Most Famous Royal Family of Khmer Kingdom

Symbol for Royal Family of Khmer Kingdom, Cambodia

Since the ancient time, King played an important role in leading the kingdom. Until now there are many famous kings and royal family being remembered. The first king of Khmer Kingdom was a strong and well-known lady, King Sorma, aka Princess Liv Yi. King Jayavarman II was the founder of Angkor Empire Era. King Suryavarman II built the famous temple, Angkor Wat Temple. King Yasovarman was a founder of Preah Vihear Temple’s construction on Dang Rek Mountain Range. King Jayavarman VII was the most well-known king in bringing the peak of Khmer Kingdom’s prosperity and building the great city of Angkor Thom, especially Bayon Temple. His wife, Prince Indradevi, participated in social works such as education, health, and so on. King Srey Reachea was known for successful recovery of Khmer Kingdom again after the fall of Angkor Empire. His name was left in some district of kingdom in what is now in Thailand’s province since he did his best to protect all Khmer Provinces that now became the southeast provinces of Thailand. Luong Preah Sdech Korn was well-known as the first Cambodian currency publisher, Prak Sleung or Sleung Currency. King Chan Reachea was the great king in promoting the development of Khmer Literature & Culture and a founder of Longvek City, the strongest bamboo surrounding city. He also protected the provinces of Pachem Borey, Nokor Neayuok, Steung Chrov, Chulborey, Royong, Chandborey, Sorind, Trach, Srah Keo, Nokor Reach Sheima, Boreyrom, Kokkhan, Neang Rong, and Obol Reachatheany.  King Preah Reach Samphea was a good Khmer poem writer and promoted the development of Khmer Literature. King Orng Duong was very famous with the initiatives in Kingdom protection (Fighting Vietnamese to protect Kampuchea Krom Territory), and Khmer Literature & Culture conservation. King Sisowath was a famous king to protect the west province of Battambang, Sisophon, and Angkor (Siem Reap). King Sisowath Monivong was the protector for Khmer Literature and Culture and Khmer territory (Demand for returning Kampuchea Krom Territory from France, but unsuccessful), Prince Norodom Yukonthor was a brave prince to assist the French newsagent to criticize French Government for bad conducts towards Khmer people. Prince Sisowath Yuttevong was known for establishing the first constitutional law for Cambodia.  King Norodom Shihanouk is a brave king to bring independence for Cambodian people and a founder of Sangkum Reastr Niyum Regime. Prince Sisowath Kosomak Neary Rath Serey Wathana was a famous women king for promoting the development of Cambodia in Sangkum Reastr Niyum Regime and a great conservationist for Royal Khmer Dances, especially Apsara Dance. Prince Norodom Aruna Naradipo was a well-known military leader of Kanseng Sor Army in Sangkum Reastr Niyum Regime and was believed to be killed in Pol Pot Regime the same as his army members and other citizens. Even though until now there is no more significant role of royal family in leading the country, it is believed that all royal family members will take dynamic actions again to promote the development of Cambodia for every sector. The experience of previous royal family shall be the consideration for all next royal family generation to take the important role without caring about power. Capability and right decision with actions will be the strength for all people including royal family to push the development in Cambodia. “Small actions together will accelerate the development of Cambodia faster and Golden Age will be returned soon!” “Let’s go!”

By: POK Panhavuth

Sleung Currency as Example of Original

PREAB Sok, “A Famous Khmer Publisher of Dictionary & Language Books”

PREAB Sok was a famous author in Cambodia before Pol Pot Regime for Khmer, English, and Thai Books. He was born in Prek Thmey, Kien Svay (Kandal Province). His birth father was Mr. PREAB Phan; his birth mother was Mrs. CHEA Tho. He was also considered as adopted son by Mr. TITH Vong and Mrs. Moul who lived in Takeo Province. In 1950 he studied Khmer and Thai in Phnom Penh until the early 1955 in which he took the Bac I Pali examination. In the end of 1955, he went to pursue his study in Bangkok, Thailand that allowed him to receive Bac I English Certificate from London, England in 1956. As he studied much about Khmer, and English Language, in 1957 he was able to publish English-Khmer Dictionary which is being used throughout Cambodia until today. In 1962 he graduated from Bangkok University in the Bachelor of Arts majoring in Thai-English Literature. Then he returned to Cambodia and published many books more besides English-Khmer Dictionary such as Khmer-Thai-Khmer learning books, Khmer-Thai-Khmer Dictionary, etc. Nowadays, when Cambodian Students want to learn Thai, they decide to buy his republished books (by other publishers) selling in the market to study since his book is easy to understand and able for student to learn by themselves. Also, Thai People can choose to buy his books to learn Khmer Language. Final life for him was supposed to come as the establishment of Pol Pot Regime (1975-1979) in Cambodia on April 17^th, 1975. “Good Legacy is being remembered and used forever!” “Let’s leave a legacy for next generation!”

By: POK Panhavuth

SO Savoeurn - សូ សាវឿន, “Mother of Saravan Songs and Thida Samleng Rey Kondeung”

SO Savoeurn

Being so famous before Pol Pot Regime for her tiny sweet voice, SO Savoeurn was born on June 1, 1945 in Boeung Ngong Village, Kong Pisey District, Kompong Speu Province. She was titled as “Mother of Saravan Songs and Thida Samleng Rey Kondeung”. Her father, SO Pok, was the former soldier in French Colonial and her mother, TAT Vil, was a housewife. She has only 2 siblings. 

She was the first singer to sing Saravan song, “Or! Po Pech Chieb Euy”, along the King to Thalaboriwat in Steung Treng in Sangkum Reastr Niyum Regime. This song was written by VEN Son. In fact, she also sang other kinds of songs such as emotional, traditional, Khmer New Year, etc. However, the loveliest song of her voice to listen is Saravan songs suitable for her voice to sing better than other singers during her generation. In the interview with RFI, she said she came to Phnom Penh with her uncle (Ov Puk Thom) who lived with KHUN Tat in the mansion of KHUN That and she firstly danced and sang the traditional lakhorn. She usually sang lakhorn songs in the theatre of SI LEB market and one day KEO Em, a famous lyricist, came to see her performance. Being satisfied with her voice, he committed to teach her to sing better with his own lyrics. Later, he achieved and let her be very famous with the song "Kompong Luong Duong Chet" in 1963. Being so famous from year to year, she attended the Dontrey Youthea Phirum Group singing along King NORODOM Shihanouk's travel as well as national meeting (Sakmach Cheat). Later, she married KEO Em given birth to three children, one daughter and two sons. Not only her husband, MA Laopi also wrote many songs for her to sing and named her “Dara Chomrieng Somleng Rey Kondeung”. Other lyricists wrote songs for her, too. Besides singing, she also joined to take two movies directed by KONG Bunchhoeurn like “Sleak Kyol Dondob Mek” and “Muk Muoy Phnek Buon” in 1974. 

She fled from Cambodia to France in the end 1976. Living in Paris of France, in 1978 she started to record new songs for Khmer people living there as well as to sing in the restaurants for Khmer Community in France till today. Passing the time quickly, the black period of Cambodia was gone, too. She has come to visit Cambodia several times; in 1986 she came to sing at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh sharing her love and sadness for countrymen. She also sang her old songs to the public on local TV Channels several years ago; her voice is still good as before 1975. To sing very well, she advised each singer to put the heart deeply into the song emotion. Hoping to return to Cambodia, she wish to have home here, but housing in Cambodia is very expensive now. “Living throughout the world, sharing the same feeling for our beloved homeland!” “Khmer community is surely a second home to Khmer overseas conserving the rich culture of Cambodia!”

By: POK Panhavuth

Last Great Woman King of Khmer Kingdom

Her Royal Majesty SISOWATH Kosomak Neary Rath Serey Wathana

Her Royal Majesty SISOWATH Kosomak Nearyrath Serey Wathana was the last great woman royal leader of Cambodia from 1955 to 1970. She was born on April 9^th, 1904 as a princess daughter of King SISOWATH Monivong and Queen NORODOM Kapean Vimean Noroleak Devi. Her birth name was Princess SISOWATH Kosomak. She was a well-educated woman in that generation and had a talent in Royal Dance Art. In 1920, she married Prince NORODOM Soramrit and gave birth to her only son, later King NORODOM Shihanouk on October 31^st, 1922. In 1928, her King father granted the formal title for her as “Samdech Preah Reach Thida Kosomak Neary Raksmey Ksattrey Trung Leaks Akka Thida Reachavong Varman Borom Pongsa Preah Thebdey Nearyrath Wiwathana Moha Ksatyany”. On May 02^nd, 1951, King NORODOM Shihanouk, her king son, granted the respectful title to her as Samdech Preah Voreak Reachany Kosomak Reach Devi. In the early of 1950s, she granted the title to SIN Sisamut and SOH Mat to be Royal Nurses inside Royal Palace in Phnom Penh in which showed that she was interested in promoting and granting value to human resource of Cambodia. After the success of Khmer Independence in 1953, Cambodia was believed to be the peaceful island with the strongest solidarity of all Cambodian People. Since King NORODOM Shihanouk abdicated the throne to participate in politics and transferred it to his father, King NORODOM Soramrit; Her Royal Majesty also formally became Queen on March 05^th, 1955. Social work was a part of Khmer Queen’s duty since Angkor Era, so Her Royal Majesty began getting involved in Cambodian Red Cross as a leader in 1957. She helped the poor by encouraging her son to promote the welfare for all citizens, especially the poor in the countryside. She usually went to celebrate the achievement ceremony with her son for completing the development of all infrastructures within Cambodia such as school, bridge, Olympic Stadium, factory, hospital, Independent Monument, etc. She was very pleased to meet her residents living happily every where through out the kingdom and sometimes travelled overseas with her husband to reinforce the diplomacy relations with foreign countries, especially France. She was very smart in promoting culture and literature of Khmer Nation. She was also a founder and conservationist for Royal Dance. She rediscovered the art of Royal Apsara Dance from the wall of Angkor Wat Temple and formed a group of women to perform this royal dance in which the first Apsara Dancer was her grand daughter, Princess NORODOM Bopha Devi. Her Royal Majesty worked very hard to find the proper way to conserve all Khmer Dance Arts and to make them more glorious and well-known to the rest of the world. Her husband died of serious disease on June 20^th, 1960, so she was suggested to proceed managing the throne continuously without her husband and became a Woman King for Cambodia. She encouraged the promotion of the educational development (Khmer Literature), health care, and strong rule of law. For her excellent efforts from 1953 to 1970, she had received many awards of the honorable world recognition in playing important role in social, cultural and economic development from France, Kingdom of Laos, Yugoslavia, Singapore, Solomon-Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, etc. Unfortunately, the unstable political condition and the coup d’état simultaneously occurred in early 1970 for Cambodia; Her Royal Majesty was forced to stay only in her Phnom Penh’s mansion until May 1973. After that, she was released by the Khmer Republic Army to escape from Cambodia to Beijing on Dec 05^th, 1973. She lived sadly in Beijing with her son seeing the bad situation of Cambodia. Because of the disappointment in her mind, she became sick from day to day until April 27^th, 1975 she died in Beijing outside of Cambodia. Her ash was brought to put in preah chedi with her husband inside Phnom Penh Royal Palace by King NORODOM Shihanouk in the end of 1975 and this preah chedi can be seen inside the Royal Palace today. “Live useful rather than die dead!” “Heart died, Life becoming meaningless!” “Failure is the mother of success!”

By: POK Panhavuth

Symbol for Royal Family of Khmer Kingdom

Preah Chedi of King NORODOM Soramrit & Her Royal Majesty SISOWATH Kosomak Neary Rath Serey Wathana

Koh Tral, “Ecotourism Island”

Koh Tral (Tral Island), aka Phu Quoc Island today, is the very big island located in the Gulf of Thailand near the coast of Cambodia and is well-known for ecotourism. It is the edge of Cardamom Mountain Range (Chuor Phnom Kravanh) under the sea. It covers the area of about 574 sq km in which is under the control of Vietnam today. It is only 15 km far from the coast of Kompot Province of Cambodia and 115 km from Rach Gia (in Khmer “Kromuon Sar Province”) of Vietnam. Historically, Koh Tral belonged to Cambodia until early of twentieth century. During French Colonial, this island was annexed administratively to Cochichina in the purpose of collecting tax from all Khmer Citizens living on those islands. When French Colonial transferred the territory of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam on June 4^th, 1949, the ownership of the island was not clarified. It means both countries had the right to discuss later. Since the ancient time, many Khmer citizens lived there and usually did the fishery to support their life. Unfortunately, they were pushed out of the island by Government of South Vietnam in the 1957 while there was a conflict between Cambodia and South Vietnam. Then Vietnam took control of the island until today. Since then more and more Vietnamese have been going to live there reaching approximately 85,000 people as today. The good view of coastal area on this island is in the eye of all tourists around the world who love the nature. It should be noticed that the west coast of the island is the great place for ecotourism. Most of foreign tourists go there and sunbathe every day. Also, there are a lot of lives under the sea, especially the beautiful coral reefs and many kinds of sea fish. Tourists are so happy to visit this island and to see the blue sea with fresh air. More importantly, the island is full of green forest and high mountains. All tourists may get the opportunity to visit these areas naturally. Other activities could be conducted to satisfy the visitors such as sailing, boating, etc; modern building hotel are standing along the western and southern coast of this island. From Cambodia, the view of Tral Island could be seen clearly as it is near to Cambodia’s coast rather than Vietnam’s. In short, Tral Island or Phu Quoc Island is the ecotourism sites for all tourists around the globe. There is a hope that all tourists would be allowed to visit there from Cambodia by going in the morning and returning back in the evening in order to improve the tourism for both countries. In the future, business operation from Cambodia and Vietnam will be expected to run on this island for economic purposes together to make the island one of the best business site in South East Asia (SEA). There is the strong believe that Koh Tral Island will be one of the most interesting natural sites in South East Asia soon. “Friendship! Cooperation! Business! ”

By: POK Panhavuth

Central Market - ផ្សារធំថ្មី “Past & Present”

Phsar Thom Thmey in early 1960s, Phnom Penh

Phsar Thom Thmey, aka Central Market, is the most interesting site for cultural tourism in Phnom Penh nowadays since it is one of the oldest site in this capital. Phsar Thom Thmey was built from 1935 to 1937 by French for Cambodia. In 1960s, there was the clear plan around this market. The tower of the market with four long branch looked like a flower in the green forest if there was a camera to capture from the sky, but this flower in fact was blooming in the central part of this modern city. The air system along with the construction was considered seriously. Green garden with several green trees were arranged in front of the wide entrance to the market. The car park along the road was set and respected by all citizens in Phnom Penh. As the business center, many people went in and out, but the tidiness of citizens during that time has been being admired until today. Many flats and tall buildings were built along each road near this market. The good view of proper plan for these buildings was seen through the picture captured in Sangkum Reastr Niyum (1953-1970). Many years was gone with changes of Cambodia’s political situation, the good view vanished. Luckily, Central Market is recovered with new style around the ancient building of this market within these last few years. The recovery is conducted with the long-term cooperation between Royal Government of Cambodia and Government of France. The new look of this market is being seen in this year. At last, the busiest business center from previous generation will go on towards the future of Cambodia. “Good Air system in construction bring good health for all people  staying in this new building!”

By: POK Panhavuth

Phsar Thom Thmey in 2011, Phnom Penh

Life in Cambodia Today

Cambodian was known for either prosperous life or miserable life through thousand years ago. During the peace and prosperity, Khmer people lived happily; when the war occurred, life became difficult to describe. However, life in Cambodia today is so critical to know as the full peace-keeping and the progress of development are going on. Even though Cambodian was considered as poor with low income, there are still many wealthy people living happily. They could earn a lot of money with their flexibility in doing business or skill in the job market. Most of these people live in the glorious life with high education. They pursue their study until Bachelor Degree, Master Degree, or PhD. They are smart in getting scholarship for their education. More and more people can access the higher education, especially getting opportunity to study abroad. When they go overseas, they do their best to protect the value of Cambodia and her prestige. They often come back to their country with professional skill. In daily life, they usually buy expensive products for their family and sometimes go out for dinner in all famous restaurants, especially in Phnom Penh. All young men and some old men often meet their peers to drink beer; some of them use this chance to reinforce their interpersonal skill. Some men said drinking was bad in the eye of women, but men thought about it in different way from women’s sight. They sometimes go travelling overseas with their family, especially to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, and so on. Similarly, the high ranking people and tycoon always earn much money than other people in this country. High ranking people hold the power in everything, especially governing the whole country. Therefore, it is easy for them to get high salary and receive more money from other sources; and tycoons are doing great investment in every field of the country such as Tycoon Mong Rithy as the example.  Their wealth sometimes is considered as the wealth of millionaires in the country. They live in the big house with the most expensive furniture. They usually attend the big ceremony or events in the famous place as the example of Naga World’s annual event. Now, since the education is being seen important for life, they usually transfer their children to study overseas in famous educational institutions or let their children study in the most expensive school in the country. Last generation is less educated while next generation is highly educated and could be the strong leader in the future for both society and business. In contrast, there are still many people living in the poor condition and many average-income earning people throughout the country. Poor people live in day-to-day life. They earn less than 1 US dollar while the entire price in the market are increasing from time to time. Luckily for those living in the countryside that at least they can find something to eat cheaper than in the city or provincial center. Even though life of the poor is so miserable, but the critical thought usually appears to their mind that life today is more value if the sight of Pol Pot Regime was shown. Most of them are struggling for better life in less expectation, but some of them really make life better with the right opportunity and career legally. On the other hand, most of average-income earning people are civil servants and hard-working farmers. They are put to this level of income as the low salary getting from government and there is also less opportunity for them to earn much money as other group of people in the society. For example, life of teacher in Cambodia is very difficult to describe. They work for long time with less income for that effort. Public teachers not only spend time to teach at school, but they also take long time to search and correct the homework or exams of all students. Their salary should be given in the valuable level as the life of teacher in Sangkum Reastr Niyum Regime (1953-1970). Giving value more to teacher, reinforcing society’s development more quickly than expected! Apparently, farmers who work very hard to do the agricultural practices earn enough to support their life while only less percentage of them can earn much from their career. The mutual interest of these two kinds of people is to live in the simple way. They earn less money; they must spend less than that. Therefore, they usually use the cheap products and avoid materialism as possible as they can. They usually get more diseases than the rich one since the cheap products are less quality and chemical included. It should be noticed that both the poor and average-income earning people’s next generation are doing their best to pursue higher education through scholarship from various sources. Some of them achieve their goal and get bachelor degree at least. Additionally, the general lives in small percentage of them fall into the drug addiction and domestic violence. Most these people face the problems of AIDS, stress, death, etc. The good habit seeing today is exercising and travelling in which have contributed to the success of Cambodian daily life. Habit of corruption is the real issue in this society and difficult to eliminate in order to improve all lives in Cambodia. In short, life of Cambodian people is getting better and better with positive expectation for the near future. Any way, there is an encouragement to government of Cambodia to proceed implementing the development plan and to bring the welfare for all citizens throughout the country, especially health service. All citizens must be brave to solve all the issues and obstacles in daily life. Healthcare must be the first criteria for well-being in Cambodia. “Life is short! Let’s do it!” “Health and flexibility are so important for success in life!”

By: POK Panhavuth