To our Cambodian members I have a question I liked to ask you. Would you prefer to still be under French colonial rule and never have independence, if under these conditions there would have be no Khmer Rouge mass killings ,or have self-determination with all the sad consequences which came after that?

I think you should ask many Cambodians as you possibly can in order to get more reliable answers. Anyway i am still happy to share my thought with you.

There were pro and con about French colony. In fact, France had no intention to colonize Cambodia, but at the time our khmer asked France to colonize our country, as Cambodian was being teared apart by Thailand and Vietnam. Historically these two countries were invading Cambodia many times. Before France arrived Cambodia already lost some provinces in the northwest that included Siem Reap. Then, when French arrived, they helped to withdraw those provinces back from Thailand (That's why some Thais are still claiming that Angkor Wat belongs to Thailand. We stole it from them). Apart from all the good things, France had cut lower Cambodia consisting 23 provinces with 13 million Cambodian (Khmer Krom or lower Cambodian) to Vietnam. This was one of the biggest negative thing of French colony. In addition, they were taking a lot of advantages from Cambodia. They made every Cambodian to pay tax and etc. Not to mention, they brought back a lot of our valuable stuff such as statues in many Cambodia's temple and etc. I am so happy that we didn't lose our alphabet like Vietnam.

IMO my political is a game. If you are not a winner you are a loser. I believed that our former king didn't want this horrible event to happen in his country, but he lost the game. You can see how developed Cambodia was under his ruling. Phnom Penh once was the pearl of Southeast Asia in 1960s. Even the prime minster of Sigapore also gave us a compliment.

I would rather than Cambodia to be Independence and self-determination than being still colonized by France. If colony is good all the countries in the world who had been once or twice colonized by other countries wouldn't fight back for the independence.

good man.......thanks for the reply....if you dont ask you dont know.....but it's true if there were more Cambodians user it would have more statistical relevance ...but I knew there were only 3 or 4 Cambodians on this forum..so your opinion was what i wanted......

phuketrichard wrote:France , it seems played a very BIG part in making Cambodia the country it is today,
Hate to think what would have happened had they not stepped in.

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[16] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

Could you give me the link of this article?

phuketrichard wrote:France , it seems played a very BIG part in making Cambodia the country it is today,
Hate to think what would have happened had they not stepped in.

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[16] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

I will check the years. I felt like there is something wrong about the years you quoted here.

Samouth wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:France , it seems played a very BIG part in making Cambodia the country it is today,
Hate to think what would have happened had they not stepped in.

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[16] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

I will check the years. I felt like there is something wrong about the years you quoted here.

Yes, I just want to read whole article and make sure if there is something wrong or not?

prahkeitouj wrote:

Samouth wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:France , it seems played a very BIG part in making Cambodia the country it is today,
Hate to think what would have happened had they not stepped in.

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[16] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

I will check the years. I felt like there is something wrong about the years you quoted here.

Yes, I just want to read whole article and make sure if there is something wrong or not?

I am sure that the year he quoted here is different from what I learned. Thailand became a country in 13 century. By the time Cambodia was Khmer empire there was no way that Thailand could take away or invade Cambodia.

During 14th-15th century we had the war with Siem and Siem controlled Angkor about 15 years till 1445. After that king Pornhea Yat fought Siem from Angkor and then he changed the city to Phnom Penh. But there were different dates of the story about this war.
Siem took Battambong, Morhanorkor(Siem Reap) and northen of Kampong Thom about 1796. And in 1814 Siem took some more provinces. According to treaty 1904 and 1907 , France-Siem, some provinces were returned to Cambodia included Siem Reap province.