ABSTRACT
Cambodia stands encapsulated within two dominant, and somewhat contradictory, narratives. On the one hand, it is commonly suggested that an era of civil war and genocide inflicted irrevocable damage and that Pol Pot’s attempt to return to “year zero” annihilated, even erased, the country’s culture, whereas for others, Cambodian culture is being successfully restored, rejuvenated and, perhaps, even enjoying a renaissance. For those with an unshakeable investment in Cambodian culture, such as our three speakers above, the coexistence of these two narratives has paired feelings
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some insights into the needs and wishes of the Cambodian people, and highlighted pressing issues confronting a nation still recovering from years of civil war and the devastating regime of the Khmer Rouge. As with other post-conflict, developing countries, economic progress was high on the agenda, but equally important for some was the rehabilitation of a national identity and culture based on the ideals of “peace, independence [and] freedom.” Held three years after the first internationally validated multi-party election in Cambodian history, the conference rightly captured all the hope, concern, and differences in opinion in terms of the priorities to be set inherent in a nascent “democracy.” However, after spending in excess of two billion dollars on the 1993 elections, an unprecedented amount for a peacetime operation, the United Nations (UN) would see their efforts at establishing a compromise dual government unravel in 1997 with Hun Sen of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) staging a coup de force to oust his co-prime minister, Norodom Ranariddh of the Royalist FUNCINPEC Party (Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique, et Coopératif). Hun Sen’s seizure of control over the military forces, police, and civil administration signaled Cambodia’s return to a more familiar model of “Strongman” authoritarian politics.2
