April Fool's Day
Dear All,
We should learn and teach our kids for many generation
to come about the real April Fool's Day.
How the Official Departure of the Marshal President
from Phnom Penh, Khmer Republic
on April 1, 1975 was decided and prepared.
*** ---***
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HIGH ATTENTION
OF
H.E. THE MARSHAL, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
The Committee whose composition follows held a meeting
from 09:30 Hours to 12:30 Hours:
1. Gen. Sau Kam Khoy, President of the Senate
2. Mr. Ung Bun Hor, President of the National
Assembly
3. Mr. Long Boret, Prime Minister
4. Mr. Hang Thun Hak, Vice Prime Minister
5. Gen. Sak Sutsakhan, Vice Prime Minister, Minister
of National Defense and Chief of EMG/FANK
6. Mr. Pan Sothi, Vice Prime Minister
7. Mr. Long Botta, minister
8. Mr. Thong Lim Houng, Minister
9. Mr. Keam Reth, Minister
10. Gen. Lon Non
11. Gen. Les Kosem
12. Mr. Kim Nguon Trach, Governor of BNC (absent
follow three-quarters hour of meeting, having been
convoked by the Marshal)
Note : Admiral Vong Sarendy, retained by operations,
could not attend the meeting.
The following personalities were designated as
spokesmen of the Committee to render an account to
the High Attention of H.E. the Marshal, President
of the Republic, of the conclusions extricated from
the deliberations of its members:
- Mr. Sau Kham Khoy
- Mr. Ung Bun Hor
- Mr. Long Boret
- Mr. Hang Thun Hak
- Mr. Sak Sutsakhan
1) Resignation:
Mr. President of the republic must not resign
from his present functions.
2) Departure for Abroad:
The Committee believes that we are only able to
pursue our struggle thanks to the aid and support of
friendly countries (USA, ASEAN and Japan, notably).
Without their material and financial aid, and their
political and diplomatic support, our determination
alone will not suffice to safeguard our liberty and
our republic.
Consequently, in this critical moment, we are
obligated to take into account their opinions and
suggestions. It is essential to be able to permit
these friends to offer new elements with a view toward
a new diplomatic assault in our favor.
In case his tactical absence from the country would
not yield anticipated result, we would ask the Marshal
toreturn.
3) Form of departure: According to the opinions of the
Ambassadors of ASEAN and Japan, an official visit to
their countries would be faced with many obstacles in
the present circumstances:
- security
- news media in their countries
- likelihood of hostile demonstrations from students
and leftist elements.
The practical and best solution is for the Marshal to
go for a health cure in a friendly country in which
the security is assured and the atmosphere amicable.
He is suggested to choose Hawaii, as before.
In any case, the departure must be carried out with
honor and dignity.
In the opinions of the Ambassadors of friendly
countries (japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia), the
decision should be made asfast as possible because,
they emphasize, "time presses" and the speculations
would increase.
The above opinion is given in all honesty, in all
loyalty and in all fidelity toward the Marshal and the
Republic.
Phnom Penh, March 23, 1975
Signed:
- Ung Bun Hor
- Sau Kham Khoy
- Lt. Gen. Sak Sutsakhan
- Hang Thun Hak
- Long Boret
* This was the " APRIL FOOL " in Cambodia, 30 years
ago. Its impacts on the Khmer History costed almost 2
millions lives. This was a way in DEPENDING on other
country aid.
Should every Khmer learn and teach this lesson to
his/her young generation ?
On Sun, 28 Mar 1999 10:20:28 EST,
jayvarm...@aol.com<http://us.mc823.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jayvarm...@aol.com>
wrote:
April Fool's Day:
Dear Friends,
April Fool's Day will be here in two days. Every
April, I always do have a flashback. A flashback that
scars my heart my mind and my soul for the rest of my
life. Certain personalities who associated themselves
with April Fool's Day in 1975 brought my memory back
clearly. Let's travel back to the past.
Everyone is welcomed with your inputs.
In 1975, seemingly blind to the abyss before them,
Khmer Republic leaders allowed in squabbling and
blame-shifting that alienated everyone and
isolated Lon Nol, then the President of Khmer
Republic. Cambodian politicians eventually persuaded
their president, Mr. Lon Nol to temporarily leave
the country while a cease-fire was worked out between
them and the Khmer Rouge.
Previously, the communist Khmer Rouge had rejected
peace feelers twice, in 1973 and 1974. They had
repeatedly demonstrated their fanaticism and
intent to seek total victory. And they were, in fact,
and everyone knew it well, on the verge of victory.
On April Fool's Day 1975, President Lon Nol and his
entourage flew into exile, ending up in the United
States. The president of the senate, 61-year- old
Saukham Khoy, became acting president of the republic.
On April 12, seeing the end in sight, the U.S. Embassy
evacuated its staff and a number ofnon- Americans. I
stood and watched curiously the American evacuation
team with ton of butterflies in my stomach.
That same morning, Cambodia's congress transferred all
power to the military.
A Supreme Committee composed of four officers and
three civilians was selected. The next day, the
committee members named Lt. Gen. Sak Sutsakhan as
their president. A futile cease-fire proposal was sent
to the Khmer Rouge leadership.
On April 14, for the third time during the war, a
defecting Cambodian pilot attempted an aerial
assassination of the nation's chief executive.
That morning, a T-28 armed trainer flown by the
defector Khiev Yos Savath, released at least four
250-pound bombs over the FANK headquarters(EMG). Two
landed about 60 feet from where General Sutsakhan was
chairing a cabinet meeting.
The officials were unhurt, but seven others were
killed and many people were hurt. Less than 24 hours
later Takhmau, where I lived, the fashionable
capital of Kandal province only seven miles below
Phnom Penh and a keystone of the FANK defenses, was
overrun. Kandal province's Governor fled. The
east-west
dike that formed the main defense line to the North
were also fell.
Ponchentong Airport was next. On April 16, the United
States arranged some air-supply missions to the
smoke-shrouded capital of Phnom Penh, whose
streets now teemed with leaderless soldiers and
homeless civilians.
The plug was pulled on the 17th. General Sutsakhan and
a handful of otherpeople were helicoptered out,
subsequently finding temporary refuge in Thailand. The
remaining FANK strongholds throughout the country fell
like dominos. Despite the confusion reigning in Phnom
Penh that April 17, most of its citizens were elated.
The five-year war finally was over. Surely the
victorious Communists, after making whatever changes
they wanted, would permit life to go on as before.
Black-uniformed youths entered the capital, exchanging
greetings with the joyous population, accepting the
surrender of the FANK soldiers and even leading a
triumphal parade along the waterfront. It was all a
charade by student activists who had decided to join
the revolution by taking over the city and handing it
to the Khmer Rouge.
By midday the real Communists, streamed into Phnom
Penh. The students were arrested as "CIA agents."
Government officials were rounded up for
execution.
City residents, including refugees, were forced into
the countryside to labor or die. It was the beginning
of the Khmer Rouge's Year Zero and the notorious
killing fields in which millions perished. Majority of
those people were the one who was loyal to the
American backed government of Marshal Lon Nol:the
republicans.
The principal Communist leader, 46-year-old Pol Pot,
returned to the capital on April 23 after a 12-year
absence. He was so paranoid and secretive that
it was not until 1977 that he publicly admitted that
Angkar (the organization), which ruled the renamed
democratic Kampuchea, was synonymous with the
PCK.
The Cambodian war may indeed have been what has been
called a sideshow--arguably less important in the
long run than the fighting in Laos and Vietnam--but it
nevertheless was a vital part of America's effort
to combat communism in Southeast Asia.
According to public documents, the Khmer Republic
government received $1.85 billion in U.S. military
and economic aid. Some Americans were killed in the
conflict. U.S. air bombardment there cost another $7
billion.
Cambodian resistance diminished North Vietnamese power
and facilitated America's withdrawal from an unwanted
war. Sadly, the cost to the people
of Cambodia was prohibitive. The drawing out of the
conflict enabled the Khmer Rouge to gain supremacy
while its Communist North Vietnamese mentors
primarily concentrated on conquering South Vietnam.
Clearly, the Cambodian War of 1970-1975 is a tragic
episode in America's Southeast Asian military
heritage.
April Fool's day is here again. Do you remember where
you were in 1975 on April Fool's day?
Have a great April Fool's day!
Virak Pruhm
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