Who rules Cambodia ?

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Who Rules Cambodia?

Text translated from French (l'article en français se trouve en fin de la traduction anglaise)
By Jean Claude Santerre

On the road, Bopha explained me that everything is easy for us [Vietnamese] here in Cambodia. The Cambodian leaders are gullible, uncultivated and uneducated. She says that “we just need to let them cover the front of the political scene and let them drown themselves in the thirst of the power and the money”. After that, we can do all what we want to do. Sometimes, our leaders come to visit these Cambodian leaders when they are sick.

I was asked to reassess the travel tours in the former French Indochina on behalf of a low cost operator tour. Fascinated by the idea of discovering these countries, I was left with a simple backpack that day when I was assigned this mission.

Halong Bay was the first destination, where I surprisingly met Bopha, her Cambodian name, a lovely girl, a resident of Phnom Penh. She was my girl friend when she came to study in France. After spending a night together at the hotel, she accepted to be my guide. She became my interpreter. She speaks fluently Vietnamese and Khmer.

She has a good proficiency in French and English. She took me to the places where beauty is subliminal. I was really fascinated by the charm and the magnificent softness of this place. As prescribed in my specifications, I also had to go to Cambodia to assess the routes and locations to offer customers of the tour operator. Always accompanied by my guide who goes home in Phnom Penh, I was surprised by large movements back and forth across the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

With my many years of experience and having travelled far more distant lands, I have never seen a country where border control is lax, not to say non-existent. Flows of goods, and incoming and outgoing movements of Vietnamese in Cambodia are countless. Surprised to see all this traffic, I asked Bopha: “what makes so many people come and go there?”. She answered with smile: “Cambodia is a paradise for us”.

After crossing the border, we travel on our way to Phnom Penh, where I was received by the family of Bopha. Bopha's father had come from Vietnam and moved to Cambodia in 1982. He was a part of the Vietnamese state apparatus settled in Cambodia by the Vietnamese government. He receives about $ 5,000 per month from the Vietnamese government to conduct missions in Cambodia.

The same as Bopha's father, many Vietnamese remained in Cambodia after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops in 1989. All occupied a position either within the government of Hun Sen or in the booming business of the country. Bopha and her brothers and sisters, all born in Vietnam, have been educated at the University of Phnom Penh, she said. One of her brothers came to study in France.

Bopha and her parents hosted a festive evening in my honor. I was deeply moved. I could not forget their warm hospitality and kindness. The next day I returned to my work by visiting Phnom Penh. I was very struck by an immense contrast between a wealthy minority driving very new beautiful brand 4x4 cars and a majority of the population living in a kind of huts with a very condition.

One evening, Bopha suggested me to make a night-trip with her. We go bars and restaurants the most expensive in the Cambodian capital. There, I saw young people spending money without counting. The money keeps flowing. Bopha explained me that these young people are from the ruling class in Phnum Penh.

Leaving the bar, we were passing one of the villas that belongs to one of the top generals of Hun Sen, Ke Kim Yan. Bopha told me that one of his children has just got married, in late January, 2011, to one of the daughters of a senior military man, who had led the tanks to eradicate, in July, 1997 the military supporters of the royal party.

Among the guests at the wedding, were Hun Sen, himself, Sok An, and several other senior government officials of Cambodia, she said. These people have the greatest fortunes in Cambodia. They have spent over 200,000 dollars just for the bouquet of flowers and other decoration, over 500,000 worth of diamond finery.

The newlyweds received a wedding gift a beautiful house with a golf course. I was wondering, given their large villas very secure, where their fortune comes from? The country seems so poor. Large part of population lives in rural areas in a kind of hut which would not certainly resist the blow of violent wind.

After this night-visit in Phnom Penh which a little shook my consciousness, I asked Bopha if she could accompany me to Siem Reap. On the road, Bopha explained me that everything is easy for us here in Cambodia. The Cambodian leaders are gullible, uncultivated and uneducated. She says that “we just need to let them cover the front of the political scene and let them drown themselves in the thirst of the power and the money”. After that, we can do all what we want to do. Sometimes, our leaders come to visit these Cambodian leaders when they are sick.

Bopha reassures me that she was very interested to work with my tour operator. When we arrived in Siem Reap, she introduced me to some of the managers of the hotels there. The way she talks with them makes me think they know each other very well. One of them offered me a night in his hotel. Bopha went back Phnom Penh at the evening. We promised each other to keep in touch for the travel project. She gave me the address of her father’s brother who lives in Laos. The next day, I took a day to discover the city of Siem Reap before continuing on my way to Laos. I met few people working for NGOs. They told me about things that are totally invisible in the eyes of uninformed visitors further information additionally to all what the Bopha told me.

Surprised by the quiet unconsciousness of the Cambodian leaders of such an important national problem, I decided to provide my testimony in honor of the poor but always smiling people I met during my trip.

Jean Claude SANTERRE