Cambodian Jasmine Revolution and the Destiny of Cambodia

By Chan Chhan Keo

Dear Compatriots,

Thank you all for good ideas and opinions regarding the destiny of our Cambodia and Khmer people. I am happy to share your ideas and suggestions regarding these vital issues for our country and Khmer people but the political situation in our present Cambodia is, in general, stable, except the most recent invasion by Thai's regular military forces against our country's independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty at our historic monument, the Temple of Preah Vihear which is also a World Heritage. Grosso-modo our present Cambodia is really, really far different from that of those cited countries and people you were talking about and planning to follow to the letter their examples of life or death for our nation and Khmer people.

As everyone knows by heart that our present Cambodia is the legitimate product of the Paris Peace Accord of 23 October 1991 and the UN's Transitional Authority on Cambodia(UNTAC) so the political status of our present Cambodia as a very legitimate product of the above-mentioned international instruments is really, really far different from that of those countries you've mentioned. Any unwise measures and actions used to solve our current problems must perfectly go through the same legitimate international channels that Cambodia went through before. The proper way is to go through the UN and those countries who signed the Paris Peace Agreement on Cambodia to intervene in order to reconvene, if it's possible, the conference or to correctly implement all the provisions, stipulations and or principles contained in the 1991 Paris Peace Accord.

But the problems our Cambodia and our people face today, to my simple knowledge and my recollection, were primarily caused by our own leaders, not fairly saying by the United Nations' Transitional Authority on Cambodia (UNTAC) of Akashi alone even though Akashi did not grab and place all five-key ministries -- Foreign Affairs, Interior(Security and Police), Defense, Finance,and Information under UNTAC's full power, full authority, full administration and complete control as Akashi ought to do per a UN mandate. But when prince Norodom Ranariddh won the 1993 national general election, his father, a present Moha Vireak Ksath, Norodom Sihanouk forced prince Norodom Ranariddh, his son who was the Cambodia's Prime Minister-elect to share power with Hun Sen, the looser without letting UNTAC to accomplish its august mandated mission while all UNTAC's civil and military personnel were still there to assist and help Cambodia and Khmer people to breathe a real and democratic society which was freshly and newly born from the international solutions. And later on our leaders did not want either the UN Office and representatives to stay in Cambodia, publicly proclaiming that Cambodia did not need any more the presence of the UN because everything was going well for Cambodia and its people. And right now if your group wants to do such a "Jasmine revolution" by imitating those cited countries and people who revolted against their own dictatorial governments, you won't be supported at all by any countries who signed the Paris Peace Accord and your unwise actions will drag your present Cambodia and Khmer people into hell. Please be advised that our present Cambodia is a legitimate product of the 1991 Paris Peace Accord and a UN mandate. They invested billions and billions of USD to make our present Cambodia and brought to light our Khmer people especially our Khmer young generations to fully breathe their liberty, basic human rights, fundamental freedoms, in short their ways of life from the "Killing Field" of Pol Pot and from the "Yavana's" or "Yuon's " occupying forces. So our present Cambodia's situation is really, really far different from that of other countries you were talking about and it is a real, real imposed "unfinished business" of the United Nations and all those signatories of the 23 October 1991 Paris Peace Accord because of the mediocrity and stupidity of our own Khmer leaders as above-mentioned. Summarily, our current country's problems are like "Worms that came out of our own flesh" analogy, meaning we all -- our own Government (freely opens the country's doors to all illegal Viets immigrants growing up right now to a rough estimate of more than five millions and each one of us included did not do anything legally enough against them. The growth of Vietnamese illegal immigrants on our soil is our present Cambodia's and our Khmer people's big, big problems if we all, as patriots and nationalists, do nothing legally as approved, accepted, recognized and aspired by the world's leaders and the international community as a whole completely far different from the so-called "Terrorist activities".

Right now our present Cambodia is invaded by Thailand against the international law and against the "Judgment on the merits" of the ICJ of 15 June 1962 upholding the sovereignty of Cambodia over Prasat Preah Vihear, which is a World Heritage. At this critical moment, all Khmers must be united, join hands and shoulders to shoulders to bravely face our common ancestral enemies instead of planning to do anything that puts our country and our people in great danger without thinking of any catastrophic consequences to our nation and our people. "Knowledge alone is not power. The real power is know how to think well (John Maxwell). To lose patience is to lose the battle(Mahatma Gandhi).

Please have right thought, right effort, right speech, right meditation, right concentration and right action (Buddha). Think about the French word, "circonstances" -- circonstance de lieu, de but, de cause, de maniere, de temps et de moyen, etc.and know how to use them properly to our country's and our people's benefits and advantages. If you don't know how to use them properly, they will turn against you, your country and your people. The reason why our Lord Buddha taught us to have Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Effort, Right Meditation, Right Concentration and finally Right Action before doing something for ourselves, our families, our society and our nation.

Do you remember the article written by Dr. Nathan Tyr about Hun Sen when he played chess with him and after he left Cambodia? (International Awareness-- A journal of politics and economics, April 1998). I am including a few sentences of Dr. Nathan Tyr's article about Hun Sen, "I asked him(Hun Sen) what the "pressures" were that he referred to, and the first one he came up with without hesitation was from Hanoi. He hate having to answer to Hanoi for everything and respond to their wishes without discussion." ......he confessed that he believed that if the Khmer people "could stand up boldly and put on a courageous face against the CPP, then the CPP would be quickly defeated, but not without casualties on both sides." He acknowledged that if the people were to demand reform and be willing to die for it, the International Community, the press, and the NGO's would hurriedly fall in line to support them to the fullest, and the CPP would be finished."

My final words of caution: Present Cambodia(I mean Cambodia after Pol Pot time and Cambodia after UNTAC) went through the United Nations' Transitional Authority on Cambodia (UNTAC) and the 23 October 1991 Paris Peace Accord. Therefore, Cambodia must go through the same international channels to resolve our nation's epidemic and chronic problems. Anything goes beyond that will benefit our ancestral enemies and will put our country and our innocent people in great danger of disappearance from the world's map as our ancestral enemies desire it to happen to their own benefits and advantages. Our ancestral enemies expect to see this happen to Cambodia and our Khmer people so they can take this as a pretext to easily kill our Khmer people to fulfill their nurtured systematic and coordinated plan to swallow Cambodia and to wipe out Kampuchea Krom and Khmer Krom peoples from the world' s map as evidently proved black and white by our Kampuchea Krom Territory National Leadership Decolonization Task Force, a National Movement For Kampuchea Krom Independence's Decolonization-Proposal to H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General and all UN Member States and or Member Nations, all UN Bodies and System, all UN Permanent Observers, all International NGOs and all International Community Members and Institutions around the world in the same way as gigantic ocean waves shaking, sweeping and flooding the whole universe to be fully aware of the real character, behavior and hypocritical attitudes of Vietnam towards Cambodia, Kampuchea Krom Territory, indigenous Khmer Krom peoples and Khmer people in general.

*** Please carefully read Mr. Thanh's letters about all Viets' ideas, ideology and greedy evil thoughts towards our Cambodia. Please stop having "Nightmares" about the Viets people who might help and or might be useful and helpful in your planned "Jasmine Revolution". The letter of Mr. Thanh is an evident proof that no one can challenge and or refute period!!! And also please read carefully the greedy and evil words of Viets' government officials clearly quoted in our Task Force's Decolonization-Proposal to the United Nations, all UN Member States and Others.

Thank you so very much for ideas to help our present Cambodia and our innocent Khmer people. But your ideas must be realistic and always go in line and in positive correlation or direction with the will and highest aspirations of the World's Leaders and those of the International Community Members and Institutions around the Globe!

Chan Chhan Keo, Chairman

Kampuchea Krom Territory National Leadership Decolonization Task Force, a National Movement For Kampuchea Krom Independence.

P S . My special thanks must go to Amekhmer@free.fr whose matured and life experienced ideas, opinions, suggestions and key national, patriotic feedback are very thoughtful and he/she has thoroughly analyzed the current political situation and status of our present Cambodia to advise others to be aware of all consequences usually deadly/fatal for our country and our Khmer people.

Date: 5th March, 2011