People looking for translation... this is not verbatim, but my attempt at summarizing what he said. The first part of the interview was mostly about his health. He said that he is in poor health. He suffered what seems like a stroke which affected his vision, he is almost (95%) blind. Half of his body is numb. He said he was working too hard and his congenital heart problem caused the stroke. It seemed he also had pulmonary embolism. He has pains in the chest and head. He cannot tolerate cold, even some cold water on his skin. Then he talked about about his home arrest. He was not allowed to move around. He does not have much freedom. When pointed out that some people think he fled the country already, he said that other country have their own security system which will be difficult for him to cross the border. Besides, he doesn't want to leave the country anyway. He wants to be with his own people. He was 71 at the time of the interview, which he said that according to international standard, he was not really old. But because of his poor health and he's under house arrest, he is very frail. He does get his medications. The second part of the interview started with warnings to Cambodians to not allow Cambodia to turn into Kampuchea Krom (this is the part of southern Vietnam that was taken from Cambodia. It is a big chunk of land stretching from the current border with Cambodia all the way to and beyond Saigon). He said he worked with Vietnamese a lot and know exactly what they are up to. He said majority of ordinary Vietnamese are good people, but their leaders and spies have ulterior motives. They have a plot to take over Cambodia, like how they took over Kampuchea Krom. He can recall the name of the Vietnamese leaders that he had worked with while in power. He said that they hated him because he was in the way of their plot. Every time, they would tell you one thing, but behind your back they will do the opposite, like carry out border skirmishes. Then they blamed him for causing the skirmishes. He said that as a new fledging country, he knows his weaknesses in terms of resources such as man power and weapons. His country just want to live in peace, why would he carry border skirmishes and cause a war with Vietnam. He said they were doing it (trying to take over Cambodia) before and even now. They still have the same policy of trying to take over Indochina (Cambodia and Laos) by installing puppet government (People's party) of the respective countries. They do this under the name of self defence. They have a large population (over 70 million at the time) and needed space for them. He used the French word "espace vitale", which I think it means vital living space. He said, what about Cambodian people ? If you take over our country, where are we going to live ? At one point, he was in tears and barely can talk as he mutters out of breath, "Don't let Vietnamese take over Cambodia... without land and water, how are the Khmer people going to survive ? any Khmer". "I want to tell everyone, even if I die, it's ok, just as long as Vietnamese don't take over Cambodian land." Right now, they already take over Laos, based on their Plot 577, no need border between Laos and Vietnam, Common Friendship. He said he went to the Vietnamese side and proposed border peace treaty with them, they didn't answer him. That was in 1975. Instead, they (the Vietnamese) keep carrying out border skirmishes. It's like they stabbed him in the chest. I am a responsible person, people take over our border is one thing but what about our people who won't have "land and fish". When the Vietnamese overthrew Republic Democratic Cambodia (official name of Khmer Rouge) in 1978, they already have a plan in place. It wasn't Hun Sen, Chea Sim as leaders. It was other people who will be installed. His name was Sophon. But after Hun Sen and Chea Sim escaped to Vietnam, the Vietnamese installed them as leaders instead. When they took over Phnom Penh on Jan 7, 1979, they organized this People's Party (formerly People's Revolutionary Party). Heng Somren became the leader of the party and Hun Sen became the foreign minister until now. Their plot has not changed. The interviewer asked him now that Vietnam is in ASEAN, can they still carry out their conspiracy plot (of taking over Cambodia) ? He replied that they have new ways of carrying out their plot. Not using military, but using Cambodians to attack each other. Now Cambodians are splintered into so many different parties such as Sam Rainsy, Funcipec etc... but on the Vietnamese side, there is only Hun Sen. Even when the prince (Norodom Ranarith) won the election, Hun Sen orchestrated a coup d'etat and blamed the cause on Ranarith. They know they have the strength of the Vietnamese behind them. The Vietnamese do elicit business with the current government (logging, opium, contraband) and these money were used to benefit the People's Party. They also use the money to "buy" and divide the people from other parties. This is the reality. I am shedding my tears as I understand that Khmers do not like it when Vietnamese swallow up Cambodian lands, secondly, Cambodian people do not like Hun Sen and the People's Party. They just say it that they like them. But if there is a real democratic election like in France, USA, Australia, the People's Party won't even get 10%. The interviewer asked him, "If i'm not mistaken what you said is, Hun Sen will do anything to win in every election, he will make border with Vietnam porous (let Vietnamese people pour into Cambodia).." He said that the border is already opened. He recalled one example where Vietnamese were dismantling villager's home near the border. People asked the military to investigate if that's true, to which Hun Sen said, bring a coffin along when you come. He said that along the eastern border with Vietnam, everything is burned down, the people are suffering. He said Cambodian people are in agony (psychologically). But how to sort out the situation? The Vietnamese are trying to break us up from the bottom and from the top. From the bottom, they are still trying but they cannot do it overtly now as the international opinion is against war. From the top, there is international support. But even with that support, they still have their way. Shortly after the prince left, one of his lieutenant was shot dead. You asked me, now that Cambodia is already in ASEAN. That does not make any difference. On the surface, it's just Khmer and Khmer conflict, internal affairs. The People's Party win, based on military strength not by the ballot. Behind their back is the Vietnamese, behind the curtain. So they're not afraid of ASEAN. There is some ideas that after entry into ASEAN, ASEAN can suppress them. No. That's not the case as they don't do it directly. They let Khmers, the People's Party, do the work. Therefore ASEAN cannot touch the issue. Then they use the term "No interference in other country's internal affairs". That's why Hun Sen can say that. ASEAN will have no choice but to say that we're not interfering, just helping. I am away from politic for awhile, but I listen to news. In my opinion, we have to solve the issues from the bottom, even if it's a little, try to solve the issues. By the bottom, I mean normal people. Like in the case of porous border, for people to complain, and low level conflict, with weapon, but not to create a war. The Vietnamese have their border guards from the other side. But our side has nothing. Note that at this point, the interview was cut. There is message missing. ... we need ASEAN, UN, friendly countries. (I assume he was talking about to resolve the issue from the top). He went on to say that we need the combination of these two strategies, to work in complement with each other, with Cambodians and the international communities, to resolve the issue (encroachment from Vietnam). This is my thinking, only my thinking. I'm not a psychic. For the sake of survival of Khmers. For the sake of Khmer not losing land. If we lose our land, where are we going to live ? And why would I run away from my country ? I will die with my people. I'm not going anywhere. Thank you.
@@nangyalaiorakzai3363 when all of this unfold, I was about 2 years old he pretty much down play the whole massacre during his reign. he states that wasn’t his intention to starve and killed millions.