The Project
While journeying through Cambodia in 2008, I was constantly overwhelmed by juxtaposing images: the sparkling grandeur of Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace and the squalor of its surrounding slums; foreign aid workers on their mission to rebuild and foreign tourists looking for cheap sex and narcotics; military officials profiteering from peace by opening shooting ranges with war surplus weaponry; the serenity of Buddhist temples with amputees begging outside; the beauty of pristine jungles littered with landmines; the ancient temple-city of Angkor Wat stripped of its artifacts to finance bloody civil wars; grand French colonial villas crumbling into the tranquil Pacific Ocean; the grim rows of skulls at the Cheung Ek killing fields monument and the Japanese corporation that manages it for profit; a man in Phnom Penh telling me of how the Khmer Rouge massacred his family and a villager in Anlong Veng proclaiming that the Khmer Rouge built roads and schools for the betterment of his community, and that now, the current government provides them with nothing.
Royal Palace, Phnom Penh
As the American government sought to stymie the spread of communism in the 1960s, Cambodia’s King Sihanouk declared neutrality in all Cold War politics—a policy that would lead to his overthrow and forced exile in 1970 by a U.S.-sponsored coup. Amongst the factions vying for power at this time were Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, which in 1975, with backing from China, succeeded in conquering the capital city. The Khmer Rouge renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea and began their Maoist agrarian restructuring of society by evacuating cities, destroying temples, and executing educated urbanites, artists and musicians, members of political opposition groups, Buddhist clergy, and ethnic minorities. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died in the process of this social genocide.
Choueng Ek killing fields
Angered by territorial incursions, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in late 1978, seizing the capital several months later. The 1980s were marked by violent clashes between the remnants of the Khmer Rouge and the occupying Vietnamese forces. Fighting ceased with Vietnam’s withdrawal in 1989 and a United Nations-enforced ceasefire in 1991. In 1993, the UN oversaw the writing of a new constitution, Cambodia’s first democratic elections, and the return of King Sihanouk as constitutional monarch. Just when Cambodia seemed to be on the road to recovery, in 1997 it was shaken by a coup which saw Hun Sen—formerly prime minister during Vietnam’s rule—and his Cambodian People’s Party seize power from the democratically elected government. New elections ensued in 1998, and Hun Sen has remained prime minster ever since. After a final standoff in late 1999, the remnants of the Khmer Rouge leadership surrendered to government forces, thus closing decades of violent civil war and ushering in a new era of relative peace.
Prime Minister Hun Sen
Cambodia is currently in the midst of a great transition: King Sihanouk has ceded the throne to his son, the masterminds of the Khmer Rouge’s genocide are now beginning to face trial, and there has been a massive surge in foreign investment, particularly in tourism, the garment industry and recently discovered oil deposits in the Gulf of Thailand. Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, is experiencing a rapid transformation: traditional markets stand alongside recently-built air conditioned shopping malls, rickety pedal-powered cyclos compete for road space with brand new sport utility vehicles, the golden spires of temples tower alongside cranes and new apartment complexes, and the young offspring of provincial farmers are flocking to the city en masse to seek out employment in the country’s new economy.
Phnom Penh night
However, despite these changes, it remains to be seen if Cambodia can totally emerge in the 21st century from its inglorious past. The country’s predominantly rural population claims that it sees little benefit from the influx of foreign capital, governmental corruption remains rampant, armed border skirmishes with Thailand occur regularly, and the country has become one of the world’s capitals of exploitative vice tourism (i.e. child prostitution, illicit drugs, and livestock shooting ranges). Moreover, years of war have made Cambodia one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the world. The extraordinary cost of clearing contaminated land, coupled with a lack of political will and resources to treat victims, makes landmines one of the most troubling impediments to Cambodia’s future development.
With the gracious financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, I have come to Cambodia to document people’s impressions of the changing nature of their country. In conducting interview-based research, I aim to shed light on the impediments to Cambodia’s economic and social development and determine if the average person’s quality of life has improved after a decade of relative security. By talking to the people of Cambodia and transcribing their stories, I wish to learn whether or not the past decade has given them hope for a brighter future.
