Victory over Genocide Day
| Victory over Genocide Day | |
|---|---|
| Khmer name | ទិវាជ័យជម្នះលើរបបប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ |
| Also known as | January 7; Victory Day |
| Practice type | Commemoration |
| Usual occasion | January 7 |
| Subjects | History & Remembrance |
| Next | January 7, 2027 (Victory over Genocide Day) |
Victory over Genocide Day (ទិវាជ័យជម្នះលើរបបប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍) is a public holiday in Cambodia on January 7, the anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to Vietnamese forces and Cambodian allies in 1979, which ended Khmer Rouge rule.[1][2] Cambodians remember the date in different ways: as a liberation, as the start of a decade of Vietnamese occupation, or as both.[3]
January 7, 1979
Vietnamese forces, with a smaller force of Khmer Rouge defectors that included Heng Samrin and Hun Sen, crossed into Cambodia in late December 1978 and entered Phnom Penh on January 7, 1979.[2][3] A new government, the People's Republic of Kampuchea, was set up days later with Vietnamese support.[2][3] Vietnamese troops remained in Cambodia for about a decade; Vietnam announced their full withdrawal in 1989.[3]
Differing views
The Cambodian People's Party, which has governed since 1979, marks January 7 as the country's liberation from the Khmer Rouge and has called it Cambodia's "second birthday".[2] In 1979 many Cambodians felt relief that the killing and starvation had ended, while others were angry that the country was now under a foreign army.[3]
Others, including royalist and opposition parties and many Cambodians abroad, regard January 7 as the beginning of a Vietnamese invasion and occupation.[2][4] On the day after the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodians in France demonstrated outside the Vietnamese embassy in Paris, and in 2019 Cambodian Australians in Melbourne and Sydney protested the anniversary.[3][4] Whether the events of 1979 were an invasion or a liberation remains contested, in Cambodia and among Southeast Asian governments.[5]
Observance
The government stopped marking the day officially in 1993 as part of national reconciliation and resumed in 1996.[2] Large rallies have been held in Phnom Penh on major anniversaries; in some years, as in 2021 and 2022, commemoration was limited to banners.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Office of the Council of Ministers, holiday calendar (in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 VOD, Hun Sen absent, no commemorations as muted Jan. 7 evokes shift in tone (January 2022)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Cambodgemag, Cambodia history: the second fall of Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979 (January 7, 2026)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Asia Times, Cambodia-Vietnam legacy condemned on 'Victory Day' (January 2019)
- ↑ TRaNS: Trans-Regional and National Studies of Southeast Asia, Invasion or liberation? Contested commemoration in Cambodia and within ASEAN (2019)