< Many Faces of South-East Asia> ---Cambodia---

What do we know of Cambodia? Only two things comes to your mind-Angkor Wat and
the Khmer Rouge...

Angkor Wat is a historical temple built in the early 21st century A.D. for King Suryavarman II. Now
temple is a UNESCO World heritage site.

The Khmer Rouge was a communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During the four
year reign, Cambodia had underwent the most traumatic political eras in the history of mankind.

Under the reign, an estimated 1.5 million Cambodians lost their lives. Private properties, religion and
money were banned, family was separated while the whole city was ruined.
Cambodia was located in the South-East Asia and borders on the Gulf of Thailand, sandwiched
between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The country is full of paddies and forest flanked by the
Mekong River and Tonle Sap (Great Lake of Cambodia).

In the seventh century A.D., the Angkor empire flourished under the rule of King Jayavarman II's
rule. The famous Angkor Wat temple was built as a testament to the prosperous era. Over the next
600years, his successors had expanded control over much of mainland South-East Asia, including
Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.  Being part of Indochina (a peninsula lying roughly on the
southwest of China and east of India. It refers to the location of the territory between the two
countries, even though the majority of people are neither Chinese nor Indian), they are strongly
influenced by the Indian civilization on its writing system, cultural movements, architectural
styles. and even Hindu and Buddhist teachings. Being sandwiched between powerful countries,
Cambodia has to work very hard to defend itself from them between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Thailand invaded several times, destroyed the capital Phnom Penh in 1772, as well as in the final
years of the 18th century A.D. Vietnam attempted to conquer Cambodia.

In the 1850s, Cambodians request French protection from its neighbours but was colonised by them instead. The colonised regime ended during the second world war. King Sihanouk gain control in 1952, reigned in power from 1955-1970, however he was removed from power by the communists in year 1968 due to the civil war. Thereafter, Cambodia was renamed the Khmer Republic.

The notorious  known " Pol Pot" was the leader and in the year 1975, he started his merciless drive to start a "New Cambodia"
Education was banned, and anyone wearing "spectacles" was executed. people who reside in the city were hand over to slave labour in the agricultural fields.

His regime of terror only ended with a Vietnamese military assault on the dictatorship in 1978.

90% of the Cambodians are Khmer, who are generally tall, have slightly darker skin and short curly hair. Their heritage hints at a mixture of Mongol and Melanesian bloodlines, though their origins are unknown.

The national flower of Cambodia can be found everywhere in the country , as they are planted in public parks for decorative purposes. The Rumdul bears aromatic yellowish-white flowers and can grow up to 12metres tall. In the olden days, Cambodian women were compared to this delicate flower.

There are over 100 stone temples all across Cambodia, and they were built during the Khmer civilization, between 802-1220. These stone temples represent Cambodia's golden era with its focus on grand ceremonies.

Today the country is a multi-democracy party under a constitutional monarchy, and is striving to reclaims its dignity and wealth.

References:
 Asiapac Culture (2010). Many faces of Southeast Asia. Singapore: Asiapac Books Pte Ltd.