Paris Peace Accords 23 Oct. 1991

Monday, January 6, 2014

Vietnamization of Cambodia under Hun Sen (part 1)


Theary Seng's Commentary

Here are excerpts, emphasis added, from Brother Enemy— The War after the War: A History of Indochina Since the Fall of Saigon (New York, 1986) by Nayan Chanda to give some historical context to the VOA report of 16 June 2011 Assembly Approves Triple-Country Convention

“Cambodia’s ruling party on Thursday approved a regional convention that would set up a joint development area between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, but which opposition critics argue would cede land to Vietnam.”

Theary Seng (Photo: Nigel Dickinson, 2010)
________

Chapter 11:  Indochina: War Forever?

Three Countries, One Current (p. 370)

One refrain that I heard constantly from the survivors was “If the Vietnamese hadn’t come, we’d all be dead.” That expression of gratitude was, however, often laced with apprehension that the traditional enemy—Vietnam—might now annex Cambodia.  “I fear they [the Vietnamese] want to stay here to eat our rice,” a former schoolteacher whispered to me on the road on his long march back home.

The Vietnamese certainly did not help to foster confidence.  In the three months following the occupation of Phnom Penh they had systematically plundered the capital.  Convoys of trucks carrying refrigerators, air conditioners, electrical gadgets, furniture, machinery, and precious sculptures headed toward Ho Chi Minh City.

[…]


Thousands of Vietnamese officials and technicians were commandeered to Cambodia to restore the water supply and electricity in Phnom Penh, put the railway line back into service, and reopen rudimentary health clinics with Vietnamese doctors and paramedics and a handful of Cambodian doctors.  Ministries were set up, with Vietnamese advisers running things behind the scenes.  Hundreds of Khmers were sent to Vietnam to take crash courses in health care, education, banking, foreign trade, and security work.

[…]

Militarily, Cambodia was brought under the responsibility of Vietnam’s Fourth Army Corps… three Khmer divisions had been raised to play a supporting role, the 180,000 strong Vietnamese army led by Fourth Corps commander General Le Duc Anh

Three shadowy Vietnamese organizations controlled the pulse of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, as the new regime calls itself.  The highest of these organizations was a body called A-40 composed of some experts from the Vietnamese party’s Central Committee.  They maintained liaison between the Cambodian and Vietnamese parties and offered advice on all key issues.  Another group, called B-68, was headed by Tran Xuan Bach, a member of Vietnamese Party secretariat and consisted of midlevel Vietnamese experts attached to various Cambodian ministries and participating in day-to-day decision making.  A third group of advisers, A-50, consisted of experts who worked with provincial administration.

In rural areas, civilian advisers from Vietnamese “sister” provinces worked in Khmer provincial offices and services.  Below the provincial level the advisory work was left to special teams from the Vietnamese army commanded by captains.

In the years since its invasion and occupation of Cambodia the Vietnamese have refined their justifications for an Indochinese alliance and raised it to the level of some immutable natural law—a law dictated by geography and history.  “For centuries,” General Le Duc Anh wrote in a major article, “the three-countries [Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam] shared the same fate as victims of aggression by the Chinese feudalistic forces, imperialism, and international reactionary forces.” Dividing one country from another, using one as a springboard from which to annex another, and then annexing all three countries “became the law for all wars of aggression by outside forces against the Indochinese peninsula.” Consequently, Anh argued, building a “strategic and combat alliance among the three Indochinese countries constitutes the law of survival and development for each individual country and the three countries as well.”

[…]  “If Phnom Penh falls, Saigon falls.  If we have to fight and die, we do it here, not in Vietnam.” This was the way Vietnamese officers explained the reason for their presence in Cambodia.

[…]  Thenceforward such gatherings became regular biannual affairs to present the latest Hanoi position as that of the whole Indochinese grouping. By associating Laos and Cambodia with its policy position, Hanoi only formalized its leadership role vis-à-vis those countries but sought to boost the legitimacy of its client regime in Phnom Penh and to convey a sense of irreversibility to the newly formed alliance.

[…]

What Hanoi sought was not only the security of a politically bloc, but the creation of an economically integrated unit in which to achieve “gradual implementation of labor distribution, ensuring an effective use of labor and land potentials of the three countries.” With its 6 million hectares of cultivated land and population of 60 million (1985), Vietnam clearly saw potential in sparsely populated Cambodia (7 million population) with its 1.5 million hectares of cultivated land and enormous fishing grounds.

Pursuing a policy begun since the signing of the Lao-Vietnamese treaty of 1977, all the Lao and Cambodian provinces were coupled with sister provinces in Vietnam.  Vietnamese advisers, technical experts, and doctors from the provinces were dispatched to sister provinces in Laos and Cambodia to help in small projects and to build a special Indochinese bond.

[…]  Whether it was Hanoi’s deliberate policy to settle Vietnamese in Cambodia, as its opponents charged, or whether it was just the continuation of the historical pattern of spontaneous movement of the Vietnamese to less populated areas, the result could only be strengthening of the Vietnamese hold over the country.  According to the estimate of a leading Western demographer, by 1985 more than one hundred and seventy-five thousand Vietnamese civilians—including former residents, new landless immigrants, traders, and discharged soldiers—had settled in Cambodia.  Other estimates were as high as six hundred thousand.
. . . . .

The problem is us—our leadership, our reactions, our policy—and the Vietnamese political aggression and policies, not the Vietnamese people.  If we really care about Cambodia, focus on EDUCATION.  Think Singapore.  If we care about Cambodia, get Vietnamese-military owned Viettel/Metfone out of Cambodia by not using its services.

-  Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 17 June 2011


21 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:11 AM

    The last comment from Ms. Theary Seng, "The problem is us—our leadership, our reactions, our policy—and the Vietnamese political aggression and policies, not the Vietnamese people. If we really care about Cambodia, focus on EDUCATION. Think Singapore. If we care about Cambodia, get Vietnamese-military owned Viettel/Metfone out of Cambodia by not using its services."

    I agree with her point of view. Thank you for positing the article.

    Khmer living the U.S.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous2:19 AM

    Re: The problem is us—our leadership, our reactions, our policy—and the Vietnamese political aggression and policies, not the Vietnamese people...

    Well, the Vietnameses have been in every twist and turn and from top to bottom of the Hun Sen regime in Phnom Penh for over three decades now. Hun Sen himself is a Vietnamized-Khmer communist indoctrinated to the backbone and from head to toe, fluently speaking Vietnamese to a Vietnamese audience in a recent meeting in Hanoi ...

    Now if you don't mind my asking,Theary - Shouldn't you re-educate yourself as to how to help solve Khmer's problems please?
    សូមអរគុណទុកជាមុន!

    Sincerely,
    One big fan of yours

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:47 AM

    Khmer people are very kind, innocent, friendly, and so on from the very first place, except the attitudes of the rich people in Cambodia (NOT ALL THE RICH PEOPLE) are the foreign to Khmer people is a real root of the problem in Cambodia society. Reading Khmer history from day one on, Khmer people including leaders were so kind to the neighbors when it comes to a hard time, but the foreigners were and have been driving the chaos in Khmer society. Therefore, Khmer people have been a blame for that purpose due to the foreign influences. Khmer people were originally natural and neutral because they were and are just the peaceful peasants in the past. Khmer people and society were and have been messed up by the foreigners (who had the bad influences)....money, power, wealth, ..... Khmer people were so wealthy in the past, but they were and have been twisted into chaos until today according the history.

    Khmer living in the U.S.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:03 AM

    According to the yellow highlighted marked comment "“If the Vietnamese hadn’t come, we’d all be dead.” That expression of gratitude was, however, often laced with apprehension that the traditional enemy—Vietnam—might now annex Cambodia. “I fear they [the Vietnamese] want to stay here to eat our rice,” a former schoolteacher whispered to me on the road on his long march back home."

    This idea is a part of the deadly gamed attitudes. There is always a way around and it comes around with attitudes for any reason. It is a very deadly game coming from neighbor. If you don't know what to do when you are stuck in the deadly game, you have to deal with it by any circumstance. Don't just blame. Just think about it, how did that happen, and then find out why.

    Khmer living in the U.S.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:54 AM

    Vietnamization of Cambodia under Hun Sen .

    Pol Pol,

    Pol Pot a man who hated by so many Cambodian said on YuTube that:

    Pol Pot said yuon very cruel not the people the leaders, Pol Pot know yuon Hanoi leaders very well they all very cruel .

    Pol Pot also concern about Indochina Federation also known as Vietnamization of Cambodia under Hun Sen .

    All Khmer have every rights to hate Pol Pot but my personal view what Pol Pot said and doen against yuon Hanoi was very true and because of Vietnamization of Cambodia under Hun Sen , Cambodian people have suffered a lot under Vietnamization of Cambodia under Hun Sen .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:31 PM

      Pol pot hun sen same brother same parent sort of ... why pol pot let minority vietnamese leave before he start the killing field in cambodia and hun sen let them all back after ward to reign and to cross breed...

      Delete
  6. Anonymous8:36 AM

    Khmer Democrat and All,

    Don't try to cure cancer with Aspiran !
    Education is NOT going to cure Cambodia problems.
    For centuries, Cambodia problems were and are root-caused by the policies and politics of the Viet expansionism.
    For Cambodia to survive ans prosper, Viet expansionism must be stopped and destroyed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:34 PM

      You are dreamin with henessey in your hand you only destroy your own liver

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:18 PM

      12:34 PM

      I don't even drink.

      You are among other Khmers who fell under the spell of Ho Chin Mingh.
      Before Ho achieves his dreams on the battlefields, he already achieved his dreams in your minds.
      As he had expected, you already gave in and gave up.

      Two solutions, among others are to :

      1.Prosecute key Hanoi's leaders at the International Criminal Courts for atrocity on innocent Khmers, including K-5 Plan.
      2. File a lawsuit against Vietnam for violating and defrauding the Peace Accord of 1991 in which Vietnam was a signatory.

      For a synergy effect, Khmers around the world, organized and coordinated by the CNRP should hold mass protest simultaneously in front of Vietnam's embassies close to where they reside.

      On the other hand, Vietnam has problems of its own. As one of the only seven Communist countries in this day and age, Vietnam has to endure with the " political volcano " within.
      To keep peace and to prosper, Vietnam needs foreign monies, supports and technology from the International commity.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous10:50 AM

    Koh Tral Island must not be forgotten

    By “any patriot Khmers”

    Why do Koh Tral Island, known in Vietnam as Phu Quoc, a sea and land area covering proximately over 30,000 km2 [Note: the actual land size of Koh Tral itself is 574 square kilometres (222 sq miles)] have been lost to Vietnam by whose treaty? Why don’t Cambodia government be transparent and explain to Cambodia army at front line and the whole nation about this? Why don't they include this into education system? Why?

    Cambodian armies are fighting at front line for 4.6 km2 on the Thai border and what's about over 30,000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam. Nobody dare to talk about it! Why? Cambodian armies you are decide the fate of your nation, Cambodian army as well as Cambodian people must rethink about this again and again. Is it fair?

    Koh Tral Island, the sea and land area of over 30,000 square kilometres have been lost to Vietnam by the 1979 to 1985 treaties. The Cambodian army at front line as well as all Cambodian people must rethink again about these issues. Are Cambodian army fighting to protect the Cambodia Nation or protecting a very small group that own big lands, big properties or only protecting a small group but disguising as protecting the Khmer nation?

    The Cambodian army at front lines suffer under rain, wind, bullets, bombs, lack of foods, lack of nutrition and their families have no health care assistance, no securities after they died but a very small group eat well, sleep well, sleep in first class hotel with air conditioning system with message from young girls, have first class medical care from oversea medical treatments, they are billionaires, millionaires who sell out the country to be rich and make the Cambodian people suffer everyday.

    Who signed the treaty 1979-1985 that resulted in the loss over 30,000 km2 of Cambodia??? Why they are not being transparent and brave enough to inform all Cambodians and Cambodian army at front line about these issues? Why don't they include Koh Tral (Koh Tral size is bigger than the whole Phom Phen and bigger than Singapore [Note: Singapore's present land size is 704 km2 (271.8 sq mi)]) with heap of great natural resources, in the Cambodian education system?

    Look at Hun Sen's families, relatives and friends- they are billionaires, millionaires. Where did they get the money from when we all just got out of war with empty hands [in 1979]? Hun Sen always say in his speeches that Cambodia had just risen up from the ashes of war, just got up from Year Zero with empty hands and how come they are billionaires, millionaires but 90% of innocent Cambodian people are so poor and struggling with their livelihood every day?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:20 AM

      The answer is simple.
      Yuon installed and support their puppet regime to achieve their expansionism goals.
      Even we are successful in terminating Hun Sen, Hanoi will repeat the process with another Hun Sen.
      The solution is to get to the source of the Fire and extinguish it once and for all.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous10:51 AM

    HUN SEN was not a member of Hanoi trained communist leaders like Chea Soth Pen Sovan and Chan Sy.The trio Hun Sen Chea Sim and Heng Samrin were khmer rouge soldiers in Eastern Region .HEng Samrin had appeared in Phnom Penh leading khmer rouge troupes from Eastern zone of 17 Avril 1975. Check with DC cam of Youk Chhang.Hun Sen rose to power because he was the best serviteur of Le Duc Tho who was a chief archetech of invasion and occupation in Cambodia.Frankly we lost country because of us.Theary is right but we loved to blame other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:33 PM

      10:51 AM

      You failed to understand the Viet expansionism in general, and that of Cambodia in particular.
      Yuon use the old " Divide & Conquer ".
      They picked a ruthless Field Commander, uneducated, Dartmoor, but hungry for wealth, power and fame, and most importantly willing to betray his own people to serve his traditional enemy.
      Should Hun Sen faile to facilitate Ho Chin Mingh's Master Plan, Hanoi will terminate this Hun Sen, and pick another Hun Sen, on and so on until Ho's dreams come true.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:38 PM

      Correction:

      Field Commander, uneducated, dirt poor,

      Sorry

      Delete
  9. Anonymous11:09 AM

    Khmer needs the reincarnation of Pol Pot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:42 PM

      Please educate yourself goto temple calm yourself...when we dont recognize our own weekness ... right thought right speech right action... to begin with.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous1:32 PM

    Vietnam came to cambodia laborate khmer? Invader stay and liberator leave. In world war 2 americans went to france and fought against germany. They experienced heavy casualty in normandy. They left and came back home. In returnce they give the the statue of liberty. And do business as usual such as trading export and import etc. They also the ally.TheVietname had intention to stay. Only when the un and the world tell them to leave, then they left. Without the world watch over cambodia, it would belong to vietnam already. Hun sen would never be the priminster if they stayed. Because he likes wealth and power, he looks very vulnerable to them. That is why they use him as their "lap dog to exploit cambodia country "from the past, now and the future. (Extract from my comment yesterday).

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous5:00 PM

    THINK !
    Metfone owned by Yuon
    CellCard owned by Yuon' Slave .
    The other mobile carriers must be partner with Yuon' Slave .
    We are trapped . Removal of Hun Sen will cure all the problems. How ? The answer is up to the smart leaders .

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5:47 PM

    Problems and Solution for Cambodia.

    Problems:

    The root cause of all of these problems big or small that We Cambodian people have been facing for so long is from yuon Hanoi puppet Hun Sen and his thugs.

    Solution:

    Forcing Hun Sen to go by Khmer people power is the right first step toward real democracy .

    Forcing Hun Sen to go by Khmer people power we will get what we all have been fighting for. Otherwise we will face the same fate as Champa, Lao and Kampuchea-Krom.

    It is all about Indochina Federation also known as Vietnamizaiton of Cambodia under Hun Sen regime.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:26 PM

    Is their other phone company beside viet company? How did youaccess ki from cambodia Theary? Just wonder.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:18 AM

    Lol. Continue from 1:32. I got mix up with history a bit. Liberty was given to america around 1800 hundred(before world war 2)

    ReplyDelete