Fighting Renews Fears, Memories of War
In the wake of clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops last week, former fighters warned against further conflict. (20 October 2008)
Since the clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops alongthe border last week, in markets, cafes, schools and even betting parlorsin Phnom Penh,Cambodians have been reminded of war. War lingers the memories of those who fought in thedecades of strife Cambodiais emerging from or in the fears of younger people to whom it is just an idea. Even before the fighting, which claimed three Cambodianlives and led to an entrenching of soldiers along the border nearPreah Vihear temple and other sites, there were reports of near-violence, of themovement of troops, tanks and artillery, of flyovers by Thai jets andhelicopters, and of other shows of force. Rhetoric by Cambodian government officials, that increasedprovocation by Thailandcould lead to full scale conflict, worried Cambodians even more, despite remarks by Prime Minister Hun Sen Friday that the two sides were committed to resolvingthe border dispute amicably. In recent interviews those who survived Cambodia's warswere more afraid of the possibility of war's resurgence than the youngergeneration. Demobilized soldiers were reluctant to return to war, whilestudents and other youths said they were willing to volunteer if full-scale warbroke out with Thailand. Luon Rith, 49, a former officer who demobilized from Kratieprovince's Military Region 2 in 1997, said soldiers had asked him to come backsince the beginning of a military build-up on the border, in July. "Information came to me that they wanted me back," he saidone recent morning, as he ate a bowl of noodles in a PhnomPenh market. "They asked me, 'Doyou want to come back?' I said I didn't. I don't feel the desire to go back.... Ifeel it would be difficult to fight the struggle again. I am fed up, afterseven or eight years of war. War is hard and must be avoided." Chheung Panha, a second-year student at the Phnom Penh International University,said he would volunteer to join the army if the border conflict turned badenough to close schools. He doubted full-scale war would come, however. "If the conflict became serious and I could not study, Iwould volunteer to join the army, too," he said. "Hopefully not, because it isnot serious. We should be defending ourselves while seeking a judicial solution." Meanwhile, he said, he felt sorry for soldiers stuck on theborder, with the public show of support through food and other supplies dwindling. "We are inferior to Thailand in all fields—economicallyand militarily," he said. "They have more modern and stronger weapons. We havelittle, old weapons." Sath Savuth, another student at the university, said thegovernment must work to maintain the morale of Cambodian soldiers. "Another important thing is that the present leadership, thegovernment, should pay attention to take care of the temples along the border,"he said. "And especially [find] volunteers to fight with the Thais. I don'tthink a war could take place." At a Cambosix betting parlor in Phnom Penh, four young men who declined to benamed said they would volunteer to join a war, though they seemed to beenjoying peace and making bets. Luon Rith, the former officer, said he appreciated the spirit of the volunteering youths. A modern war, he said, mightbe different from his generation, when battles claimed the legs, arms and liedof fighters, who battled without food or water. But Cambodia'snew soldiers need more experience and training, he said. Were he to join afight, he would be in danger himself, having forgotten how to read battlefieldsand mine fields, he said. "We are now different from the old days," he said. "During theState of Cambodia [in the 1980s and early 1990s] people were arrested andforcibly recruited into the army. Now it is difficult to look for volunteersoldiers. I support them." Yon Seun, a demobilized soldier who used to carry a B-40grenade launcher and overheard Luon Roth, stopped to have his own noodles. Nowadays, he said, Cambodiawould not be able to defend against a full attack by Thailand, even if Thai soldiers areinexperienced, he said. Their planes would bomb the front lines and cut off thesupplies to the Cambodian troops, he said. The two demobilized soldiers said they felt lucky they werenot seriously injured or killed in their own wars, though they had seen dozensof the comrades suffer these fates. Their own families had worried aboutwhether they had died, spending money to travel and find them, or newsof them. Such times are foreign to young men like Chin Pech, 19, whoearns about 30,000 riel per month pulling a trash-collection cart in Phnom Penh. "Seeing other youths join the army, I support them," hesaid. "Being a Cambodian child, I feel hurt to hear that [the Thais] invade us.But I probably cannot go. I am the only son with my mother." Former soldier Dy Chetr, 49, who lost one leg to a landmineand recently started selling books from a basket to tourists, said war hadmany costs. "Before I lost my leg, I felt to myself, 'If I lose my leg,I will shoot myself dead,'" he said. "But when I lost my leg, I could donothing. I only worried too much. I had everlasting thoughts, from one thing toanother. What will happen to my children? My wife? I worried with tears. But along time has past, and I became used to it." He was lucky in at least one regard, he said. Where manyinjured or disabled men lost their wives, his had not gone. "My wife is myrelative," he said. "We are cousins." As to the threat of war today, Dy Chetr agreed with four other disabled soldiers touting on PhnomPenh's waterfront: "War is too strong to face. It isnot a like a battle of knives or axes. These weapons are too strong, and youcannot see them."