Khmer Will Survive and be victorious
"Silence is not necessarily golden"
Showing posts with label Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khmer Rouge. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Monday, April 18, 2011
Khmer Rouge Crimes: Can Duch go to Heaven?
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Can Duch go to Heaven?
Pictured is a live feed of former Khmer Rouge chief torturer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, during his trial on the outskirts of Phnom Penh April 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia)
“Anicca” or impermanence is the natural law of change--nothing is permanent but change is.
When Duch or Kaing Gech Iev was a school teacher, he probably believed in Buddhism like most Cambodians did.
Then when he turned to communism, Buddhism and all religions were his enemy. Buddhist pagodas and temples were converted to storage rooms, pig sties or destroyed.
After killing thousands of Cambodians at the S21 prison and being haunted by his own past actions or Karma, Duch finally turned Christian. Since he has found peace in God, Duch believes he will go to heaven when he dies.
Other leaders of the Khmer Rouge organization have found their way into believing in some form of religion as well. Khiev Samphan, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea and Ieng Thirith seem to practice Buddhism. While normal prisoners are treated like animals, the top Khmer Rouge leaders are allowed to be blessed by Buddhist monks. Below is the image at: www.vitalyogathebook.com/.../
Most communists who were in the same organization (Angkar) as these Khmer Rouge leaders have now turned to Buddhism. Although no one knows for certain what these former communists are thinking as they bow down in front of the image of Buddha, these people know exactly what they have done wrong in the past and present. Below is the image at: www.khmerwitica.com/.../
Let us hope that the change of heart, mind, soul and faith will bring Cambodia to the right track morally, ethically and socially. Furthermore let us hope that the practice of religion by these people is genuine, and not an act to fool the public. After all, as long as a person is true-hearted, like the "thief on the cross” and Angulimala, during Jesus and Buddha’s time, he or she can be saved.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Gate to the Killing Fields
May Angel Bless Your Soul...
Thanks to Khmer New Year, for most Cambodians might have overcome "the gate to the killing fields," 36 years ago.
April 14, 15 and 16 of 1975 were the days that Phnom Penh was surrounded by thousands of Khmer Rouge’s soldiers with black pajama and their Chinese weapons. They were going to triumph over the American backed regime of the Khmer Republic led by General Lon Nol. Their victory was declared on the 17th.
Then a few weeks later the Cambodian Capital became a ghost town where there were, “streets and houses without people.”
36 years seems a long time, but for many of us—the living history tellers-- who survived the worst atrocity in our life, the event was just yesterday.
For me, the horrifying episode of my life recurs yearly as we celebrate the Khmer New Year which falls on the same days of the Khmer Rouge’s victory. My personal inquiry of “why” nearly three millions Khmer people died in a short period of time remains unchanged.
Hundreds of thousand Cambodian people who died before and after the Khmer Rouge era have been completely overlooked. The innocent civilians who were killed by the U.S bombings have also been forgotten and those individuals who were responsible for the atrocity have not been brought to justice. The policy makers, some of them are still alive, have been protected and deliberately shielded.
Some reports claim that from 600,000 to 800,000 Khmer people were killed by American bombing during the five-year war from 1970 to 1975. The exact numbers of Cambodian killed during that period is not known, but given the tonnage of American bombardments and many thousands of American, Chinese and Russian weaponry used inside Cambodia, we can only imagine how many more Khmers had maimed and vanished but were not reported.
Then at least 1,700,000 more were murdered or starved to death by the hand of the Cambodian communists led by Pol Pot, supported by the Chinese and the Vietnamese.
The Khmer Rouge Trial or the KRT in short, is seen as a joke by many observers. Personally, I feel that the trial will not bring any justice to those millions who had died and to their offspring.
Although, the individual “executioners” like Duch (Kaing Gech Iev) and a few others who are named to stand trial-- must be punished, the buck should not stop with them. There must be hidden, untold or undiscovered people and causes that led to the mass killing.
The next wave of killings was during the Vietnamese invasion. Vietnam claims it had sacrificed 50,000 of Vietnamese soldiers to liberate Cambodians from the horrible crime committed by their former ally—the Khmer Rouge. However, the numbers of Cambodian soldiers on all sides and civilians who were executed under the Vietnamese control were not counted. Thousands of unarmed workers were sent to different dangerous war zones and most of them were killed.
While we celebrate our Khmer New Year on the 14, 15 and the 16th day of April--I would like to offer these days as the days to remember those who were victimized by the hands of the “executioners” and those “policy makers.” My heart goes out to those forgotten souls.
While we enjoy this holiday season, may your soul rest in peace.
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Wednesday 13 April RNW - News and analysis from the Netherlands in 10 languages, worldwide 24/7 on radio, television and online
Last and flat: Duch's appeal at Cambodia tribunal
Published on : 13 April 2011 - 10:00am | By International Justice Tribune (ECCC)March 28: The first time the appeals bench of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) appears in public session. The learned assembly of nine judges, sitting behind eighteen flat computer screens, curves like a spine.
By Thierry Cruvellier, Phnom Penh
Wearing a beige jacket, blue shirt and grey pants, Duch, the 68-year old former director of the Khmer Rouge torture and death centre, S-21, stands before them.
“The main point is personal jurisdiction. It is purely a legal matter,” he says. Then he sits down and leaves the floor to his lawyers.
Nothing to do with facts
Kaing Guek Eav, (Duch), was convicted last July of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the detention, torture, and murder of more than 12,000 people between April 1975 and January 1979. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. His appeal, however, had nothing to do with the facts or specific legal findings of the Trial Chamber. He now claimed that his case was outside the jurisdiction of this tribunal because he was neither a “senior leader” nor “most responsible” for the crime committed by the Communist Party of Kampuchea under Pol Pot’s rule.
“Duch was chairman of a prison security centre. How could he be most responsible? He received orders from the Communist Party. He was a perpetrator, of course, but he should not be under the jurisdiction of the ECCC. Why only Duch out of 195 prison chiefs?” asked defence lawyer Kar Savuth.
“Personal jurisdiction is strictly about those who were senior leaders and most responsible. A request for a broader interpretation has been bluntly rejected by the Cambodian government,” he said, inadvertently admitting political interference in the judicial process.
Most responsible
The response by national co-Prosecutor Chea Leang was that “Duch is most responsible within the framework of S-21. The security apparatus was at the heart of the CPK’s policy and S-21 was the most important office in the apparatus. Duch was at the highest level of security services.” This makes him one of the “most responsible” people.
80% Khmer Rouge
The defence also touched upon the disturbing fact that 80% of the victims at S-21 were former Khmer Rouge cadres, including senior Party members who would stand accused today had they not been purged by the regime they served.
Kar Savuth, 76, has survived all political regimes in contemporary Cambodia. He shares with some of his Cambodian peers a taste for exaggeration and provocation, but he is cunning and he doesn’t lack eloquence and charisma.
“We do not challenge the ECCC’s jurisdiction. The ECCC has the competence to try the senior leaders. But we question the prosecution’s method of depicting Duch as one of the most responsible for the crimes committed. Who are the main perpetrators? Those who gave orders. Duch was receiving orders from Son Sen and Nuon Chea,” former members of the CPK’s standing committee, he stressed.
85% admission
The trial of Duch, who admitted 85% of the facts alleged in the indictment, was exceptionally devoid of legal wrangling. Neither the Defence nor the Prosecution challenged any factual finding of the Trial Chamber. The Prosecution, however, wants a few legal conclusions by the Trial Chamber to be corrected.
While the trial judges decided to bring all charges for crimes against humanity under the single count of persecution, co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley asked the Appeals Chamber “to create consistency of law” between the ECCC and all other international courts, where criminals can be convicted on multiple charges. The Prosecution also asked the Appeals Chamber to recognize rape as a distinct crime, and to add a conviction on enslavement for the entire S-21 complex, not only for the “re-education” camp of S-24.
Outcome
“It is our submission that forced labour is not a requirement for enslavement,” Cayley argued.
But he admitted that such legal challenges ”will not have great influence on the sentence.” It is hard to imagine that the court would decide at this stage that it lacks jurisdiction in the case against Duch. As a result, the only outcome of the appeal that may be expected to trigger public interest and reaction is whether the 30-year sentence pronounced by the Trial Chamber will be confirmed or altered by the Appeals Chamber.
At the end of the trial, the prosecution asked for 45 years imprisonment, reduced to 40 years in order to compensate for Duch’s illegal detention by Cambodian’s military justice before the ECCC took the case. The Trial Chamber eventually ruled on a 35-year sentence reduced to 30.
Mitigating circumstances
The Prosecution now said that Duch’s challenge of the very fact of being tried, and his last-minute request to be acquitted, nullify the mitigating circumstances that initially justified a reduced sentence.
“Our position is that any mitigating circumstance in this case has vanished,” said Cayley. He argued that Duch’s cooperation with the court—his admission of most charges in his own case and his testimony against four top leaders whose trial is to start this year—“was not given in a voluntary capacity.” According to him, Duch’s expression of remorse lacked sincerity, and his belated challenge on the court’s jurisdiction and his request for relief were “inconsistent with his admission of responsibility.”
Life sentence
Only a life sentence could now reflect the gravity of the crimes committed, Cayley said. To support his claim, he provided the court with a chart of jurisprudence from the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals. As often with such arguments, the case law could have been easily challenged by the opposing party. But there appeared to be no one in the entirely Cambodian defence team with the knowledge to do so.
An assertive judge Klonowiecka-Milart noted that both the 2009 Cambodian penal code and the ICC norm contemplate 30 years as the maximum penalty.
“Why and how would it frustrate the purpose of the law if it corresponds to international law?” she asked.
Civil party lawyers did not have a say in the debate over sentencing. But they expressed their dismay at the rejection of several of their clients by the trial judges. About a third of some ninety civil parties who were admitted at the beginning of the trial were eventually declared inadmissible by the Trial Chamber in their judgment.
“After doing everything they were asked, producing whatever they were asked for, coming with great expectation, the day of the judgment they were told that the civil party status they had been granted previously has been revoked. This was most unpalatable. It was a shock,” pleaded Karrim Khan, who had nine clients rejected.
Rules have changed
Whatever the decision of the Appeals Chamber on this issue, it will have no bearing on the next trial before the ECCC: in the meantime, rules have changed, and this issue must be cleared up prior to the beginning of the trial.
Duch remains the only important Khmer rouge commander to ever admit responsibility and acknowledge the criminal policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea that cost the lives of an estimated 1,7 million people between 1975 and 1979. He testified at length about the creation and functioning of S-21, and what he knew about the leadership and policy of the CPK. He expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness many times. Then, at the end of the proceedings, after he realized that victims’ families were not satisfied and would not pardon him, he gradually appeared to withdraw into himself. The last day of the trial, in a spectacular twist, he had asked to be acquitted and released.
Fateful logic
“Where is Duch today? In which depths has he fallen?” asked civil party lawyer Canonne, wondering about “the fateful logic” followed by the former Khmer rouge.
March 30: two years exactly after Duch’s opening statement before this court. Looking significantly older, he delivers an emotionless and bureaucratic final speech. He looks calm, as if he had perfectly withdrawn into a protected tower by now. He maintains, in an even tone, that he is taking responsibility for the crimes committed at S-21, repeats his apologies and request for forgiveness. But now, he thinks, only the top leaders of the Party, and the leaders of the Cultural Revolution in China who influenced them, should be punished. Duch then takes off his glasses, carefully slips them into his jacket, stands up and walks away. No date has yet been set for a verdict.
By Thierry Cruvellier, Phnom Penh
Wearing a beige jacket, blue shirt and grey pants, Duch, the 68-year old former director of the Khmer Rouge torture and death centre, S-21, stands before them.
“The main point is personal jurisdiction. It is purely a legal matter,” he says. Then he sits down and leaves the floor to his lawyers.
Nothing to do with facts
Kaing Guek Eav, (Duch), was convicted last July of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the detention, torture, and murder of more than 12,000 people between April 1975 and January 1979. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. His appeal, however, had nothing to do with the facts or specific legal findings of the Trial Chamber. He now claimed that his case was outside the jurisdiction of this tribunal because he was neither a “senior leader” nor “most responsible” for the crime committed by the Communist Party of Kampuchea under Pol Pot’s rule.
“Duch was chairman of a prison security centre. How could he be most responsible? He received orders from the Communist Party. He was a perpetrator, of course, but he should not be under the jurisdiction of the ECCC. Why only Duch out of 195 prison chiefs?” asked defence lawyer Kar Savuth.
“Personal jurisdiction is strictly about those who were senior leaders and most responsible. A request for a broader interpretation has been bluntly rejected by the Cambodian government,” he said, inadvertently admitting political interference in the judicial process.
Most responsible
The response by national co-Prosecutor Chea Leang was that “Duch is most responsible within the framework of S-21. The security apparatus was at the heart of the CPK’s policy and S-21 was the most important office in the apparatus. Duch was at the highest level of security services.” This makes him one of the “most responsible” people.
In challenging the prosecution strategy, the defence highlighted the fact that Duch is the only mid-level commander to be tried before this court while both the national prosecutor and the Cambodian government are effectively blocking additional prosecutions against five other suspects, including two generals who were more senior than Duch in the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.
80% Khmer Rouge
The defence also touched upon the disturbing fact that 80% of the victims at S-21 were former Khmer Rouge cadres, including senior Party members who would stand accused today had they not been purged by the regime they served.
Kar Savuth, 76, has survived all political regimes in contemporary Cambodia. He shares with some of his Cambodian peers a taste for exaggeration and provocation, but he is cunning and he doesn’t lack eloquence and charisma.
“We do not challenge the ECCC’s jurisdiction. The ECCC has the competence to try the senior leaders. But we question the prosecution’s method of depicting Duch as one of the most responsible for the crimes committed. Who are the main perpetrators? Those who gave orders. Duch was receiving orders from Son Sen and Nuon Chea,” former members of the CPK’s standing committee, he stressed.
85% admission
The trial of Duch, who admitted 85% of the facts alleged in the indictment, was exceptionally devoid of legal wrangling. Neither the Defence nor the Prosecution challenged any factual finding of the Trial Chamber. The Prosecution, however, wants a few legal conclusions by the Trial Chamber to be corrected.
While the trial judges decided to bring all charges for crimes against humanity under the single count of persecution, co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley asked the Appeals Chamber “to create consistency of law” between the ECCC and all other international courts, where criminals can be convicted on multiple charges. The Prosecution also asked the Appeals Chamber to recognize rape as a distinct crime, and to add a conviction on enslavement for the entire S-21 complex, not only for the “re-education” camp of S-24.
Outcome
“It is our submission that forced labour is not a requirement for enslavement,” Cayley argued.
But he admitted that such legal challenges ”will not have great influence on the sentence.” It is hard to imagine that the court would decide at this stage that it lacks jurisdiction in the case against Duch. As a result, the only outcome of the appeal that may be expected to trigger public interest and reaction is whether the 30-year sentence pronounced by the Trial Chamber will be confirmed or altered by the Appeals Chamber.
At the end of the trial, the prosecution asked for 45 years imprisonment, reduced to 40 years in order to compensate for Duch’s illegal detention by Cambodian’s military justice before the ECCC took the case. The Trial Chamber eventually ruled on a 35-year sentence reduced to 30.
Mitigating circumstances
The Prosecution now said that Duch’s challenge of the very fact of being tried, and his last-minute request to be acquitted, nullify the mitigating circumstances that initially justified a reduced sentence.
“Our position is that any mitigating circumstance in this case has vanished,” said Cayley. He argued that Duch’s cooperation with the court—his admission of most charges in his own case and his testimony against four top leaders whose trial is to start this year—“was not given in a voluntary capacity.” According to him, Duch’s expression of remorse lacked sincerity, and his belated challenge on the court’s jurisdiction and his request for relief were “inconsistent with his admission of responsibility.”
Life sentence
Only a life sentence could now reflect the gravity of the crimes committed, Cayley said. To support his claim, he provided the court with a chart of jurisprudence from the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals. As often with such arguments, the case law could have been easily challenged by the opposing party. But there appeared to be no one in the entirely Cambodian defence team with the knowledge to do so.
An assertive judge Klonowiecka-Milart noted that both the 2009 Cambodian penal code and the ICC norm contemplate 30 years as the maximum penalty.
“Why and how would it frustrate the purpose of the law if it corresponds to international law?” she asked.
Civil party lawyers did not have a say in the debate over sentencing. But they expressed their dismay at the rejection of several of their clients by the trial judges. About a third of some ninety civil parties who were admitted at the beginning of the trial were eventually declared inadmissible by the Trial Chamber in their judgment.
“After doing everything they were asked, producing whatever they were asked for, coming with great expectation, the day of the judgment they were told that the civil party status they had been granted previously has been revoked. This was most unpalatable. It was a shock,” pleaded Karrim Khan, who had nine clients rejected.
Rules have changed
Whatever the decision of the Appeals Chamber on this issue, it will have no bearing on the next trial before the ECCC: in the meantime, rules have changed, and this issue must be cleared up prior to the beginning of the trial.
Duch remains the only important Khmer rouge commander to ever admit responsibility and acknowledge the criminal policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea that cost the lives of an estimated 1,7 million people between 1975 and 1979. He testified at length about the creation and functioning of S-21, and what he knew about the leadership and policy of the CPK. He expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness many times. Then, at the end of the proceedings, after he realized that victims’ families were not satisfied and would not pardon him, he gradually appeared to withdraw into himself. The last day of the trial, in a spectacular twist, he had asked to be acquitted and released.
Fateful logic
“Where is Duch today? In which depths has he fallen?” asked civil party lawyer Canonne, wondering about “the fateful logic” followed by the former Khmer rouge.
March 30: two years exactly after Duch’s opening statement before this court. Looking significantly older, he delivers an emotionless and bureaucratic final speech. He looks calm, as if he had perfectly withdrawn into a protected tower by now. He maintains, in an even tone, that he is taking responsibility for the crimes committed at S-21, repeats his apologies and request for forgiveness. But now, he thinks, only the top leaders of the Party, and the leaders of the Cultural Revolution in China who influenced them, should be punished. Duch then takes off his glasses, carefully slips them into his jacket, stands up and walks away. No date has yet been set for a verdict.
==================
The Eccentricity of Evil: A Khmer Rouge Leader Goes on Trial
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/the-eccentricity-of-evil-a-khmer-rouge-leader-goes-on-trial/237179/By
How did a math teacher come to help orchestrate one of the worst genocides since the Holocaust?
Kaing Guek Eav, best known by the revolutionary alias Duch, is also a war criminal and mass killer. He has freely admitted he was responsible for the murder of over 12,000 people as head of the Khmer Rouge secret police and commandant of the S-21 security center, where perceived enemies of the regime were sent to be tortured into submission and "smashed." Over two years and ten months at the helm of the notorious prison, Comrade Duch ordered his captives to be waterboarded, their genitals electrocuted, and their toenails pulled out before sending nearly all of them, blindfolded, to be stabbed in the neck or clubbed to death in a field outside of Phnom Penh.
The case initially looked like a slam dunk -- a simple trial that could be wrapped up fast, initiating a cathartic national discussion in a country that was mired in civil war with the Khmer Rouge until 1998. The evidence against Duch, after all, was overwhelming: when the Khmer Rouge fled Phnom Penh in January 1979, Duch--a compulsive record-keeper -- left behind thousands of forced confessions that he had annotated in red ink: "beat her 40 times with the rattan stick," "medical experiment," "smash them to pieces." In the confessions, known as "autobiographies," Duch's prisoners inevitably admit to being agents of the KGB, CIA or the Vietnamese government and to having undermined the regime's radical plans for agricultural productivity and social harmony. The documents are mesmerizing today for their utter implausibility (one 19-year-old nurse, after being tortured, claimed the CIA had sent her on a mission to defecate in the operating theater of a Phnom Penh military hospital).
It was partly because of this extensive evidence that the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal--established in 2006 to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime and "those most responsible" for crimes committed under it--decided to prosecute Duch first. The regime's four top living leaders--including "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea and Foreign Minister Ieng Sary--remain in jail awaiting the beginning of their own trial this summer. They are all older and frailer than Duch, further removed from the killings, and far less contrite, having largely denied the accusations against them.
Duch's trial, which unfolded over the course of nine months in 2009, at first proceeded smoothly. Following a strategy devised by Francois Roux, his French defense lawyer and an experienced practitioner of judicial stagecraft, Duch apologized to his victims dozens of times, sometimes in dramatically self-lacerating fashion.
Under Roux's tutelage, Duch cried in court, made a tearful pilgrimage to the Killing Fields, and even--after an extended and theatrical courtroom dialogue with his lawyer--invited victims to visit him in his jail cell. It was an elaborate defense modeled on the precedent of Albert Speer--the Nazi architect who escaped a death sentence at Nuremberg because of his acceptance of moral responsibility.
Throughout the trial, Duch systematically upstaged everyone with his extraordinarily active participation in his own defense, and his odd zeal for setting the record straight, even at his own expense. Never deviating from a math-teacherish uniform of slacks and button-down shirts, he offered the court extensive commentary and analysis on his own life and character, and at times made helpful corrections -- serving variously as historian, analyst, mathematician, expert witness, character witness and trial monitor.
Nearly every day he would rise, clutching a binder full of the court documents and mimeographed S-21 confessions he had been poring over, to highlight inaccuracies in witness testimony, correct the courtroom translators, or admonish lawyers for repetitive questioning. He frequently recited eight-digit documentation ID numbers from memory, while some lawyers struggled to produce the numbers at all.
Inexact figures seemed to irk him in particular. When a prosecutor referred to a length of time as "26 or 27 years," Duch retorted, "Could you please make a proper mathematical calculation?" Earlier, he told judges that had selected his revolutionary name from a children's book about a very obedient child called Duch. "I liked the name Duch because I wanted to be a well-disciplined boy who respected the teachers, who wanted to do good deeds," he said. He was in his mid-20s at the time.
Duch explained to the court that he was chosen to be a prison chief because of his ability "to pay attention to whatever I was assigned to do meticulously." "In my entire life, if I do something I'll do it properly," he said.
The Open Society Justice Initiative wrote in a report on the trial, "Duch's behavior at trial again displayed a desire to be seen as exceedingly cooperative with the court, as if he were attempting to exchange his old role with that of the perfect defendant." A particularly telling moment, the report continued, "occurred when Duch thanked expert David Chandler for praising his professionalism in running S-21, seemingly still believing that professionalism in the running of a torture and execution camp was a high compliment."
Out of hundreds of hours of testimony from prison survivors, experts, and Duch himself, a clear and unnerving portrait of him emerged: this killer of thousands was, above all else, a good student. It seems to have been this quality, rather than greed or blood lust or even pure revolutionary fervor, that drove him to manage operations at S-21 so carefully, so meticulously, that only a handful of prisoners survived.
That's why everyone was stunned when, on the 77th and last day of his trial, Duch took on the most unlikely role of all: the bad student.
When called upon to give a final statement, he abruptly abandoned Roux's strategy of remorse and, and instead demanded that the court release and acquit him. Duch's behavior and public statements up to this point had been as good as a guilty plea, and his trial had seemed to be headed toward a predictable ending: a commuted sentence in exchange for cooperation, contrition and conversation.
But instead of apologizing once again to his victims, he launched into a dry, technical discourse on the history of the Communist Party in Cambodia and its leaders--which did not include him. He said that as he was not a senior leader he could not have been "most responsible" for crimes committed at S-21. He asked to be acquitted in the name of national reconciliation--the favored buzzword here for the process of integrating former Khmer Rouge cadres into Cambodian society.
Stunned judges asked him to clarify his statement. He obeyed: "I would like the chamber to release me."
Duch subsequently fired Roux and tried to replace him with a Chinese lawyer who understood Communism (Defendants at the tribunal, which is jointly administered by the Cambodian government and the UN, have the right to one local and one international lawyer). When a Chinese defender could not be procured, he engaged a second Cambodian. Together, the new defense team has pursued a one-note legal strategy: insisting over and over again that Duch was a mid-level cadre and therefore should not be prosecuted.
In July 2010, the tribunal found Duch guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to 35 years in prison. (Due to mitigating circumstances and time served, he will spend less than 19 years in jail; prosecutors have called this figure "manifestly inadequate.")
Late last month, appeal hearings were held, bringing Duch before the court once again. Reading from copious handwritten notes and once again deftly reciting long strings of document ID numbers, he argued on his behalf better than his own bumbling lawyers, urging judges to release him "for the sake of national reconciliation among my people."
"You must...seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people as well as for the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadres, especially the middle class who do not fall within the jurisdiction of this tribunal," he concluded.
It was a poor legal argument, but one that was cleverly phrased to echo the government's stance on the tribunal: that, in the name of national reconciliation, no further prosecutions will be allowed to take place, period. Hun Sen, Cambodia's strongman prime minister, who was himself a Khmer Rouge cadre before internal purges prompted him to flee to Vietnam in 1977, announced in 2009 that more trials could revive the civil war and kill "200,000 to 300,000 people."
Although United Nations prosecutors have identified five additional suspects they would like to see tried for genocide and war crimes, those cases have been stalled in the tribunal's investigation chamber, hindered by the fact that Cambodian staff refuse to participate in them. Court observers say the cases are likely to be dismissed soon.
Out of paranoia or pride, the government has also refused to allow several top officials who are former mid-ranking members of the Khmer Rouge to give evidence before the tribunal, although none of them has been implicated in crimes. Hun Sen flatly told visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October that no new trials would be permitted. Neither Mr Ban nor the international community, which funds the court's multi-million dollar budget, seemed to particularly care.
Because of all this behind-the-scenes political wrangling, Duch's dramatic change of stance has raised persistent whispers that he may now be taking orders from someone else--especially since his lead Cambodian counsel, Kar Savuth, also happens to be Hun Sen's family lawyer. But a large part of his turnabout can likely be attributed to his idiosyncratic personality. With his penchant for calculation, astonishing head for detail, and incapacity to process human emotion, he often comes across as mildly autistic. Decades after he committed his crimes, Duch is still unable to understand how the behaviors he values most--dedication to a higher cause, unfailing obedience to superiors, and pride in a job well done--can be entirely wrong.
Given his defiant new stance, his victims are unlikely to get the contrition they seek. But thanks to Duch¹s loquacity throughout the trial, and his obsession with getting the facts right, Cambodia and the world have gleaned not just a fuller understanding of the machinery of death he headed, but also a portrait of one brutal regime's slavishly obedient, ferociously meticulous executioner.
Ho New/Reuters
If a courtroom is a theater, the star of the show at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal for the past two years has been a gaunt and balding former math teacher whose favorite word to describe himself is "meticulous."Kaing Guek Eav, best known by the revolutionary alias Duch, is also a war criminal and mass killer. He has freely admitted he was responsible for the murder of over 12,000 people as head of the Khmer Rouge secret police and commandant of the S-21 security center, where perceived enemies of the regime were sent to be tortured into submission and "smashed." Over two years and ten months at the helm of the notorious prison, Comrade Duch ordered his captives to be waterboarded, their genitals electrocuted, and their toenails pulled out before sending nearly all of them, blindfolded, to be stabbed in the neck or clubbed to death in a field outside of Phnom Penh.
The case initially looked like a slam dunk -- a simple trial that could be wrapped up fast, initiating a cathartic national discussion in a country that was mired in civil war with the Khmer Rouge until 1998. The evidence against Duch, after all, was overwhelming: when the Khmer Rouge fled Phnom Penh in January 1979, Duch--a compulsive record-keeper -- left behind thousands of forced confessions that he had annotated in red ink: "beat her 40 times with the rattan stick," "medical experiment," "smash them to pieces." In the confessions, known as "autobiographies," Duch's prisoners inevitably admit to being agents of the KGB, CIA or the Vietnamese government and to having undermined the regime's radical plans for agricultural productivity and social harmony. The documents are mesmerizing today for their utter implausibility (one 19-year-old nurse, after being tortured, claimed the CIA had sent her on a mission to defecate in the operating theater of a Phnom Penh military hospital).
It was partly because of this extensive evidence that the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal--established in 2006 to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime and "those most responsible" for crimes committed under it--decided to prosecute Duch first. The regime's four top living leaders--including "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea and Foreign Minister Ieng Sary--remain in jail awaiting the beginning of their own trial this summer. They are all older and frailer than Duch, further removed from the killings, and far less contrite, having largely denied the accusations against them.
Duch's trial, which unfolded over the course of nine months in 2009, at first proceeded smoothly. Following a strategy devised by Francois Roux, his French defense lawyer and an experienced practitioner of judicial stagecraft, Duch apologized to his victims dozens of times, sometimes in dramatically self-lacerating fashion.
Under Roux's tutelage, Duch cried in court, made a tearful pilgrimage to the Killing Fields, and even--after an extended and theatrical courtroom dialogue with his lawyer--invited victims to visit him in his jail cell. It was an elaborate defense modeled on the precedent of Albert Speer--the Nazi architect who escaped a death sentence at Nuremberg because of his acceptance of moral responsibility.
Throughout the trial, Duch systematically upstaged everyone with his extraordinarily active participation in his own defense, and his odd zeal for setting the record straight, even at his own expense. Never deviating from a math-teacherish uniform of slacks and button-down shirts, he offered the court extensive commentary and analysis on his own life and character, and at times made helpful corrections -- serving variously as historian, analyst, mathematician, expert witness, character witness and trial monitor.
Nearly every day he would rise, clutching a binder full of the court documents and mimeographed S-21 confessions he had been poring over, to highlight inaccuracies in witness testimony, correct the courtroom translators, or admonish lawyers for repetitive questioning. He frequently recited eight-digit documentation ID numbers from memory, while some lawyers struggled to produce the numbers at all.
Inexact figures seemed to irk him in particular. When a prosecutor referred to a length of time as "26 or 27 years," Duch retorted, "Could you please make a proper mathematical calculation?" Earlier, he told judges that had selected his revolutionary name from a children's book about a very obedient child called Duch. "I liked the name Duch because I wanted to be a well-disciplined boy who respected the teachers, who wanted to do good deeds," he said. He was in his mid-20s at the time.
Duch explained to the court that he was chosen to be a prison chief because of his ability "to pay attention to whatever I was assigned to do meticulously." "In my entire life, if I do something I'll do it properly," he said.
The Open Society Justice Initiative wrote in a report on the trial, "Duch's behavior at trial again displayed a desire to be seen as exceedingly cooperative with the court, as if he were attempting to exchange his old role with that of the perfect defendant." A particularly telling moment, the report continued, "occurred when Duch thanked expert David Chandler for praising his professionalism in running S-21, seemingly still believing that professionalism in the running of a torture and execution camp was a high compliment."
Out of hundreds of hours of testimony from prison survivors, experts, and Duch himself, a clear and unnerving portrait of him emerged: this killer of thousands was, above all else, a good student. It seems to have been this quality, rather than greed or blood lust or even pure revolutionary fervor, that drove him to manage operations at S-21 so carefully, so meticulously, that only a handful of prisoners survived.
That's why everyone was stunned when, on the 77th and last day of his trial, Duch took on the most unlikely role of all: the bad student.
When called upon to give a final statement, he abruptly abandoned Roux's strategy of remorse and, and instead demanded that the court release and acquit him. Duch's behavior and public statements up to this point had been as good as a guilty plea, and his trial had seemed to be headed toward a predictable ending: a commuted sentence in exchange for cooperation, contrition and conversation.
But instead of apologizing once again to his victims, he launched into a dry, technical discourse on the history of the Communist Party in Cambodia and its leaders--which did not include him. He said that as he was not a senior leader he could not have been "most responsible" for crimes committed at S-21. He asked to be acquitted in the name of national reconciliation--the favored buzzword here for the process of integrating former Khmer Rouge cadres into Cambodian society.
Stunned judges asked him to clarify his statement. He obeyed: "I would like the chamber to release me."
Duch subsequently fired Roux and tried to replace him with a Chinese lawyer who understood Communism (Defendants at the tribunal, which is jointly administered by the Cambodian government and the UN, have the right to one local and one international lawyer). When a Chinese defender could not be procured, he engaged a second Cambodian. Together, the new defense team has pursued a one-note legal strategy: insisting over and over again that Duch was a mid-level cadre and therefore should not be prosecuted.
In July 2010, the tribunal found Duch guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to 35 years in prison. (Due to mitigating circumstances and time served, he will spend less than 19 years in jail; prosecutors have called this figure "manifestly inadequate.")
Late last month, appeal hearings were held, bringing Duch before the court once again. Reading from copious handwritten notes and once again deftly reciting long strings of document ID numbers, he argued on his behalf better than his own bumbling lawyers, urging judges to release him "for the sake of national reconciliation among my people."
"You must...seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people as well as for the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and cadres, especially the middle class who do not fall within the jurisdiction of this tribunal," he concluded.
It was a poor legal argument, but one that was cleverly phrased to echo the government's stance on the tribunal: that, in the name of national reconciliation, no further prosecutions will be allowed to take place, period. Hun Sen, Cambodia's strongman prime minister, who was himself a Khmer Rouge cadre before internal purges prompted him to flee to Vietnam in 1977, announced in 2009 that more trials could revive the civil war and kill "200,000 to 300,000 people."
Although United Nations prosecutors have identified five additional suspects they would like to see tried for genocide and war crimes, those cases have been stalled in the tribunal's investigation chamber, hindered by the fact that Cambodian staff refuse to participate in them. Court observers say the cases are likely to be dismissed soon.
Out of paranoia or pride, the government has also refused to allow several top officials who are former mid-ranking members of the Khmer Rouge to give evidence before the tribunal, although none of them has been implicated in crimes. Hun Sen flatly told visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in October that no new trials would be permitted. Neither Mr Ban nor the international community, which funds the court's multi-million dollar budget, seemed to particularly care.
Because of all this behind-the-scenes political wrangling, Duch's dramatic change of stance has raised persistent whispers that he may now be taking orders from someone else--especially since his lead Cambodian counsel, Kar Savuth, also happens to be Hun Sen's family lawyer. But a large part of his turnabout can likely be attributed to his idiosyncratic personality. With his penchant for calculation, astonishing head for detail, and incapacity to process human emotion, he often comes across as mildly autistic. Decades after he committed his crimes, Duch is still unable to understand how the behaviors he values most--dedication to a higher cause, unfailing obedience to superiors, and pride in a job well done--can be entirely wrong.
Given his defiant new stance, his victims are unlikely to get the contrition they seek. But thanks to Duch¹s loquacity throughout the trial, and his obsession with getting the facts right, Cambodia and the world have gleaned not just a fuller understanding of the machinery of death he headed, but also a portrait of one brutal regime's slavishly obedient, ferociously meticulous executioner.
Monday, March 28, 2011
The real obstacles to politcal unity
The main reason SRP changed its name was to avoid the internal coup that could split the party. We had seen such a coup in the past when internal fighting within a party split the party into pieces. It has been suspected that the split was the work of the ruling party which had the “ways and means” to buy out some greedy opposition’s leaders. But, you can't buy without a seller, can you?
Whether the work has been done by the ruling party or not, a self-named political entity can only last as long as the person with that name lives provided that he can hold on to his duty.
However, with the entire political arena controlled and monitored by the ruling party, the same can find the way to dismantle its opponents with little or no problems. The important thing is whether politicians truthfully believe in their own principles and are honest with their party and to themselves.
Being a father who is away from home, the family can be shattered; hence the concerns over Sam Rainsy Party without Sam Rainsy being home are understandable. It becomes clearer now that the theory behind naming a political party after one’s own name in order to stay united or to win does not work given that there is no proper democratic process in the political theater.
With the current electoral procedures, the oppositions have no chance to succeed. The political opportunity is set by the ruling party for the oppositions to play in order to legalize its rules. Many years ago Sam Rainsy said he would not become an alibi to the CPP, but as of today Sam Rainsy still wants to continue the same processes. His party has asked to the King to pardon Sam Rainsy so that he would be able to play again in the same uneven political ground. This reason proves that politicians use whatever tactics they can to stay in politic for it is their lifetime career.
Yim Sovann is rational enough for saying that some SRP defectors would only use other political parties such as HRP as a parking lot to move on. Some politicians have already done that. After all, Premier Hun Sen said he would always welcome more defectors to his party.
Learning from Yim Sovan meandering statements as well as my own experience, it is ashamed to find out that certain politicians are deceitful. A number of politicians are playing game by double-dealing having their family members working in different political parties to secure their family’s businesses and their own profession. Using the pain and suffering of Cambodian people as baits, some leaders mix up political and personal businesses at the expenses of innocent donors.
With regard to a mass defection, if it happens at all; it is not because one party is better than the other democratically. HRP is not democratic. Defection is about whether politicians see their potential in a certain party or not. Some people jump ship to seek a better position and/or for a better opportunity. After a while, when they learn about the new leadership and the lack of opportunity, they would do it again—and the final destination would be at the party that can offer them some money, security and position.
It is therefore reasonably concluded that, it’s not about the name of the party, nor about the democratic processes within a party that are the real obstacles for political unity. It’s about the attitude, level of commitment and moral obligation of many Cambodian politicians toward Cambodia’s national interests and toward their party’s principles.
Cambodian politic nowadays is nothing more than just a form of profession which is banking on the pain and suffering of the Cambodian people. However, if ones are mentally corrupted and blinded by money, sex and nepotism; no types of party on earth can help them win for Cambodia.
Regardless of what many corrupted politicians promise to the people, the smelling is too strong for most of them to believe.
Whether the work has been done by the ruling party or not, a self-named political entity can only last as long as the person with that name lives provided that he can hold on to his duty.
However, with the entire political arena controlled and monitored by the ruling party, the same can find the way to dismantle its opponents with little or no problems. The important thing is whether politicians truthfully believe in their own principles and are honest with their party and to themselves.
Being a father who is away from home, the family can be shattered; hence the concerns over Sam Rainsy Party without Sam Rainsy being home are understandable. It becomes clearer now that the theory behind naming a political party after one’s own name in order to stay united or to win does not work given that there is no proper democratic process in the political theater.
With the current electoral procedures, the oppositions have no chance to succeed. The political opportunity is set by the ruling party for the oppositions to play in order to legalize its rules. Many years ago Sam Rainsy said he would not become an alibi to the CPP, but as of today Sam Rainsy still wants to continue the same processes. His party has asked to the King to pardon Sam Rainsy so that he would be able to play again in the same uneven political ground. This reason proves that politicians use whatever tactics they can to stay in politic for it is their lifetime career.
Yim Sovann is rational enough for saying that some SRP defectors would only use other political parties such as HRP as a parking lot to move on. Some politicians have already done that. After all, Premier Hun Sen said he would always welcome more defectors to his party.
Learning from Yim Sovan meandering statements as well as my own experience, it is ashamed to find out that certain politicians are deceitful. A number of politicians are playing game by double-dealing having their family members working in different political parties to secure their family’s businesses and their own profession. Using the pain and suffering of Cambodian people as baits, some leaders mix up political and personal businesses at the expenses of innocent donors.
With regard to a mass defection, if it happens at all; it is not because one party is better than the other democratically. HRP is not democratic. Defection is about whether politicians see their potential in a certain party or not. Some people jump ship to seek a better position and/or for a better opportunity. After a while, when they learn about the new leadership and the lack of opportunity, they would do it again—and the final destination would be at the party that can offer them some money, security and position.
It is therefore reasonably concluded that, it’s not about the name of the party, nor about the democratic processes within a party that are the real obstacles for political unity. It’s about the attitude, level of commitment and moral obligation of many Cambodian politicians toward Cambodia’s national interests and toward their party’s principles.
Cambodian politic nowadays is nothing more than just a form of profession which is banking on the pain and suffering of the Cambodian people. However, if ones are mentally corrupted and blinded by money, sex and nepotism; no types of party on earth can help them win for Cambodia.
Regardless of what many corrupted politicians promise to the people, the smelling is too strong for most of them to believe.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia youths boost cooperation
Another boost of the cooperation of the three countries is unfolded. This time they focus on youths--the younger generations. The event held by Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.
This reminds us of the creation of the Indochinese Communist Party formed by the Vietnamese great man Ho Chi Minh back in 1930. Ho Chi Minh Youth Union was founded in 1931.
Some of us may want to learn why Cambodian youths are still interested in communism and what the future of Cambodia will look like.
Learn from them! Point your arrow on the above red and blue organization then click and learn.
====================
NATIONAL
Thursday ,Mar 24,2011, Posted at: 15:09(GMT+7)
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia youths boost cooperation | ||
Young people from regional countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia joined in a friendship meeting in Hanoi on March 23. The exchange, taking place on the occasion of the 80 th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh
In the framework of the event, participants will take part in a talk themed “Vietnam- Laos- Cambodia youths promote traditional solidarity and friendship for mutual peace, cooperation and development” to update each other on mobilising youth and promote youth’s roles in cooperation for socio-economic development of the three countries. During the event, which will last till March 30, Lao and Cambodian youths will meet with Vietnamese students and visit the country’s historical sites and landscapes. | ||
Opposition dilemma --The Unity is still in the clouds
Defection is nothing new...
Merging, cooperating, uniting, working together, etc. begin with the right attitude of all parties involved.
Nothing in their work now indicates that the Human Rights Party and Sam Rainsy Party can work together. It begins with the attitude of both men—the leaders.
However, if our national interest is not their number one priority they will never have the right attitude to unite. Given their personal records, I know Sam Rainsy is right—the Unity is in the clouds. I will elaborate later when I have the time.
============
Opposition dilemma
phnompenhpost.com
Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha has invited members of the Kingdom’s largest opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party, to defect to the HRP following the announcement this week that ex-SRP lawmaker Mao Monyvann would join the party.
Mao Monyvann, formerly an SRP parliamentarian from Kampong Cham province, resigned from his post earlier this month before holding a press conference this week to criticise the SRP leadership, accusing lawmakers Yim Sovann and Eng Chhay Eang of wielding excessive control over the party. In the aftermath of his comments, the SRP asked him to resign from the party and he joined the HRP.
SRP head Sam Rainsy now lives abroad to avoid a pair of jail terms totalling 12 years that were handed down against him last year in connection with a protest he staged at the Vietnamese border in 2009. He was stripped of his parliamentary seat earlier this month as a result of his convictions.
“The HRP will become the biggest opposition party in Cambodia if Sam Rainsy cannot return,” Kem Sokha said.
“We do not want him to be absent – I want to have him here as a partner,” Kem Sokha added. “But if he is not present, I believe the HRP will play an important role in pressing for a change from the current leadership.”
Yim Sovann said Kem Sokha was “dreaming” if he thought the HRP could become the Kingdom’s largest opposition party, noting that the HRP only holds three seats in the National Assembly compared with the SRP’s 25.
The spat raises questions about the proposed merger between the parties, which have been in talks for months but have yet to reach an agreement.
Merger talks between the HRP and SRP have stalled in part due to disagreements about the leadership structure of a unified party. SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said yesterday that his party was still committed to the negotiations, but that Mao Monyvann’s public criticisms this week had prompted a reassessment of the proposal.
“The HRP used Mao Monyvann’s attack and broadcasted it on the radio, and it is not right to act this way,” Son Chhay said.
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the recent bickering among the opposition parties showed that a merger was unlikely.
“They cannot live together, and it has been this way for a long time,” he said. “The SRP has 25 parliamentarians and they do not allow a party with three parliamentarians to control them.”
Merging, cooperating, uniting, working together, etc. begin with the right attitude of all parties involved.
Nothing in their work now indicates that the Human Rights Party and Sam Rainsy Party can work together. It begins with the attitude of both men—the leaders.
However, if our national interest is not their number one priority they will never have the right attitude to unite. Given their personal records, I know Sam Rainsy is right—the Unity is in the clouds. I will elaborate later when I have the time.
============
Opposition dilemma
phnompenhpost.com
Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha has invited members of the Kingdom’s largest opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party, to defect to the HRP following the announcement this week that ex-SRP lawmaker Mao Monyvann would join the party.
Mao Monyvann, formerly an SRP parliamentarian from Kampong Cham province, resigned from his post earlier this month before holding a press conference this week to criticise the SRP leadership, accusing lawmakers Yim Sovann and Eng Chhay Eang of wielding excessive control over the party. In the aftermath of his comments, the SRP asked him to resign from the party and he joined the HRP.
SRP head Sam Rainsy now lives abroad to avoid a pair of jail terms totalling 12 years that were handed down against him last year in connection with a protest he staged at the Vietnamese border in 2009. He was stripped of his parliamentary seat earlier this month as a result of his convictions.
“The HRP will become the biggest opposition party in Cambodia if Sam Rainsy cannot return,” Kem Sokha said.
“We do not want him to be absent – I want to have him here as a partner,” Kem Sokha added. “But if he is not present, I believe the HRP will play an important role in pressing for a change from the current leadership.”
Yim Sovann said Kem Sokha was “dreaming” if he thought the HRP could become the Kingdom’s largest opposition party, noting that the HRP only holds three seats in the National Assembly compared with the SRP’s 25.
The spat raises questions about the proposed merger between the parties, which have been in talks for months but have yet to reach an agreement.
Merger talks between the HRP and SRP have stalled in part due to disagreements about the leadership structure of a unified party. SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said yesterday that his party was still committed to the negotiations, but that Mao Monyvann’s public criticisms this week had prompted a reassessment of the proposal.
“The HRP used Mao Monyvann’s attack and broadcasted it on the radio, and it is not right to act this way,” Son Chhay said.
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the recent bickering among the opposition parties showed that a merger was unlikely.
“They cannot live together, and it has been this way for a long time,” he said. “The SRP has 25 parliamentarians and they do not allow a party with three parliamentarians to control them.”
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Stop the fight among us: the Khmers
Stop fighting among ourselves
If the report in Bangkok Post (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/224455/cambodian-move-raises-border-tension) is true—that Hun Sen is putting the Khmer Rouge soldiers to face the Thai forces around Preah Vihear—then it would mean that those poor Khmers, mostly the underprivileged ones, are being sent to the frontlines to face the almighty Thai army. Although the Khmer Rouge are considered battle hardened in the past, these soldiers are now older and have not been in combat for many years.
If the report in Bangkok Post (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/224455/cambodian-move-raises-border-tension) is true—that Hun Sen is putting the Khmer Rouge soldiers to face the Thai forces around Preah Vihear—then it would mean that those poor Khmers, mostly the underprivileged ones, are being sent to the frontlines to face the almighty Thai army. Although the Khmer Rouge are considered battle hardened in the past, these soldiers are now older and have not been in combat for many years.
The Khmer Rouge soldiers are not equipped with proper protection and sophisticated weapons. They are not armed to the teeth. Their fighting ability is no match to Thailand’s military might, which is among the best in Asia, if not in the world. This comment should not be misconstrued as a submission to the Thai, but it is just the matter of fact. It has nothing to do with nationalism or patriotism.
It reminds me of the many events in the recent pasts, whereby the Khmers are being sacrificed for the livelihoods of others.
In the 1970’s, when Cambodia was invaded by the then North Vietnamese and Vietcong, thousands of young Khmer men were sent to combat against the more experienced Vietnamese armed forces and thousands of Khmers were killed. Many of my friends who went to fight in the battles--such as in Chenla I, Chenla II, just to name a few--had never returned from the battlefields. Those young men and women were the cream of the crops for the Khmer race. They could have been here with us and produced thousands more offsprings.
Needless to say, thousands of young Khmer men and women who went to join the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer Roumdos of Prince Sihanouk and the North Vietnamese/Vietcong to battle the Khmer Republican Army were also killed and maimed. Hundreds of thousands of Khmer lives were destroyed by the American air raids. Millions tons of bomb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88jrZjsNHPc&feature=player_embedded) were used in a few short years. Many of my relatives and friends who went to join in the fight never came back. Those were the cream of the crops of Khmer blood. They could have been here with us and produced thousands more Khmer children.
Map showing 115,273 targets of U.S. secret bombing of Cambodia between October 1965 and August 1973. (Taylor Owen)
The remaining Khmer young men, women and their family members whom were left over from the 70-75 war--most of them sided with the American-backed government of Lon Nol--were savagely murdered during the Pol Pot rule of 75-79. Some two millions Khmer lives vanished in a few short years. Most of them were the cream of the crops of Khmer race. If they were here with us, they could have produced millions Khmer families.
From: https:/.../tag/vietnam-invaded-cambodia/
Then, the last waves of the killings were during and after the Vietnamese invasion of 1979. Countless of Pol Pot’s soldiers –all Khmer—were sacrificed to fight against the hundreds of thousands well armed Vietnamese invading forces. Can we imagine, how many Khmers were shot to death by the Vietnamese and how many were maimed and injured? At the same time, the Vietnamese also recruited thousands more of Khmer men and women to fight against the Khmer Rouge guerilla. Countless more Khmers on both sides died in the many battles during and after the Vietnamese invasion.
Then, the last waves of the killings were during and after the Vietnamese invasion of 1979. Countless of Pol Pot’s soldiers –all Khmer—were sacrificed to fight against the hundreds of thousands well armed Vietnamese invading forces. Can we imagine, how many Khmers were shot to death by the Vietnamese and how many were maimed and injured? At the same time, the Vietnamese also recruited thousands more of Khmer men and women to fight against the Khmer Rouge guerilla. Countless more Khmers on both sides died in the many battles during and after the Vietnamese invasion.
What about the K5 Plan? During my first visit to Cambodia in 1992, I learned a new “saying” by Cambodian people-Tov Chiss Laan, Mok Vinh Chiss Chaan—it meant when young Khmer men and women were sent to serve in the K5 Plan they went by the truckloads, but when they returned, they (their ashes) came back inside small urns. Thousands more of Khmers—the cream of the crops—were sacrificed. They could have produced thousands more Khmer families, if they were here with us.
Now, a decade later, the last cream of the crops of Khmer men and women—they are called the Khmer Rouge soldiers, along with the so-called Cambodian Royal Armed forces, who are mostly underprivileged--are about to be sacrificed against the almighty Thailand’s armed forces. Meanwhile, those children of the rich and powerful ones, many of whom are new comers (can't even enunciate Khmer words), enjoy their time singing in Karaoke bars, eating and drinking in fine restaurants and nightclubs, driving luxurious vehicles, etc…
My Khmer brothers and sisters: Whether you are in Vietnam, in Thailand and elsewhere in the world, let’s us stop fighting against each other. There are many Thai soldiers who are Khmer as well as there are many Vietnamese soldiers who are Khmer. Let’s furthermore remember that during Vietnam War, many of our Khmer brothers and sisters who lived in Kampuchea Krom were sent to fight into the fierce battlefields. We had killed each other in the battlegrounds throughout Vietnam as well as in Cambodia. The so-called Mike’s Forces army was nearly wiped out—many thousands of those fine young men and women were Khmer. They could have produced thousands Khmer families in that region if their lives were spared from the fighting.
Now this: By looking at the elements of Thai fighters, I see that many of them are the underprivileged ones. Many of whom are Khmer men and women who are of Thai nationals. They are being positioned to confront their brothers and sisters--Khmer men and women who are also poor and uneducated inside Cambodia. Shall we fight and kill each other again?
Source: Cambodian Newspaper Koh Santepheap
Source: Cambodian Newspaper Koh Santepheap
Wherever we are, we all are Khmer- Just Khmer—not Khmer Loeur, Khmer Kandal, Khmer Krom, Khmer Krao or Khmer Khnong. Our Khmer race is being wiped out. Whether we are being systematically eradicated by others, by our own past ignorance or both, we need to stop the annihilation right now.
Stop the Killing! One Khmer life is priceless.
Stop the Killing! One Khmer life is priceless.
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