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Cambodia

by p. mattew - 1996-06-26

Kingdom of Cambodia (before 1970)
Royal Arms
Japanese occupation during WWII
Khmer Republic (1970-1972)
Angkor Wat flags (1972-1993)
Administration of UNO (1993-1994)

Kingdom of Cambodia

by mario fabretto - 1997-06-15

The flag of the Cambodian kingdom under the French protectorate was red with a blue border and the white temple of Angkor Wat in the center. It was introduced around 1863 (first treaty between Cambodia and France), but I could not find any reference about how long it was in use. I guess that after Cambodia's incorporation into French Indochina in 1885 only the French tricolor was used. I my reference book I have read that the Cambodian colors are chosen according to the Thai colors (not to the French).

Laos, on the other hand, used throughout most time of its history a plain red flag with a white device in the center. Only after the abolition of the Kingdom and founding of the People's Republic in 1975 the red-blue-red was introduced. In the same year Cambodia had abolished the red-blue-red and introduced a plain red flag.

So, it is quite unlikely that the Laotian flag was modelled after the Cambodian one, but the colours red-blue-white seem to have some tradition in South East Asia (also Burma uses them).
harald mueller - 1995-12-05

Many different designs are known for the old Cambodian flag. Most likely its design changed with the time without any official prescription, until its most known form established around 1945. The image here is taken from the "Flaggenbuch".
mario fabretto - 1997-06-15

Arms

One should speak of royal arms. In this case also, many are the reported versions. The arms showed two cups placed one over the other; over them a sacred sword placed horizontally surmounted by a symbol representing "om" the sound of creation (excuse me but I don't even try to explain concepts too complex to exprime in my language too). Under the whole two laurel branches united at the bottom by the star of the Royal Order of Cambodia. The image here is a late version of this coat of arms, but all the basic elements are included
mario fabretto - 1997-06-15

Flag during Japanese occupation

I know a quite doubious flag used under japanese control between 1942 and 1945: red with a white map of the Angkor Vat. No coat of arms is known.

Khmer Republic

by mark sensen - 1996-07-28

The flag of the Khmer Republic (Cambodia), adopted 9 october 1970.
mark sensen - 1996-07-28

Angkor Wat flags

by zeljko heimer - 1995-12-03

Between 1979 and 1992(?), there were de facto two very similar Cambodian flags. Both were red with a silhouette of a temple in yellow. The Cambodian government used a temple with five towers, while groups fighting against it used one with three towers, the flag of the Khmere Rouge regime 1975-79. Since e.g. the UN continued to recognize the Kh.R. government (as they have shown to be very kind and warm-hearted people during their 4 year's reign) the three-tower-flag was used perhaps even more often than the five-tower flag, at least outside the country.

by zeljko heimer - 1996-06-07

At http://www.funet.fi/pub/pics/misc/flags/ there is a flag of Cambodia that I don't remember we have been discussing here horizontally divided red over blue with golden five towered Angkhor.
zeljko heimer - 1996-06-07

Between 1970 and 75 the country's name was changed to Khmer Republic. It used a blue flag with a red canton bearing the temple of Angkor Wat in white (3 towers). Beside the canton there were three five-pointed white stars. Before 1970 Cambodia was a kingdom under the rule of Sihanouk (although I think he was not king, since he was always referred to as Prince S.). The flag was the one in use today.
harald mueller - 1995-12-04

Administration of UNO

by mario fabretto - 1996-07-25

During the time the country was administered by the UN (1992-94, +/- one year) Cambodia used a light blue flag with a map in white on it. The inscription was on the map and in light blue, it was just the country's name.
harald mueller - 1995-12-04

This flag was used briefly by Cambodia around the time that the elections overseen by the UN were being held and just as Prince Sihanouk was taking the throne. It's been changed at least once since then. I think the pale blue was supposed to represent the UN.
nicolas lopez - 1996-07-23

The flag had been used from 1991-06-24 until 1993-06-30.
mario fabretto - 1996-07-25

Just pointing out some errors in the context:
Prince Sihanouk IS king of Cambodia. Though he had not been crowned king, he is very much the king of cambodia in his long reign. As for why he was never kinged, the complex history of cambodia must be taken into account.
The blue flag of 70-75, is for the Khmer Republic under the regime of General Lon Nol who overthrew the king. This country was later overrun by the marxist Khmer Rouge which uses the Red 3-temples flag. It was a regime of tyranny and terror of which I'm sure much is known. This regime was again overthrown by the invading Vietnamese in 1979 and eventually a puppet regime was set up using the red 5-temples flag. This regime was NOT recognised by the United Nations. Free election in 1993 (organised by the UN) saw a elected government being put in place. In those years, 1979-1993, the UN only recognised a coalition of cambodian factions made up of Prince Sihanouk's Fucinpec, the ousted Khmer Rouge and Premier's Son Sann's resistance army. This was done to ensure that the vietnamese invasion did not go unpunished despite the presence of the Khmer Rouge in the coalition.
Xuess Wee York Ting - 1996-09-24

This I found interesting, expecially explanation of 3 vs. 5 temples flags 'mistery'.
Concerning the title of Sihanouk, I believe it is tradition, at least in Europe, not to call even the rightfull heir to the throne 'the king' until his ceremonial corronation. However, I know too litle about thehistory of Cambodia to say 'my judgement' of his title, even if this would be on any inportance. However, in all news that I remember of, he is titled as Prince Sihanouk.
Zeljko Heimer - 1996-09-26

The King was the King before the French withdrawal. After a while due to chaotic political situations, he abdicated his authority as head of state, and thus was no longer King, but he remained a powerful player in Cambodian politics. He was then Prince, the way an uncrowned royal claimant of an ex-monarchy is a prince.
After more political nuttiness that involved him leaving the country altogether for a while and then coming back, he has just recently (last 2-3 years) adopted the title of King again. But for most of his political career (and during the Vietnam War, when he was most often in the news) he was referred to as Prince.
Josh Fruhlinger - 1996-09-25