Chronology for Vietnamese in Cambodia

Date(s)	Item
Jan 1990	Nayan Chanda of the Far Eastern Economic Review in an op-Ed in the New York Times traces the root cause of the recent ethnic strife in Kampuchea. During the 19-nation Paris Conference on Cambodia in the summer of 1989, the Representatives of the US, France, the UK, and the Soviet Union were disconcerted by China's insistent claim that thousands of Vietnamese were still in Cambodia. The US Defense Intelligence Agency reported that all the Vietnamese troops have been withdrawn from Cambodia. Chanda writes that what the Chinese had in mind is not so much the troops as Vietnamese civilians living in Cambodia (01/19/90). Hanoi and Phnom Penh fought hard, if unsuccessfully, to replace the formulation of "foreign forces" with "foreign military forces", precisely to avoid having China and the Khmer Rouge (KR) try to lump the citizens of Vietnamese origin in Cambodia together with the troops. The Khmer Rouge claims that the Vietnamese `settlers' in Cambodia are spies and soldiers in mufti. The Statement released from the Paris Conference called for the "verified withdrawal of foreign forces" from Cambodia. Chanda is of the opinion that by accepting the notion that ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia are agents of Hanoi, even when they have lived for centuries in Cambodia, the Big Five have opened the door to potentially bloody ethnic strife in Cambodia (01/19/90). Chanda might be right about the intentions of China and the KR, but anti-Vietnamese feelings among Cambodians are centuries old. These were manifest most violently in the 1970s and are again revealing themselves in the 1990s in the form of an "ethnic cleansing" drive.
Oct 1990	The four factions -- the incumbent Hun Sen government, the Khmer Rouge, led by Khieu Samphan, the KPNLF, led by Son Sann and the Royalist Sihanouk group -- signed the Paris Peace agreement to form the Supreme National Council to govern Cambodia until UN-supervised multi-party elections in mid-1993.
Mar 1992	The first contingent of the 16,000 member UN peacekeeping force arrived in Phnom Penh. This is the largest peace-keeping force in UN history. The Cambodia peace accord calls for an 18-month deployment, culminating in free elections in the spring of 1993. UN troops will monitor the cease-fire, repatriate between 350,000 and 400,000 refugees, demobilize 70 percent of the factions' fighters and help clear millions of mines. They are also charged with monitoring the Hun Sen government's administration of defense and other key areas.
Jul 1992	Royalist Sihanoukists and the leaders of the anti-communist KPNLF called for the Vietnamese question to be dealt with ahead of the UN-supervised election, planned to be held in mid-1993.
Aug 1992	Under the newly-revised rules for the upcoming election, foreign-born voters must have at least one parent and one grandparent born in the territory of present-day Cambodia. In a letter to Mr. Akashi, the head of the UN force (UNTAC), Khieu Samphan, the nominal leader of the KR, justified the use of the derogatory word "youn" in reference to the Vietnamese in Cambodia.
Oct 1992	Eleven ethnic Vietnamese have been killed by the Khmer Rouge. The government of Vietnam condemned the massacre.
Dec 1992	Prince Sihanouk calls for ethnic Khmers from Vietnam to vote in the coming elections. He said that the Khmers born in Kampuchea Krom -- now southern Vietnam -- should be considered as Cambodians. Most of Vietnam's fertile Mekong Delta, which Cambodians still call Kampuchea Krom, used to belong to the Khmer Kingdom up to the 18th century. On the other hand, the Prince asserted that non-Khmers -- mainly the Vietnamese and Chinese -- "remain foreigners, even if their parents, grandparents and ancestors were born in Cambodia". UNTAC estimates that there are at least 200,000 ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia; the Khmer Rouge says the number is more than one million, including many soldiers posing as civilians.
Mar 1993	In a single incident, about 50 Vietnamese were killed in a fishing village along the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) by Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Anti-Vietnamese violence hits the capital, with grenade attacks against Vietnamese shops and places frequented by them. It is estimated that over 100 ethnic Vietnamese have been murdered since the Paris Peace Pact was signed in October 1991.
Apr 1993	The Khmer Rouge leave the capital to operate from their base in western Cambodia, leaving the UN peace plan hanging in the balance. The UN warns that the Khmer Rouge could be outlawed if it continues the massacre of the Vietnamese and the disruption of the election process. Leaders of Vietnam and Laos in a Communiqué issued in Hanoi urged the UN to stop the murders of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen accused the KR of killing Vietnamese Cambodians and eight UNTAC peace keepers. While visiting Hanoi Prince Chakkrapong, son of Prince Sihanouk and Vice-Premier of the incumbent government, assured Vietnamese leaders of steps to protect the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. BBC quotes a Vietnamese official as saying: "In their reply to Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, Prince Sihanouk, UNTAC Chief Yasushi Akashi and SOC Prime Minister Hun Sen all reaffirmed determination to protect ethnic Vietnamese... In his recent visit to Vietnam, [the] UN Secretary General... underlined responsibility of UN to prevent massacres of Vietnamese in Cambodia".
May 1993	UN officials state that about 21,000 ethnic Vietnamese have fled Cambodia, mostly by boat, since the March massacre. A report in the CSM dated 4/29/93 estimates the number to be 30,000 to 40,000. Vietnam expresses concern that the number may swell to 100,000 in a very short time. The government daily Raesmay Kampuchea estimates that about 60 percent of Vietnamese have left the capital. Reuters reports that the Vietnamese flight has negatively impacted upon the Cambodian economy: "The exodus of Vietnamese from Cambodia hurt the fishing community, halted construction in the capital and robbed the economy of skilled workers and artisans. The hardest hit is the fishing industry, which was dominated by the Vietnamese along the Mekong Delta and where the greatest number of them lived, many for generations. The Vietnamese sector in the well-known Red-Light District in the capital has also become empty, with the increasing exodus of urban Vietnamese, mostly into southern Vietnam". Vietnam and Vietnamese-bashing runs deep among all political parties trying to get votes in the election. For example, Prince Ranaridh, head of the royalist FUNCINPEC stated that Vietnam should return the land `stolen' from Cambodia in the past; Son Sann, leader of the Buddhist LDP, asserted in a rally that Kampuchea Krom should be "peacefully returned" to Cambodia. Most of the 20 parties participating in the election promised to send the ethnic Vietnamese back home after they won. Prince Sihanouk advises the ethnic Vietnamese to go to Vietnam for their own safety. The Khmer Rouge largely boycotted the UN-supervised election, initially trying to disrupt the election through sabotage and intimidating voters. In June 1992 when the deadline came to place its troops in military encampments, the KR refused to go along, thus violating the agreement. Parliamentary elections with the participation of 20 political parties were held from May 23-28.
Jun 1993	The lack of a clear majority by any single party in a 120-seat parliament foreshadows uncertainty for post-election stability in Cambodia: Prince Ranaridh's royalist FUNCINPEC won the most seats, 58, in the parliament; Hun Sen's CPP captured 51 seats, followed by 3 seats for Son Sann's BLDP. With initial charges of voting fraud and attempts to split the country into two, the CPP finally agreed to a power-sharing arrangement in the 120-member constituent assembly which is charged with framing a constitution by September 1. Once this is done, the constituent assembly will transform into a national assembly and a new government. In the intervening period, the assembly will hold only interim authority. A feud between the compromising father, Prince Sihanouk, and Prince Ranaridh, unwilling to go for any compromise with other parties, tends to unsettle the prospect of forming a government, headed by Prince Sihanouk. Finally, after much effort and intense negotiations, a newly-formed interim government merges the three major parties -- the FUNCINPEC, the CPP and the BLDP -- that participated in the election. The Khmer Rouge which boycotted the election has been left out.
Jul 1993	Reuters reports that since the refugee exodus that followed the March massacre, about 2,500 ethnic Vietnamese have returned to Cambodia. Prince Sihanouk continues his efforts to bring the Khmer Rouge into the national mainstream; the KR still controls about 15 percent of the country's territory, mostly in western Cambodia, with a command of about 10,000-15,000 guerrillas. KR leader Khieu Samphan recently met Prince Sihanouk to discuss ways through which the KR can participate in the government and the formation of a national army. Some arrangement might be made under which the KR may relinquish its territorial control in exchange for its inclusion in the new government and army. The US and other western governments continue to voice their objections to any kind of inclusion of the Khmer Rouge in the new government.
Apr 1994	13 Vietnamese residents in Cambodia were killed and 27 others wounded in an attack by Khmer Rouge guerrillas, southeast of Phnom Penh. Among the dead were 9 children and one woman. The government of Vietnam called the killing a "savage act" by the Khmers.
Sep 1994	Vietnam says it has asked the UN to help protect the rights of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia after an immigration law was passed last month. Cambodians claim that the majority of ethnic Vietnamese are "economic migrants" who came on the heels of the Vietnamese invasion of their country in 1979. Cambodian King Sihanouk has given his consent to the controversial immigration law which has been criticized by international organizations and neighboring Vietnam. However, the King, responding to international concerns, has called on the national assembly to amend parts of the legislation. (Reuters, 09/26/94).
Oct 1994	In a letter, the Cambodian government has assured the UN Secretary General that it will not carry out a mass expulsion of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia under the new immigration law. "The law could be the instrument for the mass deportation of non-Khmers...This is the public expectation and there is no provision in the law to stop this", says the UNHCR Mission Chief in Cambodia (IPS, 10/19/94). The Vietnamese government has condemned the "barbaric massacre" of 7 Vietnamese in Cambodia. The latest killings in a floating fishing village took the death toll in attacks on ethnic Vietnamese to 18 in past months.
Nov 1994	Vietnam and Cambodia held talks in Hanoi aimed at resolving the issue of Vietnam's blocking of foreign cargo ships bound for Phnom Penh on the Mekong river shared by both countries. Diplomatic sources say there is a connection between this act and Vietnamese displeasure over the new Cambodian immigration law, which it considers discriminatory against the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia. (Reuters, 11/07/94).
Nov 7, 1994	Three westerners along with more than a dozen Vietnamese and Cambodians held hostage by the Khmer Rouge were killed last week (Inter Press Service, 11/07/94).
Nov 9, 1994	Vietnam states that it has stopped ships traveling on the Mekong river with goods bound for Cambodia because that country broke a bilateral agreement. A Vietnamese official denied that Cambodia's proposed immigration law was a factor (Reuters, 11/09/94).
Dec 1994	Cambodia is now reported to be the most effective transit route for drug smugglers in the Golden Triangle. It is also reported that there is a burgeoning trade in providing drug injections in Phnom Penh and that the business is mostly run by and caters to ethnic Vietnamese (BBC, 12/08/94).
Dec 9, 1994	Vietnam has protested to Cambodia over the killing of two Vietnamese and the wounding of two others in Kandal province, south of Phnom Penh. At least 20 Vietnamese have been murdered during the past six months (Reuters, 12/09/94).
Dec 12, 1994	One of Cambodia's most influential human rights groups, the Khmer Institute of Democracy, has condemned the recent killings of two Vietnamese. It also appealed to the government to ensure that the rights of the Vietnamese are fully protected (Reuters, 12/12/94).
Jan 1995	King Norodom Sihanouk accused Vietnam of annexing large parts of Cambodian territory during its occupation in the 1980s. Sihanouk asserts that borders markers were "unlawfully" moved far inside Cambodia (Japan Economic Newswire, 0115/95).
Jan 17, 1995	The Cambodian government has vowed to make every effort to protect the Vietnamese in its country who feel threatened by a new immigration law. The pledge follows two days of meetings between Cambodia's First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Vietnamese Premier Vo Van Kiet. Ranariddh also stated that those Vietnamese that had been given residential permits by previous Khmer governments would be allowed to remain in Cambodia. The residency applications of the others would be considered on a case-by-case basis. A committee of experts was also set up to discuss and settle the issue of the legal status of the Vietnamese settlers (Reuters, 01/17/95; Reuter Textline: Bangkok Post, 01/18/95).
Jan 21, 1995	Cambodia has stated that any Vietnamese who fled to the Cambodia-Vietnamese border in 1993 will not be allowed to return to Cambodia unless they have pre-1970 identification papers. In 1993, over three thousand Vietnamese fled to Chrey Thom on the border following massacres by the Khmer Rouge that resulted in the deaths of over 100 Vietnamese. They remain stranded as Vietnam refuses to accept them (UPI, 01/21/95).
Jan 22, 1995	The UN special representative on human rights in Cambodia, Michael Kirby, states that several hundred Vietnamese at Chrey Thom will soon be allowed to return home. The vast majority hold Cambodian identity papers (Reuters, 01/22/95).
Mar 1995	In its 100-page report titled "Cambodia At War", Human Rights Watch argues that international financial institutions and aid donors should hold the Cambodian government and military accountable for its human rights abuses. The organization blames the Khmer Rouge for kidnapping and murdering civilians (including ethnic Vietnamese) and razing villages (Agence France Presse, 03/13/95).
May 1995	The Khmer Rouge has issued a new land ownership policy which would strip foreigners of any rights. Under the policy, all land owned by farmers would be returned to Cambodians, including land owned by Vietnamese living in Cambodia. Analysts indicate that the policy's aim is to discourage foreign investment which is being actively sought by the Phnom Penh government (Agence France Presse, 05/09/95).
Jul 1995	A high-ranking team of UN officials and diplomats have been refused permission to meet with the Vietnamese stranded on the Mekong river border between Vietnam and Cambodia. A UNHCR official stated that the refusal violates a government agreement that allows for free access to the Vietnamese refugees (Reuters, 07/01/95).
Jul 28, 1995	After two years of being stranded at Chrey Thom on the Mekong river, around 13 Vietnamese families have been allowed to legally move back into Cambodia (Agence France Presse, 07/28/95).
Jul 31, 1995	The Cambodian government is undertaking a census of illegal immigrants. It plans to deport any illegal aliens and foreigners who abuse the law within ten days (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 07/31/95).
Oct 1, 1995	A key Cambodian army official states that the Khmer Rouge massacred 17 Cambodians and 11 Vietnamese on the shores of Tonle Sap Lake last month. The Governor of Siem Reap where the incident reportedly occurred indicates that only two civilians were killed (Reuters, 10/06/95).
Oct 26, 1995	Over 2500 Vietnamese refugees stranded at Chrey Thom for over two years will be allowed to return to Cambodia. However, UN officials state that the security of the group is at risk as many Vietnamese have been harassed as they traveled home along the Mekong river (UPI, 10/26/95).
Nov 1995	A senior Cambodian government source asserts that at least one small group of anti-communist Vietnamese have established themselves in Phnom Penh with plans to overthrow the Hanoi government. The group is reported to be known as Free Vietnam and consists of several hundred members who lack both weapons and a significant organizational structure. The unidentified source's comments appear to partly confirm a recent report in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. The newspaper stated that former South Vietnamese government officials and Vietnamese Americans, funded by ethnic Vietnamese and others in the US, had established a network of "front" businesses in Phnom Penh. It was reported to have around 2000 members. Meanwhile, the Cambodian government has asked the US to remove six Vietnamese-Americans who are alleged to be the leaders of the Free Vietnam movement (Agence France Presse, 04/04/95).
Nov 14, 1995	Cambodian police officials are searching for two Vietnamese Americans alleged to be involved in a plot to overthrow the Vietnam government. Originally, the police were searching for four men, reported to be leaders of the Free Vietnam movement; however, the police believe that two of the men have already returned to the US (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 11/14/95).
Dec 1995	Six American citizens, including five ethnic Vietnamese, who are alleged to be involved in a plot to overthrow the Vietnamese government, have been given one week to leave Cambodia. Thirty-two other Vietnamese have been questioned by police authorities. Cambodia states that Vietnam will be asked to arrange for the repatriation of these Vietnamese (Reuters, 12/02/95).
Dec 8, 1995	A Nationality Law which defines Cambodian citizenship will be sent to the National Assembly next week. The law states that anybody applying for naturalization must have a paper which certifies that they have been living in the country continuously for five years since receiving a residential card which was granted under the framework of last year's Immigration Law. Further, the law stipulates that the nationality of naturalized Cambodians can be removed for "insulting and contemptuous behavior towards the Khmer people". Observers believe that the Nationality Law creates two classes of citizens while decreasing the chances that many Vietnamese will be granted citizenship until 2001 (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 12/08/95).
Feb 1997	The U.S. State Department reported that in 1996 many ethnic Vietnamese who fled to Vietnam-Cambodia border following the massacres in early 1993 were returning to their homes. The State Department also reported the continuation of the Khmer Rouge’s ethnic cleansing campaign, as well as of politics of ethnic hatred adopted by the opposition.(US Department of State)
Jul 15, 1998	Opposition electoral rallies sparked widespread fear among Vietnamese as leaders exploited politics of racial hatred to win votes in the forthcoming elections. The Vietnam government warned that propaganda directed against the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia could disrupt relations between the two neighboring countries.(South China Morning Star)
Jul 15, 1998	Ethnic Vietnamese reported problems registering to vote. The situation was complicated by the lack of a nationality law. Prince Ranariddh called for Vietnamese to be struck from the voting registers.(South China Morning Star)
Jul 16, 1998	Voicing concern over Cambodian opposition leaders’ stance on ethnic Vietnamese, a foreign ministry spokesmen of Vietnam said his country will send a team of eight observers to monitor the July 26 elections in Cambodia.(Agence France Presse)
Jul 16, 1998	Prince Ranariddh of Cambodia said that "if Vietnam wants to have good relations with Cambodia, Vietnam has to respect Cambodian independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and has to stop sending their citizen's to live in Cambodia.”(Agence France Presse)
Jul 17, 1998	Vietnamese officials condemned as barbarous the murders of four ethnic Vietnamese villagers in a remote Cambodian province. The four, a 67-year-old who had lived in Cambodia since 1980, his 21-year-old son, 16-year-old daughter and 40-year-old son-in-law died when assailants sprayed their home with bullets as they slept at night. Nou Phoung, Governor of Kratie province on the border with Vietnam, said: "This is a clear case of terrorism aimed at intimidating ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia”. According to authorities violence was intended to disrupt the July 26 election and was directed against the Cambodian People’s Party of strongman Hun Sen. The killings followed the massacre of 23 men, women and children in a Vietnamese village on the banks of the Tonle Sap lake in April. The killings were the first of Vietnamese reported during the election campaign. Vietnamese Embassy spokesman Dinh Vanh Thanh said that if the report was correct, Hanoi would ask local authorities and the United Nations Human Rights Centre to investigate. (South China Morning Star)
Jul 17, 1998	Opposition parties complained that thousands of illegal ethnic Vietnamese have been registered to vote. (Agence France Presse)
Jul 20, 1998	Vietnam slammed Cambodian "extremists" for waging "terrorist attacks" on ethnic Vietnamese amid campaigning ahead of the July 26 elections in neighboring Cambodia. "A number of extremists continued their terrorist attacks and murders of the Vietnamese community in Cambodia to threaten them and cause tension before the polls," said the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in a lengthy commentary. "It is regrettable that while running for the elections to the National Assembly, a number of opposition parties and politicians in Cambodia resorted to hostile speeches against Vietnam," VNA said, quoting the communist party daily Nhan Dan. The paper's commentary said opposition campaigners in Cambodia called for outlawing Vietnamese nationals who had lived in Cambodia for generations. Violence against ethnic Vietnamese is seen as directed against the Cambodian People’s Party of strongman Hun Sen, which ran Cambodia's Hanoi-backed government in the 1980s. The elections are seen as key to refurbishing Cambodia's image dented by the coup of July last year and to smooth its bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Vietnam is a member.(Agence France Presse)
Jul 22, 1998	Animosity toward ethnic Vietnamese reached a boiling point during Cambodia's election campaign, with many legal immigrants too scared to vote faced with xenophobic political rhetoric. The campaign rhetoric prompted United Nations human rights officials in Cambodia, as well as the Vietnamese government, to warn that ethnic vilification could lead to more violence in an election already marred by allegations of intimidation and politically motivated murders. The UN investigated reported attacks against Vietnamese but found no evidence to suggest they were motivated by ethnic hatred.(Agence France Presse)
Jul 22, 1998	Prince Ranariddh vowed to protect the border province of Kampong Cham from Vietnamese encroachment. "I will take the matter of the border disputes and the land that Cambodia has lost to an international court," he said to loud cheers from the crowd. After the speech he said he felt "hurt" the international community had made so much of his anti-Vietnamese statements.(Agence France Presse)
Jul 29, 1998	The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry voiced support for Cambodia's bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during the group's summit to be held in Hanoi later this year. ASEAN, which currently groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, postponed the admission of Cambodia after violence broke out between factions of Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh last July leading to the ouster of Prince Ranariddh as co-premier.(Japan Economic Newswire)
Jul 29, 1998	General elections were held in Cambodia to elect a new National Assembly. Vietnam joined other countries and international organizations in describing the conduct of the elections as peaceful, free and fair.(Japan Economic Newswire)
Jul 29, 1998	Opposition leaders in Cambodia, in their election campaigns, said they would expel all Vietnamese living in the country if they win the election.(Japan Economic Newswire)
Jul 30, 1998	United Nations human rights envoy Thomas Hammarberg urged foreign nations not to walk away from Cambodia in the wake of a relatively successful national election earlier this week. Hammarberg said the current government had made little progress in addressing human rights problems, noting that it had not seriously investigated approximately 100 extra-judicial killings after Hun Sen ousted rival co-Premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody coup one year ago. Hammarberg urged whatever new coalition government emerged from post-election negotiations to consider a complete overhaul of Cambodia's justice system.(Central European Time)
Jul 30, 1998	Strongman Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) appeared set to retain power after unofficial results show them winning 58 of parliament's 122 seats. United Nations human rights envoy Thomas Hammarberg said accusations of election fraud by opposition parties has overshadowed other problems such as their incitement against ethnic Vietnamese during the campaign.(Central European Time)
Sep 5, 1998	A press communiqué issued by a spokesman of the Royal Cambodian Government in Phnom Penh said that the Royal Cambodian Government (RCG) was sorry and disappointed at the irresponsibility of opposition parties, especially the Sam Rangsi Party SRP, who turned the implementation of democracy into a movement for igniting and inciting violence to create excessive anarchy, division in the national society, and racial discrimination. The communiqué was issued on the occasion of the incidents of violence and derogatory propaganda of the opposition during the electoral campaign, and especially on the occasion of the march organized in Phnom Penh on 4th September. It was alleged that the ongoing illegal demonstrations and marches were actually organized with the purpose to overthrow the current legitimate government, which was born from the process of democracy. The communiqué said that RCG vehemently denounced the barbaric, inhuman actions and wished to proclaim that it would hunt down the criminals and their ringleaders and send them to the tribunal to be tried and punished according to the law. The RCG also expressed its most solemn condolences to the bereaved families.(BBC)
Sep 7, 1998	At least four Vietnamese were beaten or stoned to death and seven seriously injured on public streets by an unruly mob inspired by continuing anti- Vietnamese rhetoric from opposition leaders.” We strongly denounce these barbarous and racially discriminative acts," an unidentified spokesperson from the foreign ministry of Vietnam told the Vietnam News Agency at the weekend. Hanoi demanded that Phnom Penh authorities investigate the murders and bring the criminals to trial and take immediate action to release what may be as many as 10 Vietnamese being detained illegally. Vietnam's ambassador to Phnom Penh lodged an official protest with the Cambodian foreign and interior ministries, as well as the U.N. Human Rights Centre in the Cambodian capital, admonishing the "miscreants connected to opposition political parties" who may be responsible for the attacks.(Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Sep 7, 1998	Unprecedented sit-in protests were held to contest the results of the July election which was won by Hun Sen.(Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Sep 7, 1998	Diplomatic reports out of Phnom Penh said two Vietnamese, both women, were killed outside the French embassy when they were caught by a hysterical crowd accusing them of possessing containers of chemicals used to poison locally brewed rice wine. Dozens of Cambodians died last week after drinking rice wine tainted with insecticide.(Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Sep 11, 1998	Japan expressed concern over the escalation of violence in Phnom Penh between government riot police and opposition supporters following Cambodia’s July general election. At least one antigovernment protester was reportedly killed in the Cambodian capital, following the reported death of at least two Buddhist monks in a crackdown on antigovernment demonstrations by opposition supporters in the past week. Cambodia's two main opposition parties, Prince Norodom Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party, have rejected the official results of the election, which gave most parliamentary seats to the Cambodian People's Party led by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.(Japan Economic Newswire)
Sep 14, 1998	Amnesty International condemned the killings of four ethnic Vietnamese traders in Phnom Penh, apparently carried out for racist motives by angry mobs that reportedly beat them to death in the street. The organization also expressed concern at the incitement to racial hatred against the Vietnamese minority contained in some speeches recently made by opposition politicians campaigning against alleged electoral irregularities. Amnesty International has campaigned for many years to ensure protection of the rights of ethnic Vietnamese, reminding the government of its obligation to prevent and punish human rights abuses against them.(M2 Presswire)
Sep 29, 1998	Three Cambodian opposition leaders were summoned to face questions in court over unprecedented protests this month against strongman Hun Sen's controversial victory in a July election, judicial authorities said. The summonses came as Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) was due to begin talks with opposition parties aimed at breaking a post-election deadlock and forming a coalition government. Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha and activist Por Thydei were ordered to appear for questioning on allegations of inciting racial discrimination against ethnic Vietnamese, destroying state cultural property and inciting criminal activity. Hun Sen has also blamed the opposition for a September 7 grenade attack on his rarely-used Phnom Penh home and a rocket explosion last week ahead of the opening of parliament. Rainsy and opposition co-leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh fled to the Thai capital Bangkok after police initially accused them of ordering the rocket explosion, which Hun Sen claimed was an assassination attempt against him. The opposition leaders said Hun Sen was using the courts to blackmail them into joining a coalition government.(Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Oct 2, 1998	The chief foreign observer of Cambodia's July general election defended the international community's early ruling that the poll was credible but criticized as inadequate the appeals process.(Deutsche Presse Agentur)
Nov 4, 1998	In his annual human rights report to the 185-nation assembly UN special representative Thomas Hammerberg called for improved legal protection against discrimination and racial hatred, pointing to opposition attacks on ethnic Vietnamese during the campaign ahead of July elections.(Agence France Presse)
Nov 5, 1998	ASEAN decided to include Cambodia as its 10th member during a ceremony in Hanoi after delaying its accession since July 1997 because of political troubles in the country. Other ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.(M2 Presswire)
Aug 3 - 3, 2004	77 Vietnamese fishermen, supposedly contracted by a Cambodian businessman, were deported by the Cambodian government having been accused of illegally entering Cambodian waters (Xinhua General News Service, 08/03/2004, "Cambodia deports 77 Vietnamese fishermen").
Oct 24 - 24, 2006	The Cambodian government deported 40 allegedly illegal Vietnamese immigrants, most of whom had been selling corn on the streets of Phnom Penh (Agence France Presse -- English, 10/24/2006, Cambodia deports 40 alleged illegal Vietnamese immigrants).

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Brief History of Vietnamese Expansionism vis-à-vis Cambodia

by Gaffar Peang-Meth
Professor of Political Science (retired)
University of Guam


On Christmas Eve 1978, more than 100,000 Vietnamese troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, crossed the border into Cambodia. In 14 days of fighting, Hanoi's army sent Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge fleeing. The Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh Jan. 7, 1979, installed a puppet regime and stayed for the next 10 years.
For victims of Pol Pot's genocidal rule, which began April 17, 1975 and resulted in the deaths of upwards of two million people, Jan.7, 1979 was the day of deliverance by Vietnam. Surely, Vietnam was their "savior" and their "liberator" at a time when the world watched and did nothing about the horrors of the Killing Fields. However, for many Cambodians, Jan. 7th is also a day of infamy. Pol Pot was replaced by those referred to as Cambodians with Khmer bodies but Vietnamese heads, the Khmer Viet Minh. This cohort was created by the Vietnamese Communist Lao Dong, trained at the Son Tay Military Academy and the Nguyen Ai Quoc political school, and led by a disgruntled regional field commander, Hun Sen, who became indebted to Hanoi for his return to power. Many Cambodians felt that substituting the Khmer Viet Minh for the Khmer Rouge was like replacing cholera with the plague.
A host of foreign governments also worried. The world was still governed by the well-specified rule of law founded on the principle of absolute, comprehensive, permanent and inviolable sovereignty and independence. As Singapore argued before the international community at the United Nations, the world is no longer safe, and peace and security are no longer assured, if a more powerful state is allowed to invade a weaker one like Vietnam had done. The Association of South East Asian Nations spearheaded calls for Vietnam to withdraw its troops from Cambodia.
As a result, the United Nations and other international organizations became a political-diplomatic battleground for many years between proponents and opponents of Vietnam's invasion. And so it was that the anti-Vietnamese Khmer Resistance was born, first as separate armed bands with similar goals, and later as a loose coalition of Cambodians of the fallen Khmer Republic, Cambodians of the monarchy, and the leftovers of the Khmer Rouge. Despite their differences, they worked together toward pressuring Vietnam into withdrawal and to seek Cambodian self-determination.
Cambodian nationalists assert that Vietnam attacked Pol Pot in 1979 because he became too independent of Hanoi. The invasion was initiated to bring the insolent back into line. Since 1979, they have asked: If Vietnam's goal was to "save" and "liberate" the Cambodian people from Pol Pot, what prevented Vietnam from surrendering a freed Cambodia and her people to work with the world community to build a new government and social order? Would not Vietnam have received profound gratitude by ceding to the United Nations the role of assisting Cambodians' self-determination rather than imposing 10 years of foreign occupation?
HANOI’S GRAND DESIGN
Hanoi, like the rest of the world, knew that Pol Pot's agents had perpetrated brutalities against the Khmer people since April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of the entire Cambodian population from homes, villages, towns and cities and took them to perform forced labor. Suffering, death and destruction were the order of the day.
The widely reported burning of homes and massacres of civilians in Vietnam's An Giang and Chau Doc provinces in 1977 by Pol Pot's guerrilla units offered an incitement to Vietnam, which was then busy strategizing and plotting Ho Chi Minh's grand design of a greater Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge’s belligerence gave the Vietnamese even more reason to put in play a takeover plan that would advance its goal of a federation of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
It is no coincidence that Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia on the same day Brezhnev's Soviet 40th Army entered Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 1979. The Soviet Union was Vietnam's chief ally and financial supporter at the time. Following the regime change in Moscow in May 1988, the Soviets began to exit Afghanistan one month after Gorbachev announced they would. Meanwhile, Hanoi was working on an exit strategy of its own.
Vietnam observed the rapid changes under way around the world: in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, communism was in retreat; rival China was on the rise; and U.S.-China relations was warming and mutually supportive of the anti-Vietnamese Khmer Resistance. While Vietnam began to hint at its eventual withdrawal from Cambodia, it took offensive military action against the Cambodian resistance. Hanoi maneuvered to weaken the anti-Vietnam U.S.-China alliance by encouraging talks between the Vietnam-created regime in Cambodia and the resistance factions. The talks were also designed to improve the puppet government's legitimacy. By the time withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia began in December 1989 (11 years after the initial invasion), Vietnam had ensured that its Cambodian subordinates, the Khmer Viet Minh, were entrenched in Cambodia's administrative and governmental organizations.
BACKGROUND
As French critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," or, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." Look at the history of relations between Cambodia and Vietnam for affirmation.
The Vietnamese southward expansion after Nam Viet freed itself in 939 from a thousand-year Chinese bondage was described by Vietnamese scholar Nguyen The Anh in "Le Nam Tien dans les textes Vietnamiens," as a centuries-long phenomenon called "Nam Tien" (progression southwards), "one of Vietnam's history's constants." Anh described the "sparsely populated and accessible land available for [Vietnamese] rice growers" to the south as "favorable for encroachment." Vietnamese "Confucian persuasion" was abandoned in favor of "an action resolutely imperialistic" to grab land and impose Vietnamese "administrative and cultural practice ... to better integrate [the new area] into the Vietnamese space." The migration was ongoing, even as other kingdoms were encountered. In 1406, the ancient kingdom of Champa's capital, Vijaya, was seized and the kingdom was extinguished in 1471. Then, in 1630, Vietnamese princess Ngoc Van, married to Khmer King Chey Chetha II, promoted Vietnamese settlements in the low delta Khmer territory of Preah Suakea (Ba Ria) and Prey Nokor (Saigon).
Historical records reveal that until the French protectorate was established in 1863, Cambodia was a battlefield for Thai and Vietnamese armies that fought on Khmer soil. Khmer dynastic quarrels led separate royal factions to seek support from Bangkok and Hue. Cambodia was known as a "two-headed bird" – a tributary state to both foreign capitals. In 1833, after Vietnam defeated the Thais in Cambodia, the bird head pointed toward Hue, and Vietnamization of Cambodia began in earnest: Vietnam installed teenager Ang Mey as queen, Cambodia's capital was renamed "Nam Viang," Cambodia's reorganization followed Vietnamese administrative lines, and authorities adopted Vietnamese names, customs and dress. In 1840, the Cambodian government was seated in Saigon, and Cambodia's name was changed to "Tran Tay" (western commandery).
REPEAT OF HISTORY
Opponents of Vietnam's 1978 invasion see Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party as a force seeking integration of Cambodia into the late Ho Chin Minh's dream of a federation of former French Indochinese states of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. As has been the case many times in history, Cambodians have connived with the Vietnamese to accomplish Vietnam's goals: Khmer King Chey Chettha II in 1620, King Ang Chan II in the 1800s, Prince Sihanouk in the Vietnam War, Pol Pot and Paris-trained Khmer Marxists, Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party, supported by the King Father Sihanouk and his son Sihamoni, the current king.
What started as Nam Viet’s search for security and growth became a strategy for expansionism. The intention to expand its influence is illustrated even in the name of the political party founded in 1930 by Ho Chi Minh – the "Communist Party of Indochina." Ho did not just want to liberate Vietnam from the French; he defined the task of the CPI "to make Indochina completely independent."
In 1941, Ho created the Viet Minh, an abbreviation of "Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi," or "League for the Independence of Vietnam," and spread its anti-French activities to Laos and Cambodia, where the Viet Minh later fragmentized the anti-French local Khmer Issarak front into a Khmer Viet Minh front. In 1949, the Viet Minh instituted the "Ban Van Dong Thanh Lap Dang Nhan Cach Mang Cao Mien" ("Canvassing Committee for the Creation of the Revolutionary Kampuchean People's Party") and created the Kampuchean People's Liberation Army in 1950.
Although the CPI was dissolved to publicly demonstrate Vietnam did not harbor expansionist intentions toward its neighbors, it resurfaced in February 1951 as the Lao Dong (Vietnam Workers' Party) with the same agenda. The Lao Dong’s goal of integrating Cambodia into a Greater Vietnam may be read in its political report which stated: "We must strive to help our Cambodian and Laotian brothers ... and arrive at setting up a Vietnam-Cambodian-Laotian Front" against the French. A month later the "Joint National United Front for Indochina" was formed. In November of that year, the Revolutionary Kampuchean People's Party was created with name and statute drafted in the Vietnamese language. It has been said the RKPP and the Cambodian local Communist Pracheachon Party were one and the same. As Prince Sihanouk wrote in February 1960, the Pracheachon Party was "working indefatigably ... and specifically to bring Cambodia under the heel of North Vietnam."
Brian Crozier, a former Reuters correspondent, quoted a captured November 1951 Viet Minh document exhibiting Vietnam's hegemonic attitude: "The Vietnamese Party reserves the right to supervise the activities of its brother parties in Cambodia and Laos." Crozier also quoted a Viet Minh radio broadcast of April 1953: "The Lao Dong Party and the people of Vietnam have the mission to make revolution in Cambodia and Laos. We, the Viet Minh elements, have been sent to serve this revolution and to build the union of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos." Viet Minh administrations with their own armed forces and system of tax collection were established in Cambodia and Laos. A Hanoi-created "Kampuchean Resistance Government" emerged in 1952 to rival Sihanouk's Royal Government.
When the July 1954 Geneva Accords ordered Viet Minh forces to leave Cambodia, they took with them between 4,500 (a conservative figure) and 8,000 Cambodians (reportedly claimed by Vo Nguyen Giap in 1971), mostly young children, to be raised, cultured and given political and military training in Vietnam. These Cambodians with "Khmer bodies but Vietnamese heads" returned to Cambodia after 1970 to fight Lon Nol, and to unsuccessfully wrest control of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from Pol Pot. Some were arrested, others purged.
According to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Kampuchea was born on Sept. 30, 1960, after the first party congress of 21 people met for three days and three nights. Pol Pot asserted that a Cambodian revolutionary movement that "truly belonged to our people" existed prior to the Geneva Convention, but its dissolution after the 1954 agreement was acknowledged because "people lacked a correct and enlightened guideline." Pol Pot described 1968 as the year when armed struggle – civil war – began.
Undoubtedly, Hanoi was aware that its publicly proclaimed "fraternal brothers and sisters," the Khmer Rouge, were not so "fraternal" privately, and it knew its relationship with the Khmer Rouge was unsatisfactory. But Hanoi let the Khmer Rouge be while it looked to building its own Kampuchean puppets. Hanoi was biding its time. And as it was fighting a war against the Americans in Vietnam, Hanoi threw in its battle-tested troops to fight Lon Nol's republican army, enemies of Prince Sihanouk who had allied himself with Hanoi. It was Hanoi's troops that routed Lon Nol's army and put Pol Pot in power in Phnom Penh.
Neither Hanoi nor the world governments intervened to stop the genocide that followed. However, when the Khmer Rouge's fierce independence of Hanoi was more than the latter would tolerate, Hanoi concluded it was time to teach its insolent comrades a lesson. On Nov. 3, 1978, Hanoi signed a 25-year peace and cooperation treaty with Moscow. A month later, on Dec. 3, Hanoi Radio announced the birth of the "Kampuchean National United Front of National Salvation," led by a 14-member Central Committee under Heng Samrin, a former commander of the Khmer Rouge's 4th Division. Hun Sen was a former chief of staff and regimental deputy commander in Sector 21. By the end of the month, Vietnamese troops would lead 18,000 KNUFNS soldiers across the border into Cambodia. Phnom Penh was soon captured and a subservient regime installed. On Feb. 18, 1979, master and puppet comrades signed a 25-year treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation, a treaty that effectively integrated Cambodia into a Greater Vietnam.
“FRIENDSHIP” TREATY
The 1979 friendship-cooperation treaty brings Hanoi's influence as far west as the border with Thailand. The treaty binds Cambodia and Vietnam in what it terms "militant solidarity and fraternal friendship." As people educated in the culture of Confucianism, Vietnamese leaders' actions are generally carefully thought-out and calculated to maximize Vietnam's interests. They know what they want, what their national interests are, and they move methodically to attain them. Unfortunately for Khmers and their country, King Sihamoni, son of King Father Sihanouk, signed the supplements to the treaty, giving Vietnamese full access to colonize and Vietnamize Cambodia. In the stroke of a pen, the signatories extol a symbiosis of interests between Cambodia and Vietnam. Retired Johns Hopkins professor Naranhkiri Tith observes on his Web site that the 1979 treaty between Hanoi and its puppet in Phnom Penh "became official in 2005" when Cambodia's King Sihamoni, "with the support of his father Sihanouk," put his royal signature on "supplements" to the treaty, thereby making Cambodians complicit in the Vietnamization of Cambodia.
In its preamble, the treaty cites the "closely interrelated" independence, freedom, peace and security of Vietnam and Cambodia – what affects one affects the other – and that both countries are "duty-bound to help each other wholeheartedly and with all their might" safeguard and consolidate the products of their "revolution." It cites both countries' "militant solidarity" and "long-term and all-round cooperation and friendship" as representing their "vital interests."
In the treaty's first three articles, the Cambodians hand Ho Chi Minh the goal of an Indochinese alliance he had dreamed about.

• In Article 1, the two countries pledge to "do all they can" to maintain their "traditions of militant solidarity" and to develop "mutual trust and assistance in all fields."
• In Article 2, they pledge to "wholeheartedly support and assist each other in all domains and in all necessary forms," as well as to take "effective measures to implement this commitment whenever one of them requires." Cambodian leader Hun Sen can "require" Vietnamese intervention and he will be assisted "in all domains and in all necessary forms," and vice versa.
• In Article 3, both countries pledge "mutual fraternal exchanges and cooperation" and mutual assistance in the economic, cultural, educational, public health, scientific, and technological fields, as well as the training of cadres and the exchange of "specialists and experience in all fields of national construction." This opens the door for Vietnam to operate in Cambodia. For example, Vietnam has always been short of food, and Cambodia is historically rich in fertile land and fish and natural resources.

Subsequent sections of the treaty further reinforce this dictate of Cambodian-Vietnamese interdependence.

• Article 4 stipulates a border agreement based on the "present border line."
• Article 5 pledges a "long-standing tradition of militant solidarity and fraternal friendship" to which both parties "attach great importance."
• Article 6 requires that the parties "frequently exchange views" on all questions concerning both countries' relationships and on "international matters of mutual interest."
• Articles 7, 8, 9, speak of the right and obligation of each party to any bilateral and multilateral agreements.

In 1962, Prince Sihanouk wrote: "Whether he is called Gia Long, Ho Chi Minh, or Ngo Dinh Diem, no [Vietnamese] will sleep soundly until he succeeds in pushing the Khmer toward annihilation, after having made them go through the stage of slavery." Pol Pot and his French-trained Marxists handed Cambodia to Vietnam. Then Heng Samrin and company agreed to a Vietnamized Cambodia. Important stipulations in the Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia signed in October 1991 were not implemented, allowing Vietnam's surrogate, Hun Sen, to elbow his way into becoming a co-prime minister despite losing the 1993 general elections. The co-premiership formula was devised by Sihanouk to benefit Hen Sen at the expense of Sihanouk's own son, Ranariddh. It gave Ranariddh, winner of the election, the title of 1st Prime Minister, and the loser of the election, Hun Sen, the title of 2nd Prime Minister. Dissatisfied with his subservient position in the dual premiership, Hun Sen unleashed a coup d'etat in 1997 in which hundreds were killed and seized power.
MARCHING ONWARD
The journey toward a greater Vietnam has not ended. What began in 939 when Nam Viet freed itself from Chinese bondage has in 2010 put the Vietnamese at Thailand's border and in a position to have an impact on Thailand's political stability. Cambodians are being manipulated by Hun Sen to respond to Thailand based on historical animosities not relevant to today's political realities. It would be preferable if lessons could be taken from history so that it is not repeated.
The current Cambodian-Thai conflict has been inflamed by Hun Sen's continuing provocations, intended to destabilize Thailand and provide opportunities for Vietnam to influence events there. Hun Sen's success at diverting his countrymen's attention from their own meager lots to the possibility of a conflict with their historical adversary has had the side benefit of increasing domestic support for his regime. The recently revealed "classified" contingency plan by Thailand for military action against Cambodia, should the Thai-Khmer dispute escalate, is seen by Professor Naranhkiri Tith as "exactly what Hun Sen wanted." Logically, the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation between Hun Sen's Cambodia and Vietnam is an important instrument for him to invite Hanoi's troops – the "liberators" against Pol Pot – to help fight the Thais on Khmer soil, another repeat of history.
Hun Sen has successfully used governmental administrative machinery to keep Cambodians intimidated and ignorant of their civil rights and the principles of good governance. He dangles showy projects and physical improvements to infrastructure, while many scavenge the city's dumps and live on rodent meat. Of late, he has taken to publicly cursing the Thai leadership seemingly daily. His call to protect Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple from the Thais brings many Cambodians to his side, though they are mute over Vietnamese encroachment from the east. Those who dare speak out against Vietnamese expansionism are silenced through intimidation or imprisonment.

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About the author: Gaffar Peang-Meth of Russey-keo, Phnom Penh, holds a Ph.D. in political science (comparative governments and politics, Southeast Asia) from the University of Michigan in 1980, served in the Khmer People's National Liberation Front at Banteay Ampil in 1980-1989, and taught at Johns Hopkins in 1990 and at the University of Guam in 1991-2004. He is retired, and now lives in the United States. He can be contacted at peangmeth@yahoo.com

Cambodia farm land sold to wealthy nations

Last Modified: 29 Jan 2009
By: Nick Paton Walsh (Channel4 News)

Countries who are unable to produce enough food for themselves are scouring the world for cheap farmland to grow food and export it home, reports Nick Paton Walsh.

Never mind the food miles: when prices are soaring around the world some countries have found a way of keeping their own consumers happy - farming out their farms overseas.

China, South Korea and many Arab nations can't produce enough food for themselves, but they do have cash and plenty of it.

Now they are scouring the world for cheap farmland to grow their own food and export it home. It's a global trend which has already got the United Nations worried.

Huge plots of land in Africa have been secured and now many rich nations are looking elsewhere for farmland.

One of Asia's poorest countries, Cambodia, is at the top of their wish list.

Labels: Cambodia Farm Land, Corruption

A Story Why the Town/Province Was Name Siem Reap

By Kenneth So

There is a story why the town/province was name Siem Reap.

Siem Reap was named so during the time of the Khmer King Ang Chan I (1516-1555). The brother-in-law of King Srey Sokonthor Bat (Brother of Prince Ang Chan I) named Kân usurped the throne by killing the king after he was elevated from a slave status to the rank of nobility.

After Kân took control of the country he proclaimed himself king or Sdach Kân. Prince Ang Chan had to flee Cambodia and took refuge in Thailand. After gathering his strength Prince Ang Chan asked permission from the Thai King to return to Cambodia to fight the usurper Kân but the Thai king refused to grant him permission.

One day the Thai king heard of a white elephant roaming in the forest and wanted to capture the elephant. Because of its rarity, the white elephant was believed to bring luck and prosperity to whoever possess it. Ceasing on this occasion, Prince Ang Chan volunteered to lead the hunt for the white elephant. The Thai king agreed and offered 500 soldiers to accompany the Khmer prince for the hunt of the white elephant. The objective of the prince was not to hunt the white elephant but rather to return to Cambodia to fight the usurper Kân. Once the prince entered Cambodia he started to raise an army to fight the usurper Kân.

Finally, after many battles, King Ang Chan (He was invited by his officers and members of his royal family to accept the title of King in 1516) conquered Kân’s army and had him killed. After the war, the king of Siam wanted the Khmer monarch to pay tribute to the Siam kingdom. He demanded that King Ang Chan send the magnificent white elephant that he possessed as a tribute to Siam. King Ang Chan refused to obey because to do so would put Cambodia into a vassal state of Siam. Upon hearing King Ang Chan’s refusal, the Siam king decided to teach the new Khmer king a lesson.

Sensing that Cambodia was weakened after the exhausting civil war against Kân, the Siam king sent his fresh army to invade Angkor. King Ang Chan hastily recruited Khmer volunteers, who were very enthusiastic to fight the invading Siam army. At Angkor, the Khmer army thoroughly defeated the Siam army and took 10,000 prisoners. From that time on, the village at Angkor was called Siem Reap, which meant Flattened Siamese or Defeated Siamese.

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When I visited Angkor Wat in 2007, I was told by Khmer people that the Thais argued with Khmers on the meaning of Siem Reap. They said it meant "Thais building things" as "Siem Reab Chhom." You see how they twisted the meaning of our town/province.

Siem Reap was named so during the time of Ang Chan I. After Sdach Kân took control of the country, Ang Chan had to flee Cambodia and took refuge in Thailand. Many times Ang Chan wanted to come back to Cambodia to fight Sdach Kân but the Thai king refused to give him permission to leave Thailand. In order to leave Thailand Ang Chan had to trick the Thai king. He volunteered to capture the white elephant as a gift to be presented to the Thai king. Once Ang Chan entered Cambodia he started to raise an army to fight Sdach Kân. He finally defeated and killed Sdach Kân. After his victory the Thai king asked Ang Chan to pay tribute to him but Ang Chan refused. The Thai king got mad and wanted to teach Ang Chan a lesson. The Thai king attacked Ang Chan at Angkor but instead of defeating the Khmer king it was Ang Chan who had the upper hand and destroyed the Thai army. The Thais returned to Thailand in defeat and shame. It's from that time on that the place was called Siem Reap.

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I just purchased the book "The Khmers: History and Treasures of an Ancient Civilization" that was published by your company White Star. I would like to pinpoint a mistake in the Introduction on page 12 when it said "Siem Reap" meant "Conquered by Siam." The author of the text is mistaken in his translation of these words because it means completely the opposite. It literally means "Flattened Siam" and not "Conquered by Siam." The word Siem means Siam and the word Reap means to flatten in Cambodian. "Siem Reap" in Cambodian means the "Siam was flattened or conquered."

Labels: 1516-1555, Kenneth So, Khmer King Ang Chan I, King Srey Sokonthor Bat, Sdach Kân, Siem Reap

Watch: Villagers' Grievances can be heard

Watch: Villagers' grievances can be heard

During the Kathen religious ceremony at the above-mentioned pagoda on October 25, 2009, villagers living along the border with Vietnam complained to Sam Rainsy about the Vietnamese authorities grabbing their rice fields.

Labels: Border, Sam Rainsy, Sam Rainsy Party