Cambodia is the country where the Cold War was fought with guns, bombs and landmines. In the 1970s its leaders terrorized their people into reverting to the Stone Age. A handful of the perpetrators of the virtual genocide that ensued, are only now being brought to trial.
Blame for the depth of the tragedy that marks Cambodia’s recent history lies across the whole of the international community. Nearly twenty years after the first elections presided over by the United Nations, the country continues to struggle for a cohesive social fabric.
This picture is represented not least in Cambodia’s education system. Low enrolments, high dropout rates and high repetition rates in public schools are problems compounded by low teacher salaries and an environment where transparency, accountability and recognition of ability are difficult to achieve.
It was as far back as the 9th to the 12th century that Cambodia was at the zenith of its military and artistic power, occupying what are today parts of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia. However, a combination of increasing power amongst those who had once paid homage to Angkor and the induction of Theravada Buddhism, changed Cambodia for good. From the 14th century, the country was ravaged by constant invasions and wars up until the 19th century, when finally King Norodom handed governance to the French.
While the French built roads and improved other transportation and trade, they neglected the educational system. In 1953, King Sihanouk negotiated independence from the French shortly before their defeat at the hands of Ho Chi Minh. Sihanouk then abdicated from the throne and took on a political role polarising the country between the urban wealthy and the rural poor. The Vietnam War saw America drop more ordinance on the country than they had used during the entire Second World War. The indiscriminate killing of civilian populations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia left nearly five million dead, of whom nearly one million were Cambodian. The scene was ripe for a radical fringe group to seize control of the country and in 1975 the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh only days before the North Vietnamese took Saigon.
And so Cambodia descended into perhaps its darkest period. A paranoid regime murdered nearly two million of their fellow countrymen through mass executions or starvation. The populations were expelled from the cities and set to work on ill-conceived agricultural projects in some deluded attempt to recreate the glory days of Angkor. Books and money were burned and symbols of education and development destroyed. In 1978 the Vietnamese invaded, pushing back the Khmer Rouge to the Thai border ushering in a renewed period of civil war. This was supported by all the major powers in the name of geopolitics leaving no one without blood on their hands. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 the Soviets ran out of funding for the Vietnamese invading force and they withdrew, leaving the United Nations to occupy the country and set up the first elections in 1993.
At the polls, the Cambodians voted for a royalist party, FUNCINPEC. However, Hun Sen, leader of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), who won the second largest number of seats, and had been installed as Prime Minister on the withdrawal of the Vietnamese, refused to give up his power. In a compromise, Prince Norodom Ranariddh of FUNCINPEC became First Prime Minister and Hun Sen became the Second Prime Minister. However in 1997 when Prince Ranariddh was overseas, Hun Sen organized a violent takeover and has been in power ever since, despite several violent elections.
There is far greater stability in Cambodia today, although the country relies heavily on foreign aid. China’s expansionary ambitions in the region and the presence of oil off the Cambodian coast have renewed interest in the country and the Government continues to play off one suitor against another in deft style. Institutional development remains desperately slow and tortuous with high levels of corruption apparent in every aspect of society that will prove immensely difficult to change.
The demeanour of these beautifully gentle people belies their violent past and the economic oppression they now live under. With a population exceeding 14 million and an area of 181,000 km2, it is estimated that 36% of Cambodia’s citizens live below the poverty line, increasing to 42% in rural areas. With 4 out of 10 families unable to produce enough to meet their basic needs, Cambodia is a first class example of a humanitarian conundrum that needs to be worked on if wealthy countries are ever to be seen as examples of inclusive societies.
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