Cambodia’s struggles: History dogs a nation seeking to grasp the future

Editorial Board /  8 January 2016

The Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia presents a complex picture of achievement, as well as problems from its recent history. 

It is bordered by Laos and Vietnam, fellow colonies in former French Indochina. In 1975, Cambodia had 7 million people when its post-Vietnam war Khmer Rouge government began killing them. Three years later, when Vietnamese forces got rid of the Khmer regime, the population stood at 5 million. Now it is 15 million [because of demographic Vietnamization], a triumph in itself [??]. 

Cambodians are poor, with most of them rice farmers or fishermen. Major earnings come from textiles and tourism. Chinese investment and aid are important to the country. Its primarily Khmer population resent the presence of 1 million Vietnamese, who support the dictatorial government.

Its prime minister, Hun Sen, has been in power since 1985 and is a former official of the Khmer Rouge. His Cambodian People’s Party won disputed 2013 elections and is rough on opposition parties. 

The high period of Cambodian history was from the ninth to the 12th centuries, with the Hindu temples constructed then at Siem Reap considered among the wonders of the world. A mystery of the Cambodians is the contradiction of their culture of gentility combined with their capacity for brutal savagery.

U.S. behavior toward Cambodia has been both shameful and compassionate. In an effort to defeat Vietnamese Communism, America bombed and invaded Cambodia between 1969 and 1973. The U.S. tacitly accepted Khmer Rouge rule, including its brutality, because it was opposed to Vietnamese influence in Cambodia and was considered relatively anti-Communist.

America now provides modest support for Cambodia’s continued recovery from the war and encourages democratization and respect for human rights, albeit with equally modest results.