite with me, while informing Heang of my decision. I also asked Heang if he could provide funds for me to arrange to get our mother to come to the camp, for it would be hard for her to return to live in Phum Chi Ro alone after it was known that she had abandoned one political regime for another. It took us a while using snail mail and smugglers as modes of communication to get our messages to one another. In the meantime, Om Ok and his family moved to live in a different house. Om Ky, who was my paternal aunt, insisted that I come to live with her because, as my closest relative, she had an obligation to look after me. So I bade goodbye to Om Kin and went to live with Om Ky and the rest of her family from that point on.
While waiting for news and/or responses from both of my brothers, who lived a world apart, the various primary schools in Site 2 organized the first entrance exam to secondary school. As a fourth grader, I was one of the students among those who would be taking the tests, which lasted for two days. With only several months of learning, I was fully aware that my knowledge on every subject was very weak. Thus, I studied doubly hard in preparation for the exam. This was perhaps my only chance to make my way back to formal education which had been abandoned for ten years. The stakes were quite high for me. I quietly told myself that I must not fail, or I would live as an ill-educated person for the rest of my life.
When the appointed date arrived, we fourth graders all went to take our exam at the only secondary school located in Ampil camp. There were about 300 students coming from three different primary schools taking the exam. During the exam, I was a bit nervous, but I told myself to remain calm. I tackled each subject with confidence even though I was not sure I answered the questions correctly. By the time the exam was concluded, I walked out of the exam room with a feeling that I was doing okay, or at least I thought I was. We had to wait for a few days before the test results were announced, as all the handwritten answers were examined, scores were given, and all the points were tallied up. Before the official score announcement was posted, word was getting out among school officials that three students who held the highest scores had only three-quarters of a point separating them in ranking. Two of the three students were from Phnom Dangrek Primary School while the other was from Nong Chan’s, the school where I attended. As the names of the top three students were revealed, I was astounded to learn that one of the three students was me. Unbelievable! It took me a while to accept the news that it was actually true.
(To be continued)
I went to attend the fourth grade in Nong Chan Primary School the next day. It was around mid May of 1985. There were some older students in my class, but they were not as old as I was. The oldest ones were about five years my junior. Because of the Khmer Rouge’s abolition of education and the frequent moves among the refugees who lived in camps along the border, enforcement of the regulation on student’s ages and grade level was lax. Still, people could physically tell that I was the oldest student in the class.
My going to school full time presented a bit of a challenge for me, domestically, for I was expected to perform many household chores. I could tell that Om Kin and Om Ok, the sibling elder with whom I lived, were not happy about my almost day-long absence every day from the house/hut because, when the water trucks arrived, I needed to go fetch water from the communal tanks for our daily use before it all was taken by other camp residents. To ease our concern about water, Vuthda and I used a blue plastic sheet to construct a water container by using bamboo strips to build a large basket and placed the plastic sheet within it to store water. Thus, I was reprieved from being fussed at on failing to fetch enough water for the daily consumption as I would fill our water container to capacity, which could last us for a few days, whenever I had the opportunity to obtain more. As for firewood for cooking, the entire Site 2 camp was fenced off with barbed wires and people were not allowed to venture outside the fences. Therefore, UNBRO had to truck in firewood to provide for every family’s cooking needs. This made my life a bit easier. I would just go to the firewood storage area and presented our family ID card to obtain the wood every week.
After getting my daily routine in place, I began to concentrate on my studies in earnest, in both Khmer and English. The primary school which I attended offered basic level English courses as part of its curriculum. Thus, with the other two private basic level English courses I took, I had a total of three basic level classes going on at the same time. To avoid redundancy, I made sure that the classes I took were given out of different textbooks: one was based on an American textbook called Lado, the other two were based on the British texts called Oxford and Essential English. To remind myself of those formative times, I still keep some of those old English textbooks with me.
Despite my long absence from school, I was able to catch up with the learning process relatively well. However, some subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, biology, and other science-based courses presented tremendous challenges for me. I had a hard time trying to understand the conceptual frameworks of many problems. One of these problems which I dreaded most was courier, a kind of mathematic problem involving runners who started running from point A to point B at different points of departure with different speeds. We needed to figure out how long would it take for runner number two to catch up with runner number one. To this day, I am still unable to master the conceptual framework upon which a formula could be used to solve such problems.
After evaluating myself and assessing my strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the fourth grade courses I was studying, I realized that I needed a lot of help with mathematics and science-related subjects. Thus, I approached a smart young boy named Von Vattara and asked if he would be willing to spend some of his spare times to teach me how to solve complex mathematical problems. Vattara agreed to help me. Each day, Vattara and I would come to class about half an hour before it started and used the time to go over our lessons. Vattara patiently explained to me how to solve mathematical problems by making me write down the different formulae and theorems and memorizing them. He further told me how to look for clues in each problem, and what kind of formula or theorem to use to solve it, accordingly. After a few months of diligent effort and rigorous practice, my ability to deal with fourth grade mathematical problems improved markedly. I was able to solve most problems, if not all.
By about mid August, Om Ok’s wife, Om Ky, along with two of his children and about half a dozen of his grandchildren, arrived in the camp. In the letter, Om Ok had only asked Odom to bring his wife to reunite with him, but, obviously Odom had persuaded his children to come as well. To my absolute surprise, I learned that my mother and younger brother, Buntha, had also attempted to come to the camp. But, because of lack of funds to pay for their passage across the border, my brother was stuck in a Cambodian village near the border along with Om Ok’s adopted daughter and one of his grandchildren while my mother returned to stay with one of my paternal cousins in Phnom Penh. Odom did not come to Site 2, but one of his lieutenants did, to collect trafficking fares from family members of his human cargo. At that point, I realized that my brother and Om Ok’s adopted daughter were kept on the other side of the border to ensure that we pay what was still owed to the smugglers before further services were rendered. I also began to realize why Odom brought Om Ok and me to the border camp almost free in the first place. It was very likely that he knew that the relatives we left behind would eventually come to the refugee camp as well, for life in a communist-ruled country had never been desirable. To this end, Odom was not only a human trafficker but also a shrewd businessman.
After learning of the situation my brother, Buntha, was in, I decided to send whatever money I had to have him come to reunite with me, while informing Heang of my decision. I also asked Heang if he could provide funds for me to arrange to get our mother to come to the camp, for it would be hard for her to return to live in Phum Chi Ro alone after it was known that she had abandoned one political regime for another. It took us a while using snail mail and smugglers as modes of communication to get our messages to one another. In the meantime, Om Ok and his family moved to live in a different house. Om Ky, who was my paternal aunt, insisted that I come to live with her because, as my closest relative, she had an obligation to look after me. So I bade goodbye to Om Kin and went to live with Om Ky and the rest of her family from that point on.
While waiting for news and/or responses from both of my brothers, who lived a world apart, the various primary schools in Site 2 organized the first entrance exam to secondary school. As a fourth grader, I was one of the students among those who would be taking the tests, which lasted for two days. With only several months of learning, I was fully aware that my knowledge on every subject was very weak. Thus, I studied doubly hard in preparation for the exam. This was perhaps my only chance to make my way back to formal education which had been abandoned for ten years. The stakes were quite high for me. I quietly told myself that I must not fail, or I would live as an ill-educated person for the rest of my life.
When the appointed date arrived, we fourth graders all went to take our exam at the only secondary school located in Ampil camp. There were about 300 students coming from three different primary schools taking the exam. During the exam, I was a bit nervous, but I told myself to remain calm. I tackled each subject with confidence even though I was not sure I answered the questions correctly. By the time the exam was concluded, I walked out of the exam room with a feeling that I was doing okay, or at least I thought I was. We had to wait for a few days before the test results were announced, as all the handwritten answers were examined, scores were given, and all the points were tallied up. Before the official score announcement was posted, word was getting out among school officials that three students who held the highest scores had only three-quarters of a point separating them in ranking. Two of the three students were from Phnom Dangrek Primary School while the other was from Nong Chan’s, the school where I attended. As the names of the top three students were revealed, I was astounded to learn that one of the three students was me. Unbelievable! It took me a while to accept the news that it was actually true.
(To be continued)
Saturday, May 25, 2013
ចំណីខួរក្បាល (ប្រចាំសប្តាហ៍)
ឱវាទ ឬ អនុសាសន៍ដែលមានសារប្រយោជន៍បំផុត
តើអនុសាសន៍ប្រភេទណាដែលមានសារប្រយោជន៍បំផុតនោះ ?
ចម្លើយដែលខ្លីនិងងាយចងចាំ គឺអនុសាសន៍ណាដែលមានខ្លឹម
សារផ្ទុយអំពីការចង់បាននិងទង្វើរបស់យើង ។ មូលហេតុដែល
យើងហ៊ានអះអាងដូច្នេះ ព្រោះថាអ្វីដែលផ្ទុយអំពីបំណងនិងទង្វើ
របស់យើង គឺជាសច្ចភាពមួយដែលចង្អុលបង្ហាញនូវគុណវិបត្តិ
និងចំណុចអវិជ្ជមាននានាដែលជាបច្ច័យនាំទៅរកការបរាជ័យ ។
ប្រទេសជាច្រើននៅក្នុងពិភពលោកយើងនេះ (រាប់បញ្ចូលទាំង
ប្រទេសខ្មែរផង) បាននាំគ្នាបង្កើតនូវស្ថាប័ណមួយដែលគេដាក់
ឈ្មោះថា បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិ (National Academy) ។ តួនាទីនៃស្ថា
ប័នបណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិទាំងនេះ ជាទូទៅ គឺផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ដល់
រដ្ឋាភិបាល ដើម្បីលើកតម្កើងការដឹកនាំប្រទេសឲ្យមានភាពរីក
ចម្រើនលើគ្រប់វិស័យ ។
នៅសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក លោកអតីតប្រធានាធិបតី អាប្រាហាំ លីង
កុន បានបង្កើតបណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិនៅឆ្នាំ១៨៦៣ ដើម្បីឲ្យស្ថាប័ន
នេះ ជួយផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ដល់ក្រសួងមន្ទីរនានានៅក្នុងរដ្ឋាភិបាល
នៃសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក ។ បើតាមស្ថិតិដែលយើងទទួលបាន បណ្ឌិត
សភាអាមេរិកផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ ដែលមានរូបភាពជាសៀវភៅ
ឲ្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិក ក្នុង ១ថ្ងៃ ១ក្បាល (គិតជាអត្រាមធ្យម) ។
ចំណុចដែលធ្វើឲ្យយើងចាប់អារម្មណ៍ គឺថា អនុសាសន៍របស់
បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិអាមេរិកាំងស្ទើរតែទាំងអស់ មានលក្ខណៈជា
ការទិតៀនរដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិកាំងចាប់តាំងពី សេត្តវិមាន រហូត
ដល់ក្រសួងតូចតាច ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលធ្វើឲ្យយើងភ្ញាក់ផ្អើលហួស
ពីការស្មាននោះ គឺស្ថិតនៅលើចំណុចដែលថា ថវិកាមួយចំនួនធំ
របស់បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិអាមេរិកាំង មានប្រភពចេញមកពីរដ្ឋាភិ
បាល ។ តើហេតុអ្វីបានជារដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិក ផ្តល់ថវិកាឲ្យស្ថាប័ន
មួយដែលចេញរបាយការណ៍រិះគន់ទិតៀនខ្លួនជាប្រចាំនោះ ?
យើងបានផ្តល់ចម្លើយនៅខាងដើមអត្ថបទរួចហើយ ។ តែយើង
សូមសង្កត់បន្ថែមថា អនុសាសន៍ដែលយើងមិនចូលចិត្ត គឺជាអនុ
សាសន៍ដ៏ល្អបំផុត ព្រោះវាបានលាតត្រដាងអំពីកំហុសរបស់
យើង ។
នៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា យើងសង្កេតឃើញមានទំនាស់ដ៏ស្រួច
ស្រាវមួយរវាងអ្នកធ្វើរបាយការណ៍សិទ្ធិមនុស្សរបស់អង្គការ
សហប្រជាជាតិ ជាមួយនឹងរដ្ឋាភិបាលខ្មែរ ។ កត្តាចម្បងនៅក្នុង
ទំនាស់នេះ គឺការលាតត្រដាងអំពីការរំលោភបំពានសិទ្ធិរបស់
ពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ពីសំណាក់អជ្ញាធរនិងពួកអ្នកមានឥទ្ធិពលមួយចំនួន
ដែលគេហៅថា ឧកញ៉ា ។ ដើម្បីកែតម្រូវកំហុសរបស់មេដឹកនាំ
ខ្មែរដែលតែងតែប្រកាន់យកចរិតជិះជាន់សង្កត់សង្កិតពលរដ្ឋ
របស់ខ្លួននោះ ដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិបានផ្តល់អនុ
សាសន៍ល្អៗយ៉ាងច្រើនដល់ថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ ថ្នាក់ដឹក
នាំខ្មែរមិនត្រឹមតែមិនខិតខំប្រឹងប្រែងអនុវត្តអនុសាសន៍ទាំងនោះ
ដើម្បីកែតម្រូវរាល់កំហុសនានាទេ ពួកគេថែមទាំងព្យាយាម
ដេញដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ និងព្យាយាមបិទការិយា
ល័យអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិនៅកម្ពុជាទៀត ។ ទង្វើនេះគឺមិន
ខុសអ្វីពីពាក្យស្លោកមួយឃ្លាដែលពោលថា៖ "ចាក់ចោលអង្ករ
យកអង្កាម" នោះទេ ។ យើងស្តាយណាស់ ដែលថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ
បច្ចុប្បន្ន មើលមិនយល់អំពី អ្វីដែលមានប្រយោជន៍ និងអ្វីដែល
គ្មានប្រយោជន៍ សម្រាប់ការកសាងជាតិឲ្យបាន រឹតតែរុងរឿង ។
ផ្អែកលើការរីកចម្រើនៃសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក និងការចំណាយប្រាក់
រាប់លានដុល្លារ (របាយការណ៍អនុសាសន៍របស់បណ្ឌិតសភា
ជាតិអាមេរិកាំង ១លេខ ក្រូវចំណាយពេលសិក្សាប្រមាណ ២ឆ្នាំ
និងថវិកាប្រមាណ ១លានដុល្លារ) វាបញ្ជាក់ឲ្យឃើញច្បាស់
ណាស់ថា អនុសាសន៍ដែលយើងមិនពេញចិត្ត គឺជាអនុសាសន៍
ដែលល្អបំផុត ។ វាផ្ទុយស្រឡះពីថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ ដែលមិនត្រឹមតែ
មើលមិនយល់ ថាអនុសាសន៍របស់អ្នកដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជា
ជាតិ គឺជាអង្ករសម្រឹតដែលគេសម្រាំងយ៉ាងយកចិត្តទុកដាក់ និង
យកមកផ្តល់ឲ្យដោយឥតគិតថ្លៃនោះទេ ពួកគេបែរជាយល់ថា
អង្ករសម្រឹតនោះ ស៊ីមិនកើតទៅវិញ ។ អ្វីដែលល្អសម្រាប់ថ្នាក់
ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺអនុសាសន៍ណាដែលអួតសសើរអំពីភាពភ្លឺស្វាងនៃ
ការដឹកនាំប្រទេស ទោះបីជាការដឹកនាំនោះកំពុងតែនាំជាតិឆ្ពោះ
ទៅរកគ្រោះមហន្តរាយក៏ដោយ ។ នយោបាយ "ចាក់ចោលអង្ករ
យកអង្កាម" នេះ គួរណាស់តែបញ្ចប់ត្រឹមនេះហើយ ប្រសិនបើ
យើងមិនចង់ឃើញប្រទេសខ្មែរ នៅតែស្ថិតក្នុងយុគងងិតតទៅ
ទៀត ៕
តើអនុសាសន៍ប្រភេទណាដែលមានសារប្រយោជន៍បំផុតនោះ ?
ចម្លើយដែលខ្លីនិងងាយចងចាំ គឺអនុសាសន៍ណាដែលមានខ្លឹម
សារផ្ទុយអំពីការចង់បាននិងទង្វើរបស់យើង ។ មូលហេតុដែល
យើងហ៊ានអះអាងដូច្នេះ ព្រោះថាអ្វីដែលផ្ទុយអំពីបំណងនិងទង្វើ
របស់យើង គឺជាសច្ចភាពមួយដែលចង្អុលបង្ហាញនូវគុណវិបត្តិ
និងចំណុចអវិជ្ជមាននានាដែលជាបច្ច័យនាំទៅរកការបរាជ័យ ។
ប្រទេសជាច្រើននៅក្នុងពិភពលោកយើងនេះ (រាប់បញ្ចូលទាំង
ប្រទេសខ្មែរផង) បាននាំគ្នាបង្កើតនូវស្ថាប័ណមួយដែលគេដាក់
ឈ្មោះថា បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិ (National Academy) ។ តួនាទីនៃស្ថា
ប័នបណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិទាំងនេះ ជាទូទៅ គឺផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ដល់
រដ្ឋាភិបាល ដើម្បីលើកតម្កើងការដឹកនាំប្រទេសឲ្យមានភាពរីក
ចម្រើនលើគ្រប់វិស័យ ។
នៅសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក លោកអតីតប្រធានាធិបតី អាប្រាហាំ លីង
កុន បានបង្កើតបណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិនៅឆ្នាំ១៨៦៣ ដើម្បីឲ្យស្ថាប័ន
នេះ ជួយផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ដល់ក្រសួងមន្ទីរនានានៅក្នុងរដ្ឋាភិបាល
នៃសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក ។ បើតាមស្ថិតិដែលយើងទទួលបាន បណ្ឌិត
សភាអាមេរិកផ្តល់អនុសាសន៍ ដែលមានរូបភាពជាសៀវភៅ
ឲ្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិក ក្នុង ១ថ្ងៃ ១ក្បាល (គិតជាអត្រាមធ្យម) ។
ចំណុចដែលធ្វើឲ្យយើងចាប់អារម្មណ៍ គឺថា អនុសាសន៍របស់
បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិអាមេរិកាំងស្ទើរតែទាំងអស់ មានលក្ខណៈជា
ការទិតៀនរដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិកាំងចាប់តាំងពី សេត្តវិមាន រហូត
ដល់ក្រសួងតូចតាច ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលធ្វើឲ្យយើងភ្ញាក់ផ្អើលហួស
ពីការស្មាននោះ គឺស្ថិតនៅលើចំណុចដែលថា ថវិកាមួយចំនួនធំ
របស់បណ្ឌិតសភាជាតិអាមេរិកាំង មានប្រភពចេញមកពីរដ្ឋាភិ
បាល ។ តើហេតុអ្វីបានជារដ្ឋាភិបាលអាមេរិក ផ្តល់ថវិកាឲ្យស្ថាប័ន
មួយដែលចេញរបាយការណ៍រិះគន់ទិតៀនខ្លួនជាប្រចាំនោះ ?
យើងបានផ្តល់ចម្លើយនៅខាងដើមអត្ថបទរួចហើយ ។ តែយើង
សូមសង្កត់បន្ថែមថា អនុសាសន៍ដែលយើងមិនចូលចិត្ត គឺជាអនុ
សាសន៍ដ៏ល្អបំផុត ព្រោះវាបានលាតត្រដាងអំពីកំហុសរបស់
យើង ។
នៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា យើងសង្កេតឃើញមានទំនាស់ដ៏ស្រួច
ស្រាវមួយរវាងអ្នកធ្វើរបាយការណ៍សិទ្ធិមនុស្សរបស់អង្គការ
សហប្រជាជាតិ ជាមួយនឹងរដ្ឋាភិបាលខ្មែរ ។ កត្តាចម្បងនៅក្នុង
ទំនាស់នេះ គឺការលាតត្រដាងអំពីការរំលោភបំពានសិទ្ធិរបស់
ពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ពីសំណាក់អជ្ញាធរនិងពួកអ្នកមានឥទ្ធិពលមួយចំនួន
ដែលគេហៅថា ឧកញ៉ា ។ ដើម្បីកែតម្រូវកំហុសរបស់មេដឹកនាំ
ខ្មែរដែលតែងតែប្រកាន់យកចរិតជិះជាន់សង្កត់សង្កិតពលរដ្ឋ
របស់ខ្លួននោះ ដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិបានផ្តល់អនុ
សាសន៍ល្អៗយ៉ាងច្រើនដល់ថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ ថ្នាក់ដឹក
នាំខ្មែរមិនត្រឹមតែមិនខិតខំប្រឹងប្រែងអនុវត្តអនុសាសន៍ទាំងនោះ
ដើម្បីកែតម្រូវរាល់កំហុសនានាទេ ពួកគេថែមទាំងព្យាយាម
ដេញដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ និងព្យាយាមបិទការិយា
ល័យអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិនៅកម្ពុជាទៀត ។ ទង្វើនេះគឺមិន
ខុសអ្វីពីពាក្យស្លោកមួយឃ្លាដែលពោលថា៖ "ចាក់ចោលអង្ករ
យកអង្កាម" នោះទេ ។ យើងស្តាយណាស់ ដែលថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ
បច្ចុប្បន្ន មើលមិនយល់អំពី អ្វីដែលមានប្រយោជន៍ និងអ្វីដែល
គ្មានប្រយោជន៍ សម្រាប់ការកសាងជាតិឲ្យបាន រឹតតែរុងរឿង ។
ផ្អែកលើការរីកចម្រើនៃសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក និងការចំណាយប្រាក់
រាប់លានដុល្លារ (របាយការណ៍អនុសាសន៍របស់បណ្ឌិតសភា
ជាតិអាមេរិកាំង ១លេខ ក្រូវចំណាយពេលសិក្សាប្រមាណ ២ឆ្នាំ
និងថវិកាប្រមាណ ១លានដុល្លារ) វាបញ្ជាក់ឲ្យឃើញច្បាស់
ណាស់ថា អនុសាសន៍ដែលយើងមិនពេញចិត្ត គឺជាអនុសាសន៍
ដែលល្អបំផុត ។ វាផ្ទុយស្រឡះពីថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ ដែលមិនត្រឹមតែ
មើលមិនយល់ ថាអនុសាសន៍របស់អ្នកដំណាងអង្គការសហប្រជា
ជាតិ គឺជាអង្ករសម្រឹតដែលគេសម្រាំងយ៉ាងយកចិត្តទុកដាក់ និង
យកមកផ្តល់ឲ្យដោយឥតគិតថ្លៃនោះទេ ពួកគេបែរជាយល់ថា
អង្ករសម្រឹតនោះ ស៊ីមិនកើតទៅវិញ ។ អ្វីដែលល្អសម្រាប់ថ្នាក់
ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺអនុសាសន៍ណាដែលអួតសសើរអំពីភាពភ្លឺស្វាងនៃ
ការដឹកនាំប្រទេស ទោះបីជាការដឹកនាំនោះកំពុងតែនាំជាតិឆ្ពោះ
ទៅរកគ្រោះមហន្តរាយក៏ដោយ ។ នយោបាយ "ចាក់ចោលអង្ករ
យកអង្កាម" នេះ គួរណាស់តែបញ្ចប់ត្រឹមនេះហើយ ប្រសិនបើ
យើងមិនចង់ឃើញប្រទេសខ្មែរ នៅតែស្ថិតក្នុងយុគងងិតតទៅ
ទៀត ៕
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
79) King Ang Tong II
(1st reign 1747--1749, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Tong II was the younger brother of King Dhamaraja II. After Prince Ang Ing assassinated King Dhamaraja Ang Im, his attempt to succeed the throne was opposed by members of the royal family and court council. Thus, King Ang Tong II was ascended to the throne instead.
In 1749, two years into King Ang Tong II’s reign, Prince Satha II, who had earlier escaped to Cochinchina, led a Vietnamese army to invade Cambodia. At that time, two of King Ang Tong II’s army commanders named Krolahom Ouk (Governor of Pursat province) and Oknha Sourkia Loke sent him off to stay in Siam while they were leading an army to fight against Prince Satha II’s forces. Prince Satha II was defeated and killed in the battle. Afterward, the two army leaders asked the King of Siam to send Prince Jayajetha V (also known as Ang Snguon) to succeed the throne in Cambodia instead of King Ang Tong II.
80) King Jayajetha IV [a.k.a. Ang Snguon]
(1749--1755, Oudong)
King Jayajetha IV was the son of King Dhamaraja Ang Im. He ascended the throne in 1749. After his succession, King Jayajetha IV appointed the two army leaders, Krolahom Ouk and Oknha Sourkia Loke as warlords. The appointment caused discontent among some court officials who falsely started to accuse the two warlords of betraying the kingdom. King Jayajetha IV believed the accusation and ordered the arrest and capital punishment of the two warlords. Upon learning of the King’s order for their punishment, both Krolahom Ouk and Oknha Sourkia Loke fled to Siam.
Two years later in 1751, a court official named Ksat Ek introduced a disable person as an heir to the throne and instigated an uprising against King Jayajetha IV. However, the uprising was put down by the King’s army and most of the ring leaders were killed. King Jayajetha IV died in 1755.
81) King Ang Tong II
(2nd reign 1756--1757, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Tong II was the second son of King Jayajetha III. He succeeded the throne in 1756 after the death of King Jayajetha IV. After ruling for one year, King Ang Tong II left Oudong and went to stay in Pursat (province). He subsequently died there in 1757 at the age of 65.
During King Ang Tong II’s reign, a royal intrigue was unfolded. Prince Ang Ing sent people to assassinate Prince Utya Ang Ton who stayed at Oudong. But Prince Utya Ang Ton knew of the plot and escaped to stay in Hatien (present-day Southern Vietnam) with his Chinese foster father named Mactong. Afterward, Mactong and Prince Utya Ang Ton led an army from Cochinchina to fight with Prince Ang Ing’s forces. Prince Ang Ing and many other members of the royal family were captured and killed in the fighting. Only prince Ang Non II, the son of King Jayajetha IV, was able to escape to Siam.
82) King Utyaraja [a.k.a. Ang Ton]
(1758--1775, Capital: Oudong)
King Utyaraja was the son of King Dhamaraja Ang Im. After he and his clique successfully captured and killed Prince Ang Ing along with many other royal family members, he succeeded the throne in 1758.
In order to appease the Vietnamese, King Utyaraja allowed Vietnamese people to establish settlements in the provinces of Sok Trang and Travinh. However, the Vietnamese settlers took the opportunity to move all the way down to Psar Dek and Cho Doc (presently, this territory is part of the southern region of Southern Vietnam).
In 1769, the King of Siam, Preah Chao Ponhea Taksin (Pya Taksin), convinced Prince Ang Non II to lead an army, both by land and by sea, to wage war against King Utyaraja. Fierce fighting between the two rival royal armies broke out. But King Utyaraja’s army was weaker and forced to retreat. King Utyaraja fled to Saigon and directed the war from there. The fighting dragged on for many more years.
Finally, King Utyaraja could no longer bear to see the suffering of his subjects under the war. Thus, he stopped the fighting and let Prince Ang Non II succeed the throne.
83) King Ang Non II
(1775--1779, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Non II was the son of King Jayajetha IV. He succeeded the throne in 1775. During his reign, a court official name Vibolaraja Srey planned to assassinate him. But King Ang Non II knew of the plot and had Vibolaraja Srey arrested and executed.
After the incident, Lady Long, who was the mother of Vibolaraja Srey, gathered her other four sons namely: Oknha Taen, Governor of Kompong Svay (now Kompong Thom), Lord Moo, Governor of Trang (now Takeo province), Oknha Peang, Chief of Baray district, and Oknha Som, Chief of Prey Kdey district, to extract revenge on King Ang Non II. At the same time, Siam waged war with Laos and asked the Khmer court for military assistance. Because King Ang Non II owed gratitude to the Siamese court, he sent an army to help Siam fight with Laos. Many people were not happy with King Ang Non II’s support of Siam’s war against Laos. Therefore, they, along with many court officials, formed and army to overthrow him. King Ang Non II was overthrown by his subjects in 1779. He was arrested and executed in that same year.
84) King Ang Eng
(1779--1796, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Eng was the son of King Utyaraja. In 1779, after King Ang Non II was executed, the court council and royal family members agreed to ascend King Ang Eng to the throne. He was only 6 years old at the time.
In 1783, Cambodia plunged into another internal turmoil. Oknha Orchoon, Governor of Thbong Khmom (now Kompong Cham province) had led an army to capture Lord Chaovar Baen and Oknha Krolahom Poc, who was the foster father of King Ang Eng. Realizing that Oknha Orchoon had overwhelming forces, Lord Chaovar Baen asked King Ang Eng to flee to Bangkok, Siam.
Since 1783, Cambodia was without official ruler until 1794 when the Siamese King, Preah Chao Buddhayot Fa (Rama I), re-crowned King Ang Eng and ascended him onto the Khmer throne. Preah Chao Buddhayot Fa appointed Oknha Poc as Lord Chaovea Talaha--an administrator of the Khmer kingdom. Also, Siam had taken two of Cambodia’s provinces, Battambang and Siem Reap, and appointed a Cambodian-born Siamese governor named Ponhea Apheyaphobet Baen to rule this area.
King Ang Eng died of illness in 1796 at the age of 25 years old. He was survived by 5 children, princes Ang Chan, Ang Phim, Ang Snguon, Ang Em, and Ang Duong.
(To be continued)
(1st reign 1747--1749, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Tong II was the younger brother of King Dhamaraja II. After Prince Ang Ing assassinated King Dhamaraja Ang Im, his attempt to succeed the throne was opposed by members of the royal family and court council. Thus, King Ang Tong II was ascended to the throne instead.
In 1749, two years into King Ang Tong II’s reign, Prince Satha II, who had earlier escaped to Cochinchina, led a Vietnamese army to invade Cambodia. At that time, two of King Ang Tong II’s army commanders named Krolahom Ouk (Governor of Pursat province) and Oknha Sourkia Loke sent him off to stay in Siam while they were leading an army to fight against Prince Satha II’s forces. Prince Satha II was defeated and killed in the battle. Afterward, the two army leaders asked the King of Siam to send Prince Jayajetha V (also known as Ang Snguon) to succeed the throne in Cambodia instead of King Ang Tong II.
80) King Jayajetha IV [a.k.a. Ang Snguon]
(1749--1755, Oudong)
King Jayajetha IV was the son of King Dhamaraja Ang Im. He ascended the throne in 1749. After his succession, King Jayajetha IV appointed the two army leaders, Krolahom Ouk and Oknha Sourkia Loke as warlords. The appointment caused discontent among some court officials who falsely started to accuse the two warlords of betraying the kingdom. King Jayajetha IV believed the accusation and ordered the arrest and capital punishment of the two warlords. Upon learning of the King’s order for their punishment, both Krolahom Ouk and Oknha Sourkia Loke fled to Siam.
Two years later in 1751, a court official named Ksat Ek introduced a disable person as an heir to the throne and instigated an uprising against King Jayajetha IV. However, the uprising was put down by the King’s army and most of the ring leaders were killed. King Jayajetha IV died in 1755.
81) King Ang Tong II
(2nd reign 1756--1757, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Tong II was the second son of King Jayajetha III. He succeeded the throne in 1756 after the death of King Jayajetha IV. After ruling for one year, King Ang Tong II left Oudong and went to stay in Pursat (province). He subsequently died there in 1757 at the age of 65.
During King Ang Tong II’s reign, a royal intrigue was unfolded. Prince Ang Ing sent people to assassinate Prince Utya Ang Ton who stayed at Oudong. But Prince Utya Ang Ton knew of the plot and escaped to stay in Hatien (present-day Southern Vietnam) with his Chinese foster father named Mactong. Afterward, Mactong and Prince Utya Ang Ton led an army from Cochinchina to fight with Prince Ang Ing’s forces. Prince Ang Ing and many other members of the royal family were captured and killed in the fighting. Only prince Ang Non II, the son of King Jayajetha IV, was able to escape to Siam.
82) King Utyaraja [a.k.a. Ang Ton]
(1758--1775, Capital: Oudong)
King Utyaraja was the son of King Dhamaraja Ang Im. After he and his clique successfully captured and killed Prince Ang Ing along with many other royal family members, he succeeded the throne in 1758.
In order to appease the Vietnamese, King Utyaraja allowed Vietnamese people to establish settlements in the provinces of Sok Trang and Travinh. However, the Vietnamese settlers took the opportunity to move all the way down to Psar Dek and Cho Doc (presently, this territory is part of the southern region of Southern Vietnam).
In 1769, the King of Siam, Preah Chao Ponhea Taksin (Pya Taksin), convinced Prince Ang Non II to lead an army, both by land and by sea, to wage war against King Utyaraja. Fierce fighting between the two rival royal armies broke out. But King Utyaraja’s army was weaker and forced to retreat. King Utyaraja fled to Saigon and directed the war from there. The fighting dragged on for many more years.
Finally, King Utyaraja could no longer bear to see the suffering of his subjects under the war. Thus, he stopped the fighting and let Prince Ang Non II succeed the throne.
83) King Ang Non II
(1775--1779, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Non II was the son of King Jayajetha IV. He succeeded the throne in 1775. During his reign, a court official name Vibolaraja Srey planned to assassinate him. But King Ang Non II knew of the plot and had Vibolaraja Srey arrested and executed.
After the incident, Lady Long, who was the mother of Vibolaraja Srey, gathered her other four sons namely: Oknha Taen, Governor of Kompong Svay (now Kompong Thom), Lord Moo, Governor of Trang (now Takeo province), Oknha Peang, Chief of Baray district, and Oknha Som, Chief of Prey Kdey district, to extract revenge on King Ang Non II. At the same time, Siam waged war with Laos and asked the Khmer court for military assistance. Because King Ang Non II owed gratitude to the Siamese court, he sent an army to help Siam fight with Laos. Many people were not happy with King Ang Non II’s support of Siam’s war against Laos. Therefore, they, along with many court officials, formed and army to overthrow him. King Ang Non II was overthrown by his subjects in 1779. He was arrested and executed in that same year.
84) King Ang Eng
(1779--1796, Capital: Oudong)
King Ang Eng was the son of King Utyaraja. In 1779, after King Ang Non II was executed, the court council and royal family members agreed to ascend King Ang Eng to the throne. He was only 6 years old at the time.
In 1783, Cambodia plunged into another internal turmoil. Oknha Orchoon, Governor of Thbong Khmom (now Kompong Cham province) had led an army to capture Lord Chaovar Baen and Oknha Krolahom Poc, who was the foster father of King Ang Eng. Realizing that Oknha Orchoon had overwhelming forces, Lord Chaovar Baen asked King Ang Eng to flee to Bangkok, Siam.
Since 1783, Cambodia was without official ruler until 1794 when the Siamese King, Preah Chao Buddhayot Fa (Rama I), re-crowned King Ang Eng and ascended him onto the Khmer throne. Preah Chao Buddhayot Fa appointed Oknha Poc as Lord Chaovea Talaha--an administrator of the Khmer kingdom. Also, Siam had taken two of Cambodia’s provinces, Battambang and Siem Reap, and appointed a Cambodian-born Siamese governor named Ponhea Apheyaphobet Baen to rule this area.
King Ang Eng died of illness in 1796 at the age of 25 years old. He was survived by 5 children, princes Ang Chan, Ang Phim, Ang Snguon, Ang Em, and Ang Duong.
(To be continued)
Sunday, May 19, 2013
WAR AND GENOCIDE
The Jungle of Refugees (Cont.)
The day of reckoning arrived in the afternoon of April 12, 1985. Some rebel soldiers at the frontline came to inform residents in the camp that attack from the Vietnamese soldiers was imminent. Immediately, people started to panic and everyone was leaving his/her hut to seek shelter in the canal which was, at that point of the year, devoid of any water. We were also going along with other people as it was our first experience dodging bullets in the battlefields along the border. Upon reaching the canal, we saw Thai border guards, dressed in black, standing along the canal’s bank with automatic rifles in their hands to prevent people from crossing into Thai territory. Unable to go any further, we all settled either in or on the bank of that canal waiting for the Vietnamese attack. Just as everyone was pushing toward the canal, we heard a couple of explosions on the edge of camp and saw some smoke going up. At that point, people started to cross the canal into Thai territory even though the Thai border guards were pointing their guns at them. We, too, were going along with the flow. We went about a few hundred yards into Thai territory before coming to a stop, for there were no more explosions being heard. From a vantage point, I saw a couple of white men, presumably UNBRO’s staff, negotiating with the Thai military officers. About 15 minutes later, someone with a bullhorn microphone made an announcement telling people to return to the camp and spend the night there waiting until tomorrow when UNBRO would bring in trucks to transport us to a new place. After being told to stay put, we went back into the camp and spent a nervous night there.
Next morning, at about 9 o’clock, we were told to leave the camp in an orderly manner and come to a designated area where transport trucks were coming to pick us up. As we climbed on board one of the trucks, I was a bit jumpy about my fate. In 1979, I once listened to news broadcasted by Voice of America radio (VOA) that Thailand had trucked hundreds of Cambodian refugees from the region around where we were now, brought them to a mountain cliff near Preah Vihear Temple, and forced them to go back into Cambodia where many of them died from lack of food and water or stepping on landmines. For me, that truck ride was also a somber reminiscence of the Khmer Rouge’s transport in the mid 1970s, a trip to the unknown.
Our truck ride took us through many Thai villages. Coincidentally, April 13 was the beginning of a three-day celebration of both Thai and Cambodian New Year. So people in the villages by which we passed were in a festive mood. They cheered and waved at us as if wishing us to have a safe trip to wherever we were going. We traveled for a few hours before the trucks took us to a wooded area where some sorts of crude accommodations were being prepared for our arrival. As we disembarked the truck, I saw familiar water tanks with UNBRO logo on them being placed at strategic locations where people could come to get water for their consumption. Upon seeing those UNBRO water tanks, I breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared that we were still under the care of a United Nations agency.
The new location in which we were resettled was called Site 2 camp. It was situated on the base of the Dangrek Mountain. As I subsequently learned, Site 2 was a huge complex composed of many small camps. Because we left Nong Chan camp so abruptly, our new location had not been prepared yet. Hence, we were lodged in a forest for the time being. That night, it rained cats and dogs, and we all sat miserably under a blue tarp plastic sheet. We spent several days in that forest in which I witnessed a robbery, a casualty of shooting by a Thai security guard, and a beating of Cambodian refugees by a Thai soldier. Life as a refugee in the jungle was really tough. But, being helpless as we were, there was nothing we could do to ensure our safe existence except for praying to a higher being for protection.
Once the new location for our resettlement was ready, we were ordered to move there on foot as it was within walking distance. Our new camp was still called Nong Chan, except that it was part of Site 2 camp. Site 2 camp was further divided in two: North and South. Site 2 North was composed of 5 small camps, Nong Chan, Ampil, Dangrek, Samlor Chhnganh, and Sok Sann while Site 2 South was composed of only one large camp called Bang Phou or Rithy Sen. The whole Site 2 camp complex housed some 200,000 Cambodian refugees. It was a sprawling complex.
As soon as we got settled down in the new camp, I began to look for places where I could begin my English language study. UNBRO had provided support for schooling of Cambodian refugee children for up to the fourth grade, which was the primary level based on Cambodian curriculum. However, some Cambodian camp authorities decided to informally build a secondary school to teach students from grade five to seven. Thus, there were some schooling activities going on in the various camps in Site 2. With some help from my friends, I was able to find a number of private English courses being offered in different shapes and forms. To satisfy my thirst for learning and maximize my chance for success, I decided to enroll in two private basic level English courses concurrently. To also revamp my education in Khmer, my native tongue, I had additionally made attempts to go back to school. One of the challenges for me was that I had been out of school for 10 years now since the day the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. I had forgotten most of the subjects, especially arithmetic and geometric formulas, which were needed to pass a placement test. In a rather vain attempt, I went to different schools in the camp to apply for admission to attend school without having to take a placement test. Starting with grade five, I went to see the principal of the secondary school telling her of my situation and pleading with her to let me attend grade five without having to take a placement test. It was to no avail. Dejected, I went to one of the primary schools located in Ampil camp and asked if I could be admitted to attend grade four without having to take a placement test. The principal insisted that I must take the test if I wanted to go back to school. Unable to convince those school principals to let me attend classes without taking a placement test, I reluctantly took the test and failed miserably. The teacher who administered the test gave me some fourth grade level geometry and arithmetic problems to solve. I failed to get even one of them done. I still remember one of the problems vividly -- it was finding the area of a rectangle. Seeing that I was not capable of attending the fourth grade, the teacher suggested that I should attend the third grade, if I wanted, and he would enter my name on the roster. I agreed with his suggestion and went to sit with the third graders for the rest of the day. As soon as I entered the classroom, I realized that I was out of my element. The classroom teacher was about my age and all the students were looking at me in amusement. After the class was dismissed at noon, I went home and made a resolute decision not to return to attend that third grade class again.
Despite all the disappointment with my attempts and failure to go back to school, I decided to make one last attempt to attend the fourth grade. This time, I went to seek enrollment at the Nong Chan’s primary school which had just been built and resumed teaching its small numbers of students. To my absolute relief, the registrar did not ask me to take a placement test. Because of my mature look, he just probably assumed that I was ready to sail through the fourth grade. The only question he asked me was whether I belonged to any rebel force regiment. After I told him that I had never joined any rebel force, he gave me a piece of registration paper to fill out indicating the place where I was born and date of birth. While filling the registration form for school enrollment, I made a quick calculation between my age and the age in which a student would be allowed to take a high school exit exam to receive a diploma. Traditionally, Cambodian students must not be older than 18 years old when they were taking an exam for their high school diploma. I was 21 years old at that point and still attending the fourth grade. Without giving it much thought, I decided to roll my age back 5 years, and put my date of birth in 1969 instead of 1964, my actual birth date. At 16 in the fourth grade, I would still be a couple more years older than the age limit of 18 when all students must take the exam for their high school diploma, provided that I made it to the eighth grade without failing. I should point out that to make up for time lost during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, Cambodian education curriculum from elementary through high school was shortened to eight years instead of twelve.
Aside from running short on time to make it through high school, I also had another problem to contend with. My new date of birth fell on the same year of my younger brother’s, Buntha, birth date. He was born in 1969. But Buntha was living in Cambodia, and the chance for us to reunite and be together again was remote, anyway. Besides, if we were to reunite and had to sort out our ages, officially, I didn’t think Buntha would mind giving up a couple years of his age to give me a chance to educationally redeem my life. Thus, with a quick fix on my date of birth and an admission to attend the fourth grade, I gained a new lease on my education and my future.
At 21 years old, I was probably the oldest fourth grader in the world. Also, I was probably one of the most ambitious persons to dream about becoming a writer and writing books in the English language, of which I had just begun learning the ABCs. Naively, knowing that I had an opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge, I thought I was going to eventually fulfill my dream. I had never thought about failure; and it somehow didn’t cross my mind. I was so preoccupied with preparing myself to engage in education that I completely forgot about where I was, and how I was going to overcome the obstacles I would encounter. For me, it appeared that ignorance was really bliss.
(To be continued)
The day of reckoning arrived in the afternoon of April 12, 1985. Some rebel soldiers at the frontline came to inform residents in the camp that attack from the Vietnamese soldiers was imminent. Immediately, people started to panic and everyone was leaving his/her hut to seek shelter in the canal which was, at that point of the year, devoid of any water. We were also going along with other people as it was our first experience dodging bullets in the battlefields along the border. Upon reaching the canal, we saw Thai border guards, dressed in black, standing along the canal’s bank with automatic rifles in their hands to prevent people from crossing into Thai territory. Unable to go any further, we all settled either in or on the bank of that canal waiting for the Vietnamese attack. Just as everyone was pushing toward the canal, we heard a couple of explosions on the edge of camp and saw some smoke going up. At that point, people started to cross the canal into Thai territory even though the Thai border guards were pointing their guns at them. We, too, were going along with the flow. We went about a few hundred yards into Thai territory before coming to a stop, for there were no more explosions being heard. From a vantage point, I saw a couple of white men, presumably UNBRO’s staff, negotiating with the Thai military officers. About 15 minutes later, someone with a bullhorn microphone made an announcement telling people to return to the camp and spend the night there waiting until tomorrow when UNBRO would bring in trucks to transport us to a new place. After being told to stay put, we went back into the camp and spent a nervous night there.
Next morning, at about 9 o’clock, we were told to leave the camp in an orderly manner and come to a designated area where transport trucks were coming to pick us up. As we climbed on board one of the trucks, I was a bit jumpy about my fate. In 1979, I once listened to news broadcasted by Voice of America radio (VOA) that Thailand had trucked hundreds of Cambodian refugees from the region around where we were now, brought them to a mountain cliff near Preah Vihear Temple, and forced them to go back into Cambodia where many of them died from lack of food and water or stepping on landmines. For me, that truck ride was also a somber reminiscence of the Khmer Rouge’s transport in the mid 1970s, a trip to the unknown.
Our truck ride took us through many Thai villages. Coincidentally, April 13 was the beginning of a three-day celebration of both Thai and Cambodian New Year. So people in the villages by which we passed were in a festive mood. They cheered and waved at us as if wishing us to have a safe trip to wherever we were going. We traveled for a few hours before the trucks took us to a wooded area where some sorts of crude accommodations were being prepared for our arrival. As we disembarked the truck, I saw familiar water tanks with UNBRO logo on them being placed at strategic locations where people could come to get water for their consumption. Upon seeing those UNBRO water tanks, I breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared that we were still under the care of a United Nations agency.
The new location in which we were resettled was called Site 2 camp. It was situated on the base of the Dangrek Mountain. As I subsequently learned, Site 2 was a huge complex composed of many small camps. Because we left Nong Chan camp so abruptly, our new location had not been prepared yet. Hence, we were lodged in a forest for the time being. That night, it rained cats and dogs, and we all sat miserably under a blue tarp plastic sheet. We spent several days in that forest in which I witnessed a robbery, a casualty of shooting by a Thai security guard, and a beating of Cambodian refugees by a Thai soldier. Life as a refugee in the jungle was really tough. But, being helpless as we were, there was nothing we could do to ensure our safe existence except for praying to a higher being for protection.
Once the new location for our resettlement was ready, we were ordered to move there on foot as it was within walking distance. Our new camp was still called Nong Chan, except that it was part of Site 2 camp. Site 2 camp was further divided in two: North and South. Site 2 North was composed of 5 small camps, Nong Chan, Ampil, Dangrek, Samlor Chhnganh, and Sok Sann while Site 2 South was composed of only one large camp called Bang Phou or Rithy Sen. The whole Site 2 camp complex housed some 200,000 Cambodian refugees. It was a sprawling complex.
As soon as we got settled down in the new camp, I began to look for places where I could begin my English language study. UNBRO had provided support for schooling of Cambodian refugee children for up to the fourth grade, which was the primary level based on Cambodian curriculum. However, some Cambodian camp authorities decided to informally build a secondary school to teach students from grade five to seven. Thus, there were some schooling activities going on in the various camps in Site 2. With some help from my friends, I was able to find a number of private English courses being offered in different shapes and forms. To satisfy my thirst for learning and maximize my chance for success, I decided to enroll in two private basic level English courses concurrently. To also revamp my education in Khmer, my native tongue, I had additionally made attempts to go back to school. One of the challenges for me was that I had been out of school for 10 years now since the day the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. I had forgotten most of the subjects, especially arithmetic and geometric formulas, which were needed to pass a placement test. In a rather vain attempt, I went to different schools in the camp to apply for admission to attend school without having to take a placement test. Starting with grade five, I went to see the principal of the secondary school telling her of my situation and pleading with her to let me attend grade five without having to take a placement test. It was to no avail. Dejected, I went to one of the primary schools located in Ampil camp and asked if I could be admitted to attend grade four without having to take a placement test. The principal insisted that I must take the test if I wanted to go back to school. Unable to convince those school principals to let me attend classes without taking a placement test, I reluctantly took the test and failed miserably. The teacher who administered the test gave me some fourth grade level geometry and arithmetic problems to solve. I failed to get even one of them done. I still remember one of the problems vividly -- it was finding the area of a rectangle. Seeing that I was not capable of attending the fourth grade, the teacher suggested that I should attend the third grade, if I wanted, and he would enter my name on the roster. I agreed with his suggestion and went to sit with the third graders for the rest of the day. As soon as I entered the classroom, I realized that I was out of my element. The classroom teacher was about my age and all the students were looking at me in amusement. After the class was dismissed at noon, I went home and made a resolute decision not to return to attend that third grade class again.
Despite all the disappointment with my attempts and failure to go back to school, I decided to make one last attempt to attend the fourth grade. This time, I went to seek enrollment at the Nong Chan’s primary school which had just been built and resumed teaching its small numbers of students. To my absolute relief, the registrar did not ask me to take a placement test. Because of my mature look, he just probably assumed that I was ready to sail through the fourth grade. The only question he asked me was whether I belonged to any rebel force regiment. After I told him that I had never joined any rebel force, he gave me a piece of registration paper to fill out indicating the place where I was born and date of birth. While filling the registration form for school enrollment, I made a quick calculation between my age and the age in which a student would be allowed to take a high school exit exam to receive a diploma. Traditionally, Cambodian students must not be older than 18 years old when they were taking an exam for their high school diploma. I was 21 years old at that point and still attending the fourth grade. Without giving it much thought, I decided to roll my age back 5 years, and put my date of birth in 1969 instead of 1964, my actual birth date. At 16 in the fourth grade, I would still be a couple more years older than the age limit of 18 when all students must take the exam for their high school diploma, provided that I made it to the eighth grade without failing. I should point out that to make up for time lost during the Khmer Rouge’s rule, Cambodian education curriculum from elementary through high school was shortened to eight years instead of twelve.
Aside from running short on time to make it through high school, I also had another problem to contend with. My new date of birth fell on the same year of my younger brother’s, Buntha, birth date. He was born in 1969. But Buntha was living in Cambodia, and the chance for us to reunite and be together again was remote, anyway. Besides, if we were to reunite and had to sort out our ages, officially, I didn’t think Buntha would mind giving up a couple years of his age to give me a chance to educationally redeem my life. Thus, with a quick fix on my date of birth and an admission to attend the fourth grade, I gained a new lease on my education and my future.
At 21 years old, I was probably the oldest fourth grader in the world. Also, I was probably one of the most ambitious persons to dream about becoming a writer and writing books in the English language, of which I had just begun learning the ABCs. Naively, knowing that I had an opportunity to learn and acquire knowledge, I thought I was going to eventually fulfill my dream. I had never thought about failure; and it somehow didn’t cross my mind. I was so preoccupied with preparing myself to engage in education that I completely forgot about where I was, and how I was going to overcome the obstacles I would encounter. For me, it appeared that ignorance was really bliss.
(To be continued)
Monday, May 13, 2013
ចំណីខួរក្បាល (ប្រចាំសប្តាហ៍)
មេដឹកនាំចោលម្សៀត
ពាក្យចោលម្សៀត គឺសំដៅលើអ្វីៗដែលអត់បានការ ឬ ឥតប្រ
យោជន៍ ។ បើគេនិយាយអំពីមនុស្ស គឺសំដៅទៅលើបុគ្គលណា
ដែលធ្វើអ្វីមួយមិនបានសម្រេច ។ និយាយឲ្យចំគឺ មនុស្សអសមត្ថ
ភាព ។
នៅក្នុងអំឡុងពេលជិតកន្លះសតវត្សរ៍កន្លងទៅនេះ ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា
បានផ្លាស់ប្តូររបៀបគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋជាច្រើនដង ប៉ុន្តែ ការផ្លាស់ប្តូររបៀប
គ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋជាច្រើនដងនេះ មិនត្រឹមតែមិនបានផ្តល់នូវសុខមាល
ភាពដល់ប្រទេស និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរតែប៉ុណ្ណោះទេ វាថែមទាំងធ្វើឲ្យ
ប្រទេស និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែររងគ្រោះមហន្តរាយយ៉ាងធ្ងន់ធ្ងទៀតផង ។
យើងអាចយកហេតុផលផ្សេងៗមកការពារការបរាជ័យនៃកំណែ
ទម្រង់របៀបគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋនៅកម្ពុជា ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលជាកត្តាបញ្ជាក់អំពី
ភាពចោលម្សៀតនៃមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺស្ថិតនៅលើភស្តុតាងប្រវត្តិ
សាស្ត្រដែលយើងសូមលើកយកមករៀបរាប់ត្រួសៗ ខាងក្រោម
នេះ៖
កាលពីឆ្នាំ ១៩៧០ ដល់ឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៥ លោកសេនាប្រមុខ លន់
ណុល បានរៀបចំប្រទេសកម្ពុជាឲ្យដើរតាមគន្លង សាធារណរដ្ឋ
និយម ដើម្បីស្វែងរកសេរីភាពជូនប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ របប
សាធារណរដ្ឋរបស់លោក លន់ ណុល មានត្រឹមតែឈ្មោះប៉ុណ្ណោះ
ឯការគ្រប់គ្រង គឺនៅតែលម្អៀងទៅរកភាពផ្តាច់ការ ដូចជារបបរា
ជានិយមដែលលោក លន់ ណុល រំលាយចោលនោះដដែល ។
នៅទិបំផុត សាធារណរដ្ឋរបស់លោក លន់ ណុល ក៏វិនាសអន្ត
រាយទៅ ។
បន្ទាប់ពីការដួលរលំនៃរបបសាធារណរដ្ឋ ប្រទេសខ្មែរក៏ត្រូវបាន
គ្រប់គ្រងតាមរបៀបកុម្មុយនីស្តវិញម្តង ដែលមានលោក សាឡុត
ស (ឬ ប៉ុល ពត) និងបរិវាជាអ្នកដឹកនាំ ។ ប៉ុល ពត និងបរិវាបាន
ដាក់ឈ្មោះប្រទេសខ្មែរថា កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែល
គួរឲ្យឈឺចាប់នោះ គឺកម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ យកលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនិស្ត
មកបំផ្លិចបំផ្លាញស្រុកខ្មែរស្ទើរតែរលាយសូន្យតែម្តង ។ ពួកគេ
ឃោសនាថា យកលទ្ធិកម្មុយនិស្តមកធ្វើជាគោលការដឹកនាំប្រ
ទេស គឺដើម្បីបំបាត់វណ្ណៈជិះជាន់ ដែលមានពួក សក្តិភូមិ នាយ
ទុនប្រតិកិរិយា ជាមេខ្លោង និងបំបាត់ឲ្យអស់នូវអំពើពុករលួយ
គ្រួសារនិយម និង បក្សពួកនិយម ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលជាធាតុពិត
នោះ គឺគេគ្រាន់តែយកលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនិស្តមកធ្វើជាឡប់ឡែតែ
ប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។ រីឯការអនុវត្តន៍វិញ ប៉ុល ពត និងបរិវា ជិះជាន់ពលរដ្ឋ
ខ្មែរខ្លាំងជាងពួកសក្តិភូមិ នាយទន់ប្រតិកិរិយាទៅទៀត ។ បើនិ
យាយអំពីគ្រួសារនិយម និងបក្សពួកនិយមវិញ គឺរកលេខដាក់
គ្មានទេ ។ ប្រទេសខ្មែរមួយទាំងមូល ត្រូវបានគ្រប់គ្រងដោយ
មនុស្ស ដែលមានជាប់សែស្រឡាយនៅក្នុងគ្រួសារចំនួន ៤ ឬ ៥
គ្រួសារតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។
លុះដលឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៩ ប្រទេសខ្មែរក៏ចាប់ផ្តើម រុះរើធ្វើវិសោធណកម្ម
តាមលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនីស្តសាជាថ្មី ដោយមានប្រទេស វៀតណាម ជាអ្នក
ជួយជ្រោមជ្រែង ។ មួយទសវត្សក្រោយមក ការគ្រប់គ្រងតាមរបៀប
កុម្មុយនិស្តថ្មីនេះ ក៏នៅតែមិនរីកចម្រើន ។ នៅទីបំផុត មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ
ដែលមាននិន្នាការចម្រុះ ក៏សម្រេចបង្កើតរចនាសម្ព័ន្ធថ្មីមួយទៀត
ដោយយកលទ្ធិរាជានិយម និង ប្រជាធិបតេយ្យនិយម មកធ្វើជា
គោល ។
បើគិតមកទល់នឹងពេលបច្ចុប្បន្ន ការគ្រប់គ្រងប្រទេសខ្មែរ តាម
របៀបថ្មីនេះ គឺមានរយៈពេល ជាងពីរទសវត្សហើយ ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ រូប
ភាពនយោបាយនៅក្នុងស្រុកខ្មែរហាក់ដូចជាគ្មានប្រែប្រួលទេ ។
អ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងនៅតែប្រកាន់ចរិតផ្តាច់ការដដែល ។ អំពើពុករលួយ
បើយើងប្រៀបធៀបទៅនឹងរបបមុនៗ គឺមានវិសាលភាពធំជាង
ឆ្ងាយណាស់ (រកលេខដាក់គ្មានទេ) ។ ឯរឿងគ្រួសារនិងបក្សពួក
និយមវិញ ក៏មិនចាញ់របបមុនៗ ប៉ុន្មានដែរ ។ និយាយរួម ភាព
ចោលម្សៀតរបស់មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺនៅតែចោលម្សៀតដដែល ។
យកលទ្ធិណាមួយមកធ្វើជាគោលការដើម្បីដឹកនាំប្រទេស ក៏ធ្វើ
មិនកើត ។ បានត្រឹមតែឧទានទ្រឹស្តី ។ រីឯការអនុវត្តន៍វិញ គឺ សូន្យ
ហ្សេរ៉ូ ណាដា ។ នេះ បានចំជាចោលម្សៀតមែន ! ។
បើយើងធ្វើការសង្កេតឲ្យបានល្អិតល្អន់ ភាពចោលម្សៀតរបស់មេ
ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺផុសចេញអំពីកត្តារួមមួយ ដែលយើងអាចកត់សម្គាល់
បានថា ស្ថិតនៅលើចរិតផ្តាច់ការ ។ បើមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរអាចបោះបង់
ចោលចរិតផ្តាច់ការចេញ ពួកគេប្រហែលជាអាចកាត់បន្ថយ ភាព
ចោលម្សៀតរបស់ពួកគេបានយ៉ាងច្រើន ។ ហើយប្រទេសកម្ពុជា
និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ប្រាកដជាអាចរកឃើញពន្លឺសេរីភាព និង សុខមាល
ភាពពេញលេញនៅក្នុងជីវិតជាមិនខាន៕
ពាក្យចោលម្សៀត គឺសំដៅលើអ្វីៗដែលអត់បានការ ឬ ឥតប្រ
យោជន៍ ។ បើគេនិយាយអំពីមនុស្ស គឺសំដៅទៅលើបុគ្គលណា
ដែលធ្វើអ្វីមួយមិនបានសម្រេច ។ និយាយឲ្យចំគឺ មនុស្សអសមត្ថ
ភាព ។
នៅក្នុងអំឡុងពេលជិតកន្លះសតវត្សរ៍កន្លងទៅនេះ ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា
បានផ្លាស់ប្តូររបៀបគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋជាច្រើនដង ប៉ុន្តែ ការផ្លាស់ប្តូររបៀប
គ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋជាច្រើនដងនេះ មិនត្រឹមតែមិនបានផ្តល់នូវសុខមាល
ភាពដល់ប្រទេស និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរតែប៉ុណ្ណោះទេ វាថែមទាំងធ្វើឲ្យ
ប្រទេស និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែររងគ្រោះមហន្តរាយយ៉ាងធ្ងន់ធ្ងទៀតផង ។
យើងអាចយកហេតុផលផ្សេងៗមកការពារការបរាជ័យនៃកំណែ
ទម្រង់របៀបគ្រប់គ្រងរដ្ឋនៅកម្ពុជា ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលជាកត្តាបញ្ជាក់អំពី
ភាពចោលម្សៀតនៃមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺស្ថិតនៅលើភស្តុតាងប្រវត្តិ
សាស្ត្រដែលយើងសូមលើកយកមករៀបរាប់ត្រួសៗ ខាងក្រោម
នេះ៖
កាលពីឆ្នាំ ១៩៧០ ដល់ឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៥ លោកសេនាប្រមុខ លន់
ណុល បានរៀបចំប្រទេសកម្ពុជាឲ្យដើរតាមគន្លង សាធារណរដ្ឋ
និយម ដើម្បីស្វែងរកសេរីភាពជូនប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ របប
សាធារណរដ្ឋរបស់លោក លន់ ណុល មានត្រឹមតែឈ្មោះប៉ុណ្ណោះ
ឯការគ្រប់គ្រង គឺនៅតែលម្អៀងទៅរកភាពផ្តាច់ការ ដូចជារបបរា
ជានិយមដែលលោក លន់ ណុល រំលាយចោលនោះដដែល ។
នៅទិបំផុត សាធារណរដ្ឋរបស់លោក លន់ ណុល ក៏វិនាសអន្ត
រាយទៅ ។
បន្ទាប់ពីការដួលរលំនៃរបបសាធារណរដ្ឋ ប្រទេសខ្មែរក៏ត្រូវបាន
គ្រប់គ្រងតាមរបៀបកុម្មុយនីស្តវិញម្តង ដែលមានលោក សាឡុត
ស (ឬ ប៉ុល ពត) និងបរិវាជាអ្នកដឹកនាំ ។ ប៉ុល ពត និងបរិវាបាន
ដាក់ឈ្មោះប្រទេសខ្មែរថា កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ។ ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែល
គួរឲ្យឈឺចាប់នោះ គឺកម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ យកលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនិស្ត
មកបំផ្លិចបំផ្លាញស្រុកខ្មែរស្ទើរតែរលាយសូន្យតែម្តង ។ ពួកគេ
ឃោសនាថា យកលទ្ធិកម្មុយនិស្តមកធ្វើជាគោលការដឹកនាំប្រ
ទេស គឺដើម្បីបំបាត់វណ្ណៈជិះជាន់ ដែលមានពួក សក្តិភូមិ នាយ
ទុនប្រតិកិរិយា ជាមេខ្លោង និងបំបាត់ឲ្យអស់នូវអំពើពុករលួយ
គ្រួសារនិយម និង បក្សពួកនិយម ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វីដែលជាធាតុពិត
នោះ គឺគេគ្រាន់តែយកលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនិស្តមកធ្វើជាឡប់ឡែតែ
ប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។ រីឯការអនុវត្តន៍វិញ ប៉ុល ពត និងបរិវា ជិះជាន់ពលរដ្ឋ
ខ្មែរខ្លាំងជាងពួកសក្តិភូមិ នាយទន់ប្រតិកិរិយាទៅទៀត ។ បើនិ
យាយអំពីគ្រួសារនិយម និងបក្សពួកនិយមវិញ គឺរកលេខដាក់
គ្មានទេ ។ ប្រទេសខ្មែរមួយទាំងមូល ត្រូវបានគ្រប់គ្រងដោយ
មនុស្ស ដែលមានជាប់សែស្រឡាយនៅក្នុងគ្រួសារចំនួន ៤ ឬ ៥
គ្រួសារតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ ។
លុះដលឆ្នាំ ១៩៧៩ ប្រទេសខ្មែរក៏ចាប់ផ្តើម រុះរើធ្វើវិសោធណកម្ម
តាមលទ្ធិកុម្មុយនីស្តសាជាថ្មី ដោយមានប្រទេស វៀតណាម ជាអ្នក
ជួយជ្រោមជ្រែង ។ មួយទសវត្សក្រោយមក ការគ្រប់គ្រងតាមរបៀប
កុម្មុយនិស្តថ្មីនេះ ក៏នៅតែមិនរីកចម្រើន ។ នៅទីបំផុត មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ
ដែលមាននិន្នាការចម្រុះ ក៏សម្រេចបង្កើតរចនាសម្ព័ន្ធថ្មីមួយទៀត
ដោយយកលទ្ធិរាជានិយម និង ប្រជាធិបតេយ្យនិយម មកធ្វើជា
គោល ។
បើគិតមកទល់នឹងពេលបច្ចុប្បន្ន ការគ្រប់គ្រងប្រទេសខ្មែរ តាម
របៀបថ្មីនេះ គឺមានរយៈពេល ជាងពីរទសវត្សហើយ ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ រូប
ភាពនយោបាយនៅក្នុងស្រុកខ្មែរហាក់ដូចជាគ្មានប្រែប្រួលទេ ។
អ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងនៅតែប្រកាន់ចរិតផ្តាច់ការដដែល ។ អំពើពុករលួយ
បើយើងប្រៀបធៀបទៅនឹងរបបមុនៗ គឺមានវិសាលភាពធំជាង
ឆ្ងាយណាស់ (រកលេខដាក់គ្មានទេ) ។ ឯរឿងគ្រួសារនិងបក្សពួក
និយមវិញ ក៏មិនចាញ់របបមុនៗ ប៉ុន្មានដែរ ។ និយាយរួម ភាព
ចោលម្សៀតរបស់មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺនៅតែចោលម្សៀតដដែល ។
យកលទ្ធិណាមួយមកធ្វើជាគោលការដើម្បីដឹកនាំប្រទេស ក៏ធ្វើ
មិនកើត ។ បានត្រឹមតែឧទានទ្រឹស្តី ។ រីឯការអនុវត្តន៍វិញ គឺ សូន្យ
ហ្សេរ៉ូ ណាដា ។ នេះ បានចំជាចោលម្សៀតមែន ! ។
បើយើងធ្វើការសង្កេតឲ្យបានល្អិតល្អន់ ភាពចោលម្សៀតរបស់មេ
ដឹកនាំខ្មែរ គឺផុសចេញអំពីកត្តារួមមួយ ដែលយើងអាចកត់សម្គាល់
បានថា ស្ថិតនៅលើចរិតផ្តាច់ការ ។ បើមេដឹកនាំខ្មែរអាចបោះបង់
ចោលចរិតផ្តាច់ការចេញ ពួកគេប្រហែលជាអាចកាត់បន្ថយ ភាព
ចោលម្សៀតរបស់ពួកគេបានយ៉ាងច្រើន ។ ហើយប្រទេសកម្ពុជា
និងពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ប្រាកដជាអាចរកឃើញពន្លឺសេរីភាព និង សុខមាល
ភាពពេញលេញនៅក្នុងជីវិតជាមិនខាន៕
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Cambodian Royal Chronicle
71) King Ang Jaya [II]
(1673--1675, Capital: Oudong)
After the Cham/Javanese uprising which killed Prince Jayajetha, the royal family members selected King Ang Jaya II who was the older brother of Prince Jayajetha to succeed the throne in 1673.
King Ang Jaya II ruled for roughly two years when, in 1675, Prince Ang Non II and his younger brother, Prince Ang Ton, with the aid of Vietnamese troops, rebelled against him. King Ang Jaya II died in battle in that same year.
72) King Jayajetha III
(1675--1706, Capital: Oudong)
King Jayajetha III was the son of King Botumaraja (II?). After successfully defeating Prince Ang Non II and his clique, he succeeded the throne in 1675.
Prince Ang Non II escaped to Saigon (Vietnam) and found ally with the Vietnamese. In an attempt to usurp the throne, he recruited Vietnamese and Chinese minorities to help him wage war against Cambodia several times but to no avail. Finally, he surrendered to King Jayajetha III. King Jayajetha III accepted his surrender and let him stay in Srey Santhor for the rest of his life.
After the surrender of Prince Ang Non II, Cambodia experienced tranquility for a while until 1699 when a disloyal officer named Oknha Norin Im colluded with the Vietnamese army and rebelled against King Jayajetha III. But the rebellion did not succeed and Oknha Norin Im and his army were dispersed.
During his 31-year reign, King Jayajetha III had abdicated twice, one in 1700 in favor of his second nephew, and the other was between 1702 and 1704 in favor of his son. Both abdications did not last, so King Jayajetha III had to return to resume his reign until 1706 when his son, King Dhamaraja II was able to take charge of the throne.
73) King Ang Im
(1st reign 1700--1701, Capital: Pursat)
King Ang Im was the son of Prince Ang Non II. His mother was an ethnic Chinese. He succeeded the throne in 1700 after his second uncle, King Jayajetha III abdicated in favor of him. But, King Ang Im reigned for only one year when, in 1701, he returned the throne to his uncle King Jayajetha III.
74) King Dhamaraja II
(1st reign 1702-04, 2nd reign 1706--1710, Capital: Oudong)
King Dhamaraja II was the son of King Jayajetha III. After King Ang Im returned the throne to him, King Jayajetha III, in 1702, abdicated once again in favor of his son, King Dhamaraja II. However, King Dhamaraja II was only 12 years old at the time. So, he took the throne for only 2 years then returned it to his father, King Jayajetha III.
It was until 1706 that King Dhamaraja II succeeded the throne. In the beginning of his reign, a group of Laotians who lived in Baray Kbot Chum village revolted. King Dhamaraja II sent an army to put down the revolt and sent most of the rebels running. Some of the rebels went to seek refuge with crowned Prince Ang Im. At that point, Prince Ang Im seized the opportunity by sending the leader of the Laotian rebels to recruit an army among the Vietnamese who were settling in the southern territory (present-day Southern Vietnam).
Prince Ang Im recruited about 20,000 Vietnamese soldiers along with the Laotian rebels and led them to besiege Oudong. King Dhamaraja II was captured in that siege. However, he was, along with his son and his younger bother, Prince Ang Tong, able to escape to Siam in 1710.
75) Prince Ang Im
(2nd reign 1710--1722, Capital: Oudong)
Prince Ang Im was the son of Prince Ang Non II. After overthrowing King Dhamaraja II, he succeeded the throne in 1710.
During the early period of his reign, the king of Siam sent an envoy with a letter asking Prince Ang Im to relinquish the throne to King Dhamaraja II. But, Prince Ang Im ignored the message. Later on in 1722, the king of Siam sent an army to dethrone Prince Ang Im in order to reinstall King Dhamaraja II in the Khmer court.
With the aid of the Vietnamese soldiers, Prince Ang Im faced off with the Siamese army in Pursat province. However, his army was overwhelmed by the Siamese army. Hence, Prince Ang Im acquiesced to the Siamese and promise to make Cambodia a tributary state of Siam. His action caused outrages among both court officials and ordinary people. To diffuse the tension, Prince Ang Im abdicated in 1722 in favor of his son, prince Satha II.
76) Prince Satha II [a.k.a. Ang Jaya]
(1722--1738, Capital: Oudong)
Prince Satha II was the son of Prince Ang Im. He succeeded the throne in 1722 after his father, Prince Ang Im, abdicated under public pressure. However, in 1729, Prince Ang Im returned to the throne and resumed the rule for another 7 months before public pressure forced him to abdicate once again. Prince Satha II resumed his reign from this point on.
In 1730, a Laotian living in Brosaut village, Ba Phnom district (Prey Veng province) instigated a group of Khmers to massacre the Vietnamese. This incident gave Vietnam a pretext to wage war with Cambodia. But, the Vietnamese did not succeed in subduing the Khmers; thus they retreated to the provinces of Vinh Long and My Tho.
In 1738, Prince Satha II suspected his wife, Princess Sri Socheata, of colluding with members of the Utya’s family to overthrow him. Hence, he plotted to kill them. However, Princess Sri Socheata and the Utya’s family knew of his plan and organized an uprising against the throne. Prince Satha II was losing in the struggle and eventually fled to Cochinchina (present-day Southern Vietnam). After toppling Prince Satha II from power, Princess Sri Socheata and the rest of the royal family members agreed to return King Dhamaraja II who was staying in Siam to ascend the throne.
77) King Dhamaraja II
(3rd reign 1738--1747, Capital: Oudong)
After Prince Satha II was overthrown in 1738, King Dhamaraja II returned to succeed the throne for the third time. Upon taking the rule, he appointed his son, Ang Im, as crowned prince (Preah Keovar) and his younger brother and his son, princes Ang Tong II and Utya, as heirs apparent.
During King Dhamaraja II’s third reign, Cambodia was at peace for a brief period of time until his death in 1747.
78) King Dhamaraja Ang Im
(1747, Capital: Oudong)
King Dhamaraja Ang Im was the son of King Dhamaraja II. He succeeded the throne in 1747 after the death of his father. But, his reign did not last. In that same year, his half brother, Prince Ang Ing, assassinated him in an attempt to usurp the throne.
Prince Ang Ing was also the son of King Dhamaraja II with a Siamese mother. He was also known as Prince Sri Suryau.
(To be continued)
(1673--1675, Capital: Oudong)
After the Cham/Javanese uprising which killed Prince Jayajetha, the royal family members selected King Ang Jaya II who was the older brother of Prince Jayajetha to succeed the throne in 1673.
King Ang Jaya II ruled for roughly two years when, in 1675, Prince Ang Non II and his younger brother, Prince Ang Ton, with the aid of Vietnamese troops, rebelled against him. King Ang Jaya II died in battle in that same year.
72) King Jayajetha III
(1675--1706, Capital: Oudong)
King Jayajetha III was the son of King Botumaraja (II?). After successfully defeating Prince Ang Non II and his clique, he succeeded the throne in 1675.
Prince Ang Non II escaped to Saigon (Vietnam) and found ally with the Vietnamese. In an attempt to usurp the throne, he recruited Vietnamese and Chinese minorities to help him wage war against Cambodia several times but to no avail. Finally, he surrendered to King Jayajetha III. King Jayajetha III accepted his surrender and let him stay in Srey Santhor for the rest of his life.
After the surrender of Prince Ang Non II, Cambodia experienced tranquility for a while until 1699 when a disloyal officer named Oknha Norin Im colluded with the Vietnamese army and rebelled against King Jayajetha III. But the rebellion did not succeed and Oknha Norin Im and his army were dispersed.
During his 31-year reign, King Jayajetha III had abdicated twice, one in 1700 in favor of his second nephew, and the other was between 1702 and 1704 in favor of his son. Both abdications did not last, so King Jayajetha III had to return to resume his reign until 1706 when his son, King Dhamaraja II was able to take charge of the throne.
73) King Ang Im
(1st reign 1700--1701, Capital: Pursat)
King Ang Im was the son of Prince Ang Non II. His mother was an ethnic Chinese. He succeeded the throne in 1700 after his second uncle, King Jayajetha III abdicated in favor of him. But, King Ang Im reigned for only one year when, in 1701, he returned the throne to his uncle King Jayajetha III.
74) King Dhamaraja II
(1st reign 1702-04, 2nd reign 1706--1710, Capital: Oudong)
King Dhamaraja II was the son of King Jayajetha III. After King Ang Im returned the throne to him, King Jayajetha III, in 1702, abdicated once again in favor of his son, King Dhamaraja II. However, King Dhamaraja II was only 12 years old at the time. So, he took the throne for only 2 years then returned it to his father, King Jayajetha III.
It was until 1706 that King Dhamaraja II succeeded the throne. In the beginning of his reign, a group of Laotians who lived in Baray Kbot Chum village revolted. King Dhamaraja II sent an army to put down the revolt and sent most of the rebels running. Some of the rebels went to seek refuge with crowned Prince Ang Im. At that point, Prince Ang Im seized the opportunity by sending the leader of the Laotian rebels to recruit an army among the Vietnamese who were settling in the southern territory (present-day Southern Vietnam).
Prince Ang Im recruited about 20,000 Vietnamese soldiers along with the Laotian rebels and led them to besiege Oudong. King Dhamaraja II was captured in that siege. However, he was, along with his son and his younger bother, Prince Ang Tong, able to escape to Siam in 1710.
75) Prince Ang Im
(2nd reign 1710--1722, Capital: Oudong)
Prince Ang Im was the son of Prince Ang Non II. After overthrowing King Dhamaraja II, he succeeded the throne in 1710.
During the early period of his reign, the king of Siam sent an envoy with a letter asking Prince Ang Im to relinquish the throne to King Dhamaraja II. But, Prince Ang Im ignored the message. Later on in 1722, the king of Siam sent an army to dethrone Prince Ang Im in order to reinstall King Dhamaraja II in the Khmer court.
With the aid of the Vietnamese soldiers, Prince Ang Im faced off with the Siamese army in Pursat province. However, his army was overwhelmed by the Siamese army. Hence, Prince Ang Im acquiesced to the Siamese and promise to make Cambodia a tributary state of Siam. His action caused outrages among both court officials and ordinary people. To diffuse the tension, Prince Ang Im abdicated in 1722 in favor of his son, prince Satha II.
76) Prince Satha II [a.k.a. Ang Jaya]
(1722--1738, Capital: Oudong)
Prince Satha II was the son of Prince Ang Im. He succeeded the throne in 1722 after his father, Prince Ang Im, abdicated under public pressure. However, in 1729, Prince Ang Im returned to the throne and resumed the rule for another 7 months before public pressure forced him to abdicate once again. Prince Satha II resumed his reign from this point on.
In 1730, a Laotian living in Brosaut village, Ba Phnom district (Prey Veng province) instigated a group of Khmers to massacre the Vietnamese. This incident gave Vietnam a pretext to wage war with Cambodia. But, the Vietnamese did not succeed in subduing the Khmers; thus they retreated to the provinces of Vinh Long and My Tho.
In 1738, Prince Satha II suspected his wife, Princess Sri Socheata, of colluding with members of the Utya’s family to overthrow him. Hence, he plotted to kill them. However, Princess Sri Socheata and the Utya’s family knew of his plan and organized an uprising against the throne. Prince Satha II was losing in the struggle and eventually fled to Cochinchina (present-day Southern Vietnam). After toppling Prince Satha II from power, Princess Sri Socheata and the rest of the royal family members agreed to return King Dhamaraja II who was staying in Siam to ascend the throne.
77) King Dhamaraja II
(3rd reign 1738--1747, Capital: Oudong)
After Prince Satha II was overthrown in 1738, King Dhamaraja II returned to succeed the throne for the third time. Upon taking the rule, he appointed his son, Ang Im, as crowned prince (Preah Keovar) and his younger brother and his son, princes Ang Tong II and Utya, as heirs apparent.
During King Dhamaraja II’s third reign, Cambodia was at peace for a brief period of time until his death in 1747.
78) King Dhamaraja Ang Im
(1747, Capital: Oudong)
King Dhamaraja Ang Im was the son of King Dhamaraja II. He succeeded the throne in 1747 after the death of his father. But, his reign did not last. In that same year, his half brother, Prince Ang Ing, assassinated him in an attempt to usurp the throne.
Prince Ang Ing was also the son of King Dhamaraja II with a Siamese mother. He was also known as Prince Sri Suryau.
(To be continued)
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រឿង តោនិងក្របីព្រៃ តោមួយបានដើរស្វែងរកអាហារ នៅក្បែរមាត់ព្រៃ ។ នៅពេលវាដើរ មកដល់ក្បែរមាត់បឹងមួយ វាបានឃើញក្របីព្រៃឈ្មោលចំនួនបួន កំពុង ឈរស៊ីស... -
រឿង សត្វលានិងរូបចម្លាក់ បុរសម្នាក់បានផ្ទុករូបចម្លាក់ព្រះពុទ្ធបដិមាករ ដែលធ្វើអំពីឈើមួយអង្គ នៅលើខ្នងលា ដើម្បីដឹកយកទៅដាក់នៅក្នុងព្រះវិហារ ។ ...
