We Didn't Start the Fire

Cambodia’s long-time opposition leader and former finance minister Sam Rainsy is committed to establishing democracy in his homeland. He is in exile in France to avoid a twelve-year prison sentence on politically motivated charges and is banned from contesting the July 2013 elections. In this autobiography he recounts his early years in Cambodia, his family’s expulsion, his relationship with Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge regime, and the Vietnamese occupation, and Hun Sen’s rise to power and his continuous control since 1985.

Sam Rainsy also discusses the current economic, social, and political conditions in the country and presents proposals that will provide a long-term roadmap for a new Cambodia. David Whitehouse is a British journalist in Paris.