The Legacy of Angkorean Empire Revised Version

The Bayib
The Legacy of Angkorean Empire: As the Main

Factor Underlying of Tragedy of Contemporary
Cambodia
Naranhkiri Tith, h!"!
Cambodia: an Endangered Nation
Preface
Cambodian: An Endangered Nation
This book is my personal account on why and how Cambodia has been slowly but irreversibly
dwindling as a nation under pressure from foreign aggressions, namely, from Thailand and
subsequently from Vietnam !hile, there are many books written on different aspects of Cambodia
ranging from arts, history, politics, and politics, however, with the e"ception of those authored by
Norodom #ihanouk, most non$Cambodians authored of these books #ihanouk%s theme in these books
invariably and mostly reflects the defense of his regime and himself as a long time absolute leader of
Cambodia, since he became king in &'(& There are also many good books written by ordinary
Cambodians in which they recounted their horrible e"periences under the )hmer *ouge regime This
book intends to fill somewhat this gap by providing a Cambodian e"patriate%s view on the slow decline
of Cambodia as a country and society
+ore specifically, this book provides my personal reflections and thoughts from a Cambodian
e"patriate%s perspective on the main threats facing present$day Cambodia, and what wrong and why
Cambodia was unable to defend itself ,t e"plores the main causes underlying Cambodia%s inability to
defend itself, which in turn, leading a slow but seemingly irreversible disintegration as a society and a
nation This downfall started with the fall of -ngkor in the &.th century brought about by #iamese
attacks ,t continues today with its failure to respond to the deadly threats from Vietnam that started in
the &/th century
0oreign aggression cannot alone e"plain the decline of a nation or an empire +ost countries 1large or
small2 have faced foreign aggressions, one time or another Those countries that have failed to repulse
foreign aggressions resulted from internal problems, namely, lagging technological advance, inept
leadership, or weak economic, political and social organi3ation 0or these reasons, this book looks into
the main flaws in the Cambodian society that led to the inability to respond to foreign aggressions ,t
analyses the fundamental causes behind Cambodian society%s failure to produce honest and good
leaders in any field of endeavor, from intellectual to politics
, have been an active observer of Cambodia as a society and as a nation for over fifty years +ore
specifically, , has been following and witnessing Cambodia%s struggle for survival from the unrelenting
assault by Vietnam with its well$conceived and well$e"ecuted centuries old grand design to conquer her
weaker neighbors4 namely Champa, Cambodia and 5aos
, was born in Cambodia and lived there until my early twenties 6uring this time, the country was a
0rench colony , was able to witness the popular movement to gain independence from 0rance led by
the young )ing Norodom #ihanouk #ubsequently, , went to 0rance for university studies in business
and economics 6uring stay in 0rance, , met some of the future leaders of the )hmer *ouge movement,
notably4 )hieu #amphan, ,eng #ary, Chau #eng, Thiounn 7rasith, and others , returned briefly to
Cambodia in the late &'89s - year later, , went on to study business administration at 5aval :niversity
in ;uebec, Canada , returned very briefly to Cambodia in &'8'
<
,n &'=9, reali3ing that the social and political conditions caused by the autocratic character of the
Cambodian monarchy would not allow me to attain my intellectual, political, and social potential, ,
decided to leave Cambodia and go to the :nited #tates to continue my graduate studies in economics ,
am now living in the :nited #tates, and am a :# citi3en
>ecause of my family position in the Cambodian society, and my professional background as a member
of the academic community and the international organi3ation, , have had numerous opportunities to
e"change views on Cambodia%s contemporary problems with some of the most prominent Cambodian
and non$Cambodian political players in the country
,n the pre$)hmer *ouge era starting in the early &'89s, , met and had discussions with various key
non$ )hmer *ouge political personalities who were the main administrators during the #ihanouk%s
regime until the &'/9 coup by 5on Nol
6uring the post$)hmer *ouge era, , had the opportunity to discuss various aspects of Cambodian
situation with senior officials, across political party lines These include4 the #on #ann%s >uddhist
5iberal 6emocratic 7arty >572, the ?un #en%s Cambodian 7eople%s 7arty 1C772, as well as the
Norodom *annaridh%s 0ront :ni National pour l%,ndependence, la Neutralite, la 7ai" et la Cooperation
10:NC,N7EC2, and #am *ainsy%s party 1#am *ainsy party2
, also had discussions with non$political personalities including, )em #okha 1?ead of a local N@A2,
5ao +ong ?ai 1head of a civil society organi3ation2, Bust to mention the most recogni3able ones
Throughout the years of my involvement in Cambodian affairs, , also had the opportunity to discuss
Cambodia%s problems with several members of the royal family These include former )ing Norodom
#ihanouk, his wife ;ueen +onineath, some of his children, Norodom *anariddh, Norodom
Chakrapong, and Norodom >opha 6evi, as well as other members of the royal family, 7rince Norodom
#irivuddh, the late 7rince #isowath #irik +atak, and 7rince Norodom )antol
!hile working at the :nited Nations Conference on Trade and 6evelopment 1:NCT-62 at the :nited
Nations in New Cork, and at the ,nternational +onetary 0und 1,+02 in !ashington 6C as a senior
staff member, , had the opportunity to look at Cambodia from the international community%s point of
view
!hile working at the ,+0, , also taught courses in international economics and country risks analysis
at the #chool of -dvanced ,nternational #tudies 1#-,#2 of the Dohns ?opkins :niversity from &'/(
until <99< -s a member of the academic community, , had the opportunity to attend many seminars
and conferences dealing with Cambodia 6uring these sessions , was able to observe and learn about
the influence of the members of the academic community on the formulation of Cambodia%s policies by
the maBor powers, namely the :nited #tates, Dapan, ,ndia, China, European :nion, and other -sian
countries especially, -#E-N
-s an official of the ,+0, , gave seminars in economic and financial policies in Cambodia to senior
Cambodian government officials during the 5on Nol era and post$)hmer *ouge era 6uring these
.
times in Cambodia, , was able to discuss economic and financial developments with government
officials on a more informal basis
, also had the opportunities to work with and participate in formal and informal discussions with
different groups of overseas Cambodians in the :nited #tates, Canada, Europe, -ustralia, and New
Eealand Through these e"changes of views with these different groups of overseas Cambodians, the
author gained enormous insight into their perspectives on Cambodian past and present leaders, and on
their views on Cambodia%s present pressing and tragic problems These insights, in turn, form the basis
for me to measure the depth, the degree, and dimension of difficulties for Cambodia to survive its
current tragic situation
6uring my career as an international civil servant at the :N and the ,+0 and as an adBunct professor at
#-,#, , was active in promoting and advocating democratic principles and human rights in Cambodia
?owever, , have never been involved directly in any political activities nor have , ever belonged to any
Cambodian political party , was indirectly involved in providing assistance in the form of advices on
how to interface with the -merican community, to the Cambodian resistance movement under the chair
of former king Norodom #ihanouk to fight against the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia during the
&'F9s
Throughout this book, , also provide my personal observations and perspectives on the tragic
contemporary situation of Cambodia drawn from formal and informal discussions , had with the
different groups of Cambodian political and civil society personalities, and with the different groups of
overseas Cambodians
This book also reflects the insights on the views of the international community on Cambodia from the
author%s on and off$the$record e"changes of views during the seminars and conferences that , attended
with different members of the international community belonging to the academia, the media, and the
international financial and diplomatic organi3ations
The other main sources on the content of this book are the numerous e"cellent writings by non$
Cambodian e"perts on Cambodian affairs
0inally, being a :# citi3en, , have no intention to return to Cambodia to participate in any capacity in
politics or any other fields +y only intention in writing this book is to provide an eyewitness account
on the internal and e"ternal causes underlying the steady disintegration of Cambodia, since the fall of
-ngkor +ore specifically, this book provides an analysis of the e"ternal and internal events and the
main flaws in the behavior and character of Cambodian people especially those who were responsible
for the tragic fate of Cambodia since independence from 0rance in November &'8.
!ashington, 6C <9&.
Naranhkiri Tith, 7h6
(
Chapter 1
Introduction: What Went Wrong?
Throughout history in the old world order before the birth of the :nited Nations, most countries, small
or large, have had to deal with foreign aggression at one time or another 0or instance, +ongolia, a
small country, invaded China in the &<
th
century and occupied that country for almost <99 years
Napoleonic 0rance invaded almost all Europe including *ussia and was defeated in &F&= at the battle
of !aterloo by an alliance between *ussia, England, and other European countries +ore recently,
@ermany invaded !estern Europe, and *ussia in !orld !ar ,,, only to be defeated in &'(8 Dapan
invaded most of -sian countries starting in &'./ until its defeat by the -llied forces under the :nited
#tates command in &'(8 Af course, one can also mention colonialism as a form of systemic
subBugation of weaker and less technologically advanced countries in the world by more organi3ed and
technologically advanced nations throughout the world ?owever, history tends to overlook the practice
of colonialism by a small country against another small country This is the case of Cambodia
Dayavarman ,, who liberated from Davanese vassalage, unified, and pacified two rival principalities
called 5and Chenla and !ater Chenla gave the name of that new unified state, )ambuBadesa, or
)ampuchea, which is the name of present day Cambodia in the Cambodian language, in -6 F9< To
consecrate his rule, Dayavarman ,, also established, with the help of the >rahmin priests imported from
,ndia, the political and religious foundation of )ampuchea by the creation of the @od$)ing cult or
6evaraBa in #anskrit The @od$)ing cult makes the king of )ampuchea only the supreme ruler of the
empire, but a god on earth as well The >ritish archeologist Charles ?igham described these historical
events related to the founding of Cambodia by Dayavarman ,, as follows:
G,n about -6 F99, a king named Dayavarman ,, laid the foundations of a state and a dynasty that
endured for two centuries 0rom this period on, the state was called )ambuBadesa, or Cambodia ?e
ruled fro the land between the northern shore of the @reat 5ake and the )ulen uplands The lake
supplied limitless fish while regular flooding encouraged the cultivation of rice ,n many respects, the
founding king and members of his new dynasty achieved the obBectives of his predecessor Dayavarman
, They presented the image of a unified kingdom, which encompassed the rich lowlands flanking the
+ekong *iver to the delta, the great 5ake and the fine agricultural land of >attambang to the west
#uccessive court centers were located beyond the flood 3one of the @reat 5ake They incorporated
increasingly large and impressive temples dedicated to the sovereign and his successors, and barays fed
by the rivers issuing from the sacred )ulen upland There were also palaces and secular buildings,
although being made of wood, they have not survivedH
&

The cult of @od$)ing was to define the unique character of the Cambodian society from that moment
until today 0or over four centuries, the successors of Dayavarman ,, succeeded to build a powerful
empire in +ainland #outheast -sia known as -ngkorian Empire The only rival to the )hmer Empire
in the region was Champa, an indiani3ed country populated by +alay$related race of seafarers @eorges
CoedIs, a noted 0rench scholar and archeologist has summari3ed the profound impact of the role of
)ing Dayavarman ,, on Cambodia as follows:
&
Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 1:niversity of California 7ress, >erkeley, <99&2, p8.
8
GDayavarman ,,%s reign made a profound impression on the country -lthough his effective authority
undoubtedly did not e"tend beyond the region of the @reat 5ake, Dayavarman ,, began the pacification
and the unification of the country ?e thought the site of the future capital in a region near that
ine"haustible fish$preserve that is the Tonle #ap, slightly beyond the limit of the annual inundations,
about thirty kilometers from the sandstone quarries of 7hnom )ulen, and quite close to the passes
giving access to the )horat 7lateau and to the +enam >asin ,t remained for his grandnephew and third
successor, Casovarman to found there the city of Casodharapura, which remained the capital of the
)hmer empire for =99 years
Dayavarman ,, initiated and established the cult of the 6evaraBa in which the sanctuary in a pyramid,
erected on a natural or an artificial mountain ad sheltering the linga of stone or precious metal in which
the 6evaraBa of each reign resides, henceforth marks the center of the royal city: The >akong at
?ariharalaya 1*oluos2, the >akheng in the city of -ngkor, the great pyramid temple at )oh )er, The
7himeanakas, the >aphuon
-rt during the reign of Dayavarman ,,, who came from abroad but apparently was an"ious to renew his
connection with the national traditions, showed the transition between the art of the pre$-ngkor period,
to which the king was still closely related and that of -ngkor epoch, which owed to him some of its
new forms These forms were particularly influenced by the art of Champa and DavaH
<
?owever, after the death of Dayavarman V,,, in around -6 &<&9, )ampuchea came under repeated
attacks from a former vassal, #iam 0inally Carshodarapura or -ngkor, the capital the )hmer empire
was sacked and abandoned by the then reigning )hmer king in -6 &(.&
0rom that moment on, to escape these repeated and more virulent #iamese attacks, the )hmer kings
had to move their capital, eastwards to various places near present day capital of Cambodia, 7hnom
7enh, further away from the #iamese border #ince that time, )ampuchea has started its long decline
from a powerful empire to much smaller and defenseless country
#tarting in the &/
th
century, after having destroyed Champa, 6ai Viet started to e"pand and coloni3e the
)hmer land by using their strategy known as GNam TienH
?owever, today the threat to Cambodia is mainly from Vietnam, as Thailand has been moving toward a
more open society and democracy, and, therefore has become more respectful of Cambodian
sovereignty This book will concentrate on Vietnam%s unrelenting aggression towards Cambodia that
during the modern period starting in &'(8 and organi3ed as follows 10or the period covered in this
book, please see >o"&2:
7art , presents a brief description of the main characteristics of foundation during the period of the
)hmer Empire ,t also describes the chronology and analy3es the main factors underlying the success
of foreign aggressions against Cambodia
<
@eorges CoedIs4 The ,ndiani3ed #tates of #outheast -sia4 1East !est Center >ooks, the :niversity of ?awaii, ?onolulu,
&'/&2 p &9.
=
Chapter & presents an introduction to Cambodia%s main problems in the national, regional and
international setting, and suggests the analytical framework and the period for the subBect covered in
this book
Chapter < looks into the past for clues for a better understanding of the present events in Cambodia ,t
e"amines the economic, political, and social foundation during the )hmer Empire and highlights its
main characteristics in order to set the stage for comparison between that initial stage and in
contemporary Cambodia to be discussed more in details in part ,,,
Chapter . describes the dismantling of the )hmer Empire by #iam 1Thailand2, a former vassal of
Cambodia, and reviews the chronology of the steady decline of the Cambodian empire since the &.
th

century resulting from a new power in +ainland #outheast -sia, #iam -fter reaching its ape" as a
regional power in the early &.th century under king Dayavarman V,,, Cambodia came under continuous
attack from #iam until that country forced the )hmer Empire to abandon its capital, -ngkor, in &(.&
-6 #iam continued its attack on Cambodia until the end of !orld !ar ,, ?owever, as Thailand has
recently evolved towards a more open society and democratic regime, its relation with Cambodia has
improved enormously, and Thailand no longer represents a maBor threat to Cambodia, today
Chapter (: the Vietnamese #outhern +arch or GNam TienH4 provides a chronology of Vietnamese
aggression against Cambodia that started in the &/
th
century until Cambodia came under the full
colonial control of 6ai Viet 1Vietnam2 in &F.8 Anly after a spontaneous and popular rebellion in &F(9
organi3ed by a group of provincial officials known as AkJas 1+andarins2, was Cambodia able to
liberate itself, temporarily, from 6ai Viet%s direct colonial control This brief period of freedom for the
Cambodian people did not last very long ,n &F(8, Cambodia became a vassal of both Thailand and
Vietnam under the co$su3erainty of these two more powerful neighbors to whom it had to pay yearly
tribute
Chapter 8: provides an analysis of Cambodia%s economic, political, and social organi3ation under the
0rench protectorate and its impact on the Cambodia%s ability to defend itself >ecause the 0rench
perceived the Vietnamese as a more dynamic and intelligent people, and because of its long$established
and special relation with the Vietnamese, the 0rench colonial administration had always favored
Vietnam over Cambodia and 5aos 0or instance, they used Vietnamese as supporting administrators to
rule the ,ndochinese :nion Vietnam also used its special relations with the Catholic Church to
intercede with the 0rench colonial regime for protection, thereby was able to continue to send their
settlers into Cambodia, as the >ritish did in >urma by using ,ndians ?owever, unlike Vietnam, the
0rench did not have to fight against the Cambodians to conquer Cambodia They came to Cambodia at
the request of )ing Norodom in &F=. Cambodia became a backwater and was the most heavily ta"ed
country under 0rench colonialism in #outheast -sia #ome scholars had claimed that Cambodia was
GsavedH from Vietnamese aggression by 0rench colonial intervention, despite the fact that colonialism
is not a system known for its kindness and respect of indigenous culture or people
Chapter = presents and e"amines the main factors underlying Vietnam%s successful aggression against
Cambodia since it regained independence from the 0rench in &'8., until today ,n the conte"t of the
Cold !ar, Vietnam had succeeded to use the difference in ideologies between the two maBor
protagonists $ the 0ree !orld and the communist block under the former #oviet :nion and China
/
leadership, to its own advantage The inept and autocratic Cambodian leadership combined with maBor
innate social flaws in the Cambodian society had also been maBor factors in Vietnam%s success in its
aggressive policy against Cambodia
7art ,, e"amines Cambodia internal factors underlying the failure for Cambodia to respond to foreign
aggressions since the end of !orld !ar ,,
Chapter / e"amines Cambodia%s struggle for independence after !orld !ar ,, until it obtained
independence from 0rance in November &'8. under the controversial leadership of former )ing
Norodom #ihanouk Cambodia%s continued failure to counter Vietnam%s aggression is, to say the least,
pu33ling given the new world order based on the :nited Nations principles and conventions of
decoloni3ation where nation$states are given a better chance to protect themselves and to defend
themselves against foreign aggressions
Chapter F describes and analyses the period of post independence until today This chapter looks at the
performance of #ihanouk as a leader, during the GCrusade for ,ndependenceH ,t also e"amines the
dominant and autocratic role of #ihanouk after ,ndependence, especially in his very controversial role
during second ,ndochina war and his alliance with the )hmer *ouge to fight against the -merican war
in Vietnam
Chapter ' describes and e"amines Cambodian main internal problems after the &''& 7aris -greements
,t looks into the relations between #ihanouk and ?un #en on the one hand, and between ?un #en and
the Vietnamese on the other hand The question here is to assess the contention by Vietnam and its
supporters that Vietnam did not invade Cambodia, but instead, Vietnam came to GsaveH Cambodia from
the )hmer *ouge%s genocidal regime
7art ,,, summari3es the main factors leading underlying the success of foreign aggressions and the
failure for Cambodia to respond to these e"ternal aggressions ,t presents a conclusion by way of an
assessment of the chance for Cambodia to survive Vietnam very determined and very well e"ecuted
plan to e"pand its empire at the e"pense of its weaker neighbors, namely Champa and Cambodia 0or
this reason, most Cambodians have, whether they are living in Cambodia or abroad, with the e"ception
of those who belong to the top members of the Cambodian 7eople%s 7arty 1C772 led by ?un #en,
strongly felt that their country is slowly disappearing from the map of the world
This conclusion e"amines whether this deep and sustaining fear resulted mainly from the maBority of
the Cambodian people%s awareness of historical records and recent e"periences with Vietnam%s
unrelenting assault, overt and covert, supported by a long$standing and well$planned strategy of
conquering its weaker neighbors, namely, Champa and Cambodia, known as GNam TienH or
G#outhward +archH is Bustified ,t also suggests a road map to get Cambodia out of this imminent
death trap
F
Chapter 2
'
oo!ing into the pa"t for c#ue" for a better under"tanding of pre"ent day
Cambodia$" prob#em"
A% &yth" and &i"conception about Ang!or
+ost Cambodians still identify themselves with -ngkor as their personal and national identity -s
6avid Chandler has pointed out that Cambodia is one of the rare countries in the world that has chosen
a building $ -ngkor !at $ as symbol of national identity as shown its national flag, when he wrote:
GC-+>A6,- is the only country that has a ruin on its national flag and itKs perhaps the only country to
praise a ruin in its national anthem The ruin is -ngkor !at, and these two facts say something about
the way -ngkor has become a key element in CambodiaKs national identity and its collective
unconscious, especially since the country gained its independence from 0rance in &'8. The effects of
the temples and the myths surrounding them have been enormous and by no means entirely
beneficialH
.
0ew Cambodians hardly know what -ngkor !at really represents or who built it, and for what
purposes The maBority of the Cambodian people either thought that some giants, or by e"tra$terrestrial
beings built -ngkor !at -s ?enri +ouhot, the 0rench biologist and e"plorer who was guided by
Cambodian residents in the -ngkor region rediscovered -ngkor in the mid$&F99s had noted that:
GThe inscriptions with which some of the columns are covered, are illegible4 and, if you interrogate the
Cambodians as to the founders of -ngcor !at, you invariably receive one of these four replies4 L,t is
the work of 7ra$Eun, the king of the angels4% L,t is the work of the giants4% L,t was built by the 5eprous
king4% or also L,t made itself%H
(

?owever, +ouhot was not the first !esterner to have visited -ngkor -s early as in the late &=
th

century, a 7ortuguese missionary named -ntonio de +agdalena visited -ngkor and was impressed by
the si3e and the artistic and engineering achievements that these temples came to represent4 and given
the deteriorating state of Cambodian society at that time, they came to conclusion that not Cambodians
but only foreigners could have built such gigantic monuments 5ater, in &=9&, another 7ortuguese
missionary, +arcello de *ibadeneyra gave this eyewitness account of his first encounter with the city
of -ngkor:
G!e suppose that the founders of the kingdom of #iam came from the great city which is situated in the
middle of a desert in the kingdom of Cambodia There are the ruins of an ancient city there which some
say was built by -le"ander the @reat or the *omans, it is ama3ing that no one lives there now, it is
inhabited by ferocious animals, and the local people it was built by foreignersH
8
-gain, ?enri +ouhot observed the difference between the state of decay of the Cambodian society at
the time of his visit to -ngkor in contrast to the magnificence of ruins of -ngkor city when he noted
that:
.
6avid Chandler4 GColonial +yths of -ngkor in *uins4H The -ustralian, Duly &', <99=
(
?enri +ouhot4 Travels in #iam, Cambodia, 5aos, and -nnam4 1!hite 5otus 7ress, >angkok Thailand, <9992, p <&F
8
Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 1:niversity of California 7ress, >erkeley, California, <99&24 p .
&9
GAne of these temples M a rival to that of #olomon, and erected by some ancient +ichael -ngelo M
might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings ,t is grander than anything left to
us by @reece or *ome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now
plungedH
=
Even the infamous )hmer *ouge leader 7ol 7ot had used -ngkor in a much distorted and racially bias
way as the symbol Cambodian superiority and uniqueness, as 6avid Chandler observed that:
G,n a speech delivered over the radio in Actober &'//, 7ol 7ot said L5ong ago there was -ngkor
-ngkor was built in the era of slavery #laves like us built -ngkor under the e"ploitation of the
e"ploiting classes, so that these royal people could be happy ,f our people can make -ngkor, they can
make anything% !hile the phrase Gslave like us% has an ironic relevance to the )hmer *ouge Era, the
last sentence in the passage connecting the capacity of the two civili3ations suggests that 7ol 7ot had
been so da33led by -ngkor and what the temples suggested were the intrinsic virtues of the Cambodia
people that he felt Cambodia to be a place of almost limitless potential, fuelled by a revolutionary
fervour unique to the Cambodian raceH
/

-gain, to emphasi3e the myths about origin and meaning of -ngkor that still pervaded the Cambodian
people% psyche at the time of the beginning of the 0rench encroachment into Cambodia, and the
importance and the link between past and present Cambodia, Chandler observed that:
G,n the &F=9s Cambodians had not lost the Temples or the sense that a great city once flourished in the
northwest part of the kingdom >ut they had lost the sense that their )hmer$speaking ancestors had
hauled stones, carved them and set them into place They did not know the monarchs whose names they
had lost, spoke )hmer
They knew nothing about the sequence of reigns and temples or about the religious historical or literary
significant of much of the art Ane hundred years later, when , first lived in the country, many
Cambodians, especially those with little education, were unwilling to accept the idea that ordinary men
and women had built the temples and had inhabited the landscape that surrounded them, they happily
assigned the task to giants
,n the =9s and early /9s, -ngkor filled Cambodia%s past and Norodom #ihanouk filled the present
Ardinary people, in both eras, e"cept in the sense that they were #ihnaouk%s children, were whited out
#ihanouk allowed himself to be compared with the kings of -ngkor, especially with the supposedly
benevolent ruler Dayavarman V,,, whose overblown reputation has diminished somewhat in the light of
recent scholarshipH
F

,n views of these myths and importance accorded to the -ngkor city comple" by Cambodians of all
walks of live and its impact on the Cambodian consciousness and behavior, it is important to probe
more deeply into: 1a2 what -ngkor really represents for those who conceived and designed the cityN 1b2
!hat motivated those who labor hard in the Cambodian bla3ing hot long summer to sculpt and build
=
ApCit4 ?enri +ouhot4 Travels in #iam, Cambodia, 5aos, and -nnam4 p <&F
/
ApCit 6avid Chandler4 GColonial +yths of -ngkor !at in *uinsH p <
F
ApCit 6avid Chandler4 GColonial +yths of -ngkor !at in *uinsH p<
&&
those magnificent templesN 1c2 !hat kind of economic, political, religious, and social organi3ations
required to maintain and to service these important centers of worship and political powerN
0inally, it is also crucial for the purpose of this book to ask the question as to what went wrong to the
)hmer Empire that has slowly been disintegrating from its height as the most powerful state in
mainland #outheast in the &.
th
century to become today a failed$state
B: A""e""ing the #egacy of Ang!or
Ane of the difficulties in trying to reconstruct the Cambodian society under the )hmer empire or the
-ngkor civili3ation is the lack of direct information of the mode of living of the maBority of the people
living during that period that is the common Cambodians +ost archeological works mostly done by
0rench archeologists centered on the deciphering of the inscriptions mostly written in #anskrit that
were carved out of stone slaps mostly in praise of the kings that reigned in -ngkor since F9< -6, or to
record donations by the kings to the founders of state or provincial temples 7art of these inscriptions
also was written in the Cambodian language, which mostly referred the less lofty matters, such as
regulations to labor, land, and other legal and Budicial matters, including punishments for those who
dared to break the law
Very little information is available about the common Cambodians who made up the maBority of
-ngkor urban comple", and who provided the services and goods necessary for the maintenance of the
temples and the elaborate rituals that went with them Anly recently, more information became
available about the livelihood of those who produce commodities of all kinds for the kings and his
immediate entourage
Those numerous stone steles provide important information on the organi3ation of the Cambodian
society and the economic information on what type of goods and services Cambodia was able to
produce and for whom These steles gave details information as to what kind of good and services, the
kind of labor and the number of villages and workers that a king gave to the foundation of a temple
Through the information contained in these stones inscriptions, one can have a fairly good idea about
the kind of goods and services that the common people were able to produce mostly for need of the
aristocratic class of the Cambodian society that includes the royal family, the priests, and the immediate
members of the high officials serving the kings +ore importantly, from these inscriptions one can get a
glimpse at the class structure and the economic modus operandi and capability of the Cambodian
#ociety under the -ngkorian Empire
Anly two well$known sources e"ist that provide direct information on the common people mode and
daily routine of living during the -ngkorian Empire Ane of these sources is a book recording the daily
activities of Cambodians ranging from the king to a common Cambodian written by Ehou 6aguan, a
member of a Chinese diplomatic mission sent by the Cuan 1+ongolian2 dynasty to Cambodia who had
spent two years, there The other direct source of information is the bar relief on the inner wall of the
>ayon temple at -ngkor Thom depicting the daily of ordinary Cambodians including the physical
environment in which they lived
&<
,t is well accepted among scholars speciali3ed in #outheast -sia that Thailand had borrowed or were
imposed by the Cambodian state many institutions regarding the governance and social set up of that
county, especially the kingship and the control of labor force for the military and economic purposes ,n
cross$checking with information on these two aspects of the institutional set up of Thailand, one can
have a clearer idea as to what the Cambodian administrative, economic, military, political, religious and
social organi3ation was like during the -ngkorian Empire
1% The inf#uence of India:
!hat role did ,ndia play in the early formation of Cambodia a state and societyN This important
question remains a controversial subBect among scholars speciali3ing in Cambodia history To put this
controversy in perspective, Charles ?igham had observed that:
GAne of the most contentious issues in the historiography of -ngkorian state is the depth of its debt to
,ndian religion and political philosophy #ome early interpretations of the state of -ngkor stressed the
seminal role of ,ndia in its formation and nature >eguiled by the ubiquitous imagery of #hiva and
Vishnu, central gods of the ,ndian pantheon, and the use of #anskrit, the priestly language of ?induism,
,ndiani3ation was put forward as a possible process to e"plain the origins of -ngkor There is no doubt
that the people of #outh East -sia e"changed goods and ideas with ,ndia from at least .89 >C >ut, it
will be seen that the local rulers chose to adopt ,ndic gods and language to their own advantage rather
than having ?induism imposed upon them from outside ,ndeed for most of it history, the rulers of
-ngkor professed devotion to ancestral divinities and ?indu gods rather than to the >uddha Therefore,
an understanding of ?indu religion, ritual and the importance of merit is necessary to clarify the
content of many -ngkorian inscriptionsH 10or a brief introduction to ?induism, please, see Bo'%2 and
Bo'%(2
,n reconstructing a sketch of the Cambodia%s society in the -ngkorian time, one needs also to take into
consideration the strength and weakness of ,ndian civili3ation relative to other competing maBor
civili3ations in the region, such as ,slamic and #inic civili3ations, as they could have an indirect impact
on the political and religious developments in Cambodia via ,ndia +ore specifically, we will look into
the possibility that any political and religious developments in ,ndia could have had an impact on
Cambodia during the -ngkor period
2% )ing"hip* economic* re#igiou"* "ocia#* and "tate organi+ation" during the )hmer Empire
-s already mentioned in the introduction, that it was Dayavarman ,, founded the )hmer Empire in F9<,
upon his return from Dava Ane must immediately mention that there is some controversy among
scholars regarding whether Dayavarman ,, really was in Dava and or Champa +ost scholars including
an -rab appeared to have leaned toward Dava, namely, because the #ailendra dynasty had su3erainty
over Cambodia, at that time !e should also point out that the ,ndian concept of Cakravartin or
universal sovereign was already adopted by the #ailendra dynasty of Dava, at that time
!e had already mentioned earlier that Dayavarman ,, had also adopted the concept of Cakravartin
when he became king in Cambodia in F9< :nique to the Cambodian kingship was the concept of @od$
)ing This concept of @od$)ing was used to provide the -ngkorian kings through highly charged
&.
rituals performed for the first time by a high priest during the coronation of Dayavarman ,, 6uring that
secretive and private ceremony, which took place between the king and his high priest, in a narrow and
private chamber of the mountain temple in which a royal linga 1- phallic symbol representing the
essence of god #hiva2 was erected, some simulated sacrifice was performed to signal that Cambodia
had liberated itself forever from Dava%s su3erainty
0rom indirect information contained in the numerous inscriptions and from images in bas$reliefs at the
>ayon and -ngkor !at, and from the Chinese diplomat Ehou 6aguan%s famous Bournal already
mentioned earlier, one can have a glimpse at the Cambodian society during the -ngkorian Empire
period -lthough ,ndia%s legacy to Cambodia did not officially have the caste system which includes
four varnas or castes, namely: the Brahmins or priests, the Kshatriya or the king or warrior class, the
Vaishyas or the merchants and artisans class, the Shudras or the unskilled labor and servants class Too
low, to be included in the caste system is the :ntouchables These e"clusive social groups were defined
by birth, marriage, and occupation The greater a person%s birth is, the greater the blessings
The Cambodian society during the )hmer Empire was by no means a classless society ,t was an
e"tremely stratified society, with little mobility between the classes The -ngkorian society consisted
broadly of three main classes: 1&2 The upper class includes members of the *oyal family, the >rahmins
or ?indu priests, and high government officials recruited from the royal and aristocratic families, 1<2
the intermediate class includes the common Cambodians, namely4 -rtists including actors, dancers,
singers, musicians, sculptors4 craftsmen including, brick makers, boat builders, carpenters, fabric
weavers, dress$makers, pottery makers and others, stall vendors, fishermen, petty central and provincial
government officials, king and temple servants, and soldiers4 1.2 the bottom class includes indentured
laborers or serfs
'
, household servants, war prisoners, and slaves
There were also foreign residents including Chinese as merchants, and inhabitants from neighboring
states under Cambodian control, some of whom were used as mercenaries in the Cambodian army, as
depicted in various bar reliefs from the >ayon and -ngkor !at There appeared to have a complete
mobility between members of the first group, especially between members of the royal family and the
members of >rahmins, through marriages4 while, there was practically no mobility between the first
and the second group ,t did not appear that there was any mobility between the last group and the other
two upper groups
0inally, there is a glaring absence of the Shudras class or merchant class, which was the root for the
birth of the bourgeoisie and entrepreneurship in Europe, and of the free labor class, in the -ngkorian
society, which persists in present day Cambodia, with enormous negative economic consequences for
the Cambodian society
'
,erf$" definition4 the legal and economic status of peasants under feudalism #erfs could not be sold like slaves, but they
were not free to leave their masterKs estate without his permission They had to work the lordKs land without pay for a
number of days every week and pay a percentage of their produce to the lord every year They also served as soldiers in the
event of conflict #erfs also had to perform e"tra labour at harvest time and other busy seasons4 in return they were allowed
to cultivate a portion of the estate for their own benefit 1!ikipedia, <99=2
&(
Box.2: An Introduction to Bhakti Hinduism
,n this overview of >hakti ?induism, we will see that the element of devotion
1bhakti2 to a personal god appeared early in ,ndian religious history -ny
introduction to >hakti ?induism must point to >rahman 1the OcreatorO2, Vishnu 1the
OsustainerO2 and #hiva 1the OdestroyerO2 are identified as the preeminent of the gods
and goddesses 1devis2 worshipped in early >hakti ?induism
The Epics and 7uranas are the foremost accounts of the great adventures of divine
beings The +ahabharata epic, written sometime before -6 <99, reflects the
popular >hakti movement Ane of the most influential works of popular devotional
?induism is a section of the +ahabharata known as the >hagavad @ita which,
through the teachings of the 5ord )rishna, e"plains that devotion is the fulfillment
of social duty, :panishadic knowledge and Vedic ritual obligations, and serves as
the preferred means of salvation
>hakti ?induism gained wide acceptance, for while not everyone can become a priest 1which
was traditionally reserved for the >rahman caste2 or a learned seer, everyone can know the lord
through devotion 7uBa, the offering of gifts and services to the deity, is a traditional means of
introduction to >hakti ?induism, along with pilgrimages to sacred places, fasting, and the
chanting of devotional songs
+any of the various deities are regional, with many having changed names and forms through
history >rahma is still considered the supreme god, but is not a personal god, and is not often
worshiped, as such, in >hakti ?induism #hiva, however, was the first of the ?indu deities with
a clear set of personal characteristics The most prevalent images of #hiva are the lingam
1eternally erect phallus, symboli3ing his generative potency and his yogic powers of self$
control2, and as lord of cosmic dance 1NataraBa2 #hiva goes by at least &,99F names and is
given many different attributes @enerally, #hiva is worshiped as the destroyer of maya, the
illusion of the physical e"istence
Shaivism: An Introduction
#haivism involves both the worship 1as the religion of #haivism2 of the @od #hiva, or #iva, and
the practice of evolving the soul to liberation and union with #hiva 1transcendent
consciousness2 #hiva is one of the principal gods recogni3ed in #haivism and ?induism 1and
#haivism2, with millions of followers ?e is known by at least &,99F names, and is often called
O#hiva the 6estroyer,O referring to his ability to destroy illusion, delusion, and error, which are
the obstacles to reali3ation of #elf and @od
1Continued2
Box.2: Shaivism: An Introduction (end)
The worship of #hiva can be traced back to the figure of *udra in the Rig Veda 1&<99 >C2 and
e"tends to every part of ,ndia, ?indu sections of #outheast -sia, and recently to isolated parts
of Europe and North -merica #hiva, is also represented by the lingam 1a phallic symbol2, as
the creative life force and the energy that is utili3ed for attaining union with @od 1not typically
representing the worship of the se" act or the penis, as it is often mistakenly thought to in the
!est2
-n overview of #haivism shows it is primarily theistic and monistic, and is often characteri3ed
by various forms of asceticism 0or most #haivites, #haivism is not a philosophy, but is life
itself Temples are erected and holy sacraments are performed #hiva is viewed as both
immanent and transcendent 0orms of worship and practice include pilgrimages, daily prayer,
singing hymns, and reciting scripture, by devotional followers and by daily meditations and
yogic disciplines by yogis
-ai"hna.i"m: An Introduction
The beginning and end of Vaishnavism is bhakti, itself >hakti is the reciprocal love which
e"ists between humans and the 6ivine, and it is the highest and purest form of love possible
6eep within the human heart burns the desire to love and be loved >hakti provides the vehicle
to cultivate and know this love and to develop a personal relationship with the personality of
@od, or @odhead -n overview of Vaishnavism shows that >hakti is prevalent throughout all
schools of ?indu theology
- vast literary heritage was developed, including such classics as the *amayana, the >hagavata
7urana, and the +ahabharata !ithin the +ahabharata, which is the worldKs longest poem, lies
the veritable bible of the >hakti faith, the >hagavad @ita !ithin the @ita lies the essence of all
>hakti theology and practice, total devotion and service to the 5ord as )rishna
The >hagavad @ita consists of a conversation between )rishna, the supreme incarnation of @od
1Vishnu2, and -rBuna, a great army general who is )rishnaKs devotee and friend ,n the moments
preceding a battle, 5ord )rishna e"plains to -rBuna his threefold theistic identity: )rishna is the
very foundation of all spiritual and material e"istence, >rahma4 )rishna is the supreme soul that
enters into the hearts of all living creatures, 7urushottama4 and )rishna is the original, eternal
#upreme 7ersonality, or @odhead )rishna e"plains that the best way to reconnect the soul with
himself is through >hakti Coga
#ource: >>C !eb site, 1<99=2
&8
Box.2: Shaivism: An Introduction (end)
The worship of #hiva can be traced back to the figure of *udra in the Rig Veda 1&<99 >C2 and
e"tends to every part of ,ndia, ?indu sections of #outheast -sia, and recently to isolated parts
of Europe and North -merica #hiva, is also represented by the lingam 1a phallic symbol2, as
the creative life force and the energy that is utili3ed for attaining union with @od 1not typically
representing the worship of the se" act or the penis, as it is often mistakenly thought to in the
!est2
-n overview of #haivism shows it is primarily theistic and monistic, and is often characteri3ed
by various forms of asceticism 0or most #haivites, #haivism is not a philosophy, but is life
itself Temples are erected and holy sacraments are performed #hiva is viewed as both
immanent and transcendent 0orms of worship and practice include pilgrimages, daily prayer,
singing hymns, and reciting scripture, by devotional followers and by daily meditations and
yogic disciplines by yogis
-ai"hna.i"m: An Introduction
The beginning and end of Vaishnavism is bhakti, itself >hakti is the reciprocal love which
e"ists between humans and the 6ivine, and it is the highest and purest form of love possible
6eep within the human heart burns the desire to love and be loved >hakti provides the vehicle
to cultivate and know this love and to develop a personal relationship with the personality of
@od, or @odhead -n overview of Vaishnavism shows that >hakti is prevalent throughout all
schools of ?indu theology
- vast literary heritage was developed, including such classics as the *amayana, the >hagavata
7urana, and the +ahabharata !ithin the +ahabharata, which is the worldKs longest poem, lies
the veritable bible of the >hakti faith, the >hagavad @ita !ithin the @ita lies the essence of all
>hakti theology and practice, total devotion and service to the 5ord as )rishna
The >hagavad @ita consists of a conversation between )rishna, the supreme incarnation of @od
1Vishnu2, and -rBuna, a great army general who is )rishnaKs devotee and friend ,n the moments
preceding a battle, 5ord )rishna e"plains to -rBuna his threefold theistic identity: )rishna is the
very foundation of all spiritual and material e"istence, >rahma4 )rishna is the supreme soul that
enters into the hearts of all living creatures, 7urushottama4 and )rishna is the original, eternal
#upreme 7ersonality, or @odhead )rishna e"plains that the best way to reconnect the soul with
himself is through >hakti Coga
#ource: >>C !eb site, 1<99=2
&=
Bo'%(: /indui"m: Wor"hip
Pu0a: ?indu worship, or puBa, involves images 1murti"2, prayers 1mantra"2 and diagrams of the universe
1yantras2 Central to ?indu worship is the image, or icon, which can be worshipped either at home or in the
temple
Indi.idua# rather than communa#
?indu worship is primarily an individual act rather than a communal one, as it involves making personal offerings
to the deity !orshippers repeat the names of their favourite gods and goddesses, and repeat mantras !ater, fruit,
flowers and incense are offered to god
Wor"hip at home
The maBority of ?indu homes have a shrine where offerings are made and prayers are said - shrine can be
anything: a room, a small altar or simply pictures or statues of the deity 0amily members often worship together
*ituals should strictly speaking be performed three times a day #ome ?indus, but not all, worship wearing the
sacred thread 1over the left shoulder and hanging to the right hip2 This is cotton for the >rahmin 1priest2, hemp for
the )shatriya 1ruler2 and wool for the vaishya 1merchants2
Temp#e 1or"hip
-t a ?indu temple, different parts of the building have a different spiritual or symbolic meaning
P The central shrine is the heart of the worshipper
P The tower represents the flight of the spirit to heaven
P - priest may read, or more usually recite, the Vedas to the assembled worshippers, but any Otwice$bornO
?indu can perform the reading of prayers and mantras
*eligious rites
?indu religious rites are classified into three categories:
P Nitya
o Nitya rituals are performed daily and consist in offerings made at the home shrine or performing puBa to
the family deities
P Naimitti!a
o Naimittika rituals are important but only occur at certain times during the year, such as celebrations of the
festivals, thanksgiving and so on
P )amya
o )amya are rituals which are OoptionalO but highly desirable 7ilgrimage is one such
Wor"hip and pi#grimage
7ilgrimage is an important aspect of ?induism ,t is an undertaking to see and be seen by the deity
7opular pilgrimage places are rivers, but temples, mountains, and other sacred sites in ,ndia are also destinations
for pilgrimages, as sites where the gods may have appeared or become manifest in the world
)umbh &e#a
Ance every &< years, up to &9 million people share in ritual bathing at the )umbh +ela festival at -llahabad where
the waters of the @anges and Dumna combine
?indus from all walks of life gather there for ritual bathing, believing that their sins will be washed away The
bathing is followed by spiritual purification and a ceremony which secures the blessings of the deity
2i.er 3ange"
The river @anges is the holiest river for ?indus
-arana"i
This city, also known as >enares, is situated on the banks of the @anges and is one of the most important
pilgrimage centres ,t is said to be the home of 5ord #hiva where legend has it that his fiery light broke through the
earth to reach the heavens - ?indu who dies at Varanasi and has their ashes scattered on the @anges is said to
have e"perienced the best death possible
#ource: >>C web site
&/
a% )ing"hip and re#igiou" organi+ation
The -ngkorian king was at the same time, the supreme Budge, and the source of all laws of the land ?e
dispensed Budgments of all kinds concerning all forms of disputes in the country ?e is the supreme
military commander, the source of all power that he delegated some of it to those high officials to
whom he bestowed titles and gifts in the form of labor, land, and other insignias according to their rank
and social status and entrusted them with the e"ecution of his power throughout the Empire ?e was
also the protector of religion ?e was above all the interceder between human beings and gods in order
to provide prosperity and harmony to his realm -ngkorian society will be further elaborated later on
when we will discuss the economic organi3ation in that society
-ngkorian Empire was an autocratic society steep in symbolism where the king played a central and
determining role in all aspects of life -s mentioned earlier, with the introduction of the cult of
6evaraBa as the main religious and political philosophical basis for the newly united and liberated
)ingdom of )ambuBadesa or the country of the )ambuBas, Dayavarman ,, had made himself not only a
chakravartin or a universal king, but also a god on earth, as was e"pressed in the old )hmer language as
GKamraten jagat te raja or Gthe god who is king.H
-lthough the )hmer kings were supposed to be guided by the moral code of law known as 4harma
5duty6, based on the ?indu code of law or the 5aws of +anu
&9
, there was no mechanism that would
allow the people to question, let alone remove the king from power, as in the more fle"ible &andate of
/ea.en in the Chinese system, should the king fail to behave according to the 6harma
&&
,n ?induism,
the dharma also is supposed to be established by the Vedas, but the dharma is not the same for
&9
The a1 of &anu:
3ene"i"
,t is generally believed that +anu, the ancient teacher of sacred rites and laws, is the author of K+anava 6harma$shastraK
The initial canto of the work narrates how ten great sages appealed to +anu to pronounce the sacred laws to them and how
+anu fulfilled their wishes by asking the learned sage >hrigu, who had been carefully taught the metrical tenets of the
sacred law, to deliver his teachings ?owever, equally popular is the belief that +anu had learnt the laws from 5ord
>rahma, the Creator, and so the authorship is said to be divine
,pecu#ated 4ate" of Compo"ition
#ir !illiam Dones assigned the work to the period &<99$899 >C, but more recent developments state that the work in its
e"tant form dates back to the first or second century -6 or could be even older #cholars agree that the work is a modern
versified rendition of a 899 >C 6harma$sutra, which no longer e"ists
,tructure 7 Content
The first chapter deals with the creation of the world by the deities, the divine origin of the book itself, and the obBective of
studying it Chapters two to si" recounts the proper conduct of the members of the upper castes, their initiation into the
>rahmin religion by sacred thread or sin$removing ceremony, the period of disciplined studentship devoted to the study of
the Vedas under a >rahmin teacher, the chief duties of the householder $ choice of a wife, marriage, protection of the sacred
hearth$fire, hospitality, sacrifices to the gods, feasts to his departed relatives, along with the numerous restrictions Q and
finally, the duties of old age The seventh chapter talks of manifold duties and responsibilities of kings The eighth chapter
deals with the modus operandi in civil and criminal proceedings and of the proper punishments to be meted out to different
caste The ninth and the tenth chapters relate the customs and laws regarding inheritance and property, divorce and the
lawful occupations for each caste Chapter eleven e"presses the various kinds of penance for the misdeeds The final chapter
e"pounds the doctrine of karma, rebirths and salvation
&F
everyone Hindu Vedic dharma is very individuali3ed, and it depends on at least three variables: 1&2
your caste, 1<2 your age, and 1.2 your se" ,n Buddhism, this notion of dharma disappears because this
religion reBects the Veda, at least in part, and ignores the caste system ,n >uddhism, the dharma is
simply the teaching of the >uddha
To keep his realm prosperous and peaceful, he must keep harmony between gods and human beings, by
participating in religious rituals assisted by his high priests *eflecting the godly basis of the -ngkorian
)ingdom, all )hmer kings must build a new capital city upon his becoming king -ccording the ,ndian
laws of +anu, a new king must build a mountain or pyramid temple at the center of the capital with a
linga in the center tower These capital cities are no more no less, than the representation of a"is of the
universe, the center of which is symboli3ed by five towers of the mountain temple that represented the
five peaks of mount &eru, the abode of the gods ,f kings lived long enough, besides, these state
temples, they also built family temples to honor their ancestors 1,ee Bo'%82 >ased on the ,ndian
concept of a Ggood )ing,H @eorges CoedRs had painted the portrait of an idyllic )hmer king as follows:
GThe king, Lmaster of all from the highest to the lowest% was the pivot of all authority >ut we must not
go so far as to represent the sovereign reigning at -ngkor as an absolute despot, ruling only to suit his
own pleasure An the contrary, he was bound by the rules of the princely caste and by the ma"ims of
policy and royal conduct4 he was the guardian of the law and established order, the final Budge of cases
litigants wished to submit to his decision The inscriptions, which by their very nature, inform us
mostly about the religious side of the )hmer civili3ation, represent the king as the protector of religion,
the preserver of religious establishments that were entrusted to his care by donors ?e performed the
sacrifices and all the rituals ceremonies that are e"pected to bring divine favor to the country, defends it
against enemies, and insures domestic peace by imposing on everyone to respect social order, that is,
the division between the various castes or corporate bodiesH
&<
>esides these rituals and ceremonies which provided the kings their rights to rule through their ability
to intercede between human beings and the gods, they also had claimed legitimacy to the throne in the
-ngkor Empire through their direct line of descendents from the legend of the mythical union between
the hermit )ambu #vayambhuva, ancestor of the )ambuBas with the celestial nymph +erS, who was
given to him by @od #iva There is also parallel legend that traced the )hmer kings were the
&&
The +andate of ?eaven 1 7TnyTn: TiUnmVng2 was a traditional Chinese concept of legitimacy
used to support the rule of the kings of the Ehou 6ynasty and later the Emperors of China ?eaven
would bless the authority of a Bust ruler, but ?eaven would be displeased with an unwise ruler and give
the +andate to someone else The +andate has no time limitations, but a performance standard The
6uke of Ehou e"plained to the people of #hang, that if their king had not misused his power, his
+andate would not have been taken away This means that a legitimate emperor need not be of noble
birth, and in fact, dynasties as powerful as the ?an dynasty and +ing dynasty were founded by people
of modest birth
&<
These legends have also been applied to other indiani3ed states in #outheast -sia4 thus myth is not specific to Cambodia4
ApCit4 @eorges CoedRs4 The ,ndiani3ed #tates of #outheast -sia4 p &&'
&'

<9
Bo'%8: Ang!orian Empire Chrono#ogy
5Ninth Century A%4% to 9ifteenth Century6
:aya.arman II 1;<2=;(86 9ounder of Ang!or Empire and in"tituted 4e.a=2a0a cu#t at
Phnom )u#en* a#"o ga.e the name of )ambu0ade"a* died at
/arihara#ya 52o#uo"6
:aya.arman III 1;(8=;>>6 ,on of :aya.arman II* bui#t Prei &onti temp#e? a period of
troub#e fo##o1ed
Indra.arman I 5;>>=;;@6 &o.ed capita# to /arihara#aya 52o#uo"6? con"tructed
monument" "uch a" Preah )A* and Ba!ong 52o#uo"6
Ba"o.arman I 5;;@=@1<6 &o.ed capita# from 2o#uo" to Ba"odharapura 1ith Phnom
Ba!heng a" the capita# center? bui#t: o#ei* Phnom
Ba!heng* Ea"tern Baray* and bui#t many a"hram"
5hermitage"6* not in comp#ete contro# of Cambodia
/ar"ha.arman I 5@1<=@2(6 Bui#t: Ba!"ei Cham!rong and Pra"at )ra.an
I"ana.arman II 5@2(=@2;6 Brother of har"ha.arman
:aya.arman I- 5@2;=@816 Wa" cro1ned not at Ang!or but at )oh )er
/ar"ha.arman II 5@81=@886 ,on of :aya.arman I-* cou#d ha.e been e#iminated by
hi" "ucce""or
2a0endra.arman II 1@88=@C;6 Drigina##y from Bha.apura% )hmer "ac!ed Champa%
Con"tructed of Ea"tern &ebon and Pre 2up* Bat Chum
temp#e bui#t by Kravindraimathana* the architect of &ebon% /e a#"o
bui#t the ,rah ,rang re"er.oir* abo#i"hed a## "ma## )ingdom" in
Cambodia to tran"form them into pro.ince"
:aya.arman - 5@C;=1<<<6 Wa" ,on of the #a"t !ing% Con"truction of Banteay ,rei by
Brahman and !ing high prie"t Ba0na.araha* and Ta!eo
Edayaditya.arman I 51<<1=1<<26 No trace of him at Ang!or
Edayaditya.arman I 51<<1=1<<26 No trace of him at Ang!or
:aya.ira.arman 51<<2=1<1<6 Wa" fir"t !ing to bui#d a 1a## at Ang!or% A ri.a# of ,urya.arman I
,urya.arman I 51<1<=1<F<6 Wa" re#ated to northern e#ite* he "trugg#ed for po1er and "ucceeded
to capture the throne? introduced "1earing of a##egiance ceremony?
bui#t Phnom Chi"or* and Preah -ihear* Preah )han at )g% ,.ay a#"o
"tarted We"tern Baray? e'tended border to 1e"t to opburi 5,iam6%
Edayaditya.arman II 51<F<=1<CC6 Con"tructed of Baphoun 5ma""i.e temp#e6* We"tern &ebon and
We"tern Baray* unre"t time
/ar"ha.arman III 51<CC=1<;<6 ,pent a turbu#ent time* ci.i# unre"t
:aya.arman -I 51<;<=11<>6 Wa" a u"urper not reigning at Ang!or maybe at Phimai 5Thai#and6%
No re#ation"hip to pre.iou" !ing
4haranindra.arman I 511<>=111(6 Wa" the brother of :aya.arman -I
,urya.arman II 5111(=11F<6 Bui#t Ang!or Wat* Beng &e#ea* Banteay ,amre* Chey
,ay Te.oda* Thommanon* conducted 1ar of conGue"t
4haranindra.arman II 511F<=11C<6 Cou"in of ,urya.arman II
Ba"o.arman II 511C<=11CF6 ,on of 4haraindra.arman II
Tribhu.anaditya.arman 511CF=11;16 E"urper* Cham" "ac!ed Ang!or in 11>>
:aya.arman -II 511;1=121@6 2ebui#t Ang!or after e'pe##ing Cham"? e'ten"i.e rebui#ding of
BarHodarapura? con"tructed road"* ho"pita#"* re"ting hou"e"* and
monument" "uch a": Ang!or Thom* Bayon* Ta Prohm* Bantey
Chmar* Preah )han* Banteay )dei* Nea! Pean* ,ra" ,rang* other
temp#e"

5continued6
descendants of the mythical union between the >rahman )uandinya and a daughter of the king of the
Nagas, named #oma
&.
-s a 0rench writer had noted that:

GCet, almost during the whole 7re$-ngkorian period, it was normal that none of those kings claimed
their legitimacy to the throne from their parents4 on the contrary, in the praises to the kings, we found
that the names of their parents were only mentioned to highlight the facts that they were less important
or less powerful than the reigning kings4 that fact showed how weak the political organi3ation of the
country was weak at that time, as well as the constant changes in si3e of the empire itself ?owever, all
those kings, as if it was a necessary condition to accede to throne, claimed to be descendents of
)aundinya, the >rahman who was credited to have brought the ,ndian civili3ation to the country, by
marrying #oma, the daughter of a mythical )hmer king, often represented as the Naga$kingH
&(

Thus, by performing the rituals and ceremonies to intercede between gods in heavens and human
beings on earth, and by building the new capital with grandiose monuments representing the a"e of the
universe on earth, the -ngkorian kings aimed at mystifying, and thereby implanting aw, if not gaining
obedience from the general population, thus allowing them to maintained harmony, peace, and
prosperity, in the -ngkorian Empire
?owever, these idyllic political and religious bases underlying the -ngkorian Empire had run into the
reality of human frailty The practice of polygamy by the )hmer kings and their family, combined with
unclear rules of successions, the )hmer monarchy e"hibited inherent and recurrent instability resulting
in palace coups and civil wars with disastrous consequences on the people and the state as a whole,
during the whole period of -ngkorian Empire, even in present day Cambodia
,t is important to note that despite the prevailing unstable and unpredictable political atmosphere at
-ngkor, due to these frequent rivalries between members of the royal family, it was still remarkable
&.
ApCit4 @eorges CoedRs4 The ,ndiani3ed #tates of #outheast -sia4 p ./
&(
Clause Dacques4 G5e *oi )hmerH, in 6ossier, ?istoire et -rchRologie4 16iBon, 0rance, No &<8 +arch &'FF2, p =/
<&
Bo'%8: Ang!orian Empire Chrono#ogy 5end6
5Ninth Century A%4% to 9ifteenth Century6
Indra.arman II 5121@=128(6 Wa" the "on of :aya.arman -II*
:aya.arman -III 5128(=12@F6 Initiated ma"" de"truction of Buddha "tatue"? )ub#ai )hanI" &ongo#
in.aded Ang!orI" fringe
,rindra.arman 512@F=1(<@6 Jhou 4aguan .i"it" Ang!or bet1een 12@C=12@>
,rindra0aya.arman 51(<@=1(2>6 2e#ati.e of ,rindra.arman* Ang!or attac!ed by
,iam* for fir"t time* #a"t !ing recorded at Ang!or
Chao Ponhea Bat 518(16 4ate u"ua##y gi.en to the abandon of Ang!or and the mo.e to Phnom
Penh

,ource: 4o""ier"* /i"toire et ArchKo#ogie": Ang!or? 54i0on* 9rance* &arch* 1@;;6
that the numerous huge proBects requiring continuous attention over a span of several decades, such as
temples building and physical infrastructural proBects could still be brought to completion This had to
do with the works of those high officials who were not only well educated in their respective fields, but
also were clever enough to survive these frequent trouble times
0or instance, we can observe that these indispensable high officials had served in the same high
position under several kings in succession despite the fact that these kings came to power not always by
a peaceful way To illustrate this constant unstable feature of the )hmer monarchy at -ngkor, we can
mention that among the more than thirty kings who were rulers at -ngkor became, only eight who can
be considered as having reached the throne by peaceful means and not by palace coups
&8
0amily
relationship between these high officials and the royal family was also a determining factor in
maintaining these important officials in their Bobs for a long period, thus maintaining continuity in the
vast program of building temples and physical infrastructures, during the -ngkor time +ore
importantly, -ngkorian Empire owed a great deal to ,ndia in terms of transmission of philosophical and
technical knowledge, as most >rahmans who worked in various high positions, especially as @urus for
the kings, seemed to have originated from ,ndia, as pointedly indicated by 0rench historian +adeleine
@iteau as follows:
G,n this middle of the tenth century, the kings were not alone to have built temples at -ngkor #everal
important foundations were the works of dignitaries Three of these temples were built in the area of
-ngkor The first foundation built by these high officials under this reign in the area of -ngkor, is a
>uddhist temple, >at Chum ,t was built, in '8., by )avindrarimthana, the same person that
*aBendravarman had given the responsibility for the construction of the *oyal 7alace and of the 7rasat
+ebon Two other temples built by dignitaries date from the e"treme end of the reign4 both are
>rahmanic Ane is the temple of >antey #rey, one of most famous of the group of -ngkor4 founded in
'=/ by >rahman CaBnavaraha, was undoubtedly built under the following reign4 the other is 7rasat 7rah
Enkosei which rises on the left bank of #tung #eam *eap - >rahman who came from ,ndia,
6ivakarabhatta, who had married a daughter of the king, built this temple, from which two brick towers
are still standing, in '=F, the same year when *aBendravarman diedW
The foundations of dignitaries are of a great interest for the knowledge of -ngkor, because they
present, has side of royal architecture, the monuments of the appreciably different type4 the inscriptions
that they contain give us invaluable information on the social and legal organi3ation of Cambodia at
that time They describe the way goods were transmitted as gifts or as inheritance and, thereby, they
provide information on genealogies of these dignitaries% familyH
&=
The -ngkorian Empire faced another maBor weakness in the way in which the empire was
administratively organi3ed -s the empire was e"panding, there was more and more distance to cover
and less and less influence between the center of power, in this case -ngkor city comple", and the
peripheral provinces that were mostly populated by non$Cambodian ethnics, such as the +on or the
Thai people These important administrative and organi3ational aspects of the -ngkorian Empire will
be elaborated in the ne"t section when we will discuss the administrative organi3ation of the empire
Charles ?igham had pointed out these inherent weaknesses as follows:
&8
ApCit 4 Claude Dacques4 p =/
&=
+adeleine @iteau4 ?istoire d%-ngkor4 1Collections ;ue #ais$DeN 7resses :niversitaires de 0rance, 7aris, &'/(2, p <'$.9
<<
GThe recreation of heaven on earth and the pursuit of ideological perfection run counter to human
frailties Ane of the recurrent problems faced by the rulers of -ngkor was a centrifugal tendency, in
which outlying areas paid only lip service to central edicts - second weakness was factionalism in the
centerH
&/
0inally, it should be mentioned that during the -ngkor time, the coe"istence between ?induism and
>uddhism appeared to have been generally very peaceful, Budging from the representations on the bas$
reliefs on different temples at -ngkor, and from the fact that -ngkorian kings had built asramas both
for ?indus and >uddhists for retreat and educational purposes

b% ,tate organi+ation* during the Ang!or Empire?
Ne"t, we will look at the administrative, economic, and social organi3ations within which the
-ngkorian kings were able to govern the then e"panding state, and generate economic surplus,
especially rice production, to sustain and to e"pand the -ngkorian Empire
516 Ci.i# admini"tration and mi#itary organi+ation
Ci.i# admini"tration: 6uring the -ngkor Empire, an elaborate state organi3ation was set up 0rom the
information contained in epigraphic document contained in the numerous steles, we can observe two
broad but interrelated groups regarding this vast and comple" administrative body4 1i2 one group
included the king%s senior advisers and their supporting staff attached to the person of the king which
formed his entourage, and whose role was to protect and help the king oversee the affairs of the state,
especially his relations with those to whom he delegated the power to run the country 4 1ii2 the other
group included ministers, army commanders, and supporting officials of the central government proper
whose role was to run the empire from the capital center at -ngkor, and high and supporting officials at
the outlying provinces comprising Cambodian as well as non$Cambodian populations, and territories
Those who served the king personally, one often noticed the titles such as4 Vrah Guru or the king%s
personal teacher, Purahota or the king%s high priest, mahendroa!ala or the king%s barber,
Samantagajaadi or chief of the royal elephants, chief of the royal fans bearer, chief of royal fly whisks
holders, astronomers, astrologer, chief architect, engineers, doctors, preceptors, teachers, and pages for
the royal bed chamber There were also numerous female courtiers including the king%s wives and
concubines as well as female$armed guards Those high officials directly involved in the running the
government proper included various high officials with such titles as Raja!ulamahamantri or Chief
+inister, Khlon Karya or Chief of CorvRe labor, Senaati or general, Khlon !lang or chief of royal
warehouses, "hanya!araati or the chief of the royal grain stores, #caryadhiati or chief of religious
foundations
Af course, also included among the officials were those belonging to the provincial government,
starting with the governor at the top who are often either a member of the royal family or local chiefs or
kings often married to a member of the -ngkorian king%s family, in order to cement the relations
between the center of power and the peripheral provinces
&/
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The civili3ation of -ngkor4 p&8(
<.
@overnment officials were given specific titles such as mratan in #anskrit, on in )hmer, or official
name of their function such as Raja!ulamahamantri or Senaati. These high officials are also
recogni3ed by the insignia given to them by the king, such as parasols or palanquins with different kind
of decorations or materials used to make them, according to their rank -gain, the details of these
e"ternal signs of power and rank of the empire functionaries caught the attention our Chinese diplomat
Ehou 6aguan, as he described them as follows:
G,n the country there is a hierarchy of ministers, generals, astronomers, and other functionaries4 beneath
these come all sorts of small employees, differing only in name from our country 0or the most part,
princes are selected as office$holders4 if not of princely rank, they offer their daughters as royal
concubines
These functionaries go out in public, their insignia and the number of their attendants is regulated
according to rank The highest dignitaries use palanquins with golden with golden shafts and four
parasols with handles of gold4 those ne"t ranks have a palanquin with golden shaft and two golden
parasols4 then come those entitled to one palanquin with gold shaft and one gold$handled parasol
0urther down the line come those permitted only a silver$handled parasol, and there are others who use
a palanquin with silver shafts 0unctionaries entitle to gold parasols are called 7a$ting 1+rateng2 or an$
Teng 1-m teng24 those with silver parasols are called ssu$la$ti 1#resthin2H
&F
+ay be for his personal security or personal preference, the )hmer kings seemed to have a large
number of females as his bodyguards and as members of his direct entourage ,n addition to the five
queens and numerous concubines that Ehou 6aguan had mentioned, he also indicated with ama3ement
that:
G!hen the king leaves his palace, the procession is headed by the soldiery4 then come the flags, the
banners, and the music @irls of the palace, three or five hundred in number, gaily dressed, with flowers
in their hair and tapers in their hands, are massed together in a separate column The tapers are light
even in broad daylight Then came still other girls carrying gold and silver vessels from the palace, and
a whole gala"y of ornaments, of very special design, the uses of which were strange to me Then came
still more girls, the bodyguards of the palace, holding shields and lances These, too, were separately
alignedH
&'
The royal high priests, as advisors and teachers to the king, played a very important religious as well as
political role in the -ngkorian Empire, the more so as members of these two upper classes of the
-ngkorian society have often formed a cohesive and powerful alliance through marriages, as 0rench
historian +adeleine @iteau had noted that:
G,t seems that a deep ditch separated the nobility from the people ,n the inscriptions, we frequently see
mentioning the Brahmins caste An the other hand, the Kshatriya term appears only seldom and seems
assigned to the members of the royal family >etween those who belonged to these two high castes, the
matrimonial unions are frequent
&F
ApCit Ehu 6aguan4 The Customs of Cambodia, p '
&'
Ehou 6aguan 4 The Customs of Cambodia4 1The #iam #ociety >angkok, #econd edition, &''<2, p /<
<(
!e saw that some of these high officials had plaid such important role in the society -round the king,
the >rahmans are in charge of the religious functions which enabled them to have a great influence, not
only on the religious life, but also on the political life of -ngkorian CambodiaH
<9
&i#itary organi+ation: To defend their e"panding empire through diplomacy but mostly through
conquests of weaker neighboring states, the )hmer kings had to have a strong army that can fulfill this
increasing role for offensive and defensive purposes -gain, the bas$reliefs at -ngkor !at, -ngkor
Thom, and >antey Chmar, and by Ehou 6aguan%s diaries gave us a good look at the organi3ation, the
composition in terms of men and materiels, and the technology used by that -ngkorian army
Contrary to the image from some bas$reliefs in -ngkor !at, there was no use of chariots as an
offensive weapon - 0rench researcher, +ichel Dacq$?ercgoualch suggested that the reason for the
omission of the use of Chariots because the unsuitability of the muddy terrain in Cambodia, caused by
heavy monsoon rain from +ay to November
There was no cavalry corps either because horses are not natives of Cambodia or had to be imported for
China ?owever, horses were reserved for high$ranking officers as means of transportation
- panoply of offensive arms were used by the )hmer army These included spears of all si3es, arches,
<&
sabers, swords, hatchets, knifes, and daggers -lthough for unknown reasons, arches were less used in
later period at -ngkor ,t is interesting to note that only officers had the right to use of swords or
sabers4 they also used spears
-lso used were ballistic launching devices for throwing arrows into the enemy ranks These new
offensive arms were mounted on a cart or on an elephant back They only appeared after the Chams%
invasion of -ngkor in &&/&, leading to the speculation that it is possible that these new weapons came
from China via Champa
,n contrast to the numerous forms of offensive weapons, defensive weapons were reduced to shields
shaped as round or rectangular forms, rich in decoration This decoration may be the Con or Cantra
which had magic power to protect those who wear them 0or instance, 5on Nol soldiers fighting against
the Viet Cong who invaded Cambodia in the &'/9%s used these Cons #ometime, we could see some
head gears in the form of animal heads +ost of these foot soldier had their dead shaved, wearing Bust a
loin cloth as uniform, and were bare$footed
The army was divided into three main corps4 foot soldiers on infantry, Chock troops or armored corps,
and river fleet
<9
ApCit +adeleine @iteau4 ?istoire d%-ngkor4 p (/$F
<&
6efinition of Bon4 G6isplayed prominently in most homes and shops, and embla3oned on the flesh of fighting men for
centuries, traditional protection spells, called yon, are a quintessential component of Cambodian culture
,nscrutable, beautiful and sometimes simple, yon are astounding for their depth of history and breadth of eccentricity
-ccording to e"perts, the supernatural diagrams can be either playful or potent, and are believed to provide everything from
bulletproof protection to lures for love G 7hnom 7enh 7ost, +ay F$&8, <99=4 L,ntricate, >eautiful, >asic: Con #pell
7rotection%4 by Charles +c6ermid and Vong #okheng

<8
The main corps of the army consisted of foot soldiers or infantry The provincial governors or high
officials in charge of the corvRe from the large pool of bonded laborers working in the temples
foundations or estates owned by the kings, or other temple foundations or estates owned by the
guardians of provincial or family temple foundations levied these soldiers in times of war -s the bas
reliefs at -ngkor had also shown, that among the soldiers, we could find non$Cambodian inhabitants of
neighboring provinces under )hmer control, such as the #iamese, +ons, even Chams 6uring peaceful
time, these bonded laborers were used to produce commodities and services for the state estates and
temple foundations, and as CorvRe to build infrastructural proBects such as roads, hospitals, ?indu
hermitages or >uddhist monasteries, and state and family temples The authorities furnished the
equipment comprising offensive and defensive arms
The #hock troops included elephants whose tusks were elegantly and elaborately decorated with gold
or silver leaves They also fulfilled the role as carrier for the king, generals and other senior officers,
and they were often used to carry food supply and other materiels for the need of army on the move
They also were used to break through some man$made barriers such as wooden or earthen walls
?owever, they were vulnerable because of their si3e and they were not protected, especially at the front
part of their body between their head and their paws
6uring wartime, they were forced into serving in the army, which include their wives and children to
fulfill the role of supply units The members of the soldiers% families had to carry their supply in terms
of food and other necessities on their head or on o" carts, the same carts that can still be seen in the
Cambodian countryside, today The wives had to cook for the soldiers using the rudimentary of utensils
such as clay pot for rice cooking on a stove made of three pieces of stone or brick as still being
practiced in present$day rural Cambodia +ore importantly, these foot soldiers carried the brunt of the
battle, as we could see from the -ngkor bas$reliefs, at the front line either protecting their officers on
elephants or horses, or fighting hand to hand against the enemies
There was no supply corps as is known in modern army The members of the soldiers% family,
including children, carried supply of food and other necessities Aften we could also see wives of high$
ranking officers followed their husband to the front on the inevitable palanquins and parasols according
to their rank in the society -lways, a band of musicians accompanied the army marching to the battle
-lthough, we don%t have any information on how these soldiers were compensated and what kind of
motivations were sued to motivate them, by relying from information from other countries such as
#iam during that time, one can easily imagine looting and pilfering of the vanquished countries was one
of those means practiced by the )hmer army to motivate their soldiers
These foot soldiers either were under the command by the king himself or by a commanding general
called #enapati These generals have been known to often sacrifice their own life in order to protect the
king in battles against internal or e"ternal enemies Not all generals devoted their life to protect the
kings ,n one situation, Charles was able to capture the mood full intrigue and plots confronting the
monarchy at -ngkor, thereby showed the conduct of both the good and the bad generals vis S vis the
king, as follows:
<=
G:dayadityavarman%s reign was not peaceful, as there were insurrections throughout the kingdom -
certain )amvau ripped up destroyed holy images !e learned in a te"t form 7rasat 7rah )hset that this
rebel general and a host of soldiers initially defeated the loyal army The great general #angrama,
however, turned defeat into victory and killed him There was also serious unrest in the south, where
#angrama defeated the rebel leader -ravindhahrada W
#o, despite insurrections and uncertain times, it is clear that loyalty was still rewarded with titles,
symbols of status and royal favour, also that the old order of land dealings and the establishment, the
modification or e"pansion of family estates continuedH
<<
-ngkor being so close to the great lake, enemies could reach the royal capital city of -ngkor by river
fleet, as the Chams did &&/& The boats belonging to the )hmer river fleet were built with wooden
planks, linked together with iron nails and rendered waterproof by using a mi" of fish oil with some
pulveri3ed lime rock The -ngkor Thom bas$reliefs showed that the )hmer Navy used these boats to
board Chams% boats with the use of net and hooks, while using their spears and other offensive arms
-lthough, Ehou 6aguan who may have been somewhat critical of the state of combat$readiness of the
army during the -ngkor period, and because the only e"ternal enemy of the )hmer kings were the
Chams, his observations of the )hmer army may have served as a presage of some ominous signs to
come for the -ngkorian Empire in face of the rising challenge from the #iamese, during the Chinese
diplomat visit to -ngkor in the &<'9%s, and later on from the Vietnamese, when he observed that:
G#oldiers also move unclothed and barefoot ,n the right hand is carried a lance, in the left a shield
They have no bows, no arrows, no slings, no missiles, no breastplates, no helmets , have heard it said
that in war with the #iamese universal military service was required @enerally speaking, these people
have neither discipline nor strategyH
526 a1 and 0u"tice
-gain, through the stone inscriptions, there are always two languages being used, namely, #anskrit and
)hmer #anskrit is usually used to praise the kings, while the )hmer was used to lay down the rules
and regulations precisely stipulating the supply and delimitation of land, the supply of labor and their
assignment, and the supply kinds and quantity of products and other services to a foundation of a
temple 0inally, the inscription in )hmer also warned against act of hostilities including thefts and
destruction of properties in the temple ground, which could bring severe retributions against the
perpetrators, as pointed out by Charles ?igham that:
G,n the case of disputes, the subordination of provincial or state temples, or the management of royal
assets, we can also perceive the bureaucracy at work +ost inscriptions end with the warning of dire
consequences for those who steal or violate foundation property, a sure indication that thievery
flourishedH
<.
<<
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The civili3ation of -ngkor, pp &9($8
<.
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 p /=
</
@enerally speaking, unlike the Chinese system, no legal treaties or any other written legal forms were
known to e"ist, during the -ngkor time ,t was more like a customs law based$legal system that was in
use, whereby antecedent cases can be used to make a final Budgment on any case that was brought to
the attention of the king or his representatives -lso mentioned by Ehou 6aguan is the popular customs
of using a super natural phenomenon to decide on a dispute between common peoples, as he observed
that:
G7oints of dispute between citi3ens, however trifling, are taken to the rule W,n dealing with cases of
great seriousness, recourse is not to strangulation or beheading4 outside the !est @ate, however, a ditch
is dug into which the criminal is placed, earth and stones are thrown back and heaped high, and all is
over 5esser crimes are dealt with by cutting off feet or hands, or by amputation of the nose Nothing
e"ists in the nature of a Lcomplete inquest% !hen a thief is caught red$handed, he may be imprisoned
and tortured *ecourse is also had to another curious procedure ,f an obBect is missing, and accusation
brought against someone who denies the charge, oil is brought to boil in a kettle and the suspected
person forced to plunge his hand into it ,f he is truly guilty, the hand is cooked to shreds, if not, skin
and bones are unharmed #uch is the ama3ing way of these barbariansH
<(
,nscription on stones very often mentioned cases on land disputes There was an elaborate and precise
system of land boundaries 5and usually represents a gift by the king to a member of his entourage of
high birth in recognition for his loyalty or great service to him +ore particularly, land donated to a
temple foundation belonging to either the #tate or a province for developing new land for political,
religious, as well as economic reasons ,f there is any dispute between a foundation and another
landowner, usually this requires the intervention of the sovereign of his representative Temple
inscriptions contained detailed description, always in the )hmer language, on the location, si3e, name
of the owner, and workers to be assigned to it -lso very important, these inscriptions mentioned as to
how those who transgressed these property will be punished +entions were made of legal document
known as $ayattra 1a certificate of victory2 which is a written legal document given to the winner in a
land dispute case by the court 1Sabha2 that was used in Dava as well as in Cambodia since the tenth
century
<8

0inally, the people can have access to the king twice daily in a public audience in this royal palace, as
mentioned in Ehou 6aguan%s book on the customs of Cambodia ?owever, one can easily imagine that
most of the cases, generally involving issues of land deals that are brought to the king for final decision
would probably involved more with members of the aristocracy than ordinary people This action of the
king should also be looked at within the rewardXpunishment framework to those who are loyal or
against him -s pointed out by Charles ?igham that the king, in the final analysis, has all the
<(
ApCit4 Ehou 6aguan4 The Customs of Cambodia4 p ..
<8
+ason C ?oadley4 Continuity and Change in Davanese 5egal Tradition the Evidence of the Dayapattra4
1,ndonesia4 #outheast -sia 7rogram4 Cornell :niversity, ,thaca, New Cork, -pril &'/&2,
GEvidence that the Bayapattra was indeed utili3ed by ?indu law courts in the intervening period between the smrti te"ts of
the si"th and seventh centuries and the earliest epigraphic reference to a Bayapattra in the early thirteenth century is provided
by an e"amination of the legal systems in other parts of the ?indu world% 0or e"ample, the e"tant epigraphy from the
?indui3ed areas of #outheast -sia demonstrates that, from at least the tenth century on Dava and possibly earlier in
Cambodia, Bayapattra were regularly employed in local legal administration Their utili3ation in actual litigation
on Dava, attested to by the presence of Bayapattra inscriptions, indicates a similar use in the land of its originH 7 'F
<F
discretionary, religious, and temporal authority to settle all legal and Budicial matters under the
-ngkorian Empire, that:
GTwo years later, *udraswami petitioned the king to accord him graciously the forest and the land of
Tamvon in praman 7urvadisa - royal order charged mratan Vikramayudha, vyapara of the second
rank, to travel to 7urvadisa and meet with local inhabitants Together, they established the boundaries
in order to transfer the land to *udraswami ?e in turn provided betel and coconut trees to the
foundation, and banned anyone from calling on those working for the sanctuary to undertake any work
other than furnishing water and betel for the fYte celebrating the birth of *ama The king had the
authority to allocate land, and a staff of people with the title %iaara to establish and fi" the
boundariesH
<=

0inally, with regards to international boundaries, the -ngkorian Empire, as other ,ndiani3ed states at
that time and unlike the #inic states, did not use any physical markers nor had any map to mark their
the border of territories under their Burisdiction The delimitation and the location of the boundaries
between the )hmer Empire and its immediate neighboring countries were relegated to the
responsibility of the leaders at the provincial levels
:sually, the borders between the -ngkorian Empire and a neighboring country were indicated by a Gno
man%s landH region consisting of a forest or other uninhabited land This was so because the -ngkorian
kings relied more on personal loyalty through family links or official oaths of loyalty than on any legal
treaties or physical markers to mark their international borders - 0rench scholar described this vague
aspect of concept of boundaries in -ngkor time $ with disastrous implications for the defense of the
Cambodia%s territorial integrity later on, to be elaborated in the ne"t two chapters, $ as follows:
GAn the )hmer side, the notion of border was conceived in terms specific to the Cambodian political
environment at that time, not compatible with the Vietnamese or modern concept The concept of the
border was, of course, linked to the one that the Cambodians have of their country ?owever, that
Cambodian concept of their country is not compatible with that of a state as which is generally
understood by other countries Cambodia conceived their country as a space where )hmer dominated
in linguistic and cultural terms, and their link to the Cambodian royal power +oreover, until the
nineteenth century, there was no map of Cambodia, and the te"ts leaved the impression that there was
no clear demarcation of the bordersW
An the ground, border space is represented, indifferently and Bointly, by sacro$cultural and natural
elements: the shapes of habitat, type of food and clothing, pillars of foundation of village or the muang,
pagodas, stupas, steles, wooden fences, but also fragments of the summits and the slopes of mountains,
pitons, rock formations anthropomorphi3ed, rivers and water ways, falls, rapids, islands, sand bars, or
forests, trees to which one allots a sacred character or taking particular meaningH
</

5(6% Economic and "ocia# organi+ation:
<=
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 p =/
</
GThe concept of the border in the eastern part of the ,ndochinese 7eninsularH in 5es frontiIres du Vietnam4 1 > 7 5afont4
editor4 Edition l%?armattan, 7aris, &'F'2, pp <&$<
<'
-s already mentioned earlier, the )hmer Empire was the result of union of two )hmer main competing
states4 namely, the !ater Chenla and the 5and Chenla The )hmer Empire had become more agrarian
because #riviBaya, a ?indu island kingdom on the ,sland of #umatra, had gained the full control of the
international trade route between China and ,ndia and even beyond, since the F
th
century
0ollowing the loss of use of the international trade route, the center of activities of the )hmer state had
shifted from the delta of the +ekong to the plain region, around the great 5ake region 1Tonle #ap2 and
along the lower part of +ekong river down to the upper part of the +ekong delta The change of
economic activities from international trade to a more agrarian form of production had several
important repercussions on the social and economic organi3ation in the newly formed )hmer Empire
That change in economic orientation as was set by Dayavarman ,, in his ambitious program of territorial
e"pansion in order to build a powerful state, required an enormous amount of resources, both in human
and material terms This, in turn, required a capable and powerful civilian and military administration
that was efficient in gathering surpluses in material resources, namely rice, and defending the empire
against internal and e"ternal enemies, to finance all these economic, political, and religious activities,
as indicated earlier
These activities for gathering commodities surplus required, over a long period, the mastery of three
elements in the society4 water, land, and labor !e have already shown that the )hmer Empire was an
autocratic and e"tremely unequal society where the king is the source of all power regarding decision
of economic, legal, Budicial, political, social matters, and the vast maBority of the people were trapped in
their villages as indented laborers
and: as mentioned earlier, the kings for practical purposes had the right to bestow land and labor to
those members of the aristocratic families who served him as state or provincial officials The
foundation of a temple was a maBor means by which land and labor can be brought into the production
circuit to e"tract necessary surpluses, namely rice and other agricultural and handicraft products, for the
king and for the aristocratic families These laborers were assigned to either work on land owned either
by the kings or by those aristocratic families in the provinces ,n general, there was no free labor that
can own a piece of land and worked for their own benefits, on their own free will
5and ownership was concentrated in the hands of the king and his aristocratic entourage, equivalent to
the land gentry in Europe The king generally granted 5and to his followers in reward for their loyalty
to develop into productive agricultural domain The legal status of these granted lands, especially
whether they were privately owned or not is not clear !hat is clear is the fact that these followers of
the king became e"tremely rich with these granted lands by e"tracting the output produced by the
indented labors that usually came with the granting of the land #tone inscriptions are replete with the
e"amples of how the king rewarded his followers with land and labor grants, as Charles ?igham
described one of these cases, as follows:
G#havakaivalya, the ancestor of the family described in the te"t, was a royal chaplain who had been in
charge of a linga at >hadrayogi in the district of ,ndrapura The king ordered #hivakaivalya to move
himself, his family, and presumably their retainers to 7urvadisa, where they were granted land and
.9
Bo'%F: The ,te#e of Prah )han temp#e g#orifying the Temp#e bui#der* :aya.arman -II
This stele gives a detailed inventory of the provisioning of 7rah )han, a >uddhist temple built by
Dayavarman V,,, which was dedicated to himself and his family in &&'& This and many stones inscriptions
are one of the sources of most of our detailed knowledge of )hmer history @eorges CoedIs, the doyen of
0rench scholars translated them from the #anskit and )hmer te"ts -s usual, it starts with praise to the king,
in this case Dayavarman V,,
The sun in the heaven that the family of Sri Kambu, born on this rising mountain that is
Jayadityapura, this splendid treasure supreme king of Sresthapura, who awoke the eharts of
living beings like the lotus.
Seeing the terrible appearance in combat of the king equipped with weapons, the enemies
closed their eyes and their arms, like serpents, let their arrows fall, while the spears that they
had long before thrown seemed to halt in midair.
The king and owners of villages have devoutly given!
"#$% villages totally &',(%) men and women
%%% chiefs
%*)* footmen, cooks, and others
$$&( servants, of which +))) dancers
%',%#* individuals making sacrificial offerings
, honor the supreme path which leads to higher enlightenment, the unique doctrine which
offers no obstacle to attaining understanding of reality, the law which the immortals of the
three worlds must honor, the sword which destroys the -ungle of the si. inner passions
/0esire, anger, greed, distraction, pride, and envy1
2ere is what should be in the royal storehouse each year!
3ice! +#$" Khari /+1, $ drona
4old ob-ects!$"# towers and other ob-ects5 +(,+*) hemisphererical dishes and other
utensils
6eas! "' Khari, # drona
Sesame! $& Kharika, # drona, % prastha, ++$,#)) pearls
7ron8e! +*,++) buara, # tula, + katti, +) pena.9
Note (1)! : Khari is equivalent to +)) Kilograms
Source: Michael Freeman & Roger Warner; Angkor; (Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston !""#$
%.!!&
.&
established a settlement called )uti ,ts location is unknown, but it was a considerable distance from
VyadapuraH
<F

,t appears that land can also be communally owned, such as that under a temple%s ownership, state or
provincial ,t is important to mention at this point that temples played an important role not only as a
religious institution but also as an economic one Temples are self contained institutions fulfilling
practically economic, political, as well as social functions as pointed out by Charles ?igham that:
GTemples are not only immensely rich but important spiritual and economic institutions They
traditionally derived wealth from land assigned them by the king, from meritorious donations and fees
for religious services !ithin their walls, temples are virtually self contained communities with their
won bathing tanks, offices, dispensaries, school rooms and even banksH
<'
&oney: at this point, one should add that the concept of bank as mentioned by ?igham in the above$
quoted paragraph was not really a bank in the modern financial terms >ecause, in an economic
environment where the main purpose was the e"traction of surpluses through the control of labor, land
and water resources, the -ngkor Empire did not need to use money in the form of coins or paper
money, as a means of e"change or store of value ,t was basically, a barter economy where two parallel
means of e"change were used4 1&2 was rice and other commodities, 1<2 was gold or silver for more
important transactions involving assets such as land, slaves, or international trade
Charles ?igham pointed out the absence of money and the use of commodities and gold and silver as
means of e"change as follows:
G,f land was in corporate rather than personal ownership, then it was logically temple property ,t would
be to the advantage of the on if the land were made as productive as possible, because he and his
entourage would be sustained by the surplus production while also ensuring that some was available for
meritorious donations and trade Ane foundation might have a surplus of rice, another of cloth, a third
of fruit or ironware #o on, through the medium of the temple, could organi3e trade of these
surpluses ,not only for basic food and cloth, but also for bankable assets, such as gold and silverH
.9
abor: from the scanty information from stone inscriptions, we can detect two broad different
categories of laborers: those belonging to a guild of artisans of handicrafts, and those belonging to the
temples foundations or state or provincial estates There appears to be more freedom for those workers
regarding their decision on what to produce and to their work schedule, in the handicraft guilds than
those workers in the agricultural sector ,n the agricultural sector, it was the owners of the land, who
had the final decisions on what to produce by assigning worker of a particular plot of land for that
purpose of producing a particular product, be it rice or another commodity
,n the handicraft sector, member of the guilds could decide on what to produce and when to produce
?owever, members of the guilds were also controlled by the market for their products, as only the
members of the aristocracy could afford these kinds of lu"ury goods !hereas, the laborers in the
agricultural sector had to produce not only for themselves to survive, but especially for the owners of
<F
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 p 8=
<'
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 p &9
.9
Ap Cit4 Charles ?igham4 &he 'i%ili(ation of #ng!or4 p(/
.<
the land, or for those who were responsible for the management of temple foundation ,t was
ultimately, these agricultural workers, who had to pay the ta"es in terms of agricultural produces to the
temples or to the owners of the land, who in turn, channeled these agricultural surpluses to the kings
-gain, Charles ?igham summari3ed the status of the worker as follows:
G,t is very difficult to pin down the status of the workers #ome could be bought and sold, some were
war captives, while others may well have been in the service of the noble family for generation and
were assigned to develop a new foundation Tied labour is not unusual in #outh$East -sia -s recently
as the -yuthaya period in Thailand, which ended in the eighteenth century, workers were tattooed to
record their assigned palce of work and to maintain a stable workforce There are reminders of this in
the inscription from 7hnom )anva, >attambang, which described how Viruna, a worker who had
escaped from the estate where he was born, had his eyes gouged out and his nose cut off ,t was also
customary in listing workers to include their children and even grandchildren !orkers are often being
responsible for either the fifteen dark or the fifteen light days of each month on a rota system, and could
work on land assigned to them, according to one te"t, in their own time
These inscriptions illustrate that 5ingapura was built through the mobili3ation of labour from many
provinces, and ta"ation in kind, particularly rice, and was drafted to sustain them - similar keen
interest in provincial aspects of land tenure and ta"ation is seen in the few inscriptions of Dayavarman%s
reign from beyond the capitalW
- royal order confirmed this, specifying the amount of rice and oil due in payment, and warning that
those who disobeyed this order would be caged by the elders of the district and placed before the king
for sentenceH
.&
1#ee >o"=2
There was also the question of how to motivate the workers in these circumstances of more or less
forced labor -s mentioned earlier, -ngkorian Empire did not have a caste system as in ,ndia,
nevertheless, the society was very stratified and there was not much chance of upward mobility for any
persons not belonging to the two upper classes made up of high priests and royal family and their
aristocratic entourage 5ife for these lower class )hmers were generally tolerable during peacetime, as
there were many festivals celebrating different religious or folklore events such as marriage, hair
cutting ceremony, New Cear celebration, harvests, or rain arrival festival and many others, year round
?owever, during civil wars which were frequent, or wars against a neighbor, manpower for these wars
and for building infrastructure such as roads, bridges, palaces, temples, hermitage, monasteries,
reservoirs, and others was recruited under the corvRe system from all over the country ,t is interesting
to note that there was a yearly of census of population during that time, as mentioned by our astute
Chinese traveler, Ehou 6aguan
There was also the psychological reason based on the )arma, or the cycle of reincarnations, which
e"plained that life of any person in this world was mainly the result of past life Cou were born poor
because your past life was not very good or morally high ?owever, one can improve one%s life not in
this world but in ne"t life by making merit offering of gifts to the temples or monasteries, depending
whether you were a ?indu or a >uddhist ?owever, as already mentioned earlier, there was many who
had Bust completely opted out the system by being bandits or robbers hiding in the forest and rowing
.&
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 The Civili3ation of -ngkor4 p/< and p &8<
..
around That is why there were many mentioned in those stone inscriptions on the punishments of those
who did not obey the properties of the temples or those of the estates
+ost debilitating for the maBority of the Cambodians at that time was the fact that they were in such a
low esteem by the elite class that they did not have any identity 0or instance the word G,H standing for
first person singular pronoun is G!)umH in )hmer, which means servant or slave -s Charles ?igham
pointed out:
G>y working hard more than necessary for basic subsistence and providing thereby a surplus for the
ancestral spirits in their temples, the !)um were making merit for themselves They received the
benedictions of the ancestors, their interventions to ensure the arrival of the rains and, in the events of a
poor harvest, the assurance that the on would provide fro their need, fro instance through the e"change
of accumulated valuables for food from more fortunate institutionsH
.<
,n addition, this generali3ed oppressive situation in -ngkor time combined with the priority given to
the production of agricultural products, namely rice, had led the maBority of )hmers to be so dependent
on their habitat in the countryside that made them e"tremely conservative in their thinking and void of
any pioneer spirit ,n addition, the )hmer peasants tended to be superstitious, and believers in animistic
or super natural spirit or cults such as the *ea! &a, and prophesies
++

This leads us immediately to bring up, so to speak, the other side of the coin issue as to how much can
the king and his bureaucracy can e"ploit the labor force through forceful means such as the corvRe
>ecause, autocrats can only continue to e"tract production surplus, if those who are being coerced to
produce either they could no longer do so because of physical and mental e"haustion, or because they
could choose to withdraw, or they could even choose fight against the system, as in ,mperial China ,n
the case of the )hmer Empire, the last choice was almost impossible the )hmer people, because of the
state under which the monopoly of power by the elite class was so strong and well organi3ed ?owever,
those people who lived in non$)hmer territories of the empire, such as the Thais, the +ons, or
sometime the Chams, may choose to gather behind their chiefs to challenge the central power at
-ngkor
?owever, one can follow the idea suggested by the late +ansur Alsen who came up a theory that could
e"plain the rationale under which, an autocratic ruler would still able to continue to e"tract economic
surplus, provided that he did not go too far by destroying all the incentives to produce and to pay an
e"tractive ta" by those who came under his control Thus, by allowing those inhabitants under his
control, to have the right to keep some share of the production for them and their families, the
stationary bandit can continue to e"tract his e"tortions rent for a longer period than otherwise possible
+ansur Alsen had used for the basis of his theory, a criminal metaphor which consists of comparing the
difference between the behavior of a rowing bandit, who came into a town, then killed, burnt the place
and took everything valuable and left, and that of a stationary bandit took over and stay in a town, but
did not kill everybody, nor burn any property in order to give themselves a chance of e"tracting ransom
.<
ApCit4 Charles ?igham4 p (F
..
Neak Ta is an animistic local or ancestor spirit represented by a tree, a pound, or any other natural obBect that the people in
the village believe to possess both malevolent and benevolent supra natural power 0or more information on the concept of
Neak Ta, please, see -lain 0orest4 5e Cambodge et la Colonisation 0ranZaise, 15%?armattan, 7aris, &'F92, chapter ,,,
.(
payment or ta", for a long period of time, in e"change for the protection that he gave to the inhabitants
of that town ?e summari3ed his interesting and relevant theory to many autocratic regimes in real
world, as follows:
G,n short the bandit leader, if he is strong enough to hold a territory securely and monopoli3e theft
there, has an encompassing interest in his domain This encompassing interest leads him to limit and
regulari3e the rate of his theft and to spend some of the resources that he controls on public goods that
benefit his victims no less than himself #ince the settled bandit%s victims are for him a source of ta"
payment, he prohibits the murder or maiming of his subBects >ecause, stealing by his subBects, and the
theft$averting behavior that it generates, reduces total income, the bandit does not allow theft by anyone
but himself ?e serves his interests by spending some of his resources that controls to deter crime
among his subBects and to provide other public goods - bandit leader with sufficient strength to
control and hold a territory has an incentive to settle down, to wear a crown, and become a public good$
providing autocratH
.(
,n other words, the king and his entourage make sure that his subBects had enough to subsist and not to
feel too traumati3ed under their rule This trading peace for economic surplus was the basis for the
sustainability of the -ngkor Empire ?owever, this delicate balance assumed that rested on the
assumption that there was no change in temperamental elements from one rule to another ,n reality,
each king was governed by his own upbringing and personal e"periences, which, in turn, shaped his
character as a ruler 0or instance, there was a great difference between )ing Dayavarman ,, and
Dayavarman V,, -lthough both kings were ambitious and capable, they differed in their e"periences
and upbringing This difference, in turn, resulted in two different situations and their impacts on the life
of the society as whole during these two periods of )hmer history
Water: third element that made up the economic system under -ngkorian Empire was water -t this
point one should mention that there is a controversy between scholars speciali3ing in Cambodian
studies on the issue whether -ngkor Empire can be classified as a hydraulic society Those who hold
the view that -ngkor society was a hydraulic one argued that the barays, the many canals, and other
waterways are sufficient proofs that -ngkor was a hydraulic society The other who did not accept this
thesis, argued that these barays were used more for religious than economic purpose They also added
that there were no documents found on the state role in regulating the use of the irrigation system, ie
the use of the >arays

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
.(
ApCit4 +ancur Alson4 7ower and prosperity4 p&9
.8
The egacy of Ang!orean Empire to Contemporary Cambodia: &ain 9#a1"
Characteri+ing the Cambodian Peop#e and ,ociety
&ain Character 9#a1" of the Cambodian Peop#e and Cambodian ,ociety a" Percei.ed
by ,ome 9oreign "cho#ar" and one Cambodian ,cho#ar
Criticism does not have any place in the Cambodian culture and society #ince very young
age, Cambodians are taught not to talk back to their parents, other elderlies, and teachers -
good child is an absolute obedient child
5ike most people, Cambodians do not like to be critici3ed, especially by another
Cambodian >ut, what differ the Cambodians from the rest of the world is the fact that there
is no difference in meaning between constructive and non$constructive criticism -s a matter
of fact, there is no word for constructive criticism The word OCritici"m [ 2ih )ounO is
synonymous to OinsultO
The consequence of this Cambodian national character results from the lack of check and
balance in the Cambodian society which, in turn, leads to abuse of power by those who are
the rulers, as pointed out by the 0rench anthropologist, +arie -le"andrine +artin in her
book OCambodia: a ,hattered ,ocietyO
:nlike other -sians, most Cambodians fear to critici3e and to be critici3ed, have led those
who are now living in the :nited #tates or in Europe to marginali3e themselves, by not being
involved in the political process in these adopted countries -s a result, they have no voice in
whatever affects them negatively or positively
,t takes a lot of courage for a Cambodian to critici3e another Cambodian, especially in
public, however benign the criticism may be Those who dare challenge or contradict another
person in public is not very well received in the Cambodian community, even in the :#- or
Europe where the habit and right to critici3e is not only accepted but encouraged and
welcome
Those who critici3e will be considered as violators of the code of conduct known as Ogroup
harmonyO The price for those who dare to critici3e is very high Those who are being
critici3ed may consider the critics and their family as a mortal enemy for life
+ost Cambodians, therefore, tend to totally reBect any negative criticism or analysis of
Cambodian behavior ,nstead of trying to understand what and why a foreigner would think
of Cambodians in a manner that is considered negative, they tend to completely shut
themselves off from the authorKs criticism Thereby, and wrongly, they were hoping that
things would go away with time ?owever, there are a few e"ceptions to this general rule in
that there are a number of brave Cambodians who dared critici3e or analy3e the main flaws in
the Cambodian behavior >elow are some selected perceptions of Cambodians 1see O)hmer
&enta#ityO and O)hmer Today= the Notion of TimeO in the O#pecial -rticles and
.=
EssaysO heading2 and the Cambodian society by some noted e"perts in Cambodian affairs ,
do hope that my fellow Cambodians would gather sufficient courage and common sense to
carefully read these perceptions and to also try to see and understand whether these
perceptions are Bustified -nd after having read them, if they think that these perceptions are
not correctly made, then they should try to come up with some solid e"planations to refute
these assertions or findings, instead of reBecting them outright
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
9rench Co#onia#i"t"I Perception of Cambodian"
Normally better informed, the naturalist /enri &ouhot coming from >angkok, writes:
,-isery, conceit, crudeness, deceit, co.ardliness, docility, and e/cessi%e la(iness are
trademar!s of this miserable eole.0
Twenty two years later, another passerby but much cruder, go further:
L&he 'ambodian better built, aears first to be a formidable ad%ersary 1 illusion .hich .ill
disaear %ery 2uic!ly3 you .ill find his intelligence as dull as that of a Vietnamese is ali%e.
&he -on!ey thin!s and does not tal!3 the 'ambodian tal!s but does not thin!.0
The relations between the coloni3ed and coloni3ers will therefore take place on another
framework than that of CochinchinaO
#ource: Charles +yers4 e" 9rancai" en Indochine4
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Perception of the Cambodian "ociety by American and Au"tra#ian hi"torian"
The power of the king to e"tract resources from the ordinary people O5oyalty, in other words,
was to be rewarded by the right to e"tract surpluses from regions under some sort of control
by Tumsvracs, who were linked by allegiance to the king
:nder ,urya.arman, priestly and bureaucratic functions, seldom separate in practice, were
institutionali3ed @overnment$sponsored religious foundations became conduits for
government revenue and largesse in ways that remain obscure but probably were connected
with the power of the priestly$bureaucratic families around the kingO
#ource: 6avid Chandler4 A /i"tory of Cambodia* 1!estview publishing, >oulder, <9992
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The !ingI" ab"o#ute po1er to ma!e or brea! an ordinary commoner
./
OThe officials who held power, whether at the center of the state in the kings%s palace or in
the outer regions, were not men who gained their appointments through scholarship >irth
into a quasi$hereditary family, ability, and an opportunity to gain the rulerKs notice all played
their part in determining advancement ,t would be quite wrong to suggest that the rulers of
>uddhist kingdoms did not have clear ideas on what constituted a good official, for the
record is clear they did >ut the standards were much more fle"ible and much more personal
than those that applied in Vietnam ,n the same fashion the conduct of human business within
the state was less set in formal pattern, more subBect to the personal likes and dislikes of the
kings at the highest level, or the officials great and small in the provinces away from the
capitalO
#ource: +ilton Asborne4 ,outhea"t A"ia: an Introductory /i"tory4 @eorge -llen ]
:nwin4 #idney, &'F.
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Po"t Ang!orian hi"tory of Cambodia
The state of total breakdown in governance and morality in Cambodia after the fall of
-ngkor
The post$-ngkorian history of Cambodia, such as we can reconstitute it with the royal
chronicles set against the #iamese annals of Ayuthya, the history of &ing" and of Tang"*
the annals of the empire of -nnam and the tales of the first #panish and 7ortuguese
missionaries, is nothing but a succession of wars against the #iamese and Vietnamese
invaders, revolts of princes and mandarins, conspiracies and usurpations of the throne
-t the court, which wanders from one place to another, intrigues, treasons and murders are
taking place in succession with protagonists as the kings, the princes and the mandarins who
sold themselves to the king of #iam or has the emperor of -nnam in e"change for their
support
Char#e" &eyer*? 4erriLre #e "ourire )hmer 5ibrairie P#on* Pari"* 9rance* 1@>16
An Encertain egacy: The )hmer Parado'
1?ighly recommended2
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

9rom: NAng!or? Art and Ci.i#i+ationN By Bernard Phi#ippe 3ro"#ier
The "ignificance of the )hmer ci.i#i+ation
Dur !no1#edge of )hmer ci.i#i+ation i" far from comp#ete: many "urpri"e" are in "tore*
too many prob#em" a1ait detai#ed "tudy% We can at #ea"t pronounce 0udgment on the
period from the ninth to the t1e#fth centurie"* 1hich 1itne""ed the preeminence of
.F
Ang!or% The chrono#ogica# and hi"torica# frame1or! i" ba"ed on "o#id foundation"? 1e
are fami#iar 1ith the principa# bui#ding" and can fo##o1 the cour"e of their e.o#ution%
Though our interpretation of the fact" i" "ti## far from certain* 1e may 1ithout undue
ri"! attempt to dra1 certain conc#u"ion" of genera# app#ication%
The )hmer ci.i#i+ation 1a" the mo"t important* the mo"t bri##iant and origina# in
ancient Indochina% A#though c#a""ification by order of merit i" a "ome1hat pueri#e
hi"torica# pa"time* it can a#"o be regarded a" one of the greate"t* together 1ith that of
Indone"ia* in the 1ho#e of Indiani+ed A"ia% The bri##iant achie.ement" of ancient
Cambodia 1ere due primari#y to the countryI " 1ea#th of natura# re"ource"% No other
country of the penin"u#a cou#d boa"t of "uch an unbro!en e'tent of ferti#e and 1e##=
1atered #and% Cambodia* being a "trict#y defined and admirab#y "ituated geographica#
unit* 1a" the crad#e of a po1erfu# and gifted race% The peop#e 1ere #eft in peace
throughout ten centurie"* 1ithout any out"ide interference%%%%
But neither a fa.ourab#e en.ironment nor #imit#e"" re"ource" nor year" of peace 1ou#d
ha.e "ufficed 1ithout the "piritua# contribution of India% India 1a" the "par! that fired
the b#a+e% A "trong#y centra#i+ed "ociety gradua##y gre1 up round the !ing* the god on
earth* 1ho guaranteed it" "piritua# and materia# e'i"tence% It 1a" to thi" concentration
of po1er a" 1e## a" to her f#ouri"hing economy that Cambodia o1ed her unri.a##ed
fame% We are reminded* though on a more mode"t "ca#e* of the 2oman Empire united
by the cu#t of Cae"ar* or better "ti## of the Chine"e Empire* it"e#f a#"o the product of the
e'p#oitation of the "oi# and of a re#igion both of 1hich centered on the per"on of the
Emperor% In thi" re"pect Cambodia "ometime" e.en "urpa""ed her Indian teacher"%%%%
Dn the other hand* 1e mu"t not be #ed by it" undeniab#e bri##iance to be"to1
unGua#ified prai"e on )hmer ci.i#i+ation% It contained 1ithin it"e#f the "eed" of it" o1n
de"truction% An excessive and too exclusive inflation of the royal power produced a kind
of hypertrophy which exhausted the nation beyond hope of recovery. The country was
milked dry for the sole benefit of the king. Religion and art alike were dedicated to his
service% Dur 0udgment may perhap" be 1arped o1ing to the di"appearance of a##
"ecu#ar 1riting" and of an inca#cu#ab#e number of 1or!" of art%
But there is no evidence of any healthy philosophy developing outside the cult of the king
god! after whose disappearance there was in any case nothing capable of regenerating the
nation. "n such a closed society nothing was left to pin one#s faith on except Buddhism! a
religion of total renunciation.
$or this reason Khmer culture was not only doomed to perish sooner or later! but was
incapable of spreading. "t is obvious that it was the germ of the civili%ations of &iam and
'aos! and had a profound influence on the Chams. But the sole reason for this was that
these countries were more or less under Khmer domination! deriving from a related racial
stock and living under similar conditions. Khmer civili%ation was valid in the environment
and specific circumstances from which it emerged! but it could not be reproduced in other
times and places. Cambodia must conse(uently be classed with those cultures which!
.'
splendid though they may be! have never! like )gypt! *apan and the )mpire of the "ncas!
transcended their geographical and ethnical frontiers. There have! as we know! been
centers of civili%ation! perhaps of less brilliant achievement! which have nevertheless
proved models of inspiration to other lands+ such for example as ,reece! "srael! "ran!
Rome! China and "ndia #countries greater than themselves#! as Ren- ,rousset liked to
call them.
It i" perhap" 1orth 1hi#e attempting to di"co.er the rea"on 1hy "ome ci.i#i+ation" are
#i!e beautifu# but barren tree"* 1hi#e other" are #aden 1ith b#o""om and fruit% The
former* in our opinion* i" doomed becau"e they are incapab#e of e.o#.ing a phi#o"ophy
of man and hi" de"tiny% In thi" fie#d ancient Cambodia 1a" "ati"fied 1ith 1hat India
ga.e her* and e.en "o 1a" content to remain "econd be"t% "n spite of the extraordinary
development of the &tate in Cambodia! she appears never to have formulated any theory of
power or public welfare such as was be(ueathed to all )urope by Rome and to the $ar
)ast by China. "n Cambodia there was no society! nothing but an undefined .uxtaposition
of elementary and undifferentiated cells. There were no classes! none of those
intermediate and unstable structures which alone provide any possibility of evolution%
There was nothing but a vast anonymous proletariat! with a head which may have been
wonderful but was! after all! severed from the body. "t was a polypous society! a hive
incapable of selfreproduction other than by swarming! doomed inexorably to die! as soon
as (ueen! is destroyed.
3reat initia# gift"* #ong=maintained pro"perity* and certain#y a 1onderfu# achie.ement%
Bet nothing of a## thi" "ur.i.e" but a .ague memory% ,uch* no doubt* i" the fate of a##
greatne"" di.orced from #o.e% Nor mu"t it be forgotten that the record of the )hmer"
"ur.i.e" on#y becau"e our o1n humani"m* faithfu# to it" proper ta"!* ha" been at pain"
to e'hume it and bring to #ife a#mo"t in "pite of it"e#f% &oreo.er* it i" on#y a portion of
that intere"t for u"* today% The history of the Khmers has its place! like any other human
fact! in the field of general knowledge. The evolution of Khmer society is a fruitful theme
for the consideration of the sociologist. /et neither is of primary importance! because both
lie outside the main streams of universal history! and neither has left any offspring. The
underlying glory and uni(ue legacy of ancient Cambodia are to be found in the wonderful
monuments which stand sentinel in Angkor.
A #egacy from the pa"t: )hmer art:
It 1ou#d be ea"y to point to a more ma"ter#y architecture* a more remar!ab#e
,cu#pture* a more #ogica# decoration% Among the other 1or!" of art produced in A"ia
it"e#f there are many more meaningfu# and more "ympathetic% The art of Ang!or* #i!e
it" cu#ture* 1a" not a "ource of uni.er"a# in"piration% In "aying thi" 1e may be doing an
in0u"tice to the fine production" of medie.a# Cambodia or ,iam* of 1hich 1e !no1 "o
#itt#e but 1hich ha.e "ometime" pro.ed 1orthy "ucce""or" to the Ang!or tradition"% But
it mu"t be admitted that 1e cannot "pea! of a )hmer ae"thetic* or cannot at any rate
"ay that it 1a" one of tho"e di"co.erie" 1hich become a permanent part of human
e'perience%
(9
It may be agreed that the art of Ang!or 1a" in"tincti.e* #ac!ing in re"traint and too
often pro"aic* and that it #eft no heir"% Ne.erthe#e"" Ang!or remain" a uniGue en"emb#e*
eGua##y fa"cinating to the ne1comer and to the "cho#ar 1ho ha" "pent year" in it" "tudy%
I am inc#ined to be#ie.e that it" "ecret i" to be found in that 1ord Ien"emb#eI% Ta!en in
detai# )hmer art i" a#1ay" a #itt#e di"appointing% But it" "i+e i" un"urpa""ab#e* the
harmony of the"e enormou" "tructure"* the fee#ing of 1hat may be ca##ed urbani"m% The
temp#e=mountain "ymbo#i+e" a 1ho#e uni.er"e* and o1e" it" grandeur to the .ery
#oftine"" of it" aim% ,tanding a" it doe" in the centre of the city it ma!e" it" effect by it"
1onderfu# per"pecti.e" of #ight and "hade% 9rom the mind that concei.ed it* it deri.e"
it" diagrammatic effect and it" "ymbo#ic po1er% The faith that rai"ed it" "tone" ha"
imprinted on them the touching beauty of the human face% And becau"e it 1a"
con"tructed out of "pace and time* it "ti## dominate" the one and ha" defied the other*
#ifting it" temp#e" in a perpetua# ge"ture again"t the "!y%
The rega# ma0e"ty and ca#m repo"e of Ang!or Wat? the troub#ed me""age of the Bayon
1ith it" hundred face"%%%% 9u##y to e'pre"" them 1e need "omething more than 1ord"*
"omething better than picture": 1e need to add the da1n brea!ing o.er the fore"t* the
"unI" ray "udden#y piercing the c#oud" = and the "i#ence%%%%
2are bree+e" and "hifting #ight"? a hea.y coo#ne""? indefinab#e "cent"? immobi#ity rather
than death* and repo"e rather than "adne""% A## the"e ma!e up the beauty of the "tone"
of Ang!or and the memory of the men 1ho 1rought them%
^>ernard$7hilippe @roslier4 GAng!or: Art and Ci.i#i+ation$ translated by Eric Ernshaw
#mith, &'==, 10rom: )hmer: The o"t Empire of Cambodia, by Thierry Eaphir, ?arry N
-brams, New Cork, &''F2_
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Traditiona# .i##age and fami#y organi+ation in Cambodia
-i##age and fami#y organi+ation* e"pecia##y if compared to China and -ietnam* or India*
1ere e'treme#y 1ea!% )hmer .i##age" 1ere not cohe"i.e unit"* a" in -ietnam* dea#ing
co##ecti.e#y 1ith officia#"? and beyond the nuc#ear hou"eho#d* fami#ie" ea"i#y
di"integrated% 9ami#y name" did not e'i"t* record" of pre.iou" generation" 1ere not
!ept* ance"tor" 1ere not the ob0ect of a re#igiou" cu#t% Corporate di"cip#ine o.er the
indi.idua# by e'tended fami#ie" or by .i##age organi+ation" 1a" 1ea!* and once a per"on
had fu#fi##ed hi" ob#igation" to the "tate O a" a ta' or cor.Ke O there 1a" #itt#e con"traint
in hi" acti.itie"% It i" thu" #i!e#y that a parado'ica# "ituation of great anarchic indi.idua#
freedom pre.ai#ed in a "ociety in 1hich there 1a" no forma# freedom at a##%
The re#ation" among roya#ty* officia#"* and pea"antry* 1hich did not begin to change
under the co#onia# impact unti# 1;;8* 1ere organi+ed in form" of dependency% E.eryone
be#o1 the !ing had a fi'ed dependent "tatu" 1hich "er.ed to determine hi" ob#igation"
(&
to the ne't higher #e.e# and a#"o pro.ided protection% The pro.ince" of the rea#m 1ere
gi.en in appanage to the highe"t officia#" of the capita# 1ho"e agent" in the pro.ince"
co##ected the ta'e" and organi+ed the cor.Ke 1hich 1ere the rai"on d$Ptre for the
"y"tem% Each pea"ant in theory* and in the centra# agricu#tura# pro.ince" in rea#ity 1a"
dependent c#ient of an officia# 1ho"e identity he !ne1%
Be"ide" "uch dependence at a## #e.e#" of "ociety 1ithin the country* the Cambodian
ru#ing c#a"" had for centurie" been dependent on foreign o.er=#ord" and protector"*
u"ua##y ,iam and -ietnam* but at one point in the 1FC<" European"* and 9rench
protection again"t -ietnam 1a" "ought in the 1@
th
century e.en before the 9rench 1ere
ready to impo"e it%
There 1a" thu" no "eriou" conception of "e#f=re#iance at any #e.e# of Cambodian "ociety*
and in a cri"i" e.eryone #oo!ed to a po1erfu# "a.ior from abo.e or out"ide rather than
"ee!ing a #oca# "o#ution%
5&ichae# -ic!ery? QCambodia? 1@>F=1@;2*R ,outh End Pre""* ,ingapore* 1@;86
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
M
Independence I" Not A ,tatu"* But A Ta"!: A #e""on from -a"#a. /a.e#
5former pre"ident of the C+ech 2epub#ic6
10rom &he -irror of 'ambodian Society, Danuary <99(2
Ane year ago this week was <' Danuary <99., when anti$Thai riots damaged property and
relationships -lthough some people on a higher political level say that what happened is
past and should be forgotten, a Thai businessman who e"perienced the attack is quoted: O,n
my mind, we will never forgetO To forget is never a choice $ it happens naturally when
something seems no longer important -nd when some persons want to forget, others may
want to remind them There are also hard facts: less than half of the material damage has
been compensated -nd compensation normally means that what was destroyed will be
restituted $ but it is reported that much of the compensation negotiated so far is not actual
money to rebuild ,t is in the form of ta" waivers, if the company invests more and continues
business in Cambodia #o Cambodia is still heavily in debt4 the total damage to .. Thai
companies and the Thai Embassy was estimated around :#`8( million Even when all the
damages will have been paid, the view of Cambodia by others from outside remains a
burden
The fact that many hundreds of people participated in denouncing an actress on the basis of
an unproven rumor, and that a statement attributed to 7rof Pra"idh E!abutr $ which he
denies $ resulted again in agitated reporting, is often e"plained as a defense against more
powerful neighbors >ut do accusations without proof or violence solve problemsN
6espite differences in history and location, it may be useful to look at the C3ech *epublic, a
(<
small country with a glorious past history 0or a time, it was a dependent satellite of the
#oviet :nion ,t became independent again when the latter collapsed Vaclav ?avel, a former
dissident and political prisoner, was elected president in &'F' ?e wrote about the need to
secure the C3ech *epublic%s re$found identity and independence in a situation where it is
located between more powerful neighbors:
NIndependence i" not a "tatu"* but a ta"!% It i" nece""ary to define our
independence and gi.e it content% Thi" mean"* fir"t of a##* to rea#i+e 1here
1e are* and to e"tab#i"h ne1 re#ation"hip" to our neighbor"% Dur hi"torica#
de"tiny i"* becau"e of our geographica# #ocation bet1een other countrie"*
nece""ari#y #in!ed 1ith the ne1 de.e#opment" in Europe% To find our
appropriate p#ace in thi" po#itica# conte't mean" for u" a" a "ma## country =
probab#y more than for other" = that 1e ha.e to #oo! beyond the hori+on of
our o1n narro1 particu#ar intere"t"* in order to de.e#op a more g#oba#
.i"ion of the genera# future for a##% ,#o1#y* the peop#e in our countrie" "tart
to under"tand that they can achie.e more 1hen they cooperate than 1hen
they in"i"t on their o1n 1ay"%N
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
/o1 to "#ice a century of Cambodian hi"tory
By 4a.id Chand#er
5Phnom Penh Po"t* 54ecember 28* 1@@@ O :anuary C* 2<<<6
-s far as Cambodia is concerned, the century Bust ending can be fruitfully described in
several ways -n unpromising approach would be to cut the century more or less in half, with
fifty$four years labeled Othe colonial eraO and the rest OCambodia since independenceO
- better approach would be to see Cambodia gradually emerging into a wider, largely
indifferent world, buffeted by a succession of foreign influences, starting with 0rance,
continuing through a period of hapha3ard but brutal -merican interference followed by
stretches of Chinese and Vietnamese +ar"ism$5eninism before OendingO in &''' with an e"$
Communist government facing the amorphous challenges of globali3ation
- third way of treating CambodiaKs history is to e"amine the conduct of its political leaders,
including the 0rench, and to evaluate their efforts both to control the country and to achieve
some sort of OreadingO of CambodgeSCambodiaS)ampuchea that would legitimate them
and also endow the country with a unique or at least a suitable identity @iven CambodiaKs
permeable borders and its demographic weakness vis S vis Thailand and Vietnam, the battle
for uniqueness seems to have been lost some time ago and the price paid by many
Cambodians, to say nothing of their political leaders, has been high An the other hand, every
twentieth century Cambodian ruler, including the 0rench and continuing to ?un #en, has
tried to establish a form of government sharply different from the preceding one, putting a
(.
personal mark on his portion of the century ,n several cases, an incoming regime has
sharpened the contrast by condemning the leaders of the previous government to death
A fina# approach to CambodiaI" hi"tory in the 1@<<"* unpa#atab#e to an hi"torian* i" to
"ugge"t that a" Cambodia emerge" into ,outhea"t A"ia and a" ,outhea"t A"ia enter" the
1or#d* Cambodia i" #o"ing the capacity to generate it" o1n hi"tory% What had been in
"ome "en"e an i"#and or a .i##age i" being "ubmerged in a g#oba# ocean* affected by
g#oba# change" in c#imate* popu#ation* cu#ture and economic" o.er 1hich no one in
Cambodia ha" any contro#% ,een from thi" per"pecti.e* a" from the third* NCambodianN
hi"tory a" it ha" been con"tructed and 1ritten about in the pa"t may be coming to an
end* a" NCambodiaN #o"e" part" of it" former meaning%
/un ,en i" CambodiaI" fir"t ru#er 1ho "eem" indifferent to hi"tory* in the "en"e that he
ma!e" no connection bet1een hi" go.ernment and CambodiaI" pa"t* or bet1een hi"
"ty#e of ru#e and the "ty#e of pre.iou" ru#er"% It i" hard to imagine ,ihanou!* on No#* or
e.en Po# Pot te##ing an audience a" /un ,en did in 1@@;* that it 1a" time to Ndig a ho#e
and bury the pa"tN e.en 1hen 1e con"ider that Nthe pa"tN i" for thou"and" of
Cambodian" an unbearab#e burden%
-lthough overshadowed in many peoplesK minds by more recent events, the colonial era in
Cambodia filled up the first half of the century and laid the groundwork, in many ways for
the regimes that followed
The hi"torian A#ain 9ore"t ha" de"cribed co#onia#i"m in Cambodia a" Npain#e""N 5,an"
heurt"6* and it "eem" fair to "ay that the re#ation"hip" forged bet1een 9rench co#onia#
admini"trator" and the Cambodian e#ite 1ere indeed benign and pain#e""* for the e#ite%
CambodiaI" rura# poor benefited #e""* but 1ith impro.ement" in communication"*
mar!et"* and .eterinary medicine* for e'amp#e* they 1ere better off at the end of the
co#onia# era than they had been at the beginning% &ore important#y* bet1een the 1;;<"
and the 1@8<" Cambodia 1a" at peace% 4uring the co#onia# era* it" popu#ation
Guadrup#ed%
The "hortcoming" of 9rench co#onia#i"m in Cambodia fade in compari"on to 1hat ha"
aff#icted the country "ince 1@><% Nonethe#e""* the 9rench #eft many rough patche" in
Cambodian in"titutiona# #ife% The"e can be traced in part to the fact that the 9rench
ne.er intended to #ea.e% En#i!e the Briti"h and the American" but #i!e the 4utch and
Portugue"e* the 9rench "a1 #itt#e point in educating Cambodian" for .ery #ong or en
ma""e% They "a1 no point in preparing them for a 1or#d any 1ider than 9rench Indo=
China% They a#"o fai#ed to e"tab#i"h a "trong #ega# "y"tem or an independent 0udiciary%
a1" and 0udge"* after a##* might be u"ed to Gue"tion co#onia# ru#e% Cambodian" 1ere
not a##o1ed to participate in 1hat Pau# &u" ha" ca##ed the mono#ogue of co#onia#i"m%
Ender the 9rench* Cambodia 1a" a Guaint bac!1ater* a "ide"ho1 to the main e.ent"
ta!ing p#ace in the component" of -ietnam% Cambodian"* #i!e the ao* 1ere the
Nyounger brother"N of the -ietname"e* not on#y in term" of 9rench in.e"tment and
((
attention* but a#"o for the Indo=China Communi"t Party 1hen it 1a" founded in 1@(<%
The de"cendant" of the bui#der" of Ang!or* in other 1ord"* 1ere not a##o1ed to
con"ider becoming free from the "uffocating embrace" of 9rance and -ietnam% In thi"
conte't* the )hmer 2ouge catch1ord" NindependenceN and N"e#f=ma"teryN* and the
#ength" that the )hmer 2ouge 1ent to achie.e them* ma!e me#ancho#y "en"e%
The mo"t enduring 9rench contribution to Cambodia 1a" probab#y in the con"truction
of ear#y Cambodian hi"tory and in the re"toration and maintenance of temp#e" in the
Ang!or comp#e' and e#"e1here%
The 9rench* of cour"e* did not Ndi"co.erN Ang!or% /enri &ouhot 1a" #ed
to the ruin" in 1;C< by a Cambodian guide% /e found a Buddhi"t
mona"tery and o.er a hundred mon!" in"ide the moat" of Ang!or Wat%
What the 9rench accomp#i"hed by pub#ici+ing Ang!or* on the other hand*
p#ayed up to the fe.eri"h need for e'otic p#ace" that affected nineteenth
century 9rance% In the proce"" of "aying ho1 grand and my"teriou" the
ruin" 1ere* they beGueathed to the Cambodian" a po1erfu# but ambiguou"
#egacy%
Independence from 9rance came by accident for a fe1 month" in 1@8F* 1hen the
:apane"e impri"oned 9rench ci.i# "er.ant" throughout Indo=China% When 9rance
returned in force in 1@8C* -ietnam 1a" a#ready independent under /o Chi &inh* but
CambodiaI" young !ing* Norodom ,ihanou! 5born in 1@226* 1ith no force" at hi"
di"po"a#* 1e#comed the 9rench and for "e.era# year" "ho1ed #itt#e intere"t in
CambodiaI" N"trugg#eN for independence* dominated in Phnom Penh by the anti=
roya#i"t 4emocrat" and in the country"ide by the -ietname"e=contro##ed Communi"t
in"urrectioni"t"% In 1@F2* ,ihanou! #aunched a cru"ade for independence and* 1hen it
1a" granted at the end of 1@F(* dec#ared him"e#f it" NfatherN%
The (/ years that followed have had, to put it mildly, their ups and downs ,t is tempting,
looking back through the smoke of the &''9s, &'F9s and &'/9s to see the so$called #ihanouk
era, which ran from &'88 to &'/9, as a golden egg ,t seemed that way at the time to many
fortunate young foreigners like myself, but even in the &'=9s there were aspects of
#ihanoukKs rule, as well as aspects of -merican policy and the strategies followed by
Thailand and by opposing factions in Vietnam that foreshadowed some of the horrors that
came later ,t was fashionable for foreigners in the &'=9s either to treat #ihanouk as comical,
slightly cra3y and irrelevant 1the prevailing -merican view2 or as the very best that 1poor
old2 Cambodia could do 1a view peddled by the 0rench2
,ihanou! him"e#f 1a" more comp#e'% Whi#e a##o1ing him"e#f to be compared to
Ang!orean !ing"* the Prince had fe1 i##u"ion"* thought the 1or"t of a#mo"t e.eryone*
and 1a" a contradictory mi'ture* #i!e mo"t of u"* of compu#"ion"* affection"* phobia"*
"trength" and fau#t"% Into#erant of di""ent* contemptuou" of hi" ad.i"or" and
(8
enormou"#y .ain* hi" affection for CambodiaI" N#itt#e peop#eN 1a" unfeigned and "et
him apart from any Cambodian ru#er before or "ince% /e 1or!ed e'treme#y hard% /i"
dip#omatic "!i##" a##o1ed Cambodia to a.oid the 1ar #onger than "eemed po""ib#e at the
time* but 1hen the bet" 1ere off in 1@>< the Prince readi#y a##o1ed foreign force" to
combine 1ith #oca# one" to tear hi" be#o.ed country apart%
4e"pite hi" eagerne"" to be con"idered up to date* ,ihanou! "trugg#ed throughout hi"
time in po1er to !eep Cambodia from being affected by anything out"ide it" border"%
/e 1anted Cambodia to be an Ni"#and of peaceN 5!oh "anthipheap6* "o a" to maintain it
a" a Etopia 51hich had been an i"#and6 at a time 1hen Co#d War and the t1entieth
century 1ere penetrating e.ery noo! and cranny of the 1or#d% A" in the 1;(<" and
1;8<"* 1hen the country had been a batt#efie#d bet1een Thai#and and -ietnam*
Cambodia cou#d offer no defen"e" of it" o1n once the Co#d War* and the t1entieth
century* arri.ed in force%
The pattern" of g#oba#i+ation that I ha.e "ugge"ted might be bringing CambodiaI"
autonomou" hi"tory to a c#o"e began to be fe#t in the 1@C<"* and became e.en more
e.ident in CambodiaI" ci.i# 1ar in 1@><=1@>F% Without the American" aiding on No#
and the -ietname"e he#ping the )hmer 2ouge* the fighting 1ou#d ne.er ha.e !i##ed "o
many peop#e* or done "o much harm to the country% Without ,ihanou!I" b#e""ing* the
re"i"tance 1ou#d ha.e "trugg#ed for #egitimacy% The NNi'on doctrine in it" pure"t
formN* combined 1ith mi"con"trued &ar'i"m=enini"m and ,ihanou!I" appetite" for
f#attery and re.enge* came c#o"e to ma!ing Cambodia di"appear%
Ironica##y* 4emocratic )ampuchea* bi##ed by the )hmer 2ouge a" #aunching Cambodia
into a beautifu#* uncharted future* 1a" in fact a .aing#oriou" attempt to return the
country to it" Etopian* i"#and "tatu"* cutting it off from foreign inf#uence" and infection"
1hi#e "ee!ing Nindependence=ma"teryN in a 1ay that fa.ored the Cambodian NraceN
51hate.er that 1a"6 at the e'pen"e of the -ietname"e%
In effect* the )hmer 2ouge tried to fine""e the t1entieth century and to remo.e
Cambodia from ,outhea"t A"ia% They 1anted to turn the c#oc! bac!* not to Nyear +eroN
5a phra"e that they ne.er u"ed6 but to a time before corruption* "treaming in from
e#"e1here* had occurred% on No# may ha.e had the "ame !ind of re.er"ion in mind
1hen he named hi" futi#e offen"e" again"t -ietname"e Nunbe#ie.er"N 5tmi#6 in 1@>< and
1@>1 after a pre=Ang!orean !ingdom* !no1n to Chine"e a" Chen#a%
It 1ou#d be 1rong* ho1e.er* to e'aggerate the bac!1ard=#oo!ing a"pect" of the )hmer
2ouge era* 1hich might be better characteri+ed a" a co##ecti.e #eap into the dar!%
-lthough an image of -ngkor appeared on the 6) flag, as on every other one since
independence, references to CambodiaKs supposedly glorious past were rare, harsh, and
without heroes ?istory was devalued because none of it, e"cept the peasantsK recently
demonstrated liberation, was thought to be worth preserving
I"o#ationi"m fai#ed in #ate 1@>; 1hen -ietname"e armie" o.erpo1ered 4)% D.er the
(=
ne't fe1 year"* -ietnam returned Cambodia to Indo=China and brought it into the
confraternity of "ocia#i"t nation"=in the #a"t decade that the phenomenon e'i"ted% A"ide
from the"e Nopening"N* Cambodia 1a" i"o#ated from the re"t of the 1or#d* and
remained a p#aything of #arger po1er"% The Peop#e"I 2epub#ic of )ampuchea 5P2)6
"trugg#ed to introduce e#ement" of "ocia#i"m 1hi#e re"toring cu#tura# and re#igiou"
practice" that had been de"troyed by the )hmer 2ouge% The countryI" i"o#ation from
Thai#and* initiated under the 9rench* continued 1hi#e o.er ha#f a mi##ion Cambodian"
"ought refuge acro"" the Thai=Cambodian border% In tho"e camp" not contro##ed by the
)hmer 2ouge* Cambodian" came in contact 1ith peop#e from foreign countrie"* 1ith
1e"tern in"titution"* g#oba# cu#ture and 1ith the po""ibi#ity of emigration% In the 1@;<"*
NCambodiaN "pread into "outhern Ca#ifornia and into the "uburb" of ,ydney*
&e#bourne* and Pari" name on#y a fe1 of their de"tination"%
Approaching recent Cambodian hi"tory .ia the per"ona#itie" of it" #eader" i" not
e"pecia##y fruitfu#* e'cept in"ofar a" doing "o "et" the ru#er" in "harp contra"t 1ith each
other* a" each of them "tro.e to do% To begin 1ith* the 9rench "ought to introduce order
into the chaotic admini"trati.e "y"tem that they found in Cambodia 1hen they arri.ed%
,ihanou!* rep#acing them* tried hard to per"ona#i+e hi" ru#e and to in"pire hi"
Nchi#drenN* the Cambodian peop#e% Thi" f#amboyance faded under the taciturn on
No#* 1hi#e the NWi#d We"tN character of Phnom Penh in the 1@><" became* in turn*
anathema to the "mooth=featured* "ecreti.e Po# Pot% The -ietname"e* #i!e the 9rench*
offered co##ecti.e* deper"ona#i+ed protection and guidance=the Nmono#ogue of
co#onia#i"mN again=to a "e.ere#y damaged country* 1hi#e in the 1@@<" /un ,en* #i!e
,ihanou!* ha" "ought to impart a high#y per"ona# f#a.or to hi" time in po1er%
At no time* e'cept perhap" under ,ihanou! in the decade fo##o1ing independence* ha" a
preceding regime been gi.en credit for anything* or ha" continuity been fa.ored o.er
change% The inabi#ity that ha" p#agued CambodiaI" po#itic" throughout it" hi"tory
dimini"he" "#ight#y under authoritarian ru#e* and re"pect for human right" dimini"he"
e.en more% There i" no inherent "tabi#ity in the Cambodian N"y"temN* 1hich i" a#1ay"
dependent on a gi.en regimeI" "ty#e* on "hifting pattern" of patronage* and on the
premi"e" that 1inner" ta!e a## and that po#itica# opponent"* by definition* put their #i.e"
at ri"!%
CambodiaKs entry into -#E-N in &''' marked its belated departure from ,ndo$China and its
entry into #outheast -sia from which it has been isolated by accident, warfare or design since
the &F=9s
Change" in 1or#d a#ignment" ha.e a#"o a#tered the character of CambodiaI" foreign
re#ation"% A" the century c#o"e"* "e.era# "uppo"ed#y immutab#e Ngi.en"N no #onger
app#y% Cambodian foreign po#icy no #onger con"i"t" 5or 1i## no #onger be a##o1ed to
con"i"t6 of p#aying it" neighbor" off again"t each other or of "ee!ing a #arger* more
di"tant patron to protect it from in.a"ion% The menace of in.a"ion ha" faded* the
neighbor" are committed to g#oba#i+ation* and the #arger patron" are no #onger there%
With the end of the Co#d 1ar* Cambodia no #onger "er.e" a" anyoneI" "ide"ho1 or
(/
"urrogate% In"tead* a" thi" often humi#iating !ind of hi"tory come" to an end* Cambodia
re.ert" to the "tatu" it en0oyed on and off in time" of peace fo##o1ing the dec#ine of
Ang!or* identifiab#e once again a" a "ma## Buddhi"t !ingdom 1ith a g#oriou" pa"t and
fe1 re"ource" other than tho"e di"p#ayed on a dai#y ba"i" by it" re"i#ient* courageou"
peop#e%
16avid Chandler teaches at @eorgetown :niversity ?is most recent book is G-oice" from ,$
21: Terror and /i"tory in Po# PotI" ,ecret Pri"onH 1:niversity of California 7ress2
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Cambodian Traditiona# ,ociety dated bac! to Ang!or time
Traditiona# Cambodian "ociety 1a" formed e""entia##y of three c#a""e" = pea"ant"*
officia#"* and roya#ty% -ery fe1 )hmer became merchant"* and to the e'tent that an
urban popu#ation apart from the court and officia#" e'i"ted* it 1a" compo"ed main#y of
non=)hmer* genera##y Chine"e% Thi" di.i"ion of "ociety probab#y goe" bac! to the
Ang!or period 1hen nationa# 1ea#th 1a" produced from the #and and co##ected by
officia#"* 1ho channe#ed it to the court and re#igiou" apparatu" 1here it 1a" u"ed
#arge#y for bui#ding the temp#e" and "upporting the "pecia#i+ed popu#ation attached to
them% A part of the 1ea#th co##ected by officia#" remained in their hand" for their
"upport in #ieu of "a#ary* but thi" 1a" accepted a" the 1ay in 1hich the "y"tem natura##y
functioned% Each of the c#a""e" had a function be#ie.ed e""entia# for the 1e#fare of the
"ociety* and in 1hich the !ingI" ro#e 1a" Gua"i=re#igiou" and ritua#%
A#though the Ang!orian "tate dec#ined and di"appeared* the o#d di.i"ion of "ociety
per"i"ted% 9or the ma"" of the popu#ation* "ocia# po"ition 1a" fi'ed* and it 1ou#d ha.e
been a#mo"t unthin!ab#e to imagine ri"ing abo.e the c#a"" into 1hich on 1a" born%
Dcca"iona##y* perhap" in time of 1ar* or for e'ceptiona# "er.ice" to a po1erfu# patron*
"omeone from a pea"ant bac!ground might ri"e into the officia# c#a"" and thereby
change the "tatu" of hi" immediate fami#y: and chi#dren might be educated in an officia#
fami#y or at court to become officia#"* but "uch occurred too rare#y for any e'pectation
of "ocia# mobi#ity to be part of pub#ic con"ciou"ne""%
The po""ibi#ity of 1ea#th accumu#ation i" a#"o #imited% and 1a" not per"ona# property*
but in theory be#onged to the !ing% An energetic pea"ant cou#d thu" not accumu#ate #and
and 1ea#th through hard 1or! and ab"temiou"ne"" and mo.e up the "ca#e to rich
farmer* entrepreneur* or 1hate.er% The on#y po""ibi#ity for 1ea#th accumu#ation #ay in
an officia# career% E.en there #ife 1a" ha+ardou"% Dfficia#" 1ere of cour"e more or #e""
1ea#thy* and the officia# "tatu" of a fami#y might continue for generation"* but their
"tatu" 1a" not a""ured by any forma# #ega#ity* and cou#d be ended precipitou"#y at roya#
di"p#ea"ure = in"tance* if an officia# "ho1ed "ign of accumu#ating too much 1ea#th or
po1er% E.en if a career did not end in di"grace* 1ea#th accumu#ated into the form of
go#d* 0e1e#"* other preciou" good"* or dependent"* might re.ert to the "tate at an
officia#I" death rather than pa""ing in inheritance to hi" fami#y% There 1a" thu" no
incenti.e* or po""ibi#ity* to u"e 1ea#th for #ong=term con"tructi.e purpo"e" or
(F
entrepreneuria# in.e"tment%
1+ichael Vickery4 Cambodia: 1@>F=1@;(* #outh End 7ress, #ingapore, &'F(2
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Two differentiated views on French Colonialism and Vietnamese imperialism
over Cambodia by an American and an Australian experts on Cambodian
We can only speculate what might have happened if the nineteenth century had not been
marked by Frances advance into Vietnam and subsequently into Cambodia. Yet while It
can only be speculation, the likely lines of historical development that might have affected
Cambodia do not seem difficult to trace. Without the French advance it seems hard to think
of Cambodia being left for long to play its buffer zone role. clipse as a state seemed !
though it can never be argued in any certain fashion " the most likely fate in store for this
painfully weak country.
The decision of the French in Vietnam to etend control over Cambodia beginning in the
!"#$s may therefore be seen as ensuring the states survival.
%ource& 'ilton (sborne) %outheast *sia& an +ntroductory ,istory) -eorge *llen . /nwin)
%idney0 !1"2
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For Cambodia, the choice was only between a serial rapist (French
colonialism) and a serial killer (Vietnamese imperialism)
4hmer rulers of the mid5nineteenth century acquiesced in the establishment of a French
protectorate over their kingdom. 6ecause they saw it as a way of ensuring their national
survival against local foreign foes. 7et0 while in the short run Cambodia may have been
8saved8 9*lthough this was hardly the purpose of Frances imperial intervention:0 in the
long run it probably lost more than it gained from French colonial rule.
;ichard 6utwell0 0 outheast Asia! a "olitical #ntroduction 0 9<raeger <ublishers0 =ew
7ork0 !1>?:
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
Conservatism and underdevelopment were preserved in Cambodia under French
colonialism
@ Consider the contrast between Cambodia and +ndonesia. +n the former the real impact of
French colonialism was not felt until the beginning of the twentieth century. The 4ing of
('
Cambodia continued to reign and to remain for the overwhelming maAority of his subAects
the almost divine centre of the world. Western ideas and Western education had only barely
penetrated Cambodia before the %econd World War0 and the impact of the French
controlled5colonial economy had little clear effect on the bulk of the population. Western
education had had an impact in +ndonesia by the end of the !12$s that was an order that
simply could not be compared with the situation in Cambodia where by !121 fewer than a
doBen Cambodians had completed the equivalent of a French secondary school education.
Cambodia0 Caos and to some etent 'alaya showed the degree to which an alliance of
interest between members of the traditional ruling class and the colonial power could act to
inhibit the development of nationalist activity. The alliance involved did not Aust relate to
personal concerns such as a measure of power and wealth. +n the political and social
climate of the !1D$s and !12$s it was possible for Cambodian and Caotian kings and
princes0 and for 'alay sultans to feel that their countrymen were benefiting from the
operation of the colonial system.8
%ource& 'ilton (sborne) %outheast *sia& an +ntroductory ,istory) -eorge *llen . /nwin)
%idney0 !1"2
33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
Cambodian "enchant for $rutality is in the %hmer &ores
These stories 9brutality: do not come from "ol "ot's Cambodia0 but from a book by $un
Chan &ol0 published in !1>2 and relating his own eperiences among the Cambodian
+ssaraks in the !1E$s. ,e himself was political leader of the group carrying out the
eecution of the enemy for whom the prisoners were accused of working was the French
colonial administration0 and the title of the book is Charet Khmer, (Khmer Mores)(
$un Chan &ol *ave up #ssarak activities in +,-,, and one of the reasons, he tells us in
his book, was his inability to either tolerate or suppress the *ratuitous brutality of his
underlin*s who considered such method a normal way of dealin* with enemies and
who took obvious pleasure in it) $esides their deli*ht in inhuman torture, he
complains about their indiscipline, refusal to investi*ate thorou*hly before takin*
action, arbitrary exercise of power, sometimes for petty personal reasons, and
suspicion of anyone, includin* himself, their political chief, who ob.ected) /e calls
these practices part of (%hmer &ores,( the title of his book, most of which dealt with
the decline of %hmer politics in the +,01s and +,21s)
'ichael Vickery0 Cambodia& !1>?5"D) 9%outh Fnd <ress0 %ingapore0 !1"E:
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Cambodian "olitics and $uddhism and the perpetuation of ine3uality
+n the face of the gradual disaffection from traditional 6uddhism which 4bihara noticed0
the Cambodia elite sought to reemphasiBe religion as a technique for repressing the new
89
desire for social mobility. +n !1??0 when revolutionary forces were threatening0 a
newspaper representing %ihanouks new coalition of the right maintained editorially that
the country should be ruled by its natural leaders0 who are the rich and powerful. The less
fortunate should not envy them and try to take their place, for each person's situation
in the present is determined by his past actions) The poor should accept their fate, live
virtuously, and try to accumulate merit in order to improve their station in another
existence)
&ichael Vickery, Cambodia! +,506789 (outh 4nd "ress, in*apore, +,7-)
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8&

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