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Naoki Mabuchi magazine photos

When April 17th rolls around, we often see the same iconic images, photos taken by the few photo-journalists who remained in Phnom Penh to “greet” the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Prominent among them are the excellent photos by Roland Neveu and Al Rockoff – but who has heard of Naoki Mabuchi?

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Mabuchi did not take so many stills during the entry of the Khmer Rouge into Phnom Penh because he was too busy filming it. The moving images you have seen countless times in archive footage quite probably came – uncredited – from his camera.

We decided it was about time that Naoki, who died in November 2011, got some recognition for his contribution to history. The following images are stills and screen shots from his film, and they give us fresh insights into the events of those days. They were taken between April 17th and May 6th 1975 and published in an article entitled “Twenty Days in Phnom Penh” in a Japanese magazine, Asahi Graph.

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Title : 20 days in Phnom Penh 

Published date : May 30th, 1975 (Asahi Graph) 

(Photos taken in Phnom Penh from April 17th to May 8th, 1975) 

16 pages

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The Khmer Rouge Enter Phnom Penh            

Mabuchi woke at 5am on 17th April, and went to the 5thfloor of the Phnom Hotel. From there he could see a few rockets exploding, but not many. Other journalists were still asleep. The Khmer Rouge (he called them the “Liberation Army”) were approaching the “Japan Bridge”. At 8.30am, APCs (armoured personnel carriers) carrying Phnom Penh residents and flying white flags, were on their way to the bridge. He saw two Khmer Rouge soldiers in front of the French Embassy. At the bridge, people were greeting the incoming Khmers Rouges, waving white flags and disarming. There were heaps of American weapons in the street.

The Khmer Rouge were holding pistols, but Mabuchi saw no violence. A KR officer was calling on an American radio, saying “We are in Phnom Penh now, and the citizens are welcoming us.” Under the bridge, 7-8 cadres with weapons posed for photos. Naoki asked an officer if he could take his picture, and he agreed. Then Naoki hitched a ride on a jeep and sat on the roof to film. At this point, he saw young soldiers of the Monatio (Mouvement Nationaliste) for the first time.

Monatio was a hitherto unknown militia consisting of 200 or so students and intellectuals under the leadership of Hem Keth Dara (and apparently formed under the patronage of Lon Nol's brother, Lon Non). It suddenly materialized as an organization whose objective was to negotiate a peaceful fraternal settlement with the KR. Riding on APCs, the Monatio joined the Khmer Rouge "parade".

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In the Hotel Phnom, which had been declared a neutral zone by the Red Cross, Mabuchi met Sirik Matak, former prime minister under the Lon Nol regime, who was unsuccessfully seeking protection there. He then went to ask for asylum at the French Embassy, where he was also refused.

Loudspeaker announcements began: "Brothers and sisters, everyone in Phnom Penh, please move six kilometers north out of the city. If you have cars, take them with you. We have gasoline for you."

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The Red Cross left the Hotel Phnom and went to the French Embassy, leaving their equipment and wounded patients behind.

At the French Embassy

There were over 1000 people at the French Embassy trying to get in. Western journalists were admitted. Other foreigners – Indians, Filipinos and Laotians – had to stay outside. The French prohibited photography. The Khmer Rouge supplied pigs, rice and water. Most Cambodians were forced to leave.

During this time, Mabuchi was regarded with suspicion and envy by some of the other journalists. He could speak Khmer and he was sympathetic to the cause of the “Liberation Army”. So he went outside the embassy to talk with the Khmer Rouge cadres. He was heavily censured by the American correspondent Sidney Schanberg, who could not speak much Khmer.

Aftermath

On April 30th the first group of foreigners were evacuated by truck. After they had gone, there was more food for those who remained. Mabuchi went out to talk with the KR.

On May 6th they were woken at 3am, and departed by truck at 6. The convoy headed through the centre of Phnom Penh. Instead of taking Route Nationale 5, they first headed west along Route Nationale 4 and then turned north. Later that day they reached Kampong Chhnang.

On May 7th they arrived in Pursat, where there was plenty of food. A KR leader told Mabuchi about the plan to move people “to purify the cities and break up the hierarchy”.


 

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Title : Border between Cambodia and Thailand 
Published date : on May 18th, 1979 (Asahi Graph)

(Photos of Khmer Rouge at the border after the Vietnamese invasion) 

8 pages

Summary of the article, “Counterattack from the jungle, Pol Pot army’s fighting spirit is still high”, published May 18th, 1979 (Asahi Graph)

I arrived in Bangkok on January 7th 1979, intending to go into Cambodia. However it was in turmoil due to the sudden Vietnamese attack on Phnom Penh. I tried to listen to the radio broadcast of “Voice of Democratic Kampuchea”, but couldn’t receive any signal. Radio broadcasts from Hanoi announced the occupation of Phnom Penh. I had to give up on going into Cambodia, but I tried to reach the border.  I went to Aranyaprathet, and found about 600 Chinese engineers supporting the Pol Pot regime who had evacuated there. 

In late January, I was covering the Cambodian refugee situation, and planning to cross the border in February. The Vietnamese got closer to the border at the end of January, but moved back since it was difficult for them to control the whole area. On February 8th, I moved into the Cambodian side with a Thai-Cambodian guide. We avoided traps on the way to Pol Pot’s base which was some 10 kilometres from the Thai border. However, we found it deserted, so I went back to the Thai side. 

Since the fighting between China and Vietnam started on February 17th, the activities of the Vietnamese have slowed down and it seems China has been supplying the Pol Pot army* from the sea. At the beginning of March, the Pol Pot army fought against the Vietnamese, so the situation on the Thai side was also getting tense. The Pol Pot army, which Thailand had been secretly supporting, withdrew and the Vietnamese made a rapid incursion to the Thai side, killing one Thai soldier and injuring some villagers. The Thai army were becoming nervous, and reorganised their defence lines.

I could see the Heng Samrin flag in Poipet, over the border, on March 5th. In April the fight seesawed to and fro. On April 11th, about 300 Pol Pot soldiers and their families came over to the Thai side. They all told how fierce the fighting was.  

On April 13th, I went to the south of Aranyaprathet and  encountered about 600 of Pol Pot’s soldiers and their families. They were exhausted. Thai troops arrived and had a discussion with the leader of the Pol Pot soldiers. Most of them went back to Cambodian side, but some of the Chinese-Khmer wanted to stay on the Thai side. They said, “If the Pol Pot army find out that we want to stay here, they will kill us if we go back with them.” In the end, 13 of the Chinese were allowed to stay in Thailand.

It has been 3 months since the Vietnamese occupied Phnom Penh, but Pol Pot has continued to resist. The Vietnamese have also been fighting hard because they want to finish off the fight before the rainy season. I went over to the Cambodian side once again. It was jungle, just 50 metres away from the border river. There was just a small camp with a few soldiers and a 2-day-old baby. There were over 100,000 Pol Pot soldiers and people living in the jungle beyond, under Vietnamese attack. I thought it would be a long time before Cambodia could regain its independence and peace. 

*Note: especially after the fall of Democratic Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge were often referred to as “Pol Pot’s army”,”Pol Pot’s soldiers”, or merely “Pol Pot”.

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