This Week In Cambodian History- May 28-June 3
On May 28, 1946, the ‘Franco-Siamese incident’- negotiations over the return of Battambang province (then much larger- about 1/5 of Cambodia) which had been seized by Thailand (in 1941) broke down after French troops crossed the Mekong and attacked ‘Siamese bandits’.
On May 28, 1993, around 4 million votes had been cast in the UN sponsored national election by the closing day of polls.
On 30 May 1992, Viet Nam confirmed in writing to UNTAC that its forces, volunteers and all equipment had been completely withdrawn from Cambodia by 26 September 1989 and that they had not been reintroduced. Viet Nam also stated that military assistance to Cambodia had ended in September 1989 and no country had been allowed to use Vietnamese territory to provide such aid to the Cambodian parties.
On May 30, 2016, Khao I Dang camp (opened in 1979, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge) was reopened as an educational center, highlighting the response to the Indochinese refugee crisis. At its peak, the huge compound sheltered nearly 140,000 refugees before closing in 1993.
On May 31, 2002, Sub-decrees No. 46 and 47 of the Land Law were adopted, and more land registration commenced. These programs issued 2.6 million titles and 600,000 titles respectively by December 2014. Land registration and titling under Order 01 commenced in June 2012, and by December 2014 the program issued 610,000 titles.
On May 31, 2019, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, upset both the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments with comments on his Facebook page which offered condolences on the death of former Thai Prime Minister General Prem Tinsulanonda, who led Thailand during the period of “Vietnam’s control of Cambodia and joined a coalition of nations who fought to end the occupation”.
On 1 June 1970, martial law was declared by the new Lon Nol government.
On June 1, 2012, The NYT reported that the Cambodian government was convinced that two life-size 10th-century statues in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Southeast Asian galleries for nearly two decades were looted from a jungle temple and planned to ask for their return. Archaeologists believed the ‘Kneeling Attendants’ statues stood for about 1,000 years at the Prasat Chen temple in a vast site called Koh Ker, about 200 miles northwest of Phnom Penh. Three of the items — a head and both torsos — were listed as gifts from Douglas A. J. Latchford.
On June 3, 1993, with the election results disputed and after threats of succession by several eastern provinces, King Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed a post-election interim coalition government of FUNCINPEC and the CPP.
On June 3, 2010, at the end of a two day conference, international donors pledged US$1.1 billion in aid for the following year-up from last $950 million in 2009.
