On January 7, 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia was ousted from power. The Communist regime was accused of ordering the mass slaughter of more than 1 million Cambodians. Last week the Cambodian government marked the 30th year of the downfall of the Khmer Rouge. But opinion is divided whether this day should be celebrated as Liberation Day or Invasion Day since Vietnam, which helped in removing the Khmer Rouge, occupied Cambodia until 1988.
Prime Minister Hun Sen insists January 7, 1979 was a victory over genocide. He criticizes those who refuse to honor the occasion:
“This is the truth of history that even those unwise groups and extremist groups must acknowledge this truth. If you dare not acknowledge the truth, you are not a human being, you are a real animal. This is the truth. If we didn’t have the 7th January 1979, we will not have today.”
But Sophan Seng explains why not all Cambodians are joining the government in the celebration:
“To celebrate this day is not significantly representing Cambodians as the whole nation. It is only celebrated by the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has been in power since the day of January 7, 1979.
“It has not been generally accepted by the Cambodian people. Whatever theme each celebration expects to achieve, those themes still belong to the CPP, and it is truly reminding Cambodian people of the brutality, the foreign invasion and the nonstop division among Cambodian nationals.”
Modern Progressive Khmer mentions Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia after January 7, 1979:
“January 7th did in fact stop the killing, but Cambodia was not free. Vietnam occupied Cambodia; therefore, by definition Cambodia was not liberated. This is why the word “liberation” has a major semantic problem. One cannot call oneself a liberated being if one is not free to determine one’s destiny. Liberation could not be further from the truth. The world knows that Cambodia was under Vietnam’s control from the day it invaded Cambodia until it was pressured to withdraw.”
The opposition believes the true day of liberation came on Oct. 23, 1991 when the Paris Peace Accords were signed. Opposition lawmaker Sam Rainsy raises another point:
“Celebrating January 7 without having in mind a broader historical perspective, is playing into the hands of the current Phnom Penh regime whose only raison d'être was to “free” the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge with communist Vietnam's decisive but not unselfish help.”
The Son of the Empire provides an initial roundup of views about the issue. Khmerization uploads pictures of the government-led celebration of the event last week.
Send this by E-mail
Carmen Ferreiro1 posts 
Riyadh Al Balushi39 posts 
Paula Góes577 posts 
Karlo Mikhail Mongaya43 posts 
Ethan Zuckerman93 posts 
Matt Holland2 posts 
Samuel Maina18 posts 
Michael Kan2 posts 
Sadiq Alam1 posts 
Mac-Jordan1 posts 
Diego Casaes11 posts 
Tomomi Sasaki69 posts
It is both an invasion and a liberation day, because by sending the troops in to a sovereign country, Vietnam has violated the territorial integrity of that country. But at the same time, by invading Cambodia, the Vietnamese invasion had saved thousands and probably millions of life.