Tararith Kho: "Americans must fight for Cambodia to have a new generation"

We need to think twice about the below quote made by brother Kho.


"Americans must fight for Cambodia to have a new generation,"

It is very unlikely that outsiders including the Americans will fight for Cambodia. Khmer people must find the way to help ourselves first. Buddha was not kidding when he said “self help” is the best policy or Attahi Attano Neatho.

All Cambodians need to learn more about freedom of expression, human rights and Democracy and most importantly we need to learn (or teach people) how to apply them correctly and effectively.

What the Americans have here in the United States in terms of Human Rights and Democracy and others have been the results of gradual processes over 200 years.

If we were going to ask the Cambodian people inside Cambodia, we would learn that the majority of Cambodia’s population is now concerned about food, shelter, healthcare and education issues.

At this time, repression, human rights and Democracy are not listed as their top priority. Sometimes, what we think is best for them... is not what they really want. It takes time to import new ideas into Cambodia.
Some shrewd politicians use “Human Rights” and “Democracy” to try to win people heart, yet they don’t practice what they preach. Check them out, you will be disappointed.

Nevertheless, all genuine efforts made to help Cambodians taste real Human Rights and Democracy should be encouraged and appreciated.

Congratulations!

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Festival addresses Cambodian repression

Sarah Mancone

Staff Writer

Published: Monday, March 14, 2011





In Cambodia, all news is good news. Or at least, all news broadcast in the media is good news. The lack of freedom of the press in Cambodia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries is the topic of this year's week-long International Freedom-to-Write Literary Festival.

The annual festival, started and run by the Program in Literary Arts and International Writers Project, begins on Monday at 4 p.m. in Smith-Buonanno 106 with readings by Vietnamese author Linh Dinh and American playwright David Rabe.

"Every year, we have a fellow running some kind of (International Writers Project) literary festival about the art, culture and politics of that country or region," said Robert Coover, visiting professor of literary arts. "We choose our fellow on basis of need, of threat against him. Sometimes they are in exile," he said.

The festival provides an opportunity to celebrate the fellow and also to "become more knowledgeable about the literature and culture of that nation," as well as the problems of the nation, said Gale Nelson MA'88, assistant director of the literary arts program.

The focus on Cambodia and neighboring countries was sparked by this year's visiting fellow Tararith Kho.

Hundreds of writers either apply or are nominated for the fellowship every year, but Kho's many impressive nominations — by groups like Poets, Essayists, Novelists, an international literary and human rights organization — solidified his selection.

He stood out for his "energy and enthusiasm for literature and human rights," Nelson said.

Kho was born to a family of rice farmers and was the "only one of his siblings who got out of that and got educated," Coover said. Kho has been very involved in helping others in Cambodia do the same, especially women who are trapped by tradition and unable to get an education, Coover added.

"Freedom of speech is difficult to find in Cambodia," Kho said. "I promoted people to write about contemporary issues."

Kho said the media in Cambodia is controlled by the country's high-ranking members of society.

"Televisions, newspapers, magazines are all under the government," he said. As a result everyone only hears the same "good" news, he added.

Kho's reading on Tuesday will be about the state of the media in Cambodia and how it has created a "cage" for writers.

His efforts to "get the entrapped rice farmer people out of their circumstances" was seen as a threat in Cambodia, Coover said, and on occasion, Kho had to flee to the Thai border. Now if he returns to Cambodia, he will likely be arrested.

Though Kho's family is here in the United States right now as well, he may have to return to Cambodia when his visa runs out. Kho said he did not want to talk badly about his country, but he wants life to change for the people of Cambodia.

"Writers are simple, not fighters. We have no weapons," Kho said.

The festival does not focus on Cambodia alone but also explores neighboring countries, especially Vietnam.

"Cambodia and Vietnam have this really tangled history," Coover said. During the Vietnam War, the United States targeted both countries, and both countries also targeted each other, he said. After the end of the war, Vietnam invaded Cambodia.

The goal of this year's festival is to "provide greater insight into the real nature" of Cambodian and Vietnamese relations, Coover added.

A panel Thursday will explore these relations by bringing together Vietnamese and Cambodian writers and American veterans of the war.