(Jakarta): Cambodian Senate President, Samdech Techo Hun Sen became emotional and shed tears as he recalled the painful history of Cambodia, marked by prolonged conflict, especially the time he sought support from Viet Nam to help overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime.
Samdech Techo delivered a lecture titled “Visions and Experiences in Cambodia’s Peacebuilding Efforts” at the ERIA School of Government in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Samdech Techo recalled that during his journey to seek aid to topple the Khmer Rouge alongside his comrades, he once considered committing suicide if Viet Nam had arrested and handed him back to the Khmer Rouge, who would have executed him by stabbing his throat with 12 sharpened sticks.
Unable to bear the brutal and barbaric acts of the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed over three million people in more than three years, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, then a commander leading over 2,000 soldiers, decided to flee to Viet Nam. He was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to liberate Cambodia from the genocidal regime.
On the night of 20 June 1977, at the age of 25, Samdech Techo and four comrades left Cambodia through Memot District, Kampong Cham Province, leaving behind his pregnant wife. The child in her womb would later become Cambodia’s current Prime Minister Hun Manet. During the dangerous midnight journey, he had prepared several options to resist the Khmer Rouge, but ultimately decided to cross the border and request Viet Nam’s help to liberate the country, a choice he described as the best during that difficult time.
Samdech Techo outlined the four options he had at the time including use his 2,000-strong force to seize control of some areas, which was a dangerous choice due to the Khmer Rouge’s numerical superiority; flee to Viet Nam to seek assistance in liberating Cambodia; do nothing and be captured and killed by the Khmer Rouge; or commit suicide.
Samdech Techo underscored, "Committing suicide was not a good option, but I prepared to do it if Viet Nam arrested and sent me back to Cambodia. I would rather take my own life than let the Khmer Rouge kill me. I kept 12 sharpened sticks in my pocket. If they had handed me over, I would have stabbed my own throat with all 12. I would not let the Khmer Rouge kill me."
After this tremendous sacrifice by Samdech Techo Hun Sen and his four comrades in fleeing to Viet Nam, the Vietnamese side listened to his account and agreed to help liberate Cambodia and its people from the brutal hands of the Khmer Rouge. Because of the unimaginable hardships endured, Samdech Techo declared that no one must ever again be allowed to destroy the peace that Cambodia enjoys today.
=FRESH NEWS
