Southeast Asia is currently the United State’s fourth largest export market and one of the fastest growing markets in the world according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Over the last several years, the US has steadily increased its economic investment in the counties of the region, including Cambodia.[1] Cambodia, however, is plagued by the legacy of one of humanity’s worst moments: the Cambodian Genocide.
Public knowledge of the Cambodian Genocide in the western world is often lacking, but in most cases, the story goes something like this: In 1975, the Communist Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, rose from the rural regions of Cambodia and conquered the capital city, Phnom Penh. With the goal of creating a classless agrarian society, the Khmer Rouge proceeded to force everyone from the city to the countryside, where they performed compulsory agricultural labor under the guns of their soldiers. Along the way, anyone perceived as potentially posing a threat to the new Communist regime was killed. Nearly all of Cambodia’s educated population was killed by the Khmer Rouge, including doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Simply wearing glasses was seen as a sign of intellectualism and carried a death sentence.
The Khmer Rouge was paranoid of foreign “corruption” of Cambodia, which was called Democratic Kampuchea at the time, so Khmer Rouge soldiers tortured and killed ethnic Vietnamese, Muslims, foreigners, and anyone else suspected of betraying or resisting the state. Most suspects were innocent but falsely confessed under brutal torture. They were then killed at mass execution and burial sites known as killing fields. From April 1975 to January 1979, the Khmer Rouge killed three million Cambodians either directly or through starvation. In January of 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and deposed of the government of Democratic Kampuchea, ending the genocide and destroying the Khmer Rouge.[2]
Unfortunately, this public narrative is missing several key points. For one, it fails to acknowledge the US bombing of Cambodia from 1970 to 1975, which destabilized General Lon Nol’s regime and allowed the Khmer Rouge to gain power.[3] It also ignores the involvement of China in the Khmer Rouge’s rise to power[4], and it slips right over the Khmer Rouge’s leadership, of whom only three have been convicted in an international court.[5] The most egregious error, however, is the false belief that after the Vietnamese invasion, the Khmer Rouge just went away. In reality, after the Vietnamese occupation the Khmer Rouge fled toward the Thai border, establishing itself in north-western Cambodia, where it fought a guerilla war against the new Cambodian government for nearly twenty years. It wasn’t until after Pol Pot’s death in 1998 that Khmer Rouge territory was reintegrated into Cambodia.[6]
After the Vietnamese invasion and during this reintegration, former Khmer Rouge soldiers were allowed to fade back into the Cambodian population without repercussions. A soldier could be executing your neighbor one day and living in your village the next. This reintegration left Cambodia in a very difficult position. During the genocide, the Khmer Rouge killed anyone with an education, which meant that after the genocide, the only people that were both alive and qualified to govern a country were former Khmer Rouge soldiers. Even though the Khmer Rouge had been overthrown, the Cambodian people were still governed by its members. They were expected to trust the very same people that drove them from their homes and split their families apart, that allowed millions to starve, that massacred their friends and neighbors and brothers and fathers and children. In the current government, many high-level officials are former Khmer Rouge soldiers, including Prime Minister Hun Sen himself. [7][8]
According to an official biography published by the Cambodian government Hun Sen joined the Khmer Rouge in 1970 at the age of eighteen. He fought in the Cambodian Civil War and was a Battalion Commander in Democratic Kampuchea, the official name of Cambodia during the time of the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 until he defected to Vietnam in 1977. After defecting, Sen fought among the Vietnamese in the Vietnamese-Cambodian War. Post-war, he enjoyed a successful political career in the Vietnamese-occupied government of Cambodia, The People’s Republic of Kampuchea. Following the death of Premier Chan Sy, Sen was appointed Premier by the single-party National Assembly. Sen remained premier until he lost a UN supported election in 1993. Even though he lost the election, Sen refused to relinquish power and instead, after negotiations with the opposition party, became Second Prime Minister. This arrangement, however, did not last long; in 1997, Sen enacted a coup, forcing Prime Minister Ranariddh out of power and seizing control of the government. Sen has ruled Cambodia since.[9]
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia has seen widespread corruption and human rights violations. Again and again, Sen and his party, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), secure the majority of seats in parliament amid a political ecosystem that precludes free elections. Political opposition to the CPP is met with both judicial and extrajudicial means of suppression. Constitutionally, Cambodia is a multi-party free state, but functionally, it is a single-party state. The government suppresses opposition parties that achieve any level of success or public support. In the 2013 general election, the Cambodian National Rescue Party won 55 of 123 National Assembly seats. After the election, there were protests alleging that the demonstration was rigged. These protests were put down violently by the government; twelve to fifteen people were killed. In 2017, the Cambodian National Rescue Party was once again poised to do well in the general election, but Reuters reported that it was dissolved by the Supreme Court of Cambodia before the election. All of the party’s National Assembly seats were allocated to other parties, and all high-level party members were banned from politics for five years. Many fled Cambodia for fear of arrest.[10]
Journalists and political activists also face government oppression. Publicly speaking against the ruling party can lead to arrests and legal action. A recent New York Times article reported that dozens of political activists were recently convicted of conspiracy to commit treason. Some received prison sentences of up to eight years.[11] Journalists and activists also face extra-judicial threats. The CPP uses extrajudicial violence to scare the Cambodian people into compliance.[12]
The Khmer Rouge may no longer officially exist, but its members, legacy, and ideology still affect Cambodia. Hun Sen’s authoritarian government actively prevents the country’s development of freedom and democracy, and when one country is less democratic, the whole world is less democratic. Thankfully, there is hope for the future: Hun Sen is seventy years old and wants to hand leadership to his son. This change of power will likely cause division within the Cambodian People’s Party, reducing its power and providing an opportunity for real democratic opposition. Cambodia’s situation is dire, but it isn’t irreparable. If the next government can successfully implement more free and democratic policies, it will be well equipped to capitalize on Southeast Asia’s rapid economic growth. This would draw Cambodia closer to the democratic world and allow further development through increased trade with more developed countries like the United States. A better future is within reach if Cambodia can remove the shackles of the legacy of the Khmer Rouge.
[1] Kim Mai Tran, “U.S.-Southeast Asia Trade Relations in an Age of Disruption,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, June 27, 2019, accessed August 19, 2022.
[2] “Chronology of Cambodian Events Since 1950,” Yale University Genocide Studies Program, accessed August 19, 2022.
[3] Taylor Owen and Ben Kiernan, “Bombs Over Cambodia,” The Walrus, October 2006, accessed August 20, 2022.
[4] “The Chinese Communist Party’s Relationship with the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s - An Ideological Victory and a Strategic Failure,” Heinrich Böll Stiftung, May 25, 2020, accessed August 19, 2022.
[5] “Last Surviving Khmer Rouge Leader Appeals Genocide Conviction,” Al Jazeera, August 16, 2021, accessed August 19, 2022.
[6] “Chronology of the Khmer Rouge,” Cambodian Tribunal Monitor, accessed August 18, 2022.
[7] Brad Adams, “30 Years of Hun Sen,” Human Rights Watch, January 12, 2015, accessed August 19, 2022.
[8] Casey Quackenbush, “40 Years After the Fall of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia Still Grapples With Pol Pot’s Brutal Legacy,” Time, January 7, 2019, accessed August 18, 2022.
[9] “Samdech Hun Sen,” Cambodia New Vision, October 24, 2007, accessed August 18, 2022.
[10] Prak Chan Thul, “Cambodia’s Main Opposition Party Dissolved by Supreme Court,” Reuters, November 16, 2017, accessed August 19, 2022.
[11] Seth Mydans, Cambodia Sends U.S. Activist and Other Opposition Members to Prison,” The New Yotk Times, June 14, 2022, accessed August 19, 2022.
[12] Brad Adams, “30 Years of Hun Sen,” Human Rights Watch, January 12, 2015, accessed August 19, 2022.