CSIS hosted the launching of a book on Cambodian politics by Benny Widyono, entitled “Dancing in Shadows”. The book is a memoir of his five years in Cambodia. From 1992 until 1993 he was member of UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority on Cambodia) and from 1994 until 1997 he served as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Representative in Cambodia.

The author started his speech by reminiscing King Sihanouk’s comment about his own country as a country stuck between crocodile (Vietnam) and tiger (Thailand). The author continued by explaining the reason behind the title of the book. He saw King Sihanouk, Khmer Rouge and the United Nations (UN) were dancing in the shadows and prolonging the sufferings of the Cambodian people.

Cambodiahad due to its geopolitical location, seen itself subjugated to the ongoing power struggles for hegemony in Southeast Asia. As a result, prior to the arrival of UNTAC in March 1992 Cambodia was, for more than twenty two years, plunged into chaos, turmoil, civil war and deep despair.

Khmer Rouge during its reign from April 17 1975 to January 7 1979 has massacred an estimated 1.7 million people or one third of the population. Khmer Rouge also effectively abolished private property, family life, religion, money, and urban life.

He described Sihanouk’s role as King that helped the meteoric rise of the Khmer Rouge from a small communist movement to a formidable force which ruled the country from 1975 to 1979. Such support was appreciated by China and aid was poured in. Khmer Rouge was cruel throughout the period, torturing and killing people, enforcing child soldiers from the poorest of the poor.

When Cambodia was liberated by Hun Sen with the help of the Vietnamese army in 1979, the UN still acknowledged the Khmer Rouge as the government. China and US conspired to continue recognizing the genocidal regime because they were anti-Vietnam.

Situation continued for 11 more years until 1991 when the Paris Agreements were signed. In New York where the author served in the United Nations, the flag of the Khmer Rouge continued to fly for eleven more years which was an insult to the Cambodian people who have suffered so much. Meanwhile in Phnom Penh, the PRK under Hun Sen, though de facto ruling the country, went unrecognized, received no aid and was politically isolated, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Cambodian people for eleven years after the Khmer Rouge was ousted.

The book book differs from others in that it argues that the dancing in shadows among the three actors, Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations continued during the UNTAC period.

He contended that the Paris Agreements carried original sins because it did not put Khmer Rouge as the enemy but the legitimate ruler or the country. Reference to “genocide” or any term related to the cruelty was taken out and changed to “situations in the past”.

The first of the coalition, pressed by the United States, China and their allies, was that the Democratic Kampuchean "faction" was to play a legitimate role in Cambodian politics as one of four factions with whom UNTAC had to deal.

The other three factions were the FUNCINPEC (Royalist party), the KPNLF (anti communist pro US faction) and the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) headed by Premier Hun Sen which had ruled the country for eleven years.

UNTAC was given executive governance powers by the Supreme National Council, headed by Sihanouk, a symbolic entity consisting of the four factions with no real power. Although the UN did not recognize the PRK under Hun Sen, he was de facto the only real government. One can imagine the chaos which this caused for the UNTAC operations.

The Paris Agreements placed some heavy burdens on the UNTAC operation. UNTAC failed to disarm the four factional armies because the Khmer Rouge refused to be disarmed. The Bamboo pole incident is when UNTAC failed to control the four “existing “administrative structures”.

However UNTAC is not without successes. 360,000 refugees were returned from the Thai border and participated in the elections. UNTAC’s elections in 1993 were successful with more than 90% eligible voters participating. A new government was established with two prime ministers Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen.

Sihanouk wanted to be the King that rules, not just reigned. Sihanouk had no faith in Ranariddh’s capacity and Hun Sen’s presence is a threat to him, until Khmer Rouge came. He saw Khmer Rouge’s attack to the capital as an opportunity to deal with the pebbles in his shoes. Then a coup d’etat happened when Khmer Rouge was declared as outlaws.

Sihanouk continued to manipulate Cambodian politics, engaging in dancing in shadows with Hun Sen, gradually losing power until he abdicated in 2004 leaving Hun Sen as the new dominant power in the country or what the author called the salami approach. When Hun Sen and Ranariddh finally cooperated, they were named “whispering government” because though Ranariddh do the public speaking, Hun Sen did the whispering on the back telling him what to do. Coalition continued until Hun Sen kicked Ranariddh out of his seat. Hun Sen ammended the Constitution that guaranteed his party’s position without having to continue with any coalition.

Many blamed the UN for not allowing Ranariddh to rule after he won in the election. “How do you allow Ranariddh to rule when the whole country is controled by Hun Sen, who held the whole military?”

The story in the book ended in 1979 and Hadi Soesastro added the more recent history of Cambodia, surrounding the event of Cambodia being refused as member of ASEAN. All in all, especially for the last 10 years or so, Cambodia has actually consolidated its position as an autocratic regime with the dictatorship of Hun Sen.

With regard to the Khmer Rouge’s international tribunal, the author compared the trial with the Nuremberg trial. It will take long time and it will be different from the Serbian or other recent trials. Hun Sen insisted to have a Cambodian Court and have very little trust to UN after being manipulated in the past. The author maintains that such manipulation still continue. He mentioned the US’ refusal to contribute financially to the trial until all Khmer Rouge was put on trial. But it is complicated because King Sihanouk and Hun Sen were also Khmer Rouge.

Ali Alatas added some notes. After the Paris Agreement, the Khmer Rouge was excluded though not disarmed by the forces. At the behest of the negotiator, Ali Alatas had a secret meeting in Bangkok with Khmer Rouge leadership and asked them whether they were serious in their last minute refusal to join the Paris Accord. They said yes and Ali Alatas said that if they did not join, no one will support them including China. Khmer Rouge said they will take that risk. They were in pockets near borders and Pnom Penh, only UN troops can talk to them.

Ali Alatas agreed that there are two problems. When they were about to join ASEAN, they were supposed to enter together with Myanmar and Laos. But one week before or so, there was a coup d’etat by Hun Sen. ASEAN after a lot of debates, decided to postpone. Ali Alatas together with two other ASEAN member countries representatives were sent to solve the problem. Hun Sen was furious and refused to join ASEAN because ASEAN was seen to be interfering. Ali Alatas tried to be patience and explained that they do not want to interfere. But because Hun Sen wanted to join ASEAN, therefore they have the desire to talk to Hun Sen regarding the coup. The solution was that Ranariddh became Chairman of the Parliament and Hun Sen remain the sole Prime Minester.

Ali Alatas referred to the humanitarian intervention and mentioned the rejection of the Third countries. The first reason is the sovereignty issue. Second is that it was patently clear that it could only be applied to smaller countries. Chechnya was still a problem, but nobody talked about it because Russian is so big. This was patent discriminatory, that’s why the non-alliance countries refused to accept.