CAMBODIAN NATIONALISM AND ITS RELATIONS TO MASS KILLING AND GENOCIDE (1975-1979)

Abstract

Talking about Pol Pot as a regime as well as Pol Pot as a person, most people in Cambodia would start with the atrocity of the regime under which about 1.7 million people perished from mid-1975 to early 1979. Yet, Pol Pot and his followers claimed that what they did was to protect the nation; their crimes were partly hidden under the banner of their nationalism. This research argues that the nationalism of Pol Pot during Democratic Kampuchea was an extreme form of Cambodian nationalism which resulted from a false belief that killing those who were considered enemies was a must in order to defend the nation. “Yuon Invader” became a main belief of this kind of nationalism. The interviews with former Khmer Rouge cadres, especially those who had worked closely with Pol Pot, revealed part of the factors behind the mass killing during Democratic Kampuchea, particularly, the Vietnamese civilians and their Khmer associates. Moreover, party documents, particularly the Revolutionary Flag, are used to feature Cambodian nationalism during Democratic Kampuchea against the Vietnamese. Going back to the colonial period, Nagara Vatta newspaper did prove the nationalist idea against Vietnamese. Additionally, during the first half of the 1970s, a strong nationalist sentiment against Vietnamese can be found in several publications and historical events. In this research, I will firstly review the historical background of Cambodian nationalism. This is followed by a discussion of a form of nationalism against Vietnam during Democratic Kampuchea. Finally, the consequences of the nationalism against Vietnam will be analyzed. The study suggests that the form of nationalism during Democratic Kampuchea was dangerous for humanity; so it can be a lesson learned for avoiding a repetition of the recent history of human tragedy in Cambodia.