Cambodia: A Country in trouble
- Introduction
to Cambodia
Cambodia is located between Vietnam and Thailand as shown.
(click on the image to go to cambodian.com )
tragic state. I am Cambodian born in the province of Battambong in 1977. I was a year old when my parents fled to the United States so I really don't know as much as I should know about my home country. I had no kind of personal recollection of Cambodia. I have been raised in America so therefore I am rather Americanized. I would like to return to Cambodia one day when conditions are safer and more stable. The main source for my paper came from a book called Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land . This book had a variety of useful details covering the Indo-China War, genocidal years, U.S. involvement, and the events of the 90s in Cambodia. Often, it was sad for me to read this book because the things that happen in the book had happen to some of my relatives. I realized that conditions currently in Cambodia are worse than I had originally thought. For instances, nurses only make a monthly salary of ten dollars. The average Cambodian makes twenty dollars a month (Kamm 213). My second source was from Road to the Killing Fields. I extracted some figures on how many people died and more recent events that took place such as the attempt to restore the economy and political nature in Cambodia. This book mainly covered the events of 1970 to 1975. In addition, I got some material from Regional Survey of the World: Far East and Australia . I got some information on the economy, status of the education system and some encouraging news on tourism statistics.
From
1887 – 1946 the French colonial rule over Cambodia remained. Prince
Norodom Sihaniouk took control in 1953 and ruled until 1970. He brought
restoration and a constitution to Cambodia. He opposed the U.S. imperialism
in Vietnam. Times
of economic
hardship led to him arresting arbitrary and conduct public executions.
(This is Prince Norodom Sihaniouk.) His seventeen year of command
was filled with corruption and incompetent leadership (Summers 202).
He was overthrown in a coup led by Lon Nol. He ran the country from
1970-1975 and could not conduct a stable government to fend off the enemies.
As the 70s approach, he proclaimed Cambodia as a neutral country in the
times of the Indo-China War as the North Vietnamese battled the Southern
Vietnamese and the United States.
(For
more on the bombing click here ) The
United States were already secretly bombing Cambodia to take out the Communists.
Nixon agrees to let the Cambodians use American equipment in the Indo-China
War. The Cambodians were losing to Viet Congs and Khmer Rouge so
Nixon decided to invade Cambodian. (To
read more about the Nixon bombing click here)
The invasion lasted only a few months though and the United States decided
to pull out and let the Asians fight among themselves because America was
losing an unpopular war (Kamm 105). America abandoned the Khmer people
and the soldiers were left to fight on their own. Some of the them
were as young as twelve years old with inadequate weapons. Astonishingly,
few only had hand grenades to fight the enemy. The Cambodian government
thought that the United States wanted to help but their invasion and bombing
was to slow down the Communists. They were only looking out for their
own interest.
Left
isolated and feeble, the Khmer soldiers could not defend against the Khmer
Rouge. The Red Cambodians marched in Phnom Penh and evacuated the
capital. The leaders were educated in France and began their resistance
movement in the 60s in the jungles (Kamm 56). Pol Pot was the leader
and waited for the opportunity to make his mark. He is probably the
most hated man that Cambodia has ever had. As the Khmer Rouge made
their way in, they eliminated people with education and
To learn more
about this 2nd Hitler. Click on the picture to read a former student
of Dr. Heinz who did a report on Pol Pot
western
influence. The officials and government workers turned up dead first.
Among the different camps, they forced people to toil in a backbreaking
fashion without appropriate feedings. They intimidated the Cambodian
people. Countless number of Cambodians died of starvation, malnutrition
and sickness added to great number of people who were executed in the genocide
(Kamm 123). During the Khmer Rouge execution, anywhere from 400,000
to three million people died at their hands (Deac 236).
Click
on the picture on the left to read more about the Khmer Rouge Years.
The Khmer
Rouge didn't initiate any kind of school system so the people in this country
remained ignorant to what was going on in the country (Kamm 132).
Without education, people will not be able to progress as a nation and
the children who are the future leaders have no kind of hope. People
remained illiterate and uneducated for the next twenty or so years.
Adding a personal note, my grandfather would have been one of the victims
if he hadn't escape from the enemies that had him tied up and were ready
to execute him. Luckily, he got up and ran when he saw a chance.
They sought to kill him because he was well educated and that didn't sit
well with them. He made it to Thailand where we later met up
with him. On the hand, my uncle didn't have the same fortune as my
grandfather. He stepped on a land mind on his attempted escape to
Thailand. My parents told me that many of my relatives did not survive
Pol Pot’s reign of terror. My parents were able to flee to Thailand
to seek refuge in 1979 until they were able to make their way to America.
For the next decade, my fellow people lived a better life than previous
years after the Vietnamese invaded and drove out the Khmer Rouge out of
Phnom Penh and moved them to the jungles in 1979. Under the Vietnamese
rule, the Cambodian people were at least living at a survival level for
the next ten years (Kamm 196). In 1989, private property was authorized,
natural resources such as timber and gems could be explored (Deac 236).
The Khmer Rouge fled for their safety. They resided in the jungle
for the next ten years. The Vietnamese government could not occupy
Cambodia forever. They didn't have the resources to do so.
Their government decided to pull out their troops in 1989 due to the costly
occupation, field casualties, and material losses they suffer at the hands
of the Khmer Rouge (Kamm 202). The Soviet Union funded the occupation
of Cambodia. When the Soviet Union cease financial support to Vietnam,
Vietnam could no longer stay in Cambodia. As all of this was taking
place, the international community was growing concern with Cambodia's
lack of progress in education and qualified people to move the country
forward (Kamm 199). After the Vietnamese left the country, the control
of Cambodia was left in the air.
This is Prime
Minister Hun Sen (on the right who) is currently in charge of Cambodia.
The
political future and leader of Cambodia was left uncertain. Hun Sen,
a former Khmer Rouge, and his People’s Republic of Kampuchea took control.
The Paris Peace Accords took place on October 23, 1991. The Cambodian
Supreme National Council delegated “all powers necessary to install a new
government chosen by a nationwide election (Deac 238). This was the
world’s most ambitious project. The United Nations and Security Council
agreed to bring restoration and peace in Cambodia. United Nations
Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) assembled with 20,000 soldiers,
police, diplomats,
and
experts in all fields from all over the world.
A modern hotel in Cambodia.
- A busy intersection in the Capital City
of Phnom Penh below.
In conclusion, Cambodia is in a state of trouble. A country with ten million people where no education, exploited workers, women ill- used and unequal treatment between citizens and politicians. The leaders only think of becoming richer and gain more power only for their interest instead of the interest of the people that they govern (Kamm 251). In public education, the average girls attend school for 2.6 years and the average boy spends about five years in school. Only a third of children over seven years of age attend school (Reg. Survey). The people constantly struggle for food, health, and education goes ignored by the government. The country’s survival depends on competent leaders instead of greedy power hungry leaders to save itself from ignorance and demoralization. The country that I came from must now help itself because there is no longer a foreign interest in Cambodia. I want to leave with a quote from Secretary of State, Warren Christopher in 1995. “No doubt, with the benefit of hindsight, the U.S. could have done many things better in Cambodia.” (Deac 243).
Some additional sites to visit
The man
who influence many Cambodian.
For
more interesting information on Cambodia
This is a modern temple in Cambodia
Cambodia still has the opportunity
to itself as a country as long as there is hope for the unborn. The
hope for my country lies in the children also who must be educated in order
to progress in this world or they will remain ignorant to what is going
on around them. I am proud to be Cambodian and I appreciate more
than ever to be alive after learning more about the suffering of my people.
Personal Quote: We must learn
from the past and not repeat the mistakes of the past because too many
innocent lives are on the line. The world must learn to live with
one another despite our differences. For we are all human beings
living on one earth.
Bibliogragphy
Kamm, Henry
1998 Cambodia: A
Report From a Striken Land. New York: Arcade Publishing.
Deac, Wilfred
1997 Road to the Killing
Fields. College Station: Texas A & M University Press.
Summers, Laura
1998 Regional Surveys
of the World: The Far East and Australia. Pp. 195-202.
London: Europa Publications
Limited.