Article

Cambodia

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Cambodia

Cambodia, as documented in the Society’s literature, is examined primarily through the lens of its Malay-Cham Muslim community — a population whose presence in the kingdom stretches back to the Angkor period and whose political, military, and social role has been central to the country’s modern history. The community, numbering approximately 200,000 by the early twenty-first century, has served as farmers, fishermen, cattle breeders, businessmen, and government administrators from the village level to the highest ranks of provincial governance [1, pp. 1–2]. Their relationship with the Khmer state has been characterised by mutual service, religious distinction, and periodic political crisis, a dynamic that has shaped Cambodia’s internal politics from the French protectorate through the post-Khmer Rouge era [1, pp. 1–2].

Origins and Settlement

The earliest evidence of Malay and Cham presence in Cambodia is found in bas-reliefs at Angkor and in Khmer and Cham chronicles [1, p. 1]. According to Khmer sources, the ‘Jva’ — a term encompassing the entire Malay community regardless of origin — subjugated a large part of Khmer territory in the seventh century, and Jayavarman II (AD 802–50), founder of the Angkor Empire, organised a ceremony marking Cambodia’s liberation from the Jawa empire [1, p. 3]. The Cham presence is attested from at least the eleventh century, with Cham troops fighting alongside the Khmer army in the thirteenth century as depicted in the bas-reliefs of Banteay Chmar [1, p. 4]. The majority of Cham arrived after the fall of Vijaya, the capital of Champa, in 1471, and subsequent waves followed the Vietnamese Nam-tien (southward expansion) after the annexation of Phanrang in 1692–3 and of Panduranga, the last state of Champa, in 1835 [1, pp. 4–5]. The Malays, by contrast, came primarily for commerce and Islamic missionary work, with documented arrivals from Borneo, Sumatra, Singapore, Terengganu, and Pattani from the fourteenth century onwards [1, pp. 4–5].

The two groups, both Muslim and both belonging to the Austronesian linguistic family, were collectively referred to by the Khmer as ‘Cam-Jva’ (pronounced Cham-Chvea), and later as ‘Khmer Islam’ [1, p. 2]. Their settlements are concentrated along the banks of the Mekong from Kratie to Phnom Penh, along the Tonle Sap from Phnom Penh to Kompong Chhnang, and in the provinces of Kompong Cham, Pursat, Battambang, and Kampot [1, p. 6].

Political and Military Role under the French Protectorate

The French protectorate, established in 1863, brought the Malay-Cham community into direct contact with colonial administration. Their loyalty to the Khmer monarchy was tested during two major rebellions. In the 1864 Achar Sva revolt, the Samdach — the head of the Malay-Cham community — informed the French representative Doudart de Lagree that the community did not support King Norodom’s coronation in Bangkok, revealing a complex political calculus beneath the surface of apparent loyalty [1, p. 8]. In the Pou Kombo affair of 1865–67, approximately 2,000 Malays from Chaudoc initially joined the rebels, while the Samdach organised a loyalist contingent of roughly 100 Malays from Kompong Luong to defend Oudong [1, pp. 9–10]. When Khmer troops abandoned the citadel on 17 December 1866, it was the Malay contingent alone that held the palace, an act for which the Samdach was subsequently awarded citations and rewards [1, p. 10].

Post-Independence and the Khmer Rouge Period

After independence in 1953, the community found its ethnic identity officially subsumed under the designation ‘Khmer-Islam’, a term that denied their distinct Malay and Cham heritage [1, p. 11]. The formation of FULRO (Front Unifié de lutte des Races Opprimées) in 1964, and the subsequent creation of the 5th BIS (Brigade d’Infanterie Spéciale) under General Les Kosem during the Lon Nol regime, represented a partial restoration of communal recognition [1, pp. 12–13]. The Khmer Rouge regime of 1975–79 targeted the Malay-Cham for both their religious practice — Islam being declared the ‘worst enemy’ of the state — and their political association with Lon Nol; the repression followed a centrally organised pattern of genocide, though its intensity varied by area [1, p. 14]. In the post-1979 period, the community rebuilt its religious institutions, beginning with the Madrasa Hafiz Al-Quran in Trea district, Kompong Cham province, which enrolled approximately 500 students, and expanded diplomatic ties with Muslim countries, particularly Malaysia [1, p. 15].

Research and Documentation

The Society’s literature on Cambodia has been shaped by a single but substantial contribution: Mohamed Zain bin Musa’s 2001 article, which drew on Khmer chronicles, Cham manuscripts (notably CM 39(36), a 1,393-stanza text held by the Société Asiatique), French colonial archives at the Archives nationales d’outre-mer, and oral tradition [1, pp. 1–2]. The article was published in a context of growing academic and diplomatic attention to Muslim minority rights in Southeast Asia, coinciding with the 1999 IKIM seminar in Kuala Lumpur and the post-civil war reconstruction of Cambodia [1, p. 1]. Prior to this, the Society’s journal had not published a dedicated study of Cambodia; the article thus represents both the Society’s principal engagement with the subject and a significant intervention in the broader historiography of the Malay-Cham diaspora, building on the foundational work of Mak Phœun, Po Dharma, and Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h [1, pp. 16–20].

MBRAS Sources

References

  1. Mohamed Zain bin Musa (2001). Malay and Cham relations with the kingdom of Cambodia during and after the French protectorate (1863–2000 JMBRAS 74(2): 1–21.