Khmer Serei

The Khmer Serei ("Free" Khmer), (Chinese：自由高棉）were an anti-communist and anti-monarchist guerrilla force founded by Cambodian nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh. In 1959, he published 'The Manifesto of the Khmer Serei' claiming that Sihanouk was supporting the 'communization' of Kampuchea. From the 1960s, the Khmer Serei were accumulating in numbers and were on their way to becoming a formidable fighting force.

The primary objective of the Khmer Serei was to destabilize the existing powers held by the then Cambodian leader, King Norodom Sihanouk and to overthrow his reign – to become a permanent part of the Cambodian body politic.

Due to the Khmer Serei’s relatively lack of resources, poor timing and lack of dominance as compared to the Khmer Rouge majority and political support from Sihanouk, eventually led to their decline. Their goals, therefore were never brought to fruition.

According to Turkoly-Joczik's essay, the beginnings of the Khmer Serei's dissidences date back to periods before the Second Indochina War, tracing its origins back to Vietnam's Mekong Delta, in the town of Tra Vinh, Vinh Binh Province, the birthplace of Son Ngoc Thanh. In examining the political ambitions of Son Ngoc Thanh, we will better understand the reasons for the eventual formation of the Khmer Serei and their activities.

Son Ngoc Thanh did his studies in France. When he returned to Vietnam, he attempted to join the French Colonial Service but was declined. He then moved to Cambodia in the early 1930s, and secured a secretarial position in the Cambodian Buddhist Institute. While at the institute, he took the opportunity of his position as secretary and empowered patriotic monks to spread Buddhist and nationalistic sermons throughout Cambodia and into the Mekong Delta. In 1936, Thanh founded a newspaper to carry out his anti-French and pro-independence views and was involved in anti-French demonstrations. Thanh fled to Japan to escape possible imprisonment by the French and joined the Imperial Japanese Army as a commissioned officer. Thanh returned to Cambodia and, with support from Japan, started his political career. Thanh eventually held positions of Foreign Minister and later on as Prime Minister of Cambodia. However, his position as Prime Minister was short-lived. Thanh was arrested and put on trial for treason.

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