Dr. Wan Ha Ryu, President of Dongguk University WISE;
University management, professors, and students;
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen!
To begin, I would like to once again thank Dongguk University WISE for awarding me an honorary doctorate degree in “Leadership and Peacebuilding”. With this esteemed honor, I would like to deliver a Special Lecture on “Cambodia’s Experience in National Liberation, Peacebuilding, Reconciliation and Reconstruction”. I can say that this topic is profoundly connected to my lifelong mission of serving Cambodia as the Prime Minister for 38 years. It has always been my desire to share my experiences in leading Cambodia with domestic and international audiences, following my decision to take the burden off my shoulders and let the new generation lead the government.
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The decision to transfer power to the next generation can be seen as another new Cambodian experience that answers the question of who is going to take over after Hun Sen? It has been resolved for more than a year ago. The experience of giving up power in exchange for long-term peace is the right thing to do.
I would like to open a bracket to respond to the recent raising issues […] whether Mr. Hun Sen is suitable to receive a degree from a university in Korea or not? I have commented on post in a TikTok profile from Bangkok […] in which Cambodians in the United States posted a statement whether Hun Sen was qualified to receive an honorary degree from Korea. Or not? The professor has just read a speech that so far I have received more than 10 honorary degrees, starting from two universities in the United States, Southern California University in political science and in law from Iowa. In the Republic of Korea, this is the third honorary degree I have received […] I have been conferred two in Thailand, one in Malaysia, two in China, one to be received in Indonesia, and others, including the European Union. I have received many honorary doctor degrees, but please do not ask this question to Korea. Please ask this question to the United States as to why the United States gave an honorary doctor degree to Hun Sen? I do not need to make any comments on anything, it is just that this is a related story, where some say that I am not qualified for a degree here. This is just an immediate response to those bad comments so that the reputation of the Dongguk University will not be tarnished.
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Like other freedom fighters, my starting point was never like a fairy tale. Born in the time when Cambodia was under French colonization, I have known the taste of war between French soldiers and rebel groups since I was a baby, as my parents had to bring their children to the trench to avoid danger when there was fighting.
It was Cambodia’s good fortune that His Majesty the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, the Father of the Nation, led the struggle for independence on 9 November 1953 and the nation-building for 16 years. Cambodian people benefited from independence and development, despite being disrupted by Red, Blue and White Khmer armed rebels. This was a peace that lacks stability due to numerous rebellions coupled with the bombing along the border with South Vietnam, and such peace lasted for just 16 years. Cambodia was once again engulfed in flames of war after the coup overthrowing His Majesty the late King Father on18 March 1970and the invasion by American and South Vietnamese troops.
From what I have mentioned, we can tell that those who were born in my generation, did not have sufficient time to receive education and enjoy our youth. Instead, we became hostages of war and were left with no other choices.
Unable to bear the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime and unwilling to sit idly by as the Khmer nation collapsed, I, then serving as a Battalion Commander controlling and commanding over 2,000 soldiers, decided to flee to Vietnam and risk my life as a last resort to liberate the nation from Pol Pot genocidal regime. On the night of 20 June 1977, four comrades and I left a military post in Koh Thmor village, Tonlong commune, Memot district, Tbong Khmum province in the eastern part of the country to cross the border into Vietnam. At that time, I had a few options to fight the Khmer Rouge, but I chose to cross into Vietnam to ask for their help in liberating the country. This choice undoubtedly stands as the best decision in the history for the survival of the Khmer nation. During such a dangerous time, I was determined that my path was not to seek safety solely for myself, but to help save the entire nation. Without a strong commitment and a clear plan for the nation, Vietnamese friends would not have trusted me and helped me build the armed force with around ten thousand Cambodian troops and build a political organization, namely the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, to hold the political flag, nor would they have been willing to send the Vietnamese volunteer troops to help Cambodia.
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I can point out that, at that time, if I made the wrong decision by commanding my troops to fight and occupy certain areas, we might have been able to control those areas for a week or at most three weeks, and we would die in a pool of blood. It was not a good choice. I think, however, I made the right decision.
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At this juncture, I would like to express once again my deep and lasting gratitude to Vietnam, and especially the Vietnamese volunteer troops, for sacrificing their lives to liberate Cambodia from the clutches of the Pol Pot genocidal regime.
Following the liberation on 7 January 1979, we faced the immense challenge of rebuilding the country with bare hands. On the one hand, we had to protect against the potential return of the Khmer Rouge regime and ensure the safety of our people. On the other hand, we must strive to find and provide food for our starving people, set up national governing institutions, and revive the economy at a time when our human resources had been almost decimated. Not only was the domestic situation, even the international situation was also unfavorable to us. The international community did not recognize the government which liberated the nation, and Cambodia’s seat at the United Nations was occupied by the Khmer Rouge for 12 years, during which we had to endure unjust diplomatic and economic sanctions. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the age of 27, I was truly in pain and haven’t forgotten about it yet.
When becoming the Prime Minister of Cambodia in 1985, I was only 33 years old and was the youngest Prime Minister in the world at that time. Immediately after assuming the position of Prime Minister, I declared that no military approach would resolve Cambodia’s conflicts and the sole route to peace for Cambodia was through negotiations and political solutions among Cambodians. It is in this spirit that I issued a five-point declaration in October 1987, to solve Cambodia’s issues, namely: 1). Organize a Sihanouk-Hun Sen Meeting; 2). Complete the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia, along with the cessation of all aid and support to the forces of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea; 3). Organize an election with international observers to form a coalition government that adheres to the principles of neutrality and non-alignment; 4). Negotiate with Thailand to establish a safe and peaceful border and arrange for the voluntary repatriation of refugees; and 5). Organize an international conference to ensure the impending agreement with the participation of both governments (Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea and the People’s Republic of Kampuchea), the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Vietnam, India, and other countries.
With this in mind, I was the driving force behind the first meeting which we called the “Sihanouk-Hun Sen Meeting” on 2 December 1987 in Fère-en-Tardenois, France, which paved the way for the true negotiation process towards a final political solution through the signing of the Agreements on the Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict or Paris Agreements on 23 October 1991.
It is without a doubt that the Paris Agreements were a significant and positive turning point in the history of Cambodia. As a result of these agreements, Cambodia was able to restore its relations with the international community and the Royal Government, established through elections organized by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), also regained its seat at the United Nations. This agreement enabled Cambodia to adopt a new constitution in 1993 that embraced the constitutional monarchy, multi-party liberal democracy and free market economy. Cambodia always acknowledges and appreciates the international community for its efforts to find peace for Cambodia. We must also give justice and show gratitude to Vietnam for helping in building Cambodian troops and sending their volunteer troops to help liberate Cambodia from the Pol Pot genocidal regime; and, the withdraw of their entire troops from Cambodia in 1989 had paved the way for the progress of negotiations, which at that time were stalled by the issues of the Khmer Rouge’s future and the presence of foreign troops.
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I would like to emphasize here that the conflict in Cambodia has two aspects. One is the internal aspect and the other is the international aspect. The international landscape refers to the presence of Vietnamese troops in Cambodia and the provision of assistance to the tripartite army, which, specifically, was in Thailand at the time. Thus, the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops from Cambodia would end the international hurdle. Therefore, there remained only the internal aspect of the conflict that need to be addressed, and it was related to the future of the Khmer Rouge.
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Nevertheless, with many positive outcomes, UNTAC left Cambodia without fulfilling its mission completely. Despite the Paris Agreements, the Khmer Rouge did not comply, and United Nations also failed to force the Khmer Rouge to disarm and participate in the democratic process. In other words, the ultimate goal of achieving complete peace, as outlined in the agreements, was not realized. Even after elections and the establishment of the Royal Government in 1993, civil war continued, with Cambodia experiencing controlled areas divided between the Royal Government and the Khmer Rouge.
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That means (Cambodia was) a country that had two territories and two governments at the time.
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It was at this point that I initiated the Win-Win Policy and negotiations between Khmer and Khmer in 1996 to unite and integrate all parties into a single government, single legal system, and sing military, laying a solid foundation for lasting peace, national reconciliation, and national development.
This policy successfully ended more than three decades of civil war without a single bullet, through the peaceful integration and dissolution of the Khmer Rouge political organization, as laid out in the Divide, Isolate, Finish, Integrate, and Development (DIFID) strategy. I issued the “Three Guarantees” for members of the Khmer Rouge, who no longer wanted to see bloodshed among Cambodians and were willing to surrender to live in a society, where there were no winners or losers, but all Cambodians emerged as winners with the long-awaited peace. I put my own life at stake to pursue the negotiations and promote the implementation of the Win-Win Policy, until we achieved complete success on 29 December 1998, when the Khmer Rouge’s political and military organization was dissolved. The success of the Win-Win Policy has given Cambodia complete peace, unity within the army, and complete control over its territorial integrity, which is one of the greatest social achievements we have ever experienced in the last 500 years of our history, as in the past, we were always a country with at least two dominions at the same time.
I have also reflected carefully on the importance of delivering justice for the Cambodian people, especially “justice for the dead and peace for the survivors” as a vital step towards national reconciliation in the aftermath of the conflict. This is exemplified by the establishment of the first international hybrid tribunal, known as Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), with the collaboration with the UN, to bring to trial the five senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for their atrocities and crimes against humanity, holding them accountable to both the world and national history. The extraordinary achievement of the ECCC was concluded and jointly announced by the Kingdom of Cambodia and the United Nations in December 2022. This set a landmark example of this type of international tribunals, in not only fostering social cohesion but also preventing retaliation and widespread resentment among the Cambodian people.
Aside from the peacebuilding efforts, I also wish to remind that, despite accusations that Cambodia in the 1980s was ruled by a Communist regime with Vietnamese army in Cambodia to prevent the return of the Pol Pot Regime, Vietnam in fact respected Cambodia’s decisions in all areas relating governing the country. As a matter of fact, in 1985, I was the chief architect, undertaking land reforms and implementing a land allocation policy that provided private ownership to the Cambodian people. In late 1980s, I also played a leading role in spearheading economic reforms, transforming Cambodia from a planned economy towards a market-oriented economy, at the time when the Soviet Union and Vietnam had not yet implemented similar reforms.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cambodia’s economy was extremely fragile, with economic and infrastructure developments in the country heavily reliant on foreign aids. We persistently exerted considerable effort to drive forward domestic reforms, while simultaneously striving for Cambodia’s integration into regional and global economy. Under my leadership, the Royal Government of Cambodia effectively launched and implemented the Triangular Strategy from 1998 to 2003, followed by the four phases of the Rectangular Strategy from 2003 to 2023.
The Triangular Strategy emphasized three key priorities, including: 1). Pacification with the aim to maintain order, stability, security, and peacebuilding within the country; 2). Cambodia’s integration into the regional and international community, including international financial institutions, and normalization of Cambodia’s relationship with other countries to enhance exchanges of trade and investment; and 3). Socio-economic development, poverty reduction, governance, institutional and judicial reforms, and public sector management.
From the third mandate (2004-2008) to the sixth mandate, the Royal Government of Cambodia adopted and implemented the Rectangular Strategy to transform into a “Royal Government of Economy” with the motto: “Royal Government of Growth, Employment, Equity, and Efficiency”. This strategy involved executing a comprehensive economic agenda to improve and build the capacity of public institutions, strengthen good governance, and modernize national economic infrastructure such as roads, railways, and air connectivity. The goal was to promote economic growth, create jobs for all citizens, ensure social equity, and enhance the efficiency of the public sector.
Alongside the promotion of the internal development, we had also advanced regional and international integration to create new opportunities for diplomatic relations, economic cooperation, and sustainable development. I led Cambodia into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1999 and served as the ASEAN rotating chair three times in 2002, 2012, and 2022. Through ASEAN, Cambodia has gained tremendous benefits with various international partners, and we have established interwoven relationships through numerous bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. Additionally, Cambodia successfully joined the World Trade Organization in 2004.
Through the formulation and effective implementation of the national development policy, Cambodia has remarkably transformed its status, if we compare to other countries emerging from wars around the same time as Cambodia. We have transformed from a poor and conflict-prone society to one with stability, peace, and security, where our people are beginning to reap the benefits of peace and development. The poverty rate was reduced to below 10% before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are on track to fully graduate from the status of a least developed country in 2029. Cambodia has transitioned from a country with severe revenue deficits and reliance on development partners for two-thirds of the national budget to a country capable of managing its national budget with strong ownership, and having financial reserves to protect the national economy and the livelihoods of its citizens against crises and disasters. Building on these achievements, the new mandate government has also prepared strategic plans with confidence, aiming to transform Cambodia into a High-Income Country by 2050. We have moved from being an isolated nation under international sanctions into a nation deeply integrated into the region and the world, and capable of deploying peacekeeping forces and participating actively in peace initiatives both within and beyond the region.
Although there are still several points that I wish to share, due to time constraints, I will now conclude the historical facts of Cambodia and proceed on to provide a brief summary of the fundamental lessons derived from our journey of peacebuilding and national reconciliation as follows:
1st Ownership of the nation’s destiny: A nation must have ownership of its national issues. When a nation loses ownership of its destiny, it becomes vulnerable to divisions and crises. Similarly, the pursuit of peace must originate from the citizens of the nation, and long-lasting solutions require participations from citizens and armed forces across all political spectrums before achieving national unity and a singular national armed force. Even though Cambodia received support from foreign friends and the United Nations, lasting peace cannot be attained unless it is initiated and actively pursued by Cambodia itself. This is the true essence of the Win-Win Policy, which was initiated by Cambodians, participated and implemented by Cambodians, and reaped benefits by Cambodians.
2nd The international community must work together and prioritize the preservation of existing peace, over seeking or building peace that has been lost. War is undoubtedly easy to ignite, but it took Cambodia 30 years to extinguish the flame of wars. We have experienced total peace for just 26 years, but it is the longest peace in the last 500 years of our history. It is unfortunate that we often receive criticism that we talk too much about peace and fuel the fear of war. A section of our younger generation has gradually taken peace for granted, underestimating it, with some even seeking to pursue a change of government through undemocratic means, even at the cost of sacrificing peace in the process. Such trends are dangerous, and all international communities must work together to prevent, condemn, and oppose this kind of extremist ideology. We must strive to educate our citizens about the value of peace, without which we cannot speak so eloquently about human rights, democracy, and development.
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I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a bit. Some people say that since there is peace now, why is it necessary to keep talking about peace? I would like to raise the question to this that why the United States and some other countries that are already at peace try to modernize their weapons systems? They are for protecting their peace, aren’t they? It is clear that the modernization of the army or the armed forces or their equipment for the protection of national security is due to fact that there have people who want to destroy the peace. It is, therefore, not uncommon for Cambodia to talk about peace and to talk about peacekeeping. If countries do not talk and think about peace, why do they need to build and modernize their military forces? The world is stepping up the arms race, and increasing military spending. Hence, they should not forget about Cambodia’s peace.
The extremist groups have raised this issue, and I should say here that perhaps Cambodia needs to legislate in the near future to classify certain groups or organizations as terrorist groups. We are considering this because they are still trying to destroy our peace. Therefore, to ensure this issue, we need to think carefully. For more than 20 years we have had peace, it is a very short time, but it is also very long compared to the peace we had in the past, which was only 16 – 17 years of Sangkum Reastr Niyum of Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk. We have peace for 26 years now. We do not peace for just 26 years. We need a lasting peace.
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3rd Even if peace is achieved, it will not endure without national unity, reconciliation, justice, and sustainable and inclusive development. With Cambodia’s experience, we must strive to find ways to ensure that peace could last and take deep root in the society, through national reconciliation and unity. I want to emphasize the importance of promoting the “Culture of Dialogue” in Cambodia’s political sphere, as our country has endured a cycle of brutal violence, frequent undemocratic regime changes, and relentless revenges. Even after Cambodia achieved full peace in 1998, I continued to practice this “Culture of Dialogue” with other political parties to foster harmony, strengthen national unity, and nurture democracy. We recognize that democracy is a management regime, respecting diversity and providing effective means of resolving and managing political dissent through votes, rather than through bullets, violence, or insurgency.
Today, Cambodia has many political parties, but Cambodia no longer has many armed groups. It is also noteworthy that violence during elections has disappeared completely from Cambodia’s politics, thanks to the success of the Win-Win Policy. This is a historical fact of Cambodian politics, reflecting the political maturity and progress of democracy in Cambodia.
Efforts to reduce poverty and promote comprehensive and inclusive development remain an essential policy to maintain lasting peace and stability. When a country experiences widespread poverty and many people are unemployed and uneducated, people are susceptible to extremist ideologies that seek to blame an institution or social group to express their anger. Therefore, this poses a significant challenge for developing countries, as there is no magic to create immediate development in all sectors across the countries, as some people desire. For a nation with limited means and resources like developed countries, the government truly need the support and understanding of the general population regarding the pace of national development. At this point, I also want advanced countries to understand the difficulties of developing countries as well. We want to see support from our friends. We do not want to see interference into our internal affairs, by exploiting our limitations of institutional capacity and resources and provoking unrest among citizens and support extremist ideologies that aim to overthrow the government through undemocratic means. We ask for constructive support, rather than efforts to discredit, obstruct, or hinder our chosen path of development without consideration of values of peace, hardship, and the countless tragedies of the Cambodian people.
I hope that today’s lecture will contribute to deepening the understanding of the values of peace and the difficulties in peacebuilding, national reconciliation and unity, as well as preserving long-lasting peace particularly in developing countries.
To conclude, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen for listening attentively to my lectures, and I wish you all happiness and prosperity. Thank you!
