Looking for Missing Friends at the Cambodian-Thai Border

Tim Page

On 12th April 1979 the Thai army forced a group of 1,728 Cambodian refugees, at gunpoint back into Cambodia from the temporary camp where they had been held at Wat Koh in Aranyaprathet on the far west border of Cambodia. Seven hundred of them were children under the age of 12. David Taylor, an Australian Field Officer for UNHCR had had enough. He heard that within a week two hundred of them had already died or been killed by the Khmer Rouge. In an attempt to stop the forced repatriations, on April 16th 1979 Taylor persuaded a senior Thai army officer to allow him to enter a restricted military district from where they were being forced back.

He arrived at Barn Taprick Noie with his driver at about 3.30pm and immediately noticed a group of people sitting on the ground talking with Thai villagers and about 8 soldiers. They were 32 in total – 13 adults, one of them a woman who was 8 months pregnant and 19 children – who had just crossed the border. The women were crying, they were told they were being sent back. The soldiers told them they must stand up and walk to the border immediately. David told them not to stand up but to remain together as a group while he talked to the soldiers and his driver went back to Aranyaprathet to talk to his supervisor. David’s boss could not be contacted and the soldiers were becoming more insistent that the Cambodians should leave immediately; they said that the border was dangerous in the dark and they could no longer wait. David Taylor said “I thought if I could keep the Cambodians a little longer the soldiers would not send them back until the next day. I thought if I could keep them in Thailand for one night it would give me time to talk to local military and civilian officials and to my bosses Leslie Goodyear and Martin Barber”, both UNHCR official representatives.

The soldiers, however, clearly were preparing to carry out their orders. “The patrol leader tried to push me away from the Cambodians and one of the soldiers raised his gun at me. The Thai villagers were also saying that the Cambodians should leave since they ‘didn’t want the Khmer Rouge in Thailand, they had already burnt down some of their houses”. The tension eased when the villagers shouted, “some more are coming!” Five more Cambodians, two men, two women and a child were walking down the path towards them. They were immediately searched and David insisted that the five sit together with the other 32.

The patrol leader meanwhile had talked to his superior and David was told that if he would write a letter accepting responsibility for the 37 they could go to the Wat Koh camp for new refugees. “I immediately accepted responsibility and said that I would write a letter saying so. I hired a truck from the village and told the Cambodians to get into the truck. Some of them were clearly afraid. I explained that they were to trust me and that I would ride in the truck with them”. He took them to Wat Koh and the next day returned to Barn Taprick Noie to thank the villagers and the soldiers for their kindness.

Meanwhile word had got out about what was happening on the border and journalists were there to meet them at Aranyaprathet and the story captured the attention of the worlds press. Official statements of damage control kicked into gear while David Taylor set about making sure they would not suffer the same fate as the 1,728 who had been forced out of Wat Koh 4 days before.

David approached a French priest, Father Venet, a refugee official working with the French Embassy and asked for help in resettling the Cambodians in France. Venet discussed the request with M. Jean Soulier, French ambassador to Thailand. M. Soulier accepted the Cambodians for resettlement. On June 12th 1979 the Cambodians whom David Taylor had saved from forced repatriation were flown to safety in France, there number now 38, the pregnant woman having given birth to a son whom she called David. Since then this story has slipped into history and been forgotten; but we are sure that the 38 people whose lives were changed on that day have never forgotten David Taylor. We are trying to trace any of these survivors to be able to write an in depth story on their lives and how it was changed by this humanitarian.

NAMES

Mr. Poeng Sorn, DOB: 17. 04. 1940
Mrs. Sao Yin, DOB: 1945
+ 7 children

Mr. Chea Thon, DOB: 28. 07. 1936
Mrs. Eang Han, DOB: 1944
+ 3 children

Mr. Ok Seng Hak, DOB: 1950
Mrs. In Pren, DOB: 1954
+ 1 child

Mr. Chak Keo, DOB: 1947
Mrs. Thong Savou, DOB: 1952

Mrs. Lim Lon, DOB: 1937
+ 3 children

Mrs. Ing Suy Kim, DOB: 1946
+ 1 child

Mrs. Ing Suy Heng, DOB: 1939
+ 2 children

Mr. Long Neang, DOB: 1944
Mrs. Keo Lean, DOB: 1944
+ 6 children

Mr. Kong Kang, DOB: 1943


END.

Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.
MEMORY & JUSTICE

“...a society cannot know itself if it does not have an accurate memory of its own history.”

Youk Chhang, Director
Documentation Center of Cambodia
66 Sihanouk Blvd.,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia