Sisowath Sirik Matak
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Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak (January 22 1914 — April 21 1975) was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and was a prince of the Cambodian royal family.
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[edit] Involvement in Politics in Cambodia
In 1941, he was passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk as King, dispite this discision he continued to serve the country as a minister in the government of his cousin to show his solidarity under a Constitutional Monarchy.
In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father in order to be elected as Prime Minister. Upon his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, taking the title of Prince. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted what he called a policy of neutrality but in reality made agreements with China and North Vietnam allowing Vietnamese bases to be built inside Cambodia and opening Cambodian ports such as Sihanoukville to weapons shipments. This angered the United States and the South Vietnamese because the bases and weapons were used to attack military and civilian areas of South Vietnam. While Sihanouk claimed that his so-called neutrality would protect Cambodia, by 1968 the Khmer Rouge were operating an insurgency against the government sheltered within Vietnamese base areas on Cambodian soil.
[edit] Cambodian coup of 1970
United States President Richard Nixon's administration secretly contacted Prime Minister Lon Nol and Prince Sirik Matak if they would be interested in proclaiming a Republic in Cambodia in exchange for economic and military aid to protect itself from the Khmer Rouge and in exchange they would also allow the United States and South Vietnam military to enter Cambodian territory to conduct a series of military operations called the "Cambodian Incursion", to attack any North Vietnamese weapon routes and military bases in Cambodia.
On March 18, 1970, while Norodom Sihanouk was on a trip abroad in Beijing, China, Sirik Matak assisted Prime Minister Lon Nol in organzing a vote of the National Assembly to depose Sihanouk as head of state. The measure passed easily in parliament and they declared a new government under a democracy named the Khmer Republic. Sihanouk realigned himself with the communist Khmer Rouge rebels who had been slowly gaining territory in the remote mountain regions and urged his followers to help in overthowing the government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of civil war.
[edit] The Fall of Phnom Penh
The Khmer Rouge initiated their dry-season offensive to capture the beleaguered Cambodian capital on January 1, 1975. Their troops controlled the banks of the Mekong River, and they were able to rig ingenious mines to sink convoys bringing relief supplies of food, fuel, and ammunition to the slowly starving city. After the river was effectively blocked in early February, the United States began airlifts of supplies. This was extremely risky because of Khmer Rouge rockets. The communists also fired rockets and shells into the city, causing many civilian deaths. Doomed units of republican soldiers dug in around the capital; many of them had run out of ammunition, and they were overrun as the Khmer Rouge advanced. American observers, who generally had little esteem for the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK) officer corps, were impressed by the determination of the enlisted men to fight to the end to protect the capital of Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge to capture the city and take over the Khmer Republic government.
On April 1, 1975, President Lon Nol resigned and fled the country into exile in Hawaii because the Khmer Rouge with the approval of King Norodom Sihanouk, had published a death list with his name at the top and their forces had surrounded the capital of Phnom Penh.
On April 12, 1975, United States's Ambassador to Cambodia John Gunther Dean, invited high officials of the Khmer Republic political asylum in the Untied States, but Sirik Matak, Long Boret, Lon Non (Lon Nol's brother), and most members of Lon Nol's cabinet declined thinking that Sihanouk would not allow the Khmer Rouge to kill them. Sirik Matak and Lon Non, Long Boret and other Khmer Republic officials whose names were not published on the death list chose to stay behind. Additionally, they made the assumption that either the Khmer Rouge would be moderate in victory or that King Norodom Sihanouk could restrain them.
Prince Sirik Matak and the officials that remained along with him, were executed by the Khmer Rouge on April 21, 1975, in Phnom Penh.[1]
[edit] Quotes
- "When you support a regime not supported by the people you help the communists"
- Letter to US Ambassador to Cambodia John Gunther Dean: "Dear Excellency and Friend, I thank you very sincerely for your letter and your offer to transport me towards freedom. I cannot, alas, leave in such a cowardly fashion. As for you, and in particular for your great country, I never believed for a moment that you would have this sentiment of abandoning a people, which has chosen liberty. You have refused us your protection, and we can do nothing about it. You leave, and my wish is that you and your country will find happiness under this sky. But, mark it well, that if I shall die here on the spot and in my country that I love, it is too bad, because we are all born and must die one day. I have committed this mistake of believing in you, the Americans. Please accept, Excellency, my dear friend, my faithful and friendly sentiments. Prince Sirik Matak."[2]
[edit] Author of book
- Prince Sirik Matak's letter to United States's Ambassador to Cambodia John Gunther Dean was reproduced and added to the book Autrefois, Maison Privée.
