Sam Rainsy and Hong Sok Huor meeting with Srey Meas and her husband at Sam Rainsy's house in Phnom Penh, 2013. Srey Meas (pictured here at Sam Rainsy's house in 2013. Srey Meas was prosecuted for complaining of Vietnamese encroachment onto her farmland in Svay Rieng. Photo: Theary Seng
JANUARY 7, 1979, IS FRANKENSTEIN OF APRIL 17, 1975
Sam Rainsy's letter published in
The Cambodia Daily, January 1, 2009
The Cambodia Daily, January 1, 2009
On
January 7, 1979, I was living in France and publishing a monthly
anti-Khmer Rouge bulletin named Sereika (meaning Liberation).
When
the Vietnamese communist army invaded Cambodia to "free" us from the
Khmer Rouge, we quickly realized that we were caught between Scylla and
Charybdis.
We remembered what happened to most Eastern and
Central European countries after Staline's Red Army had invaded them to
"free" them from the Nazis.
According to the Vietnamese-installed
regime's propaganda, without January 7, 1979 we would not have been
able to achieve anything that we have achieved since. Or, in other
words, nothing would have grown around us without our salvation by
Vietnam and its (mainly symbolic) auxiliary forces led by the CPP's
current leaders.
But it is worth realizing that without April 17,
1975 (the date of the Khmer Rouge takeover and the beginning of the
Cambodian genocide), there would be no need for January 7, 1979. And
without the Vietnamese and Chinese communist massive intervention in the
early 1970s to help the Khmer Rouge, the latter would not have been
able to seize power and there would be no April 17, 1975.
Therefore
April 17 and January 7 are inextricably associated: both of them are
communist Frankensteins. Celebrating January 7 without having in mind a
broader historical perspective, is playing into the hands of the current
Phnom Penh regime whose only raison d'être was to "free" the Cambodian
people from the Khmer Rouge with communist Vietnam's decisive but not
unselfish help.
It is sad to see most former leaders of the
anti-Vietnamese Resistance in the 1980s, especially from Funcinpec, give
up their ideal to fight for a free, democratic and independent
Cambodia.
It is heartbreaking to see them sell out to the CPP, thus forgetting the memories of all those who have died for this ideal.
Sam Rainsy
Scam Rainsy wrote:
ReplyDeleteBut it is worth realizing that without April 17, 1975 (the date of the Khmer Rouge takeover and the beginning of the Cambodian genocide), there would be no need for January 7, 1979. And without the Vietnamese and Chinese communist massive intervention in the early 1970s to help the Khmer Rouge, the latter would not have been able to seize power and there would be no April 17, 1975.
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Idiot, long before 1975, Khmer Rouge fought North Vietnamese over the requisition of rice from Cambodian farmers. North Vietnamese paid Cambodian farmers for rice so that they did not have to transport rice along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Khmer Rouge simply wanted to confiscate the rice from the Cambodian farmers.
And after 1979, China supported Khmer Rouge at Thailand border for another 10 years, perhaps more.
I am praying Cambodia to suffer more so that Khmers folks will learn their lesson. God is punishing the Khmers.
The Chinese are coming to teach the YUON a lesson just like they are doing in LAOS!
Delete