In War-Torn Cambodia, the Golf Course Was a No Fire Zone
During the turbulent 1990s, warring political and military leaders played golf peacefully together on the country’s only golf course
It was 1999 and Cambodia was emerging from three decades of war and a $2-billion United Nations political restructuring program that was scrapped in 1997 after a bloody coup.
When Co-Prime Minister Hun Sen deposed his fellow Co-Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh, in July 1997, few places were safe in the country. But there was one demilitarized zone: The Cambodia Golf and Country Club, which was built a year before the coup. The various factions sent guards to the course to secure it during the fighting.
“They told me, ‘You stay open, no matter what. We’ll protect you,’ ” the club general manager Jang Nan said at the time. “They played here together while they were fighting in Phnom Penh. We didn’t have one person killed here, not even a single tree was damaged.”
After the coup, Hun Sen submitted himself to elections and vowed to quit politics and play golf everyday if he lost. He won and then allowed the prince to return to Cambodia.
Hun Sen, who in the past was allied with the communist Khmer Rouge guerillas, frequented the course…
