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Representing Heritage without Territory—The Khmer Rouge at the UNESCO in Paris during the 1980s and their Political Strategy for Angkor

  • Chapter
Cultural Heritage as Civilizing Mission

Abstract

In the modern history of Cambodia, the temples of Angkor were constantly (ab)used for identity constructions by the actual ruling powers. In this game, the years between 1979 and 1989 represent a unique case study: While the Cambodian territory itself was occupied by the Vietnamese Heng Samrin-regime, the resistance movements around the Khmer Rouge were driven out of the country but recognized by the United Nations as the legal Khmer government under the name of Democratic Kampuchea. As a clever political strategy and in coalition with the former King Norodom Sihanouk, its political leaders around Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary appropriated the Western discourse on national cultural heritage: with its Permanent UNESCO-Delegation in Paris, the “safeguarding of Angkor” was promoted as an inseparable part of the diplomatic struggle towards national independence. This paper tries to analyse the ways and means of the “Angkor-as-heritage discourse” of the Khmer Rouge/Democratic Kampuchea in the 1980s, including the reactions of UNESCO and the international community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Most of the sources cited in this analysis refer to the UNESCO Archive in Paris at Miollis/Bonvin-site. I am grateful to the archive staff for their patience and assistance while I conducted research. For the translation of Khmer and Vietnamese texts I would like to thank Vathdana Chavelith and Sokhalay Saur, both in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

  2. 2.

    For the general history of the PRK, see Klintworth 1989, Chhim 2000, Slocomb 2003, for its political strategies compare Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1983, 1985.

  3. 3.

    “Decision concerning the setting up of a committee to report on and care for the Angkorian temples,” no. 49SSR, for COM, chairman Chan Si, (16.3.1984, Phnom Penh). Mentioned in Slocomb 2003, 184 and 305.

  4. 4.

    See the undated report of the Archaeological Survey of India “Conservation at the Angkor Wat during the season 1986–7 and 1987–88.” UNESCO Archives Paris, dossier CLT.CH.191/1986–1989.

  5. 5.

    “The monks have returned to the restored pagodas to pray Buddha […] Kampuchea is on the way of rebirth. On the tombs of the victims of a monstrous genocide, a whole nation, strong from the glorious past of the Angkorian civilisation, revived and is marching firmly straight on, following this era’s common trend […] under the flag of Marxism-Leninism” (Truong Chinh 1981/82).

  6. 6.

    Bulletin d’information, Délégation permanente du Kampuchéa Démocratique auprès de l’UNESCO 10 (May 3, 1982): 15–16.

  7. 7.

    Cf. with Fig. 1 in Locard’s contribution, and Fig. 23 in the epilogue in this volume.

  8. 8.

    “ASEAN welcomes Angkor Wat plan.” Bangkok Post, September 11, 1984.

  9. 9.

    Ted Morello. “Bid to save Angkor. A proposal to protect Cambodia’s most revered monument is rejected by Heng Samrin regime.” Economic Review, December 6, 1984.

  10. 10.

    UNESCO Press Release 12 (February 1984) and an internal report both in UNESCO Archives Paris, dossier CLT.CH.THS.APA 566 (1982–1986).

  11. 11.

    Heng Samrin’s army installed artillery at the Phnom Bakheng, a temple hill not far from Angkor Wat, and controlled the major entry points to the city of Siem Reap. However, the Khmer Rouge were a constant threat, especially during the night. There are even reports of fortification works inside the Angkor Park after 1982 that could not be verified for this research: “[…] the frequency and the difficulty of the levies increased. The work involved cutting swathes in the forest and erecting strategic barriers around villages. The first clearing seems to have taken place in the park of Angkor in late 1982. They then occurred almost everywhere in the country for the purpose of destroying the guerillas’ sanctuaries, situated in the dense forests of the mountains and plains.” (Martin 1994, 222).

  12. 12.

    Broadcasts of Xinhua News Agency Beijing on 12.6.1987 and on Radio Phnom Penh on 30.6.1987 (Summary of World Broadcasts by British Broadcasting Corporation), quoted in Raszelenberg and Schier 1995, 122.

  13. 13.

    Letter from M’Bow to Javier Perez de Cuellar, the secretary-general of the United Nations, New York (July 4, 1987). UNESCO Archives Paris, dossier CLT.CH.191/1986–1989.

  14. 14.

    The author would like to thank Mr. Jacques for his valuable insights into this period during his visit to and talk at the Heidelberg Conference in 2011, which finally led to this publication.

  15. 15.

    The minutes of this meeting were summarized in several points: “6. The DG stressed the need for immediate action to strengthen the on-going restoration efforts which have only received limited international assistance [..] 7. Assuring the Prince that Unesco’s relations with the UN-recognized Coalition Government will remain unchanged, the DG requested the Prince for his consent for Unesco to assume international co-ordination of activities for the safeguard and restoration of the Angkor monuments and to carry out through indirect means, the most urgent tasks required to minimize the risks of irreparable damage. 8. The Prince, stating that Angkor was ‘not only a heritage of the Khmer people, but of mankind,’ agreed to Unesco taking on the responsibility of international co-ordination ‘outside all political considerations.’ He agreed to Unesco organizing a technical round table for Khmer and international experts on the restoration of Angkorian monuments, Unesco involvement in a survey and inventory of the Angkor complex and objects of the National Museum, assistance to the international (i.e. Indian and Polish) conservation teams and the training of Khmers in conservation skills. […] 10. Ambassador Ok Sakun attributed the destruction of the monuments to the Vietnamese and stated that the site of the Angkor complex was situated in militarily contested zones. Prince Sihanouk, however, did not follow-up on the Ambassador’s comments. […].” “Meeting between Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the director general (1.9.1989),” UNESCO Archives Paris, dossier CLT.CH.191/1986–1989.

  16. 16.

    “§6: Le Régime du Cambodge est le meme que celui de la Ve République Française.” In Delegation permanente de Cambodge auprès de l’UNESCO, Information (No. 003/90, 14.2.1990). And further explanations: “§4: L’armoirie nationale comporte comme motif central les trois tours visibles du monument d’Angkor Wat avec en arrière plan le soleil avec ses rayons, couleur or, irradiant autour d’Angkor Wat. Au-dessous d’Angkor Wat et l’encadrant en demi-cercle, une demi-couronne de feuilles de banian. Angkor Wat est le symbole de la nation, la civilisation et la grandeur du Cambodge. Le soleil et ses rayons symbolisent la renaissance nationale. Les feuilles de banian symbolisent le Bouddhisme, religion de l’Etat du Cambodge.”

  17. 17.

    For more details about this transformative period in the early 1990s see the introduction of Miura’s paper and the epilogue of this volume.

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  1. Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context’, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Michael Falser

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    Michael Falser

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Falser, M. (2015). Representing Heritage without Territory—The Khmer Rouge at the UNESCO in Paris during the 1980s and their Political Strategy for Angkor. In: Falser, M. (eds) Cultural Heritage as Civilizing Mission. Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13638-7_10

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