January 7, Parties battle for history

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his chief rival, Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy, yesterday waded once again into the annual confrontation over how to characterise January 7, 1979, as Cambodia marked 37 years since the Khmer Rouge regime fell.

The premier, a member of the Vietnamese military-backed group of ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers that ousted Pol Pot and have ruled the country since, celebrated “Victory Day” with some 10,000 supporters at the headquarters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Hun Sen retold the story of how the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (FUNSK), with the “huge and effective” assistance of the Vietnamese army, overthrew the Khmer Rouge, under which more than 1.5 million Cambodians died.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/parties-battle-history