The Best of Cambodia & Laos

14
CAMBODIA IN DEPTH
2
LOOKING BACK
The Rebirth of Nationhood
Curiously, it was the French who re-created a lost sense of Khmer nationhood—something
that had been eroded in the previous centuries by the disintegration
of the Khmer empire and centuries of domination by neighboring
powers. The French “discovered” Angkor, a place abandoned by the Khmers to
slumbering and powerful spirits for 600 years. They resurrected and encouraged
the arts, including the Royal Ballet, but adapted it to their own tastes (the
Thai ballet is far more authentically Angkorian, since they did not tamper with
its borrowed moves). The virulent Khmer nationalism you see today was largely
contrived by the French to create a psychological buffer between themselves
and the Thais, who were seen as being in the British sphere of influence. It was
Theravada Buddhism, the backbone of Khmer culture and society, that often
inspired protest against the French, and the monkhood was seen as vulnerable
to Thai influence.
on the throne by the French governor,
Admiral Decoux. His life remains intimately
intertwined with every step of the
following decades of drama.
During World War II, Japanese forces
rampaged through all of Southeast Asia.
Vichy French cooperation with the Axis
powers ensured that the actual physical
presence of the Japanese was not that great
in Cambodia, although the Cambodians
did have to hand over much of Battambang
and Siem Reap to Thailand, which
was an Axis ally. When Paris fell to Allied
forces, the Japanese took more direct control
of Cambodian affairs. Once the Japanese
were defeated, De Gaulle was very
insistent on re-claiming French Indochina,
bulldozing aside any claims for independence
tacitly agreed to by the U.S. Pacific
command in return for active resistance to
Japanese occupation on the part of Ho Ch
Minh and his allies. The British also acquiesced
for fear of setting a precedent with
regard to India. Sihanouk sneakily welcomed
back the French for fear of being
engulfed by the old enemies, Thailand and
Vietnam. By this time, however, the independence
genie had been let out of the
bottle and no European colonial power
was in a position to reverse that in the long
term. Guerrilla movements demanding
independence, such as the Khmer Issarak
and the Khmer Serei, grew up in the countryside
and battled French control. The
French fought back with immense brutality.
INDEPENDENCE
At this point, King Sihanouk confounded
the French who put him on the throne. In
1953, he dissolved parliament and
declared martial law in aid of what became
known as the “Royal Crusade” for an independent
Cambodia. Independence arrived
in Indochina in 1954, though this was just
the beginning of brand-new conflicts as
the whole region became tragically sucked
into the vortex of the Cold War.
In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated the throne
in order to pursue his aims as a bona fide
politician. For better or worse, he was to
directly dominate Cambodian politics
until his overthrow in 1970 and continues
to be a major player until this day—an
ambitious “god-king” who has endorsed
tragedy and sanctioned horror, he sees
himself as the deliverer of his nation.
During the 1960s, Sihanouk walked a
diplomatic tightrope as he maneuvered to