“To Be Khmer”: Bunchan Mul and the Limitations of the Indochinese Revolutionary Network 1945–60

From 1945 to 1954, France fought to keep Indochina intact, even as nationalist forces struggled for the independence of their respective countries: Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.  To effectively fight the French, the Vietnamese Communist Party envisioned a postcolonial Indochina composed of a VCP-led union between Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.   The irony of an independent Indochina under Vietnamese control was not lost on Cambodians and Laotians.  Previous scholarship on this time period has noted Cambodian resistance to a Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Union.  This scholarship, however, remains limited in scope, focusing exclusively on a Vietnamese point of view.  This paper seeks to introduce a Cambodian perspective by closely examining the autobiographical works of Bunchan Mul, a nationalist leader and intellectual.   His autobiographies critiqued Cambodian society and offered valuable insights into colonial and postcolonial Cambodia.  While his works form the basis of much Western scholarship on Cambodian nationalism, this paper offers an alternative reading of his autobiographies and highlights his contentious relationship with the Vietnamese to explain the limitations of the VCP revolutionary networks.

Drawing upon French Sûreté documents, this paper surveys the network through which the VCP actively promoted Indochinese unity and forged Cambodian-Vietnamese alliances against the French.  Bunchan Mul was a member of the Indochinese Revolutionary Network, and was imprisoned at Paulo Condore along with other anti-colonial fighters.  However, Bunchan Mul failed to share the VCP’s vision of a united Indochina.   This paper demonstrates that his experiences under colonialism and interactions with other Asians engendered a strong “nationalist” vision, contradicting the image put forth by the VCP.  As his contacts with the Vietnamese increased, Bunchan Mul became more conscious of the differences between Vietnamese and Cambodians, solidifying his sense of “Khmer-ness.”  Thus, the Vietnamese Communist Party’s transnational network paradoxically strengthened Bunchan Mul’s nationalist sentiments.