The Khmer Rouge was a brutal regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. It led to the deaths of more than two millions innocent people. When the Khmer Rouge regime was ended in January 1979, people fled out the country because of fear and the uncertainty of the new regime. The majority of people walked to the border of Thailand and stayed in the refugees camp and waited for moving to a third country (chapter 5).
Cambodia was variously called:
- The Kingdom of Cambodia (1953-1970),
- The Khmer Republic under Lon Nol regime (1970-1975),
- Democratic Kampuchea under Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979)
- The People’s Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1993)
- Kingdom of Cambodia ( from 1993)
Following the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops in 1989, the Cambodian government entered into negotiations with the political opposition. The negotiations led to a constitutional change, the reintroduction of multiparty democracy, the stationing of UN peacekeeping forces in Cambodia. The monarchy was restored.
Prince Norodom Sihanouk became the new King of Cambodia. Elections were held for the first time in 1993. The outcome of the election was not satisfactory to local government and for peaceful transition, two prime ministers were appointed by King Sihanouk after the 1993 election: Hun Sen, First prime minister and Prince Norodom Ranarith, son of King Sihanouk, Second prime minister. What a grave mistake to have two prime ministers governed Cambodia. Both political parties fought against each other vigorously to control the power.
Richard began his work in Cambodia in September 1996 in the Ministry of Mines and Energy located on Norodom Boulevard, near the Central Market while I was teaching at Ranum in Denver, Colorado.
I came to visit Richard in Cambodia during the summer of 1997. It was my first visit since I left Cambodia with my two children, Podaly (4 years old) and Porendy (11 months) in March 1975 (chapter 3) before the Khmer Rouge regime.
I arrived at Pochentong airport in the morning of June 6, 1997. Cambodian airport in Phnom Penh is called Pochentong airport. It was a small airport and there was no gate for the plane to park near by. While the plane was landed and moved slowly on the runway, I looked through the window and saw the building and the landing field that were the same when I left this same airport 20 years ago. I was a little emotional, happy and excited that I was able to come back to my native country for a second time. The plane was landed on the field and the passengers had to descend the stairs to the ground and walked to the Immigration building which reminded me of the airport of Lubumbashi, Zaire in April 1975. The Pochentong airport is about 12 kilometers to the city of Phnom Penh. Richard drove me to his appartement near the Central Market. On the way to his apartment, I noticed that the building and houses along the road were old and the outside was molded. I was sad that Phnom Penh had changed a lot. I had mixed emotions when looking at the houses, the streets and old buildings, and people etc…I felt happy that I was able to come back to Cambodia after 21 years living abroad, but sad to see buildings and other things turned so old in Phnom Penh. It was completely different from before. The Khmer Rouge regime didn’t do anything to build the country, but tortured people and killed millions of innocent lives. Cambodia was under the reconstruction under the the control of the two prime ministers.
Richard’s apartment was on the fourth floor and there was no elevator. The staircase had 99 steps to the top floor. Good exercise for me. I enjoyed my stay in the capital Phnom Penh. We visited my hometown, Kompong Cham province, that was about 130 kilometers from Phnom Penh.. it was about 2 hours 15 minutes drive. We drove around the city and stopped by my two houses. I was excited to see my hometown and my two houses. The city and the houses were completely changed. I was heartbroken when I saw my two houses that were totally different from before. Perfect strangers lived in our houses. After visiting my neighborhood, we went to the house of Richard’s mom (my mother-in-law. and I came from the same town). Richard’s aunt and his cousin lived there.
In the morning of July 5, 1997, we woke up with a loud noise of gunfire. I looked down to the street and saw people rushed and stepped in the house. We were so worried about this situation and tried to figure it out, but had no clue as the television and radio were shut down. I was thinking of the scary event of the Khmer Rouge in 1975.
In 1997, long tensions between the two governing parties led to violence between supporters of Prince Ranarith and of Hun Sen. It was a clash between Hun Sen and Ranarith. On July 5, Hun Sen troops surrounded a military garrison belonging to Ranarith. It was a coup resulting a number of heavy casualties, 32 people were killed during the conflict. Ranarith troops retreated from their positions at the Phnom Penh airport and fled to another provinces. The royalist resistance was crushed in Phnom Penh. Hun Sen declared Nararith ousted. Following the seize of power by Hun Sen, prince Ranarith went into exile in Paris, France.
We stayed in the apartment two days without going down to the street. Phnom Penh was in the state of emergency and no one was allow to move in the city. It last two days until everything was back to normal. The airport was not functional because of the gun fires crossed from the two parties and the building was under repair. All the airplanes were suspended and no flights were allowed to fly in or out of Cambodia for a couple weeks. My return flight to Denver, CO was on July 20th. It was delayed for one week that finally I could return to Denver. I continue teaching at Ranum high school while Richard was in Cambodia doing his work at the Ministry of Industry.
Richard and I led this separate life living apart for four more years (1997-2001). However, I could return to Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia) only once a year for two months during school vacation in the summer. My family put lot of pressure on me to move to Cambodia and live with Richard as soon as possible. I couldn’t do it at that time as I must wait for my retirement in June 2001.
I was looking for my retirement that I could return to Cambodia and be together and live with Richard.