The Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot s Regime in Cambodia

The Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot s Regime in Cambodia

Ancient Cambodia The first humans in Cambodia were Stone Age hunters and gatherers. The first civilization in the area arose about 150 AD in the Mekong River delta (Fu-nan). A king named Jayavarman II founded the Khmer Empire in Cambodia at the beginning of the 9th century.

THE KHMER EMPIRE An absolute agricultural society (Rice) The great majority of the people were farmers The Khmers were animists (Spiritual beliefs) Indian religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) were introduced but they existed with traditional beliefs simultaneously. The most famous temple is Angkor Wat

THE KHMER EMPIRE The largest continuous empire of South East Asia During its formation, the Khmer Empire had intensive cultural, political, and trade relations The Thais invaded Angkor in 1431, the capital moved to Phnom Penh (that later became a trade center on the Mekong River). Conflicts within the royal family brought the end of the Khmer empire during the 17 th century.

THE KHMER ROUGE & POL POT The students, including future party leader Pol Pot had been influenced by the example of the French Communist Party. Pol Pot rose to the leadership of the communist movement in the 1960s. He was one of the Khmer students in Paris that organized their own communist movement The Khmer Rouge viewed the farmers in the countryside to be the proletariat and the true representatives of the working class

THE KHMER ROUGE & POL POT The Khmer Rouge was the ruling political party of Cambodia It is remembered mainly for the deaths of millions of people Millions of people died through execution, torture, starvation and forced labor. They were subject to an extreme form of social engineering fostered by Pol Pot A radical form of agrarian communism Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian collectivization in which people were relocated to the countryside to work in collective farms and other forced labor projects with the goal of restarting civilization in "Year Zero. Students, government workers, teachers were treated as enemies of the revolution and were killed on a mass scale

Aung San Suu Kyi MYANMAR POLITICIAN

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old when her father prime minister of Burma, was assassinated. Her mother was an ambassador to India (1960). She attended the University of Oxford

Aung San Suu Kyi When she returned to Burma there was a mass slaughter of protesters against the brutal military forces This situation led her to stand against and to begin a struggle for democracy and human rights In 1989, the military government of Union of Myanmar placed Suu Kyi under house arrest in Yangon.

Aung San Suu Kyi Suu Kyi was given the Nobel Prize Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest in July 1995 but she was not allowed travel outside Yangon. Further house arrests for multiple reasons (total 15 years) In 2010, she was released from house arrest After restrictions were loosed, she started to travel outside Yangon and met some of the politicians including Thailand s prime minister and Hilary Clinton

Aung San Suu Kyi In 2012, her party won the elections She visited a number of countries She could not run for the presidency her spouse and children were foreign nationals (proxy president). Suu Kyi held four ministerial posts. Suu Kyi focused on building peace with the country s many ethnic armed organizations However, she and her administration faced great international condemnation over the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people of Myanmar s Rakhine state.

Aung San Suu Kyi Beginning in 2016, the military and police showed a brutal campaign against the entire Muslims and committed human rights abuses. This led to a large percentage of the population to leave the country. Suu Kyi has been subject to sharp criticism for ignoring the crisis

Aung San Suu Kyi The Myanmar government has said the military action was a response to terrorist attacks which killed 12 members of the security forces https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia- 42335018

Politics in Thailand

Politics in Thailand There is a constitutional monarchy (1932) in which the prime minister is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state. Since the coup in 2014, Thailand has been under the rule of a military organization called National Council for Peace and Order. Thai kingdoms and the late Kingdom of Siam were under absolute rule of kings. After the "democratic revolution" in 1932, led by Westernized bureaucrats and a tradition-oriented military, became a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister as the head of government. A number of coups happened during its history. Thailand had its first elected Prime Minister in 1988.

Politics in Thailand Thailand is the only country in south-east Asia to have escaped colonial rule. Buddhist religion, the monarchy and the military have helped to shape its society and politics. The military has ruled for most of the period since 1947, with a few interludes in which the country had a democratically elected government. Since 2001, Thai politics have been dominated by the irreconcilable split between supporters and detractors of Thaksin Shinawatra, who served as prime minister until he was ousted by the military in 2006. Thaksin's sister Yingluck became prime minister following the 2011 election but was in her turn ousted by a military coup in 2014. The ailing 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world's longestreigning current head of state.

Politics in Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn, the 10th Thai monarch of the Chakri dynasty, was proclaimed king in December 2016. He succeeded former King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, who died on 13 October 2016. General Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power in a coup in May 2014 and was named as prime minister by the militaryappointed parliament a few months later. Thailand's military has a history of intervening in politics and has seized power 12 times since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932. The government and military control nearly all the national terrestrial television networks and operate many of Thailand's radio networks.

Politics in Thailand 1932 - Absolute monarchy gives way to constitutional monarchy with parliamentary government. 1947 - First post-wwii military coup. The military retains power continuously until 1973. 2001 - Thaksin Shinawatra becomes prime minister for first time. 2006 - Military leaders stage a bloodless coup while Thaksin Shinawatra is at the UN General Assembly. 2011 - Pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai party wins a landslide victory in elections. Thaksin's sister Yingluck becomes prime minister. 2014 - Army again seizes power. 2016 - King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies after 70 years on the throne and is replaced by his son, Maha Vajiralongkorn.