Posted by Socheata on March 30th, 2010
By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Siem Reap
Prosecutors are speeding up their work in the second case of the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, a court official said Sunday.
The court was working quickly and efficiently, UN prosecutor Andrew Carley told a group of teachers in Siem Reap, where he spoke during training of a new history book for schools.
The prosecution is moving toward the 2011 trial of at least four detained leaders, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, following the conclusion of the trial of Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch.
Carley said work was going well with his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang.
"I am accelerating, along with my colleague, the work as much as we can," he said.
Tribunal observers have voiced concerns that aging Khmer Rouge leaders might die before they see a day in court. Carley said Sunday he shared those concerns, but added the trials would continue even if some of the defendants die.
"This trial will come to a conclusion," he said. "But the best way to do this work is not quickly but efficiently."
Carley was addressing nearly 200 teachers from across the country who came to Siem Reap to learn to introduce a history book from the Documentation Center of Cambodia into their courses.
The book, "A History of Democratic Kampuchea," is part of a collaborative effort between the Documentation Center and the government to introduce Khmer Rouge histories into classrooms.
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.”
Friday, April 2, 2010
Books, But Difficulties Teaching Khmer Rouge Era
By Soeung Sophat, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
26 March 2010
http://www.voanews.com/khmer/2010-03-26-voa1.cfm
Khmer Rouge history is a sensitive subject in Cambodia, though the ongoing
Khmer Rouge trials and recent inclusion of more comprehensive teaching
materials in the national secondary curriculum have helped.
But while it took many years to get a textbook into the nation's
classrooms, the authors say the real challenges have just begun.
Dy Khamboly, a senior researcher with the Documentation Center of
Cambodia, is the author of "A History of Democratic Kampuchea
(1975-1979)," a book published in 2007 and slated for use in a national
genocide education project.
In an interview with VOA Khmer, he said for the project to be effective
requires more than good textbooks and a carefully planned curriculum.
"I hope that the teachers as well as the students, their surviving
parents, or any survivor from the Khmer Rouge era will all participate" in
the educational process, he said recently. "Genocide education about
Democratic Kampuchea cannot be achieved by any one person or institution,
but requires everyone's participation: the government, civil society,
teachers, students, as well as parents who are survivors of the Khmer
Rouge regime."
The Khmer Rouge trial process has gone on for years now, but comprehensive
teaching and discussion of the regime's history have remained socially and
politically sensitive.
Only recently has the government, with the help of the Documentation
Center, been open to the idea of more comprehensive genocide education.
The Documentation Center has embarked on a long-term genocide education
project that involves writing, publishing, teacher training, teaching and
evaluation.
The project aims to publish another 700,000 textbooks for an anticipated 1
million 9th- to 12th-grade students. It is also nearing the completion of
its training phase with the opening of the last phase to take place in
Siem Reap on March 27.
A total 230 new trainers will instruct 1,627 teachers nationwide to use a
teacher and student books for "A History of Democratic Kampuchea," which
was published jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Documentation
Center.
Chea Phala, a Cambodian-American in Lowell, Massachusetts, is the
co-author of the guide. She told VOA Khmer the book was carefully reviewed
because methodology is crucial in teaching about genocide.
"It is a very tough subject, and we have to be very sensitive when we
teach and when we deal with students and their families," she said. "So we
tried to think of ways to introduce the subject without traumatizing our
audience, our students, and we did it in a manner that would build
interest in students in learning about the subject and give them a safe
place for discussion and opportunities to discuss different topics and
different issues regarding the genocide."
Dy Khamboly said the emotional sensitivity of the subject can be
problematic for teachers.
"Because some teachers are themselves survivors, it is possible that they
might take what they are teaching personally, instead of teaching it
professionally," he said. "Therefore, this training will help teachers
teach in a scientific, professional way, and not from personal emotions."
Despite the difficulties, Chea Phala said it is not only the students who
are learning, but also the teachers, most of whom were born after the
Khmer Rouge, as well as the parents and other survivors who lack a
holistic view of what was happening to them.
And it is especially timely now that the tribunal is underway, prompting
families and society to discuss about the subject more willingly and
openly.
Dy Khamboly agreed, noting that the project will serve a long-term social
goal. Cambodians must learn from their past to rebuild their nation and
create a better future, he said.
"Our objectives are that students understand and can think critically
about the events that occurred during the Khmer Rouge period and use this
[knowledge] as a foundation in their daily lives, in rebuilding the
country, in preventing the reoccurrence of genocide, and in helping their
parents reconcile," he said. "So the idea of retribution and revenge will
not exist in the minds of the younger generations of Cambodians."
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.”
Original report from Washington
26 March 2010
http://www.voanews.com/khmer/2010-03-26-voa1.cfm
Khmer Rouge history is a sensitive subject in Cambodia, though the ongoing
Khmer Rouge trials and recent inclusion of more comprehensive teaching
materials in the national secondary curriculum have helped.
But while it took many years to get a textbook into the nation's
classrooms, the authors say the real challenges have just begun.
Dy Khamboly, a senior researcher with the Documentation Center of
Cambodia, is the author of "A History of Democratic Kampuchea
(1975-1979)," a book published in 2007 and slated for use in a national
genocide education project.
In an interview with VOA Khmer, he said for the project to be effective
requires more than good textbooks and a carefully planned curriculum.
"I hope that the teachers as well as the students, their surviving
parents, or any survivor from the Khmer Rouge era will all participate" in
the educational process, he said recently. "Genocide education about
Democratic Kampuchea cannot be achieved by any one person or institution,
but requires everyone's participation: the government, civil society,
teachers, students, as well as parents who are survivors of the Khmer
Rouge regime."
The Khmer Rouge trial process has gone on for years now, but comprehensive
teaching and discussion of the regime's history have remained socially and
politically sensitive.
Only recently has the government, with the help of the Documentation
Center, been open to the idea of more comprehensive genocide education.
The Documentation Center has embarked on a long-term genocide education
project that involves writing, publishing, teacher training, teaching and
evaluation.
The project aims to publish another 700,000 textbooks for an anticipated 1
million 9th- to 12th-grade students. It is also nearing the completion of
its training phase with the opening of the last phase to take place in
Siem Reap on March 27.
A total 230 new trainers will instruct 1,627 teachers nationwide to use a
teacher and student books for "A History of Democratic Kampuchea," which
was published jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Documentation
Center.
Chea Phala, a Cambodian-American in Lowell, Massachusetts, is the
co-author of the guide. She told VOA Khmer the book was carefully reviewed
because methodology is crucial in teaching about genocide.
"It is a very tough subject, and we have to be very sensitive when we
teach and when we deal with students and their families," she said. "So we
tried to think of ways to introduce the subject without traumatizing our
audience, our students, and we did it in a manner that would build
interest in students in learning about the subject and give them a safe
place for discussion and opportunities to discuss different topics and
different issues regarding the genocide."
Dy Khamboly said the emotional sensitivity of the subject can be
problematic for teachers.
"Because some teachers are themselves survivors, it is possible that they
might take what they are teaching personally, instead of teaching it
professionally," he said. "Therefore, this training will help teachers
teach in a scientific, professional way, and not from personal emotions."
Despite the difficulties, Chea Phala said it is not only the students who
are learning, but also the teachers, most of whom were born after the
Khmer Rouge, as well as the parents and other survivors who lack a
holistic view of what was happening to them.
And it is especially timely now that the tribunal is underway, prompting
families and society to discuss about the subject more willingly and
openly.
Dy Khamboly agreed, noting that the project will serve a long-term social
goal. Cambodians must learn from their past to rebuild their nation and
create a better future, he said.
"Our objectives are that students understand and can think critically
about the events that occurred during the Khmer Rouge period and use this
[knowledge] as a foundation in their daily lives, in rebuilding the
country, in preventing the reoccurrence of genocide, and in helping their
parents reconcile," he said. "So the idea of retribution and revenge will
not exist in the minds of the younger generations of Cambodians."
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.”
STUDENT OUTREACH IN CHHOUK DISTRICT Sokrith: "Khmer Rouge Is Bad and Good"
Ser Sayana
From my youngest years, any stories about the Khmer Rouge that I heard from my parents, neighbors and even at school sounded like fiction to me. I thought that the Pol Pot, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan clique were only names people called supposed or alleged national traitors. I think that I did not believe because it was too much to believe. All I heard about was starvation, killing, suffering, forced labor, cursing, scolding and blaming. I saw no proof or evidence, but only words and drawings in primary school textbooks. Later, in early 1990s, my home in the Russey Keo district of Phnom Penh came under Khmer Rouge guerrilla gunfire. I still thought it was a rebel group against the government called Khmer Rouge soldiers. In 1999, I came to realize the truth after reading more than two hundred notebooks written and used during the Khmer Rouge period and collecting interrogation and prisoner lists from Tuol Sleng.
Since 2005, there have been efforts by NGOs and educational institutions to inform the public, victims, survivors, religious groups, and youths about KR history. The Student Outreach project is a program created in 2005 by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) to educate youths about the Democratic Kampuchea period and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). It has designed and implemented a variety of activities to raise public awareness about and understanding of the Khmer Rouge history as well as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal process.
The Student Outreach team has been working with high school and university students, both public and private, on activities including voluntary work, introductory sessions on KR history and the ECCC law and agreement, interview techniques, report writing, and study tours.
To reach out to students using another approach, we plan to visit schools in different provinces once every one or two months to meet with recruited students, arrange local tours and bring students from different schools together in Phnom Penh to participate in trial hearings and/or study trips of significant historical sites in the city. The first province we chose to visit is Kampot. We did that in mid-March 2010. Parts of Kampot province were still dangerous to travel even more than 25 years after the KR collapsed in January 1979. In June 1996, KR guerrillas frequently destroyed villagers' properties and belongings and kidnapped hundreds of villagers to Taten forest in Koh Sla district. Four foreigners were arrested by the KR guerrillas in the area of Voar mountain.
We traveled to Chhouk district in Kampot province with another colleague, Piseth Phat, to work with a group of students who had been selected by their English teacher, Matthew Rullo, a U.S Peace Corps volunteer in Cambodia. We arrived at Hun Sen Chhouk high school the afternoon of March 17 and met with the school's vice director, Mrs. Yoek Nhaun. I had planned with Matthew to have one or two survivors speak to the students about their experiences during the Khmer Rouge and what they most remember from that time. It turned out that two additional female teachers at the school who survived the Khmer Rouge regime were also interested in speaking to the class about their personal experiences.
About 40 students from grades 10 to 12 joined the class. I first introduced ourselves, where we are from, and the purpose of the trip, then spoke about KR history and the ECCC's second case (Case 002). I asked the class if they believed that the KR period did occur and if they had previously learned in class about that period. Some students replied that they believed the KR did exist from 1975 to 1979. They heard about it from their parents, relatives, teachers at school, TV and radio. From their answers, I noticed that they knew more than I did when I was their age. It seemed that they were very intelligent.
A few questions were raised by the students. How did the KR regime happen in Cambodia? Why did they want to kill? How did people survive? Why did they kill men more than women? I had four survivor teachers take turns telling their personal stories to the class. The four teachers were Mr. Net Kab, 67, a history teacher at the school; Mrs. Yoek Nhaun, 58; Mrs. Sok Lang Sat, 59; and Mrs. Kum Sakrun, 57. After hearing their stories and holding a discussion with the four teachers, each participant received a new DC-Cam booklet called "Genocide: The Importance of Case 002," and an ECCC booklet called "Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal."
The next morning, on March 18, we brought the students and three teachers to Phnom La-ang mountain. We wanted to show the students one of the Khmer Rouge's security offices located next to their village. La-ang mountain is a beautiful site located in La-ang village, La-ang commune, Dang Tung district (formerly Chhouk district), about 15 km from Hun Sen Chhouk high school. The caves in La-ang Mountain were used from 1975 to 1979 for detaining "new" or "April 17" people, and soldiers and police officers from Lon Nol regime. The area around the mountain is littered with more than one hundred mass graves, which are now covered by water and rice fields. About 325 human skulls along with their remains have been excavated from the graves. They are now placed in Wat Stung memorial in Chhouk district.
The students could not go into the caves because the whole area has become a private site for cement production by the Thai Boon Roong Cement Company. For security reason, we were not allowed to go near the mountain or walk around it. We could only view the mountain from the gate and take pictures.
After a short break, we continued from La-ang mountain to Rumlich dam located in Chum Kiri district, about 30-minute drive from La-ang mountain. The original size of the dam was about 10 meters in width. It was expanded during the Khmer Rouge time by forced labor. According to two teachers who used to work there during the Khmer Rouge period, the site was filthy and full of dark flies. Hundreds of people died at the site due to forced dam construction, starvation and disease.
Viewed from outside, La-ang mountain and Rumlich dam are two beautiful sites. Very few visitors would know the mysteries and tragic stories that lie beneath their beautiful scenery.
When we arrived at Rumlich, we were pleased with the strong and cool wind blowing from the west, even though it was the hot and dry season. The wind kept blowing very hard making us feel like it was autumn as we stood on the dam looking out on a wide open lake surrounded by mountains. Rumlich has become a tourist destination, attracting many local visitors during national holidays and festivals who paddle on small boats on the calm surface of the lake. However, we saw no information provided for tourists that might help reveal the KR history of this beautiful place.
At the dam, the students were divided into small groups. Some walked with their teachers. I talked to a student named Sokrith, a 10th grader, at the side of the dam. At one point, I asked him what he thinks about the Khmer Rouge. He replied, "I think the Khmer Rouge was bad and also good." I was intrigued. So I asked him what was bad and good about the Khmer Rouge. He said, "They were bad because they forced people to work to death, and good because they had the idea to build this dam that now is an attraction, their legacy."
Before joining the trip, Matthew taught the students who participated in his English class about Haiku. He let them write about Khmer Rouge. Sokrith wrote:
1. Khmer Rouge is stupid
2. They killed many poor people
3. So, they are crazy.
The Student Outreach team has organized genocide education and justice tours at least once a year, bringing more than 300 students to see the ECCC and visit significant sites in Phnom Penh. The participants are two different groups separated accordingly: university students, and high school students in Phnom Penh and from the provinces. We receive a variety of feedback and reflections from the students afterward, including tour reports, short stories, slogans, poems, letters of thank, and requests from other school teachers and students to join study tours.
The objectives of this program are to provide the opportunity for students to learn more about the development of the ECCC process and the Khmer Rouge history by visiting and seeing genocide sites and not only hearing about it from their parents, relatives, neighbors, and teachers. The goal is for the future generation to continue preserving and honoring the memory and humanity of those who suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime. The tour provided an opportunity for these students from different schools to meet and get to know each other, to be friends and together to find broader understanding of their shared history.
Read report with the photos: http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Living_Doc/Khmer_Rouge_Is_Bad&Good.htm
From my youngest years, any stories about the Khmer Rouge that I heard from my parents, neighbors and even at school sounded like fiction to me. I thought that the Pol Pot, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan clique were only names people called supposed or alleged national traitors. I think that I did not believe because it was too much to believe. All I heard about was starvation, killing, suffering, forced labor, cursing, scolding and blaming. I saw no proof or evidence, but only words and drawings in primary school textbooks. Later, in early 1990s, my home in the Russey Keo district of Phnom Penh came under Khmer Rouge guerrilla gunfire. I still thought it was a rebel group against the government called Khmer Rouge soldiers. In 1999, I came to realize the truth after reading more than two hundred notebooks written and used during the Khmer Rouge period and collecting interrogation and prisoner lists from Tuol Sleng.
Since 2005, there have been efforts by NGOs and educational institutions to inform the public, victims, survivors, religious groups, and youths about KR history. The Student Outreach project is a program created in 2005 by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) to educate youths about the Democratic Kampuchea period and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). It has designed and implemented a variety of activities to raise public awareness about and understanding of the Khmer Rouge history as well as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal process.
The Student Outreach team has been working with high school and university students, both public and private, on activities including voluntary work, introductory sessions on KR history and the ECCC law and agreement, interview techniques, report writing, and study tours.
To reach out to students using another approach, we plan to visit schools in different provinces once every one or two months to meet with recruited students, arrange local tours and bring students from different schools together in Phnom Penh to participate in trial hearings and/or study trips of significant historical sites in the city. The first province we chose to visit is Kampot. We did that in mid-March 2010. Parts of Kampot province were still dangerous to travel even more than 25 years after the KR collapsed in January 1979. In June 1996, KR guerrillas frequently destroyed villagers' properties and belongings and kidnapped hundreds of villagers to Taten forest in Koh Sla district. Four foreigners were arrested by the KR guerrillas in the area of Voar mountain.
We traveled to Chhouk district in Kampot province with another colleague, Piseth Phat, to work with a group of students who had been selected by their English teacher, Matthew Rullo, a U.S Peace Corps volunteer in Cambodia. We arrived at Hun Sen Chhouk high school the afternoon of March 17 and met with the school's vice director, Mrs. Yoek Nhaun. I had planned with Matthew to have one or two survivors speak to the students about their experiences during the Khmer Rouge and what they most remember from that time. It turned out that two additional female teachers at the school who survived the Khmer Rouge regime were also interested in speaking to the class about their personal experiences.
About 40 students from grades 10 to 12 joined the class. I first introduced ourselves, where we are from, and the purpose of the trip, then spoke about KR history and the ECCC's second case (Case 002). I asked the class if they believed that the KR period did occur and if they had previously learned in class about that period. Some students replied that they believed the KR did exist from 1975 to 1979. They heard about it from their parents, relatives, teachers at school, TV and radio. From their answers, I noticed that they knew more than I did when I was their age. It seemed that they were very intelligent.
A few questions were raised by the students. How did the KR regime happen in Cambodia? Why did they want to kill? How did people survive? Why did they kill men more than women? I had four survivor teachers take turns telling their personal stories to the class. The four teachers were Mr. Net Kab, 67, a history teacher at the school; Mrs. Yoek Nhaun, 58; Mrs. Sok Lang Sat, 59; and Mrs. Kum Sakrun, 57. After hearing their stories and holding a discussion with the four teachers, each participant received a new DC-Cam booklet called "Genocide: The Importance of Case 002," and an ECCC booklet called "Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal."
The next morning, on March 18, we brought the students and three teachers to Phnom La-ang mountain. We wanted to show the students one of the Khmer Rouge's security offices located next to their village. La-ang mountain is a beautiful site located in La-ang village, La-ang commune, Dang Tung district (formerly Chhouk district), about 15 km from Hun Sen Chhouk high school. The caves in La-ang Mountain were used from 1975 to 1979 for detaining "new" or "April 17" people, and soldiers and police officers from Lon Nol regime. The area around the mountain is littered with more than one hundred mass graves, which are now covered by water and rice fields. About 325 human skulls along with their remains have been excavated from the graves. They are now placed in Wat Stung memorial in Chhouk district.
The students could not go into the caves because the whole area has become a private site for cement production by the Thai Boon Roong Cement Company. For security reason, we were not allowed to go near the mountain or walk around it. We could only view the mountain from the gate and take pictures.
After a short break, we continued from La-ang mountain to Rumlich dam located in Chum Kiri district, about 30-minute drive from La-ang mountain. The original size of the dam was about 10 meters in width. It was expanded during the Khmer Rouge time by forced labor. According to two teachers who used to work there during the Khmer Rouge period, the site was filthy and full of dark flies. Hundreds of people died at the site due to forced dam construction, starvation and disease.
Viewed from outside, La-ang mountain and Rumlich dam are two beautiful sites. Very few visitors would know the mysteries and tragic stories that lie beneath their beautiful scenery.
When we arrived at Rumlich, we were pleased with the strong and cool wind blowing from the west, even though it was the hot and dry season. The wind kept blowing very hard making us feel like it was autumn as we stood on the dam looking out on a wide open lake surrounded by mountains. Rumlich has become a tourist destination, attracting many local visitors during national holidays and festivals who paddle on small boats on the calm surface of the lake. However, we saw no information provided for tourists that might help reveal the KR history of this beautiful place.
At the dam, the students were divided into small groups. Some walked with their teachers. I talked to a student named Sokrith, a 10th grader, at the side of the dam. At one point, I asked him what he thinks about the Khmer Rouge. He replied, "I think the Khmer Rouge was bad and also good." I was intrigued. So I asked him what was bad and good about the Khmer Rouge. He said, "They were bad because they forced people to work to death, and good because they had the idea to build this dam that now is an attraction, their legacy."
Before joining the trip, Matthew taught the students who participated in his English class about Haiku. He let them write about Khmer Rouge. Sokrith wrote:
1. Khmer Rouge is stupid
2. They killed many poor people
3. So, they are crazy.
The Student Outreach team has organized genocide education and justice tours at least once a year, bringing more than 300 students to see the ECCC and visit significant sites in Phnom Penh. The participants are two different groups separated accordingly: university students, and high school students in Phnom Penh and from the provinces. We receive a variety of feedback and reflections from the students afterward, including tour reports, short stories, slogans, poems, letters of thank, and requests from other school teachers and students to join study tours.
The objectives of this program are to provide the opportunity for students to learn more about the development of the ECCC process and the Khmer Rouge history by visiting and seeing genocide sites and not only hearing about it from their parents, relatives, neighbors, and teachers. The goal is for the future generation to continue preserving and honoring the memory and humanity of those who suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime. The tour provided an opportunity for these students from different schools to meet and get to know each other, to be friends and together to find broader understanding of their shared history.
Read report with the photos: http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Living_Doc/Khmer_Rouge_Is_Bad&Good.htm
Village Meeting: Fear Reduced among Khmer Rouge Lower Level Cadres
Savina Sirik
Report with photo: http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Living_Doc/pdf/Kampong_Chhnang_field_report.pdf
Kraing Leav commune in Rolea Pa-ier district, Kampong Chhnang province, was rebellious against French colonialism during the 1920s. It was renamed Derachhan (animal) village shortly after a terrifying event by a group of Cambodian resisters who sought vengeance after long mistreatment by French colonials and local authorities. In the incident, a French colonial named Residence Bades, his bodyguard Suon, and his cook were killed on site (next to Kraing Leav pagoda). In the early 1970s, when the Prince Norodom Sihanouk was ousted from power, the commune was turned into one of the liberated areas of the Khmer Rouge where many residents joined the revolution and became Khmer Rouge cadres.
From March 10 to 12, 2010, the Documentation Center of Cambodia’s Living Documents team visited Kraing Leav commune to screen Khmer Rouge documentaries and hold discussions with the villagers. The purpose of the screening and meeting was to inform villagers about recent developments at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officially known as Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and to highlight the importance of its Case 002, involving the four senior living Khmer Rouge leaders: Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.
Village Forum
Around 8 in the morning of March 11, with about 150 villagers in attendance, the team opened the event by introducing DC-Cam, its Living Documents project and its purposes for visiting the village. Afterward, the project leader, Savina Sirik, presented to villagers the structure of the tribunal and its developments to date. She then informed the villagers about the Court’s Case 002, involving the four accused persons currently in provisional detention. Savina asked the group if they had heard or had any knowledge of those senior Khmer Rouge leaders. The villagers shook their heads but were eager to learn the details of the accused persons. Savina then showed them the new DC-Cam booklet explaining the importance of Case 002, which is illustrated with photographs of the four senior KR leaders at the tribunal and pictures of evidence showing their connection to crimes committed during the regime.
After showing pictures of the leaders’ faces, Savina provided a brief overview of their backgrounds and the crimes of which they have been accused by the ECCC’s Co-Prosecutors, including international crimes (genocide crimes, crime against humanity, war crimes) and domestic crimes (torture, murder, and religious persecution). The team then concluded the presentation by discussing the complexities of the ECCC process and why it had taken so much time. The team explained to the villagers all the procedures that the ECCC needs to follow before it can put a charged person on trial. The presentation then ended with an explanation of the different ways to engage in the process of the tribunal including filing participation forms with the ECCC to become civil parties or complainants and opportunities to observe hearings through DC-Cam or directly through the ECCC.
The villagers reacted enthusiastically to the presentation. Several of them made brief comments and asked short questions of the team. Questions from the participants included: Why did it take so long to put a charge person on trial? Will all the lower cadres be held accountable for the crimes they committed under the Khmer Rouge regime? What is the expected compensation for the victims after the trial? Can I observe the trial when it starts?
Following some explanations by the team in answer to the attendees’ questions, the group was keen to observe the ECCC’s trial hearings and registered with the team to visit the court with DC-Cam once the trial starts. In addition, one of the participants approached the team to report a missing family member and requested that the team to publish an announcement in the Searching for the Truth magazine.
Because the team brought only a small numbers of booklets on The Importance of Case 002 to the village (due to the lateness of publication), only the commune office and village chiefs received them to keep for communal reading. Several of attendees expressed their interest in the booklets and requested that the team distribute more copies to each villager later. Although there was shortage of booklets, the team managed to distribute to each attendee a copy of the magazine Searching for the Truth and the ECCC’s booklet, Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
Film Screening
After the morning event, the crowds dispersed for lunch and an afternoon nap, providing the team an opportunity to prepare for the evening film screening. The videos were selected to introduce the villagers to the notorious Khmer Rouge prison, S-21 (today known as Tuol Sleng museum) through the narrated experiences of survivors from the prison, and also to the ECCC hearings, with the example of a public speech by Khieu Samphan denying his accountability for the crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime.
The villagers reacted to Khieu Samphan’s speech very strongly. One woman commented on his denial of responsibility, saying it was an excuse to clear himself from accountability. She explained that Khieu Samphan was one of the top leaders in the DK period and was the president of the state presidium. She doesn’t believe that he did not have power and was not aware of any DK policy or plan for the lower-level cadres. Another villager who agreed with her view added that not only Khieu Samphan should be brought to trial but also all other senior Khmer Rouge leaders should receive punishment for all that had happened during the KR regime. These statements provided a significant conclusion to the evening’s screening reflecting villagers’ state of mind on the KR leaders.
Team’s Observation and villagers’ interviews.
In the early 1970s, the commune of Kraing Leav and some neighboring communes were captured by Khmer Rouge forces who had been formed to fight against the Lon Nol government and became part of the KR liberated zone. Many of the villagers were recruited to serve the army and sent to fight against Lon Nol soldiers. According to Som Chhoam, age 73, who lived in the district before 1975, many of the villagers from where he lived in a nearby commune, Kraing Sa-er, were threatened by Lon Nol soldiers for reasons such as expressing support for Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Chhoam firmly believes that the threats from the Lon Nol soldiers and authorities created the conditions for local people to flee to the jungle and join the Khmer Rouge. Indeed, the political repression provoked people throughout the area, not limited to the village where Chhoam lived in the early 1970s, but also in other communes such as Kraing Leav, to strive for freedom and bring unity to their family, relatives and neighbors.
While some villagers joined the army and went to war with the Lon Nol government, other villagers who remained in the villages were organized by Angkar to work in units and live collectively. Generally, most of the villagers were regarded as KR and were trusted by the Khmer Rouge organization. Kim Yaut from Sre Veng village, Kraing Leav commune, said that there were both people who joined the Khmer Rouge for the cause of liberating the country from imperialism and those who had no choice but to participate in the KR. Although the villagers were with the Khmer Rouge for different reasons, there were many whom the Khmer Rouge assigned to hold positions. Kim Yaut was assigned to be a village guard during the period when the KR was fighting against Lon Nol. Between 1975 and 1979, he was assigned to be a chief in the military and had the duty to catch anyone who had made mistakes against Angkar.
Chhoam and Yaut were both former Khmer Rouge cadres. According to a few villagers they both held high ranking positions, which they denied. During the team’s interviews with them, both expressed concern that they could be targeted for prosecution under the ECCC law. They criticized the tribunal for bringing up issues from nearly 30 years ago when villagers are already reconciled and understand and live alongside each other. In the first place, they thought that there might be some difficulties in accepting the truth. Both also agreed that it is crucially important for them personally and the harmony of the society that the scope of the tribunal be explained. They also commented that village forums of this kind should be conducted especially in villages like theirs to establish mutual understanding between members of community and reduce their concern that some used to be members of the Khmer Rouge.
To conclude, the forum and film screening provided significant insights into the complex views of Kraing Leav’s villagers toward the ECCC. The question by a member of the commune council who attended the forum regarding who is going to be brought to trial shows key problems regarding the situation within the community. Explaining the ECCC process of bringing the senior Khmer Rouge leaders to trial is essential for reducing fear among the lower level cadres and restores the relationship of the former perpetrators and victims of the Khmer Rouge. This village forum makes it clear that is important to make people on the ground understand the trial proceedings in order to reduced their worries of having to face justice themselves, while also seeing justice done. It also sends an important message to those who had served the KR or were directly involved in the crimes to not be fearful of engaging with the tribunal and telling the truth.
Report with photo: http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Living_Doc/pdf/Kampong_Chhnang_field_report.pdf
Kraing Leav commune in Rolea Pa-ier district, Kampong Chhnang province, was rebellious against French colonialism during the 1920s. It was renamed Derachhan (animal) village shortly after a terrifying event by a group of Cambodian resisters who sought vengeance after long mistreatment by French colonials and local authorities. In the incident, a French colonial named Residence Bades, his bodyguard Suon, and his cook were killed on site (next to Kraing Leav pagoda). In the early 1970s, when the Prince Norodom Sihanouk was ousted from power, the commune was turned into one of the liberated areas of the Khmer Rouge where many residents joined the revolution and became Khmer Rouge cadres.
From March 10 to 12, 2010, the Documentation Center of Cambodia’s Living Documents team visited Kraing Leav commune to screen Khmer Rouge documentaries and hold discussions with the villagers. The purpose of the screening and meeting was to inform villagers about recent developments at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officially known as Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and to highlight the importance of its Case 002, involving the four senior living Khmer Rouge leaders: Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.
Village Forum
Around 8 in the morning of March 11, with about 150 villagers in attendance, the team opened the event by introducing DC-Cam, its Living Documents project and its purposes for visiting the village. Afterward, the project leader, Savina Sirik, presented to villagers the structure of the tribunal and its developments to date. She then informed the villagers about the Court’s Case 002, involving the four accused persons currently in provisional detention. Savina asked the group if they had heard or had any knowledge of those senior Khmer Rouge leaders. The villagers shook their heads but were eager to learn the details of the accused persons. Savina then showed them the new DC-Cam booklet explaining the importance of Case 002, which is illustrated with photographs of the four senior KR leaders at the tribunal and pictures of evidence showing their connection to crimes committed during the regime.
After showing pictures of the leaders’ faces, Savina provided a brief overview of their backgrounds and the crimes of which they have been accused by the ECCC’s Co-Prosecutors, including international crimes (genocide crimes, crime against humanity, war crimes) and domestic crimes (torture, murder, and religious persecution). The team then concluded the presentation by discussing the complexities of the ECCC process and why it had taken so much time. The team explained to the villagers all the procedures that the ECCC needs to follow before it can put a charged person on trial. The presentation then ended with an explanation of the different ways to engage in the process of the tribunal including filing participation forms with the ECCC to become civil parties or complainants and opportunities to observe hearings through DC-Cam or directly through the ECCC.
The villagers reacted enthusiastically to the presentation. Several of them made brief comments and asked short questions of the team. Questions from the participants included: Why did it take so long to put a charge person on trial? Will all the lower cadres be held accountable for the crimes they committed under the Khmer Rouge regime? What is the expected compensation for the victims after the trial? Can I observe the trial when it starts?
Following some explanations by the team in answer to the attendees’ questions, the group was keen to observe the ECCC’s trial hearings and registered with the team to visit the court with DC-Cam once the trial starts. In addition, one of the participants approached the team to report a missing family member and requested that the team to publish an announcement in the Searching for the Truth magazine.
Because the team brought only a small numbers of booklets on The Importance of Case 002 to the village (due to the lateness of publication), only the commune office and village chiefs received them to keep for communal reading. Several of attendees expressed their interest in the booklets and requested that the team distribute more copies to each villager later. Although there was shortage of booklets, the team managed to distribute to each attendee a copy of the magazine Searching for the Truth and the ECCC’s booklet, Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
Film Screening
After the morning event, the crowds dispersed for lunch and an afternoon nap, providing the team an opportunity to prepare for the evening film screening. The videos were selected to introduce the villagers to the notorious Khmer Rouge prison, S-21 (today known as Tuol Sleng museum) through the narrated experiences of survivors from the prison, and also to the ECCC hearings, with the example of a public speech by Khieu Samphan denying his accountability for the crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime.
The villagers reacted to Khieu Samphan’s speech very strongly. One woman commented on his denial of responsibility, saying it was an excuse to clear himself from accountability. She explained that Khieu Samphan was one of the top leaders in the DK period and was the president of the state presidium. She doesn’t believe that he did not have power and was not aware of any DK policy or plan for the lower-level cadres. Another villager who agreed with her view added that not only Khieu Samphan should be brought to trial but also all other senior Khmer Rouge leaders should receive punishment for all that had happened during the KR regime. These statements provided a significant conclusion to the evening’s screening reflecting villagers’ state of mind on the KR leaders.
Team’s Observation and villagers’ interviews.
In the early 1970s, the commune of Kraing Leav and some neighboring communes were captured by Khmer Rouge forces who had been formed to fight against the Lon Nol government and became part of the KR liberated zone. Many of the villagers were recruited to serve the army and sent to fight against Lon Nol soldiers. According to Som Chhoam, age 73, who lived in the district before 1975, many of the villagers from where he lived in a nearby commune, Kraing Sa-er, were threatened by Lon Nol soldiers for reasons such as expressing support for Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Chhoam firmly believes that the threats from the Lon Nol soldiers and authorities created the conditions for local people to flee to the jungle and join the Khmer Rouge. Indeed, the political repression provoked people throughout the area, not limited to the village where Chhoam lived in the early 1970s, but also in other communes such as Kraing Leav, to strive for freedom and bring unity to their family, relatives and neighbors.
While some villagers joined the army and went to war with the Lon Nol government, other villagers who remained in the villages were organized by Angkar to work in units and live collectively. Generally, most of the villagers were regarded as KR and were trusted by the Khmer Rouge organization. Kim Yaut from Sre Veng village, Kraing Leav commune, said that there were both people who joined the Khmer Rouge for the cause of liberating the country from imperialism and those who had no choice but to participate in the KR. Although the villagers were with the Khmer Rouge for different reasons, there were many whom the Khmer Rouge assigned to hold positions. Kim Yaut was assigned to be a village guard during the period when the KR was fighting against Lon Nol. Between 1975 and 1979, he was assigned to be a chief in the military and had the duty to catch anyone who had made mistakes against Angkar.
Chhoam and Yaut were both former Khmer Rouge cadres. According to a few villagers they both held high ranking positions, which they denied. During the team’s interviews with them, both expressed concern that they could be targeted for prosecution under the ECCC law. They criticized the tribunal for bringing up issues from nearly 30 years ago when villagers are already reconciled and understand and live alongside each other. In the first place, they thought that there might be some difficulties in accepting the truth. Both also agreed that it is crucially important for them personally and the harmony of the society that the scope of the tribunal be explained. They also commented that village forums of this kind should be conducted especially in villages like theirs to establish mutual understanding between members of community and reduce their concern that some used to be members of the Khmer Rouge.
To conclude, the forum and film screening provided significant insights into the complex views of Kraing Leav’s villagers toward the ECCC. The question by a member of the commune council who attended the forum regarding who is going to be brought to trial shows key problems regarding the situation within the community. Explaining the ECCC process of bringing the senior Khmer Rouge leaders to trial is essential for reducing fear among the lower level cadres and restores the relationship of the former perpetrators and victims of the Khmer Rouge. This village forum makes it clear that is important to make people on the ground understand the trial proceedings in order to reduced their worries of having to face justice themselves, while also seeing justice done. It also sends an important message to those who had served the KR or were directly involved in the crimes to not be fearful of engaging with the tribunal and telling the truth.
Flag this message CAMBODIAN WAR: 1970 -1975 A First and Last Reunion of a Unique Band of Brothers & Sisters
For those who covered the Cambodian War between 1970 and 1975, the memories have always been particularly painful. Forty years ago this month, they witnessed first-hand the overnight plunge of a peaceful Cambodia into the abyss as the country was dragged into the Vietnam War. Then over the next five years, the horrors multiplied as war engulfed the entire country. A total of 36 foreign and Cambodian journalists were killed or disappeared, more than in the war in neighboring Vietnam. When the war ended with the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975, Cambodia's nightmare continued — and many of those who covered the war could not bear to look back at the entire tragedy. At least 30 Cambodian journalists were executed after the Khmer Rouge take-over, including one country’s few female reporters.
Now, for the first time since that horrible war, a handful of war correspondents are returning to Phnom Penh for a reunion from 20 to 23 April. The event is organized by Chhang Song, the last Information Minister in the Lon Nol government who now divides his time between Cambodia and the US and acts as a senior adviser to both the government and public-at-large. As a military spokesman at the beginning of the war, then-Captain Chhang Song worked closely with these foreign correspondents, listened to their complaints and treated them as members of his own family.
“The sudden presence of a large number of foreign journalists in Cambodia in the early 1970’s was an important historical development in Cambodia’s fight for survival,” Chhang Song explains. “I knew them as friends. Many were killed or disappeared. For the past 40 years, I have never forgotten those days and have dreamed constantly of bringing them back. Now, it is finally happening.”
Assisting Chhang Song in his quest is former Associated Press (AP) correspondent US-born Carl Robinson who covered the Cambodian War from neighboring Saigon, today's Ho Chi Minh City, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. While several reunions have been held over the past 15 years in Saigon, this is the first one in Phnom Penh. And, considering their age, this reunion will most likely also be the last one.
"Covering the war was so painful that many, even now, are unable to look back on that period," explains Robinson, who has only re-visited Cambodia in the past couple years. "It's even harder to look at what happened afterwards. For their own peace of mind, this return is an important event in their lives. I'm sure there will be quite a few tears. But I'm sure joy too as they witness Cambodia's amazing resilience and recovery."
During the Cambodia War, Le Royal — then renamed Le Phnom by the republican regime — was the unofficial headquarters of the foreign press corps which numbered less than 50 at any one time. Many had offices in the hotel as well as accommodation. The pool-side restaurant was a favorite gathering place after another hard day covering the war, a danger-fraught exercise that saw many venturing down less-than-secure roads by vehicle. For the reunion, the now totally refurbished hotel is acting as the official host of the reunion with several functions planned.
Several activities are planned over the three-day reunion including a personally guided tour of Cambodia's National Museum and the Royal Palace, both closed during the war, plus informal gatherings and exhibitions in the downtown quarter. On one day, the former correspondents will re-enact a morning military briefing under a banyan tree not far from Le Royal where then-Captain Chhang Song had his office. Then, as during the war, they will head off on a "road run" out of the city to check out the situation first-hand. On this occasion, however, they'll travel down Route 3 to Wat Po where nine of their colleagues were ambushed and killed by the Khmer Rouge on 31 May 1970 — the most in a single day — and hold a Remembrance and Lunch at the local Buddhist temple. In the evening, a memorial to their dead and missing colleagues will be unveiled at Le Royal. The commemorative reunion has the support of the Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ), the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia and the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).
During their reunion, the former correspondents will also visit the Killing Fields as they catch up first-hand with what happened after 1975 and then are brought up to today's more peaceful times. They are hoping to meet with local tourism and business people as well as local journalists. About a dozen of the 40 surviving correspondents from the Cambodia War are expected to attend the reunion, including two women correspondents, Sylvana Foa and Elizabeth Becker.
AGENDA FOR PHNOM PENH REUNION: 20 to 23 April 2010
Day 1, Tuesday 20/4: Arrival of participants in Phnom Penh and check into Le Royal Hotel. 1700: Welcome drinks and then informal dinner in city restaurant.
Day 2, Wednesday 21/4: 0900, Guided tour of Cambodia's National Museum by ex-Reuters Correspondent and now Archeologist at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies Peter Sharrock and his local counterparts. Hosted Lunch. Afternoon visit to Royal Palace including performance by Royal Ballet. 1800, Welcome Reception and Dinner at Le Royal.
Day 3, Thursday 22/4: 0830, Morning "military briefing" under the tree outside Colonel Am Rong's old office followed by a "road run" down Route 3 to Wat Po where nine of our colleagues were ambushed and killed by Khmer Rouge on 31 May 1970. Service of Remembrance & Lunch at a local Buddhist temple. Return to Phnom Penh for 1600 unveiling ceremony of a Memorial to Fallen Journalists of the Cambodian War 1970-75. 1900, Evening dinner hosted by Cambodian Journalists Association.
Day 4, Friday 23/4: 0900, Briefing on events after 1975 followed by visit to the Killing Fields. 1230, Luncheon hosted by local business association, including tourism association, focusing on Cambodia today.
LIST OF ATTENDEES FOR PHNOM PENH REUNION as of 19/3/10
Nationality is in parentheses.
-Chhang Song: Co-organizer of the reunion. At the start of Cambodia War in 1970, Chhang was a captain in the army working with spokesman Colonel Am Rong and a daily briefer to foreign media. In 1974, he was named Minister of Information in the Khmer Republic government that fell in April 1975. Today he lives in Long Beach, CA. Well-known to all old hacks who covered the war. (US)
-Carl Robinson: Co-organizer of the reunion. He worked with the Associated Press in Saigon as a photographer and between 1968 and 1975 as a full-time correspondent. He frequently covered the war in Cambodia on extended assignments. US-born, moved to Australia after the war. (US/AUS)
-Jim & Milly Pringle: Reuters correspondent, later Newsweek and The Times (London). Covered Vietnam and Cambodia during the war and afterwards to present time. Presently residing in Phnom Penh. (UK)
-Peter Sharrock: Ex-Reuters correspondent and now an Archaeologist at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies and an expert on Khmer antiquities. (UK)
-T. Jeff Williams: Ex-AP and later CBS. Slipped into Cambodia three days before the March 18, 1970 coup posing as professor because American journalists were then banned. Covered the first six months of the conflict during which time 25 foreign journalists were murdered. Hired by CBS News in Cambodia following the death of correspondent George Syvertsen. This is his first return. (US)
-Kurt Volkert: Ex-CBS News. Arrived in Phnom Penh mid-May 1970 with CBS crew from Tokyo. Did not accompany Syvertsen and other crew members that fateful day 31 May 1970. Helped recover the bodies of CBS crew and was instrumental in mapping where executed NBC and CBS crew members were buried. Returned in 1992 to help a US military team recover their remains. (US)
-Elizabeth Becker: Covered the Cambodian war for the Washington Post, Newsweek and NBC. She is the author of When the War was Over, a history of modern Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, which has been translated into Khmer (by Youk Chhang) and French and won the Robert F. Kennedy book award. Her new book Bophana, a story of love in the time of the Khmer Rouge, will be released in Cambodia in Khmer, French and English at the time of the reunion. Recently retired from the New York Times, she visits Cambodia regularly. Her stories from the war can be found on www.elizabethbecker.com. (US)
-Don Kirk: First visited Cambodia in 1966, later covered the 1970 Sihanouk overthrow and US invasion. While working for Washington Star in April 1970, he and Canadian Broadcasting Commission’s Bill Cunningham were almost captured by Khmer Rouge near Kirivong south of Phnom Penh but managed to talk their way out. In 1971, published Wider War: The Struggle for Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. Wrote for New York Times Magazine and then the Chicago Tribune, where he revealed Khmer Rouge atrocities in 1974 in articles republished in Tell It to the Dead Memories of a War (1975 & 1996). First returned to Cambodia in 1985 for US Today and last in 2002 for the International Herald Tribune. (US)
-Al Rockoff: A freelance photographer who covered the war in Cambodia for AP and other agencies. Present at the fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975 and at the French Embassy. Returns regularly to Cambodia for several months a year. (US)
-Dan Southerland: UPI and later Christian Science Monitor reporter who covered the early days of war. He was the last correspondent to see Sean Flynn (son of actor Errol Flynn) and Dana Stone before their disappearance east of Chipou in April 1970. Now with RFA. (US)
-Sylvana Foa: Covered Cambodian War for Newsweek and United Press International (UPI) from its early days in 1970. A determined journalist, she earned the enmity of American Embassy and expulsion from Cambodia in 1973 after exposing US violations of Congressional restrictions on the war. Joined UPI in Hong Kong and interviewed Prince Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing in October 1973, was one of the first American reporters allowed into China during the Cultural Revolution. She was first woman to serve as foreign editor of a major international news organization (UPI), the first woman news director of an American television network (Univision) and the first woman to serve as Spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations. Twice nominated for Pulitzer Prize, she now teaches journalism at New York University extension in Tel Aviv, Israel. (US)
-Jacques & Leslie Leslie: LA Times correspondent from January 1972 to July 1973 when she was expelled by the Saigon government. First American to visit “liberation area” after the 1973 cease-fire. Covered Cambodia war until December 1973 and returned in February 1975 until a couple days before Khmer Rouge occupied Phnom Penh in April. Also covered the collapse of the coalition government in Vientiane and the takeover by the Pathet Lao. Author of a book about Vietnam and Cambodia called The Mark: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia, published by Four Walls Eight Windows in 1995. (US)
-Mike Morrow: Ex-Dispatch News Service correspondent who broke the My Lai Massacre story in 1969. Captured and held by VC/NVA for one month in Cambodia in 1970. Now lives in Beijing. First time back since war. (US)
-Terry & Susan Wolkerstorfer: Ex-AP correspondent who covered invasion of Cambodia in 1970 while based in Saigon. (US)
-Glenn McDonald: Ex-ABC radio correspondent who covered the Cambodia War off and on between 1970 and 1975. (US)
-Steve Northup: Ex-UPI and Time photographer who covered the war. (US)
-Martin Stuart Fox: Ex-UPI correspondent who covered Laos and then Vietnam but never Cambodia. (Traveling with wife Elizabeth.) (AUS)
-Tim Page: Ex-Time-Life photographer. Badly wounded in '69 and evacuated to US. Never covered the Cambodian War but was there with the UN in 1989. Devoted years to finding out what happened to his good friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone and produced one documentary is now working on a second. Hopefully he will be shooting during the Reunion. Traveling with Australian documentary maker Marianne Harris (UK)
-Perry Deane Young: Ex-UPI reporter who wrote the book Two of the Missing about Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, which has recently been re-printed with revised material. Left Vietnam in 1968 and this is his first time back. Never worked in Cambodia but this is a mission to pay homage to his lost friends. (US)
-Simon Dring and Fiona McPherson: Ex-London Daily Telegraph correspondent covering Cambodia. (UK)
-Dirck Halstead: Ex-UPI and then Time Magazine correspondent. (US)
-David Terry: Freelance photographer who covered Vietnam and Cambodia Wars. (US)
-Tom Cheatham: Correspondent with UPI who covered Vietnam in mid to late 1960’s. (US)
-Ken Wagner: Ex-UPI correspondent. (US)
-Matt Franjola: Ex-AP correspondent in Phnom Penh in last stages of the war who later covered the fall of Saigon. (US)
-George Hamilton: Actor friend of Sean Flynn who is attending to pay homage to his memory. (US)
MEDIA CASUALTIES OF THE CAMBODIAN WAR – 1970 to 1975.
Compiled by the Richard Pyle of The Associated Press (AP) and last updated on 19/3/10. Further refined by Carl Robinson.
A total of 36 international and Cambodian journalists, photographers & cameramen were killed or missing-in-action (MIA) in Cambodia between April 1970 and April 1975.
The largest number were from Japan (10) , France (8) and USA (7 each). Cambodia lost four (4) during the war. Other nationalities are Switzerland (2), West Germany (1), Austria (1), Netherlands (1), India (1), Laos (1) and Australia (1).
Total of 55.
1970
Gilles Caron France Gamma phtg MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 4
Claude Arpin France FL/Newswk phtg Cap VC Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 5
Guy Hannoteaux Switz L'Express Cap VC Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 5
Akira Kusaka Japan Fuji TV MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6
Yujiro Takagi Japan Fuji TV MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6
Sean Flynn USA FL/Time MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6**
Dana Stone USA FL/CBS MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6**
Dieter Bellendorf WGermany phtg NBC Cap KR Svay Rieng CA Apr 8
Georg Gensluckner Austria FL Cap KR Svay Rieng CA Apr 8
Willy Mettler Switz FL MIA Kampot CA Apr 16
Takeshi Yanagisawa Japan Nihon Denpa corr MIA Kampot CA May 10
Teruo Nakajima Japan Omori Inst MIA unk loc CA May 29
Tomoharu Iishi Japan CBS cam KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Kojiro Sakai Japan CBS sound KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Ramnik Lekhi India CBS cam KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Gerald Miller USA CBS prod KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
George Syvertsen USA CBS corr KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Yeng Samleng Cambodia CBS driver KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31***
Welles Hangen USA NBC corr VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Roger Colne France NBC cam VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Yoshihiko Waku Japan NBC sound VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Raymond Meyer France ORTF MIA Siem Reap CA Jul 7
Rene Puissesseau France ORTF MIA Siem Reap CA Jul 7
J. Frank Frosch USA UPI corr Murdered Rte 2 Takeo CA Oct 28
Kyoichi Sawada Japan UPI phtg Murdered Rte 2 Takeo CA Oct 28
Johannes Duynisveld Neth FL ARVN ambush Parrots Beak CA Dec 26+
1971
Francis Bailly France FL Murdered Rte 4 CA Feb 19
1972
Alan Hirons Australia FL Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
Terry L Reynolds USA FL/UPI Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
Chiim Sarath Cambodia FL Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
1973
Has Prak Cambodia MIA Has Santeheap CA date unk
Lim Saroen Cambodia MIA Nokor Thom CA date unk
Taizo Ichinose Japan FL MIA Angkor CA Nov 23
1974
Koki Ishiyama Japan Kyodo/FL Cap KR Oct 73/rptd died CA Jan 20
Kim Savath Cambodia FL/AP KIA CA loc date unk
Marc Filloux France AFP/Laos murdered by KR CA Apr 15 (aprx)++
Manivanh Laos AFP FL/interpreter murdered by KR CA Apr 15 (aprx)++
After 17 April 1975 – The Time of the Prison Without Walls.
CAMBODIANS KIA/MIA AFTER THE FALL OF PHNOM PENH#
Accurate accounting of Cambodian nationals KIA/MIA after 1975 is problematical due to scant information and the unknown fate of many of the victims. The list below is not definitive and more information is needed on the circumstances of death. Most of these Cambodians had worked on the front lines of the fighting as freelancers for the international press — and were targeted by the Khmer Rouge for this work — while also working for their local papers. As they vanished after the Khmer Rouge takeover when hostilities ended in April 1975, they are treated here as a separate category.
Chhor Vuthi AP
Hong Ho UPI
Sun Heang freelance/AP
Tea Kim Heang (Moonface) freelance/AP photographer
Saing Hel freelance
Mean Leang AP/freelance
Put Sophan CBS
Sou Vichit Gamma photographer
Sok Ngoun Reuters
Ith Chhun freelance
Chea Ho UPI
Lanh Daunh Rar AP
Lek
Leng
Ly Eng Domneung Peel Prik (Morning News)
Lyng Nhan AP
Ty Many
Vantha AP
Ung Kim Seng aka Cheav
Yun Huor Nihon Dempa News *
Keo Yun freelance TV cameraman *
Soeung Phoeuk Thor editor of Meat-to Phum, or Newspaper Editor *
Ou Nget photographer with Minister of Information *
Hak Kheng freelance cameraman *
Buoy Sreng editor of Sangket, or Observer, newspaper *
Suon Chheng Horn *
Chey Chum *
I Ith *
Men Manil *
Ly Khuon *
----
*Arrested, held, tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng between 1976 and 1978.
** Flynn and Stone are believed to have been executed by KR captors (per Tim Page).
***Yeng Samleng, a CBS driver, is only non-news person on list.
+Duynisveld, traveling w/ VC unit, was seeking Stone and Flynn.
++Filloux and Manivanh, his female interpreter, left Vientiane and crossed into northern Cambodia hoping to meet and interview Khmer Rouge officials. They were never seen again; available evidence indicates they were captured and executed. Bodies were not recovered. Jean-Jacques Cavaux, AFP chef in Laos at the time, said Filloux was a locally hired staffer on pending reassignment to AFP Paris. Manivanh, a freelance interpreter, is the only Lao on the list.
#Compiled by Youk Chhang and Elizabeth Becker
Now, for the first time since that horrible war, a handful of war correspondents are returning to Phnom Penh for a reunion from 20 to 23 April. The event is organized by Chhang Song, the last Information Minister in the Lon Nol government who now divides his time between Cambodia and the US and acts as a senior adviser to both the government and public-at-large. As a military spokesman at the beginning of the war, then-Captain Chhang Song worked closely with these foreign correspondents, listened to their complaints and treated them as members of his own family.
“The sudden presence of a large number of foreign journalists in Cambodia in the early 1970’s was an important historical development in Cambodia’s fight for survival,” Chhang Song explains. “I knew them as friends. Many were killed or disappeared. For the past 40 years, I have never forgotten those days and have dreamed constantly of bringing them back. Now, it is finally happening.”
Assisting Chhang Song in his quest is former Associated Press (AP) correspondent US-born Carl Robinson who covered the Cambodian War from neighboring Saigon, today's Ho Chi Minh City, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. While several reunions have been held over the past 15 years in Saigon, this is the first one in Phnom Penh. And, considering their age, this reunion will most likely also be the last one.
"Covering the war was so painful that many, even now, are unable to look back on that period," explains Robinson, who has only re-visited Cambodia in the past couple years. "It's even harder to look at what happened afterwards. For their own peace of mind, this return is an important event in their lives. I'm sure there will be quite a few tears. But I'm sure joy too as they witness Cambodia's amazing resilience and recovery."
During the Cambodia War, Le Royal — then renamed Le Phnom by the republican regime — was the unofficial headquarters of the foreign press corps which numbered less than 50 at any one time. Many had offices in the hotel as well as accommodation. The pool-side restaurant was a favorite gathering place after another hard day covering the war, a danger-fraught exercise that saw many venturing down less-than-secure roads by vehicle. For the reunion, the now totally refurbished hotel is acting as the official host of the reunion with several functions planned.
Several activities are planned over the three-day reunion including a personally guided tour of Cambodia's National Museum and the Royal Palace, both closed during the war, plus informal gatherings and exhibitions in the downtown quarter. On one day, the former correspondents will re-enact a morning military briefing under a banyan tree not far from Le Royal where then-Captain Chhang Song had his office. Then, as during the war, they will head off on a "road run" out of the city to check out the situation first-hand. On this occasion, however, they'll travel down Route 3 to Wat Po where nine of their colleagues were ambushed and killed by the Khmer Rouge on 31 May 1970 — the most in a single day — and hold a Remembrance and Lunch at the local Buddhist temple. In the evening, a memorial to their dead and missing colleagues will be unveiled at Le Royal. The commemorative reunion has the support of the Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ), the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia and the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).
During their reunion, the former correspondents will also visit the Killing Fields as they catch up first-hand with what happened after 1975 and then are brought up to today's more peaceful times. They are hoping to meet with local tourism and business people as well as local journalists. About a dozen of the 40 surviving correspondents from the Cambodia War are expected to attend the reunion, including two women correspondents, Sylvana Foa and Elizabeth Becker.
AGENDA FOR PHNOM PENH REUNION: 20 to 23 April 2010
Day 1, Tuesday 20/4: Arrival of participants in Phnom Penh and check into Le Royal Hotel. 1700: Welcome drinks and then informal dinner in city restaurant.
Day 2, Wednesday 21/4: 0900, Guided tour of Cambodia's National Museum by ex-Reuters Correspondent and now Archeologist at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies Peter Sharrock and his local counterparts. Hosted Lunch. Afternoon visit to Royal Palace including performance by Royal Ballet. 1800, Welcome Reception and Dinner at Le Royal.
Day 3, Thursday 22/4: 0830, Morning "military briefing" under the tree outside Colonel Am Rong's old office followed by a "road run" down Route 3 to Wat Po where nine of our colleagues were ambushed and killed by Khmer Rouge on 31 May 1970. Service of Remembrance & Lunch at a local Buddhist temple. Return to Phnom Penh for 1600 unveiling ceremony of a Memorial to Fallen Journalists of the Cambodian War 1970-75. 1900, Evening dinner hosted by Cambodian Journalists Association.
Day 4, Friday 23/4: 0900, Briefing on events after 1975 followed by visit to the Killing Fields. 1230, Luncheon hosted by local business association, including tourism association, focusing on Cambodia today.
LIST OF ATTENDEES FOR PHNOM PENH REUNION as of 19/3/10
Nationality is in parentheses.
-Chhang Song: Co-organizer of the reunion. At the start of Cambodia War in 1970, Chhang was a captain in the army working with spokesman Colonel Am Rong and a daily briefer to foreign media. In 1974, he was named Minister of Information in the Khmer Republic government that fell in April 1975. Today he lives in Long Beach, CA. Well-known to all old hacks who covered the war. (US)
-Carl Robinson: Co-organizer of the reunion. He worked with the Associated Press in Saigon as a photographer and between 1968 and 1975 as a full-time correspondent. He frequently covered the war in Cambodia on extended assignments. US-born, moved to Australia after the war. (US/AUS)
-Jim & Milly Pringle: Reuters correspondent, later Newsweek and The Times (London). Covered Vietnam and Cambodia during the war and afterwards to present time. Presently residing in Phnom Penh. (UK)
-Peter Sharrock: Ex-Reuters correspondent and now an Archaeologist at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies and an expert on Khmer antiquities. (UK)
-T. Jeff Williams: Ex-AP and later CBS. Slipped into Cambodia three days before the March 18, 1970 coup posing as professor because American journalists were then banned. Covered the first six months of the conflict during which time 25 foreign journalists were murdered. Hired by CBS News in Cambodia following the death of correspondent George Syvertsen. This is his first return. (US)
-Kurt Volkert: Ex-CBS News. Arrived in Phnom Penh mid-May 1970 with CBS crew from Tokyo. Did not accompany Syvertsen and other crew members that fateful day 31 May 1970. Helped recover the bodies of CBS crew and was instrumental in mapping where executed NBC and CBS crew members were buried. Returned in 1992 to help a US military team recover their remains. (US)
-Elizabeth Becker: Covered the Cambodian war for the Washington Post, Newsweek and NBC. She is the author of When the War was Over, a history of modern Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, which has been translated into Khmer (by Youk Chhang) and French and won the Robert F. Kennedy book award. Her new book Bophana, a story of love in the time of the Khmer Rouge, will be released in Cambodia in Khmer, French and English at the time of the reunion. Recently retired from the New York Times, she visits Cambodia regularly. Her stories from the war can be found on www.elizabethbecker.com. (US)
-Don Kirk: First visited Cambodia in 1966, later covered the 1970 Sihanouk overthrow and US invasion. While working for Washington Star in April 1970, he and Canadian Broadcasting Commission’s Bill Cunningham were almost captured by Khmer Rouge near Kirivong south of Phnom Penh but managed to talk their way out. In 1971, published Wider War: The Struggle for Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. Wrote for New York Times Magazine and then the Chicago Tribune, where he revealed Khmer Rouge atrocities in 1974 in articles republished in Tell It to the Dead Memories of a War (1975 & 1996). First returned to Cambodia in 1985 for US Today and last in 2002 for the International Herald Tribune. (US)
-Al Rockoff: A freelance photographer who covered the war in Cambodia for AP and other agencies. Present at the fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975 and at the French Embassy. Returns regularly to Cambodia for several months a year. (US)
-Dan Southerland: UPI and later Christian Science Monitor reporter who covered the early days of war. He was the last correspondent to see Sean Flynn (son of actor Errol Flynn) and Dana Stone before their disappearance east of Chipou in April 1970. Now with RFA. (US)
-Sylvana Foa: Covered Cambodian War for Newsweek and United Press International (UPI) from its early days in 1970. A determined journalist, she earned the enmity of American Embassy and expulsion from Cambodia in 1973 after exposing US violations of Congressional restrictions on the war. Joined UPI in Hong Kong and interviewed Prince Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing in October 1973, was one of the first American reporters allowed into China during the Cultural Revolution. She was first woman to serve as foreign editor of a major international news organization (UPI), the first woman news director of an American television network (Univision) and the first woman to serve as Spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations. Twice nominated for Pulitzer Prize, she now teaches journalism at New York University extension in Tel Aviv, Israel. (US)
-Jacques & Leslie Leslie: LA Times correspondent from January 1972 to July 1973 when she was expelled by the Saigon government. First American to visit “liberation area” after the 1973 cease-fire. Covered Cambodia war until December 1973 and returned in February 1975 until a couple days before Khmer Rouge occupied Phnom Penh in April. Also covered the collapse of the coalition government in Vientiane and the takeover by the Pathet Lao. Author of a book about Vietnam and Cambodia called The Mark: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia, published by Four Walls Eight Windows in 1995. (US)
-Mike Morrow: Ex-Dispatch News Service correspondent who broke the My Lai Massacre story in 1969. Captured and held by VC/NVA for one month in Cambodia in 1970. Now lives in Beijing. First time back since war. (US)
-Terry & Susan Wolkerstorfer: Ex-AP correspondent who covered invasion of Cambodia in 1970 while based in Saigon. (US)
-Glenn McDonald: Ex-ABC radio correspondent who covered the Cambodia War off and on between 1970 and 1975. (US)
-Steve Northup: Ex-UPI and Time photographer who covered the war. (US)
-Martin Stuart Fox: Ex-UPI correspondent who covered Laos and then Vietnam but never Cambodia. (Traveling with wife Elizabeth.) (AUS)
-Tim Page: Ex-Time-Life photographer. Badly wounded in '69 and evacuated to US. Never covered the Cambodian War but was there with the UN in 1989. Devoted years to finding out what happened to his good friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone and produced one documentary is now working on a second. Hopefully he will be shooting during the Reunion. Traveling with Australian documentary maker Marianne Harris (UK)
-Perry Deane Young: Ex-UPI reporter who wrote the book Two of the Missing about Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, which has recently been re-printed with revised material. Left Vietnam in 1968 and this is his first time back. Never worked in Cambodia but this is a mission to pay homage to his lost friends. (US)
-Simon Dring and Fiona McPherson: Ex-London Daily Telegraph correspondent covering Cambodia. (UK)
-Dirck Halstead: Ex-UPI and then Time Magazine correspondent. (US)
-David Terry: Freelance photographer who covered Vietnam and Cambodia Wars. (US)
-Tom Cheatham: Correspondent with UPI who covered Vietnam in mid to late 1960’s. (US)
-Ken Wagner: Ex-UPI correspondent. (US)
-Matt Franjola: Ex-AP correspondent in Phnom Penh in last stages of the war who later covered the fall of Saigon. (US)
-George Hamilton: Actor friend of Sean Flynn who is attending to pay homage to his memory. (US)
MEDIA CASUALTIES OF THE CAMBODIAN WAR – 1970 to 1975.
Compiled by the Richard Pyle of The Associated Press (AP) and last updated on 19/3/10. Further refined by Carl Robinson.
A total of 36 international and Cambodian journalists, photographers & cameramen were killed or missing-in-action (MIA) in Cambodia between April 1970 and April 1975.
The largest number were from Japan (10) , France (8) and USA (7 each). Cambodia lost four (4) during the war. Other nationalities are Switzerland (2), West Germany (1), Austria (1), Netherlands (1), India (1), Laos (1) and Australia (1).
Total of 55.
1970
Gilles Caron France Gamma phtg MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 4
Claude Arpin France FL/Newswk phtg Cap VC Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 5
Guy Hannoteaux Switz L'Express Cap VC Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 5
Akira Kusaka Japan Fuji TV MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6
Yujiro Takagi Japan Fuji TV MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6
Sean Flynn USA FL/Time MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6**
Dana Stone USA FL/CBS MIA Rte 1 Chipou CA Apr 6**
Dieter Bellendorf WGermany phtg NBC Cap KR Svay Rieng CA Apr 8
Georg Gensluckner Austria FL Cap KR Svay Rieng CA Apr 8
Willy Mettler Switz FL MIA Kampot CA Apr 16
Takeshi Yanagisawa Japan Nihon Denpa corr MIA Kampot CA May 10
Teruo Nakajima Japan Omori Inst MIA unk loc CA May 29
Tomoharu Iishi Japan CBS cam KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Kojiro Sakai Japan CBS sound KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Ramnik Lekhi India CBS cam KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Gerald Miller USA CBS prod KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
George Syvertsen USA CBS corr KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Yeng Samleng Cambodia CBS driver KR/VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31***
Welles Hangen USA NBC corr VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Roger Colne France NBC cam VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Yoshihiko Waku Japan NBC sound VC ambush Wat Po Rte 3 CA May 31
Raymond Meyer France ORTF MIA Siem Reap CA Jul 7
Rene Puissesseau France ORTF MIA Siem Reap CA Jul 7
J. Frank Frosch USA UPI corr Murdered Rte 2 Takeo CA Oct 28
Kyoichi Sawada Japan UPI phtg Murdered Rte 2 Takeo CA Oct 28
Johannes Duynisveld Neth FL ARVN ambush Parrots Beak CA Dec 26+
1971
Francis Bailly France FL Murdered Rte 4 CA Feb 19
1972
Alan Hirons Australia FL Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
Terry L Reynolds USA FL/UPI Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
Chiim Sarath Cambodia FL Cap KR Neak Luong CA Apr 25
1973
Has Prak Cambodia MIA Has Santeheap CA date unk
Lim Saroen Cambodia MIA Nokor Thom CA date unk
Taizo Ichinose Japan FL MIA Angkor CA Nov 23
1974
Koki Ishiyama Japan Kyodo/FL Cap KR Oct 73/rptd died CA Jan 20
Kim Savath Cambodia FL/AP KIA CA loc date unk
Marc Filloux France AFP/Laos murdered by KR CA Apr 15 (aprx)++
Manivanh Laos AFP FL/interpreter murdered by KR CA Apr 15 (aprx)++
After 17 April 1975 – The Time of the Prison Without Walls.
CAMBODIANS KIA/MIA AFTER THE FALL OF PHNOM PENH#
Accurate accounting of Cambodian nationals KIA/MIA after 1975 is problematical due to scant information and the unknown fate of many of the victims. The list below is not definitive and more information is needed on the circumstances of death. Most of these Cambodians had worked on the front lines of the fighting as freelancers for the international press — and were targeted by the Khmer Rouge for this work — while also working for their local papers. As they vanished after the Khmer Rouge takeover when hostilities ended in April 1975, they are treated here as a separate category.
Chhor Vuthi AP
Hong Ho UPI
Sun Heang freelance/AP
Tea Kim Heang (Moonface) freelance/AP photographer
Saing Hel freelance
Mean Leang AP/freelance
Put Sophan CBS
Sou Vichit Gamma photographer
Sok Ngoun Reuters
Ith Chhun freelance
Chea Ho UPI
Lanh Daunh Rar AP
Lek
Leng
Ly Eng Domneung Peel Prik (Morning News)
Lyng Nhan AP
Ty Many
Vantha AP
Ung Kim Seng aka Cheav
Yun Huor Nihon Dempa News *
Keo Yun freelance TV cameraman *
Soeung Phoeuk Thor editor of Meat-to Phum, or Newspaper Editor *
Ou Nget photographer with Minister of Information *
Hak Kheng freelance cameraman *
Buoy Sreng editor of Sangket, or Observer, newspaper *
Suon Chheng Horn *
Chey Chum *
I Ith *
Men Manil *
Ly Khuon *
----
*Arrested, held, tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng between 1976 and 1978.
** Flynn and Stone are believed to have been executed by KR captors (per Tim Page).
***Yeng Samleng, a CBS driver, is only non-news person on list.
+Duynisveld, traveling w/ VC unit, was seeking Stone and Flynn.
++Filloux and Manivanh, his female interpreter, left Vientiane and crossed into northern Cambodia hoping to meet and interview Khmer Rouge officials. They were never seen again; available evidence indicates they were captured and executed. Bodies were not recovered. Jean-Jacques Cavaux, AFP chef in Laos at the time, said Filloux was a locally hired staffer on pending reassignment to AFP Paris. Manivanh, a freelance interpreter, is the only Lao on the list.
#Compiled by Youk Chhang and Elizabeth Becker
Victim Participation Project: Meaningful Participation
Yahoo! Mail
Updates occur every 1440 minutes.
Automatic page updates causing problems with your screen reader?
If you are using a screen reader and having problems using Mail, it might help to disable automatic page updates. Please note, this will also disable chat and text messaging within Yahoo! Mail. You can toggle automatic updates on and off using the link below. Disable automatic page updates.
* News
* Travel
* Finance
* Entertainment
* Yahoo!
* My Yahoo!
* Mail
* More
* Welcome,
* daracaf
* Sign Out
* All-New Mail
* Help
* Help
* Tutorials
* Blog
* Send Feedback
Make Y! your home page
Yahoo!
1. Drag the "Y!" and drop it onto the "House" icon.
2. Select "Yes" from the pop up window.
3. Nothing, you're done.
If this didn't work for you or you want more detailed instructions click here.
Close this window
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! SearchSearch:
* Mail
* Contacts
* Calendar
* Notepad
* What's New?
* Mobile Mail
*
Options Options
Mail Search
Try the new Yahoo! Mail
Someone's
Searching 4 U
*
1.
Folders
[Add a new folder]
o Inbox (3294)
o Drafts
o Sent
o Spam (14)[Empty all the messages from the Spam folder]
o Trash[Empty all the messages from the Trash folder]
Search Shortcuts
o My Photos
o My Attachments
*
Chat & Mobile Text
[Hide]
I am Invisible
o
3 Online Contacts
[Add]
1. Khmer Blood -
2. Normand Mailhot -
3. pagnawath khun -
Not Listed? New Chat
o
0 Mobile Contacts
[Add]
You don't have any Mobile Text contacts yet.
Start a Text Message
Settings
Go to Previous message | Go to Next message | Back to Messages
Mark as Unread | Print
Flag this message
Victim Participation Project: Meaningful Participation
Monday, March 22, 2010 3:24 AM
From:
"Youk Chhang"
View contact details
To:
"Brigitte Sion", "Christopher Martin" , varuny@yahoo.com, "Sadie Blanchard" , jazzodyssey1000@yahoo.com, JMDeNike@aol.com, "Mark Dawson" , "Sara Zucker" , "Julie Dermansky" , "Jeff Straka" , "Storella, Mark C" , nicola.torma@utoronto.ca, vsomvongsiri@usaid.gov, "Charles Twining" , daracaf@yahoo.com, "Normand Mailhot" , "Ann Mills Griffiths" , koen.davidse@minbuza.nl, andre.scholz@auswaertiges-amt.de, David.Ashley@fco.gov.uk, "Helen Lansdowne" , hallgerd.dyrssen@sida.se, thomas.greminger@eda.admin.ch, a.rigby@coventry.ac.uk, jterzano@vi.org, "Samantha Power" , iarvvo@yahoo.com, "Michael Leaf" , "Marie Laberge" , "Martin Kröber" , nnavarro@andromeda.rutgers.edu, Amit.dalal@verizon.net, "Patrick J. Pierce" , "Marijana Toma" , hirutabebe1@yahoo.ca, jungblut@usc.edu, "John D Ciorciari" , "Steve Fiol" , edbachrach@aol.com, k.murphy@usp.edu.edu, "Philipp Bruckmayr" , "Michelle Caswell" , "Schwarz, Angela" , "Programmbüro Kambodscha" , "Sekulla, Ursula" ... more
Victim Participation Project: Meaningful Participation
By Suyheang Kry
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), known to most
people as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, is now moving toward trial proceedings
in Case 002, in which the four senior living Khmer Rouge leaders will be
judged for the atrocities that occurred during their Democratic Kampuchea
Regime. This heinous period of three years, eight months, and twenty days
claimed a gory death toll of more than 1.7 million Cambodian people.
Disappointingly, the court only came into existence only thirty years after
the murderous acts transpired. Even so, the ECCC is an opportunity for
justice to be finally offered to all Khmer Rouge survivors. However, this
arduous process will be in vain if there is no real meaningful participation
from the survivors who have eagerly waited for so long for justice that they
have nearly lost hope.
In order to promote meaningful and close participation by the Cambodian
people in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal's proceedings, the Documentation Center
of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has been reaching out to villagers to enhance their
interest in the Court's work and to disseminate Khmer Rouge-related
information to them. In support of these efforts, the Victim Participation
Project (hereinafter VPA) has initiated various activities, the most recent
of which is assisting Civil Parties to select legal representation.
Recognizing the importance of the upcoming proceedings, from March 17-19
2010, VPA held its very first meeting with persons it assisted in becoming
Civil Parties in Case 002. In total there were 47 Civil Parties in
attendance from Kandal, Kampong Cham, Takeo, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and
Phnom Penh. The meeting was held to inform these Civil Parties about the
background and qualifications of all groups offering legal representation in
Case 002 so that they could make informed decisions when selecting a team
of lawyers. Selecting a lawyer is a crucial decision for all Civil Parties
because throughout the proceedings their appointed attorneys will defend
their interests and control the scope and quality of their participation in
the trial.
The meeting opened with a speech by the director of the DC-Cam, Mr. Youk
Chhang. To encourage the Civil Parties' participation in the meeting, he
spoke about the importance of Criminal Case 002, illustrating his remarks
with a new brochure by DC-Cam that provides information about and
photographs of the four Khmer Rouge leaders who will be tried in that case.
After he spoke, Civil Parties asked him questions and shared their views.
This moment was followed by a substantial presentation on the qualifications
of the Civil Party legal teams in Case 002, presided over by Mr. Terith Chy,
VPA team leader.
Mr. Chy provided background information on each of the legal teams,
including their experience in criminal law, source of funding, and the
victim focus of each group. After the presentation, fearing that the Civil
Parties wouldn't be able to adequately sort through all this information so
quickly, VPA divided them into three small groups to give them additional
time to review the issues before making a decision. Each small group had a
VPA member available to facilitate discussion if necessary. Some Civil
Parties were considering two legal groups but were indecisive about which
group they would choose, while others had already made a decision. Once they
made their final decisions, they signed powers of attorney for their chosen
representatives.
A few Civil Parties who were already represented by counsel asked to change
lawyers due to the fact that when they initially agreed to their
representation they didn't have any information about the lawyers. Now
having substantial background information they felt that they had the right
and ability to choose a different lawyer with confidence.
Though executing the powers of attorney took most of the day, VPA also
showed three documentary films to the Civil Parties: "Vietnam Delegation
Visit to DK in 1975," "Phnom Penh in 1979," and "Duch's apology and People's
reaction." The Civil Parties enjoyed the films, especially the third one to
which they reacted strongly. While everyone was watching, an older Civil
Party burst out, "[I] hate listening to [Duch's] apology." Some turned to
discuss what they had seen with their neighbors, and almost without
exception most expressed disapproval through both facial and verbal
expression.
As soon as the films were finished, the Civil Parties started sharing their
personal opinions with each other. For example, a Cham Muslim Civil Party
stood up and said that he has harbored such feelings of grievance that he
would stay true to the idea of "an eye for an eye" if only he didn't live
"under the law." For him it was of no use to apologize. Another old Civil
Party agreed, saying that because of the law he remains patient despite the
long suffering he has endured. An old lady energetically added that it's
nonsense for one who committed such heinous crimes to later ask for
forgiveness from God or people. Forgiveness was not possible either mentally
or emotionally.
Another Civil Party commented that the trial should go faster and stop being
delayed before it's too late since both the accused and survivors are in old
age. Mr. Terith responded that the court understood the challenge but
everything needed to be done in accordance with the tribunal procedures or
it will become a "sham trial."
One Civil Party from Kandal province said that the meeting encouraged her to
be more confident about her participation and that she has faith she will
obtain justice though it's too long overdue since, she believes, she hasn't
been forgotten. In addition to the work by the ECCC, she feels that her
sufferings as well as Cambodian peoples' miseries during DK regime are being
formally acknowledged worldwide, which gives her a great deal to be joyful
about.
The Khmer Rouge's tragic wrongdoings are impossible to compensate since they
cut a deep wound in every Cambodian person. Thirty years later Cambodia is
physically recovered but still emotionally handicapped. Whenever survivors
think of that time, it's as vivid as if it had recently taken place. As a
result, only through meaningful participation will they be able to grapple
with the past, a painful past that never ends, and transform it into a
universal historic memory for all humanity.
Updates occur every 1440 minutes.
Automatic page updates causing problems with your screen reader?
If you are using a screen reader and having problems using Mail, it might help to disable automatic page updates. Please note, this will also disable chat and text messaging within Yahoo! Mail. You can toggle automatic updates on and off using the link below. Disable automatic page updates.
* News
* Travel
* Finance
* Entertainment
* Yahoo!
* My Yahoo!
* More
* Welcome,
* daracaf
* Sign Out
* All-New Mail
* Help
* Help
* Tutorials
* Blog
* Send Feedback
Make Y! your home page
Yahoo!
1. Drag the "Y!" and drop it onto the "House" icon.
2. Select "Yes" from the pop up window.
3. Nothing, you're done.
If this didn't work for you or you want more detailed instructions click here.
Close this window
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! SearchSearch:
* Contacts
* Calendar
* Notepad
* What's New?
* Mobile Mail
*
Options Options
Mail Search
Try the new Yahoo! Mail
Someone's
Searching 4 U
*
1.
Folders
[Add a new folder]
o Inbox (3294)
o Drafts
o Sent
o Spam (14)[Empty all the messages from the Spam folder]
o Trash[Empty all the messages from the Trash folder]
Search Shortcuts
o My Photos
o My Attachments
*
Chat & Mobile Text
[Hide]
I am Invisible
o
3 Online Contacts
[Add]
1. Khmer Blood -
2. Normand Mailhot -
3. pagnawath khun -
Not Listed? New Chat
o
0 Mobile Contacts
[Add]
You don't have any Mobile Text contacts yet.
Start a Text Message
Settings
Go to Previous message | Go to Next message | Back to Messages
Mark as Unread | Print
Flag this message
Victim Participation Project: Meaningful Participation
Monday, March 22, 2010 3:24 AM
From:
"Youk Chhang"
View contact details
To:
"Brigitte Sion"
Victim Participation Project: Meaningful Participation
By Suyheang Kry
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), known to most
people as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, is now moving toward trial proceedings
in Case 002, in which the four senior living Khmer Rouge leaders will be
judged for the atrocities that occurred during their Democratic Kampuchea
Regime. This heinous period of three years, eight months, and twenty days
claimed a gory death toll of more than 1.7 million Cambodian people.
Disappointingly, the court only came into existence only thirty years after
the murderous acts transpired. Even so, the ECCC is an opportunity for
justice to be finally offered to all Khmer Rouge survivors. However, this
arduous process will be in vain if there is no real meaningful participation
from the survivors who have eagerly waited for so long for justice that they
have nearly lost hope.
In order to promote meaningful and close participation by the Cambodian
people in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal's proceedings, the Documentation Center
of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has been reaching out to villagers to enhance their
interest in the Court's work and to disseminate Khmer Rouge-related
information to them. In support of these efforts, the Victim Participation
Project (hereinafter VPA) has initiated various activities, the most recent
of which is assisting Civil Parties to select legal representation.
Recognizing the importance of the upcoming proceedings, from March 17-19
2010, VPA held its very first meeting with persons it assisted in becoming
Civil Parties in Case 002. In total there were 47 Civil Parties in
attendance from Kandal, Kampong Cham, Takeo, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and
Phnom Penh. The meeting was held to inform these Civil Parties about the
background and qualifications of all groups offering legal representation in
Case 002 so that they could make informed decisions when selecting a team
of lawyers. Selecting a lawyer is a crucial decision for all Civil Parties
because throughout the proceedings their appointed attorneys will defend
their interests and control the scope and quality of their participation in
the trial.
The meeting opened with a speech by the director of the DC-Cam, Mr. Youk
Chhang. To encourage the Civil Parties' participation in the meeting, he
spoke about the importance of Criminal Case 002, illustrating his remarks
with a new brochure by DC-Cam that provides information about and
photographs of the four Khmer Rouge leaders who will be tried in that case.
After he spoke, Civil Parties asked him questions and shared their views.
This moment was followed by a substantial presentation on the qualifications
of the Civil Party legal teams in Case 002, presided over by Mr. Terith Chy,
VPA team leader.
Mr. Chy provided background information on each of the legal teams,
including their experience in criminal law, source of funding, and the
victim focus of each group. After the presentation, fearing that the Civil
Parties wouldn't be able to adequately sort through all this information so
quickly, VPA divided them into three small groups to give them additional
time to review the issues before making a decision. Each small group had a
VPA member available to facilitate discussion if necessary. Some Civil
Parties were considering two legal groups but were indecisive about which
group they would choose, while others had already made a decision. Once they
made their final decisions, they signed powers of attorney for their chosen
representatives.
A few Civil Parties who were already represented by counsel asked to change
lawyers due to the fact that when they initially agreed to their
representation they didn't have any information about the lawyers. Now
having substantial background information they felt that they had the right
and ability to choose a different lawyer with confidence.
Though executing the powers of attorney took most of the day, VPA also
showed three documentary films to the Civil Parties: "Vietnam Delegation
Visit to DK in 1975," "Phnom Penh in 1979," and "Duch's apology and People's
reaction." The Civil Parties enjoyed the films, especially the third one to
which they reacted strongly. While everyone was watching, an older Civil
Party burst out, "[I] hate listening to [Duch's] apology." Some turned to
discuss what they had seen with their neighbors, and almost without
exception most expressed disapproval through both facial and verbal
expression.
As soon as the films were finished, the Civil Parties started sharing their
personal opinions with each other. For example, a Cham Muslim Civil Party
stood up and said that he has harbored such feelings of grievance that he
would stay true to the idea of "an eye for an eye" if only he didn't live
"under the law." For him it was of no use to apologize. Another old Civil
Party agreed, saying that because of the law he remains patient despite the
long suffering he has endured. An old lady energetically added that it's
nonsense for one who committed such heinous crimes to later ask for
forgiveness from God or people. Forgiveness was not possible either mentally
or emotionally.
Another Civil Party commented that the trial should go faster and stop being
delayed before it's too late since both the accused and survivors are in old
age. Mr. Terith responded that the court understood the challenge but
everything needed to be done in accordance with the tribunal procedures or
it will become a "sham trial."
One Civil Party from Kandal province said that the meeting encouraged her to
be more confident about her participation and that she has faith she will
obtain justice though it's too long overdue since, she believes, she hasn't
been forgotten. In addition to the work by the ECCC, she feels that her
sufferings as well as Cambodian peoples' miseries during DK regime are being
formally acknowledged worldwide, which gives her a great deal to be joyful
about.
The Khmer Rouge's tragic wrongdoings are impossible to compensate since they
cut a deep wound in every Cambodian person. Thirty years later Cambodia is
physically recovered but still emotionally handicapped. Whenever survivors
think of that time, it's as vivid as if it had recently taken place. As a
result, only through meaningful participation will they be able to grapple
with the past, a painful past that never ends, and transform it into a
universal historic memory for all humanity.
Khmer Rouge Tribunal vs. Karmic Justice
By SOPHAL EAR
When my mother — who saved me and four siblings from starvation under the Khmer Rouge in 1976 — passed away in October 2009 at the age of 73, I realized that for her justice delayed had become justice denied. (I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the words “justice delayed is justice denied” had never really sunk in until my mother’s passing.)
As an observant Buddhist, however, my mother probably had the last word. She always said that no matter what happened to the Khmer Rouge leadership in their current lifetime, Karmic justice would prevail in the next: They would be reborn as cockroaches.
I am certain that this belief has helped millions of survivors cope with the reality that, after more than three decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, not a single leader has been held to account.
Indeed, Cambodians will largely be yawning when the Khmer Rouge tribunal, known formally as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and jointly organized with the United Nations, issues its first verdict, on the guilt or innocence of Kaing Guek Eav, widely known as Comrade Duch.
The man who headed S-21, a torture center to which an estimated 16,000 people were sent and where less than a dozen survived, confessed his crimes seven years before the tribunal started, saying: “My confession is rather like Saint Paul’s. I’m the chief of sinners.”
Even during the tribunal itself, Duch declared: “To the survivors, I stand by my acknowledgment of all crimes inflicted on you at S-21. I acknowledge them in both the moral and legal context.” After nine months of testimony and millions of dollars spent, what verdict but guilty can there be when the defendant has made such statements under oath? What purpose has going through the motions served? Whether the issue is degree of guilt (no one claims Duch was in charge of policy and he has testified that “even though I knew these orders were criminal ... it was a life and death problem for me and my family”) or plain punishment (the maximum sentence is life in prison), each day that has passed is itself an injustice.
If, after four years and $13 million in contributions to the Cambodian government from Japan, the Europe Commission and others, and $76 million in contributions to the United Nations by more than 21 donors, one guilty verdict is all the tribunal has to show, survivors of the Khmer Rouge may just as well consider justice denied.
Plagued by corruption, the tribunal was essentially hijacked to advance domestic and international agendas. For domestic politicians, the goal was to control the process by placing it in a heavily secured military base some 20 kilometers from Phnom Penh and to reduce its scope by limiting the number of individuals it could indict (five) while currying international favor for addressing, superficially at least, crimes against humanity.
The Cambodian government has even sought to limit the witnesses the tribunal could call to testify under the oft-repeated claim of the threat of another civil war. “If the court wants to charge more former senior Khmer Rouge cadres, [it] must show the reasons to Prime Minister Hun Sen,” the prime minister said, referring to himself in the third person. In any case, the tribunal has no independent means of enforcing its subpoenas without government cooperation.
For many of the foreigners involved, Cambodia served as yet another venue for pushing hybrid models of transitional justice while creating jobs for international civil servants and a stage for foreign lawyers whose careers depend on adding another tribunal to their curriculum vitae. If nothing else, they can pat themselves on the back for showing the Cambodians how justice is done.
But what has happened is the reverse. The tribunal was plagued by corruption, lack of judicial independence and shattered integrity. The appointment of a devout Marxist-Leninist as head of the Victims Unit in May 2009, fully endorsed by the U.N. head of the tribunal, sealed the tribunal’s fate as an international and domestic farce.
Thus, the euphemistically “streamlined” participation of about 4,000 “Civil Parties” (tribunal-recognized victims, including me) who shall be represented in court by only two “civil party lead co-lawyers” (with as yet undefined internal procedures of accountability and selection) imposed by the tribunal on Feb. 9, 2010, came as no surprise.
When I filed my civil complaint in 2008, I was required to outline what compensation I wanted. When I said I didn’t want any compensation and that this isn’t about money, it’s about justice for the past and accountability for the future, you could have heard a pin drop. I should have said that I would like my father and brother back; no amount of compensation can do that.
Justice in that sense is meaningless, but my hope was that in the not-too-distant future the next Pol Pot might have to think twice about genocide.
A truth commission would have been a marked contrast to the combative style of the current tribunal, which has seen denials by anyone potentially indictable and even those ready to confess. Indeed, as South Africa’s experience has shown, truth commissions can work under the right circumstances.
But I doubt the circumstances were ever right in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge had a sense of irony when they created a Ministry of Truth. Ever since then, the first casualty of Cambodian politics has been truth.
Lost in all this are those very Cambodians for whom the tribunal was supposed to enact international standards of justice and be a cathartic experience. Instead, the tribunal has been corrosive. Jaded from a failed 1993 U.N. exercise in democracy that led inexorably toward authoritarianism, Cambodians have learned their lesson: Don’t believe in international promises; they are not kept.
Sophal Ear is an assistant professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is writing a book on the unintended consequences of foreign aid in Cambodia. The views expressed are his alone and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government.
When my mother — who saved me and four siblings from starvation under the Khmer Rouge in 1976 — passed away in October 2009 at the age of 73, I realized that for her justice delayed had become justice denied. (I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the words “justice delayed is justice denied” had never really sunk in until my mother’s passing.)
As an observant Buddhist, however, my mother probably had the last word. She always said that no matter what happened to the Khmer Rouge leadership in their current lifetime, Karmic justice would prevail in the next: They would be reborn as cockroaches.
I am certain that this belief has helped millions of survivors cope with the reality that, after more than three decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, not a single leader has been held to account.
Indeed, Cambodians will largely be yawning when the Khmer Rouge tribunal, known formally as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and jointly organized with the United Nations, issues its first verdict, on the guilt or innocence of Kaing Guek Eav, widely known as Comrade Duch.
The man who headed S-21, a torture center to which an estimated 16,000 people were sent and where less than a dozen survived, confessed his crimes seven years before the tribunal started, saying: “My confession is rather like Saint Paul’s. I’m the chief of sinners.”
Even during the tribunal itself, Duch declared: “To the survivors, I stand by my acknowledgment of all crimes inflicted on you at S-21. I acknowledge them in both the moral and legal context.” After nine months of testimony and millions of dollars spent, what verdict but guilty can there be when the defendant has made such statements under oath? What purpose has going through the motions served? Whether the issue is degree of guilt (no one claims Duch was in charge of policy and he has testified that “even though I knew these orders were criminal ... it was a life and death problem for me and my family”) or plain punishment (the maximum sentence is life in prison), each day that has passed is itself an injustice.
If, after four years and $13 million in contributions to the Cambodian government from Japan, the Europe Commission and others, and $76 million in contributions to the United Nations by more than 21 donors, one guilty verdict is all the tribunal has to show, survivors of the Khmer Rouge may just as well consider justice denied.
Plagued by corruption, the tribunal was essentially hijacked to advance domestic and international agendas. For domestic politicians, the goal was to control the process by placing it in a heavily secured military base some 20 kilometers from Phnom Penh and to reduce its scope by limiting the number of individuals it could indict (five) while currying international favor for addressing, superficially at least, crimes against humanity.
The Cambodian government has even sought to limit the witnesses the tribunal could call to testify under the oft-repeated claim of the threat of another civil war. “If the court wants to charge more former senior Khmer Rouge cadres, [it] must show the reasons to Prime Minister Hun Sen,” the prime minister said, referring to himself in the third person. In any case, the tribunal has no independent means of enforcing its subpoenas without government cooperation.
For many of the foreigners involved, Cambodia served as yet another venue for pushing hybrid models of transitional justice while creating jobs for international civil servants and a stage for foreign lawyers whose careers depend on adding another tribunal to their curriculum vitae. If nothing else, they can pat themselves on the back for showing the Cambodians how justice is done.
But what has happened is the reverse. The tribunal was plagued by corruption, lack of judicial independence and shattered integrity. The appointment of a devout Marxist-Leninist as head of the Victims Unit in May 2009, fully endorsed by the U.N. head of the tribunal, sealed the tribunal’s fate as an international and domestic farce.
Thus, the euphemistically “streamlined” participation of about 4,000 “Civil Parties” (tribunal-recognized victims, including me) who shall be represented in court by only two “civil party lead co-lawyers” (with as yet undefined internal procedures of accountability and selection) imposed by the tribunal on Feb. 9, 2010, came as no surprise.
When I filed my civil complaint in 2008, I was required to outline what compensation I wanted. When I said I didn’t want any compensation and that this isn’t about money, it’s about justice for the past and accountability for the future, you could have heard a pin drop. I should have said that I would like my father and brother back; no amount of compensation can do that.
Justice in that sense is meaningless, but my hope was that in the not-too-distant future the next Pol Pot might have to think twice about genocide.
A truth commission would have been a marked contrast to the combative style of the current tribunal, which has seen denials by anyone potentially indictable and even those ready to confess. Indeed, as South Africa’s experience has shown, truth commissions can work under the right circumstances.
But I doubt the circumstances were ever right in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge had a sense of irony when they created a Ministry of Truth. Ever since then, the first casualty of Cambodian politics has been truth.
Lost in all this are those very Cambodians for whom the tribunal was supposed to enact international standards of justice and be a cathartic experience. Instead, the tribunal has been corrosive. Jaded from a failed 1993 U.N. exercise in democracy that led inexorably toward authoritarianism, Cambodians have learned their lesson: Don’t believe in international promises; they are not kept.
Sophal Ear is an assistant professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is writing a book on the unintended consequences of foreign aid in Cambodia. The views expressed are his alone and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.