Cambodia confronts its bloodthirsty past

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By Dan Rivers
CNN Bangkok-based correspondent

Cambodia is a country that throws up the most staggering barbed facts that catch the mind and should stick inconveniently in our conscience.

As I put together “Killing Fields: The Long Road to Justice” for CNN, I kept tripping across breathtaking statistics that seemed too incredible to believe. Like, for example, a Yale University history professor's analysis of declassified military data that showed during America's bombing campaign over Cambodia from 1965-1973, the United States dropped more tons of ordnance on this tiny nation than the Allies dropped during the whole of the Second World War. A total of 2,756,000 tons of explosives was dropped on Cambodia, compared with 2 million tons dropped during World War II, worldwide.
It goes some way to explain how and why the vicious, bloodthirsty and unstoppable phenomenon that was the Khmer Rouge came to power. Simply put, faced with utter destruction by the United States or the promised utopia offered by Pol Pot and his ultra-communist henchmen, many Cambodian peasants chose the latter.

But that was before the killing started. Another head-spinning fact: After the Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975 they killed a greater proportion of their own compatriots than any other regime in the 20th century.

It's facile and pointless to make some sort of genocidal league table, but what happened in Cambodia in just three years, eight months and 20 days was certainly as awful and unfathomable as events in Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Darfur.

I decided to revisit this terrible period, because it's now 30 years since the Khmer Rouge regime fell and finally a handful of its leaders are being put on trial at a special U.N.-backed war crimes trial. It's garnered few headlines internationally. Perhaps Cambodia is just too remote, too forgotten, and too insignificant in many peoples' minds to warrant attention. But that is exactly why I felt it was vital to shine a spotlight on what happened.

Another remarkable fact: Pol Pot's men remained a potent force in Cambodia's power struggle that verged on civil war for almost 20 years after they were forced out of power by the invading Vietnamese — a sinister culture of impunity that has strangled Cambodia while countries around it grew and prospered.

Even more incredible, the Khmer Rouge was backed by the United States, Britain, and other Western powers during the 1980s, despite the nightmarish mass-murder perpetrated by so many of the Khmer Rouge's Cadres. The United States viewed the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge as a useful counterweight to Soviet/Vietnamese influence in Indochina. The U.S. doctrine seemed to follow the maxim “My enemy's enemy is my friend.”

The impunity enjoyed by the top Khmer Rouge leaders is something the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia is trying to address. But it's taking a very long time. And as I found out in making our program, the trial process itself is mired in corruption allegations which some think may mean the entire process may collapse.

The United Nations is in a terrible bind over the issue. It's been forced into accepting a hybrid court system with the Cambodian government, which means the U.N. is not free to alone root out corruption quickly and surgically. Instead, as one defense lawyer told me, the corruption has been allowed to fester like a “cancer” eating away at the credibility of the trial. The prosecution, clearly worried about the courts credibility, also is pushing for the corruption to be addressed.
Already the costs for the proceedings are spiraling out of control: The budget will have swollen to more than $100 million by the end of this year, about US$20,000,000 per defendant. Or to look at it another way: the trial is costing a mere US$59 per victim.

What's also worrying is that the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a junior figure in the Khmer Rouge, has said that the trial should be limited to the current five defendants - and no more. He's said that expanding the circle of prosecution risks the stability of the country. But that means in practice that many of those involved in the slaughter during the Khmer Rouge period would remain unpunished.

The most notorious camp in Phnom Penh, called S21 or Tuol Sleng, was set up in a former school. The camp was designed to extract confessions from internal enemies of the regime, using whatever means deemed necessary. The result, according to meticulous Khmer Rouge records and survivor accounts, was the most brutal and sadistic torture camp imaginable: More than 14,000 prisoners were killed after enduring horrendous torture.

The chief interrogator at S21 was a man called Ta Chan, who led a team of interrogators. He has never officially been charged with any crime.

After quite some effort, we found out where Ta Chan lives. When we arrived at his modest wooden house in the far west of Cambodia, I got a glimpse of him. But he was apparently too scared to face our cameras, leaving his son to do the talking. His son said Ta Chan was old and his health was bad and that none of the family wanted to talk about the past.

By a stroke of luck we obtained and salvaged an old, barely functioning tape, shot by a Thai cameraman 10 years ago, that had never been broadcast. It contained the grinning image of Ta Chan showing off another prison he ran for the Khmer Rouge after they'd been forced to abandon S21. Here he was — one of the most notorious figures of one of the most bloody regimes in the world — and after twenty years, he was still in the prison business.

Now, finally Ta Chan's face will be known to the world. The question is, will he ever face trial for the heinous crimes survivors say he committed?

Dan Rivers is CNN's Bangkok-based correspondent reporting for 'WORLD UNTOLD STORIES: KILLING FIELDS: LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE' airing on CNN International May 1 at 1100, May 2 at 1630, May 3 at 0100, 0630 & 2230 and May 4 at 1030 Taipei Time. For more info visit www.cnn.com/worldsuntoldstories.

Cambodia confronts its bloodthirsty past

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By Dan Rivers
CNN Bangkok-based correspondent

Cambodia is a country that throws up the most staggering barbed facts that catch the mind and should stick inconveniently in our conscience.

As I put together “Killing Fields: The Long Road to Justice” for CNN, I kept tripping across breathtaking statistics that seemed too incredible to believe. Like, for example, a Yale University history professor's analysis of declassified military data that showed during America's bombing campaign over Cambodia from 1965-1973, the United States dropped more tons of ordnance on this tiny nation than the Allies dropped during the whole of the Second World War. A total of 2,756,000 tons of explosives was dropped on Cambodia, compared with 2 million tons dropped during World War II, worldwide.
It goes some way to explain how and why the vicious, bloodthirsty and unstoppable phenomenon that was the Khmer Rouge came to power. Simply put, faced with utter destruction by the United States or the promised utopia offered by Pol Pot and his ultra-communist henchmen, many Cambodian peasants chose the latter.

But that was before the killing started. Another head-spinning fact: After the Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975 they killed a greater proportion of their own compatriots than any other regime in the 20th century.

It's facile and pointless to make some sort of genocidal league table, but what happened in Cambodia in just three years, eight months and 20 days was certainly as awful and unfathomable as events in Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Darfur.

I decided to revisit this terrible period, because it's now 30 years since the Khmer Rouge regime fell and finally a handful of its leaders are being put on trial at a special U.N.-backed war crimes trial. It's garnered few headlines internationally. Perhaps Cambodia is just too remote, too forgotten, and too insignificant in many peoples' minds to warrant attention. But that is exactly why I felt it was vital to shine a spotlight on what happened.

Another remarkable fact: Pol Pot's men remained a potent force in Cambodia's power struggle that verged on civil war for almost 20 years after they were forced out of power by the invading Vietnamese — a sinister culture of impunity that has strangled Cambodia while countries around it grew and prospered.

Even more incredible, the Khmer Rouge was backed by the United States, Britain, and other Western powers during the 1980s, despite the nightmarish mass-murder perpetrated by so many of the Khmer Rouge's Cadres. The United States viewed the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge as a useful counterweight to Soviet/Vietnamese influence in Indochina. The U.S. doctrine seemed to follow the maxim “My enemy's enemy is my friend.”

The impunity enjoyed by the top Khmer Rouge leaders is something the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia is trying to address. But it's taking a very long time. And as I found out in making our program, the trial process itself is mired in corruption allegations which some think may mean the entire process may collapse.

The United Nations is in a terrible bind over the issue. It's been forced into accepting a hybrid court system with the Cambodian government, which means the U.N. is not free to alone root out corruption quickly and surgically. Instead, as one defense lawyer told me, the corruption has been allowed to fester like a “cancer” eating away at the credibility of the trial. The prosecution, clearly worried about the courts credibility, also is pushing for the corruption to be addressed.
Already the costs for the proceedings are spiraling out of control: The budget will have swollen to more than $100 million by the end of this year, about US$20,000,000 per defendant. Or to look at it another way: the trial is costing a mere US$59 per victim.

What's also worrying is that the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a junior figure in the Khmer Rouge, has said that the trial should be limited to the current five defendants - and no more. He's said that expanding the circle of prosecution risks the stability of the country. But that means in practice that many of those involved in the slaughter during the Khmer Rouge period would remain unpunished.

The most notorious camp in Phnom Penh, called S21 or Tuol Sleng, was set up in a former school. The camp was designed to extract confessions from internal enemies of the regime, using whatever means deemed necessary. The result, according to meticulous Khmer Rouge records and survivor accounts, was the most brutal and sadistic torture camp imaginable: More than 14,000 prisoners were killed after enduring horrendous torture.

The chief interrogator at S21 was a man called Ta Chan, who led a team of interrogators. He has never officially been charged with any crime.

After quite some effort, we found out where Ta Chan lives. When we arrived at his modest wooden house in the far west of Cambodia, I got a glimpse of him. But he was apparently too scared to face our cameras, leaving his son to do the talking. His son said Ta Chan was old and his health was bad and that none of the family wanted to talk about the past.

By a stroke of luck we obtained and salvaged an old, barely functioning tape, shot by a Thai cameraman 10 years ago, that had never been broadcast. It contained the grinning image of Ta Chan showing off another prison he ran for the Khmer Rouge after they'd been forced to abandon S21. Here he was — one of the most notorious figures of one of the most bloody regimes in the world — and after twenty years, he was still in the prison business.

Now, finally Ta Chan's face will be known to the world. The question is, will he ever face trial for the heinous crimes survivors say he committed?

Dan Rivers is CNN's Bangkok-based correspondent reporting for 'WORLD UNTOLD STORIES: KILLING FIELDS: LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE' airing on CNN International May 1 at 1100, May 2 at 1630, May 3 at 0100, 0630 & 2230 and May 4 at 1030 Taipei Time. For more info visit www.cnn.com/worldsuntoldstories.

Long Beach woman helped create library in Cambodia

Emi Caitlin enjoying a local snack in Cambodia while performing her Peace Corps Volunteer work

Children of all ages in rural Takeo Province, Cambodia now have a library and books to call their own. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)
Students at the school where Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka raised funds for a new library decorated the space with a large mural of the world. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)

04/28/2009
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
LONG BEACH - One sign came when she couldn't enter the existing library because the floor was covered with six inches of rice that had been put there to dry during harvest season.

Another was the selection of volumes, such as the organic chemistry textbooks, in English, that a well-meaning but obviously clueless charity donated to the rural school in the poor farming community.
Still another was the abundance of books in French and English, but the paucity of books in Khmer.

So, Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka from Long Beach jumped at the opportunity to create a new library when approached with the idea by the director of the Cambodian school where she was teaching high school English.

A 26-year-old UCLA and Poly High graduate who will attend USC graduate school in public administration in the fall, Ishigooka recently returned from a two-year stint as one of the inaugural group of Peace Corps volunteers assigned to Cambodia.

While she has come back to the U.S. with the usual bucketful of stories about life in a village with no running water, strange encounters with the local fauna and edible delicacies such as fried tarantulas, it is the library she built in her second year abroad that has the most meaning.

In the truest of the people, by the people and for the people tradition, Ishigooka says that from the outset she wanted the students to be the driving force.

"From the beginning they had a major say," Ishigooka said. "They gave me the titles and subjects that interested them. I did keep one Norton Anthology, though."

Ishigooka applied for a grant from the Peace Corps, eventually raising about $3,500, including $300 or $400 from the students and the families themselves.

Once a new non-produce storing building was found, students began cleaning and decorating the new facility, including painting a large mural of the world on the wall.

"With the grant money, we were able to get books for all grade levels," Ishigooka said. And they were able to get them in Khmer: novels, history, poetry, even an edition in translation of Harry Potter.

The library was also outfitted with a listening center to help students with languages and other learning areas.

For Ishigooka, as important as getting the actual volumes, was giving the students a sense of ownership and responsibility for the library.

This included students volunteering to staff the library, setting schedules and actually be there during operating hours, along with maintaining the facility.

"This was built by an incredible group," Ishigooka says.

The best part, was "to see students make it their own. Now the student librarians are leaders and role models. And in the process we were promoting volunteerism, which for a Peace Corps volunteer is pretty phenomenal."

As she sits at a Starbucks near the Traffic Circle and begins to renew her relationship with coffee, finds a job, visits with friends, checks text messages, prepares for graduate school and negotiates with her mom for use of the car, the 26-year-old is very much back into the hectic flow of life of an young American woman on the upward career and educational track.

But a part of Ishigooka will always be in Cambodia, beyond the retainer a rat absconded with.

When Ishigooka looks back, she hopes she left something lasting and tangible.

"The kids are are so proud and took such good care of (the library) that I'm confident years from now it will still be there and be a big part of the school and community," Ishigooka says.

Long Beach woman helped create library in Cambodia

Emi Caitlin enjoying a local snack in Cambodia while performing her Peace Corps Volunteer work

Children of all ages in rural Takeo Province, Cambodia now have a library and books to call their own. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)
Students at the school where Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka raised funds for a new library decorated the space with a large mural of the world. (Photo courtesy of Caitlin Ishigooka)

04/28/2009
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
LONG BEACH - One sign came when she couldn't enter the existing library because the floor was covered with six inches of rice that had been put there to dry during harvest season.

Another was the selection of volumes, such as the organic chemistry textbooks, in English, that a well-meaning but obviously clueless charity donated to the rural school in the poor farming community.
Still another was the abundance of books in French and English, but the paucity of books in Khmer.

So, Peace Corps volunteer Emi Caitlin Ishigooka from Long Beach jumped at the opportunity to create a new library when approached with the idea by the director of the Cambodian school where she was teaching high school English.

A 26-year-old UCLA and Poly High graduate who will attend USC graduate school in public administration in the fall, Ishigooka recently returned from a two-year stint as one of the inaugural group of Peace Corps volunteers assigned to Cambodia.

While she has come back to the U.S. with the usual bucketful of stories about life in a village with no running water, strange encounters with the local fauna and edible delicacies such as fried tarantulas, it is the library she built in her second year abroad that has the most meaning.

In the truest of the people, by the people and for the people tradition, Ishigooka says that from the outset she wanted the students to be the driving force.

"From the beginning they had a major say," Ishigooka said. "They gave me the titles and subjects that interested them. I did keep one Norton Anthology, though."

Ishigooka applied for a grant from the Peace Corps, eventually raising about $3,500, including $300 or $400 from the students and the families themselves.

Once a new non-produce storing building was found, students began cleaning and decorating the new facility, including painting a large mural of the world on the wall.

"With the grant money, we were able to get books for all grade levels," Ishigooka said. And they were able to get them in Khmer: novels, history, poetry, even an edition in translation of Harry Potter.

The library was also outfitted with a listening center to help students with languages and other learning areas.

For Ishigooka, as important as getting the actual volumes, was giving the students a sense of ownership and responsibility for the library.

This included students volunteering to staff the library, setting schedules and actually be there during operating hours, along with maintaining the facility.

"This was built by an incredible group," Ishigooka says.

The best part, was "to see students make it their own. Now the student librarians are leaders and role models. And in the process we were promoting volunteerism, which for a Peace Corps volunteer is pretty phenomenal."

As she sits at a Starbucks near the Traffic Circle and begins to renew her relationship with coffee, finds a job, visits with friends, checks text messages, prepares for graduate school and negotiates with her mom for use of the car, the 26-year-old is very much back into the hectic flow of life of an young American woman on the upward career and educational track.

But a part of Ishigooka will always be in Cambodia, beyond the retainer a rat absconded with.

When Ishigooka looks back, she hopes she left something lasting and tangible.

"The kids are are so proud and took such good care of (the library) that I'm confident years from now it will still be there and be a big part of the school and community," Ishigooka says.

Muslims Enjoy Khmer New Year, Quietly

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 April 2009

Sitting on a small wooden bed inside a new mosque on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, So Pey Tah, a 50-year-old Muslim, sat talking with neighbors as all around her, Khmer compatriots were loudly celebrating the New Year.

Cambodia’s predominant Buddhists observe a lunar new year, in mid-April, in raucous celebrations that include three days of revelry, water fights, late-night dances and trips to the pagodas.
So Pey Tah, on the other hand, like most of Cambodia’s 500,000 Muslims, observed the holiday without burning offerings to the incoming spirit of the new year, selling sweets instead.

“We have to celebrate it together because we’re living in the same country,” she said. “But for me, we don’t make any offerings to welcome a new god, because we have a different religion.”

Adherents of Islam believe in one god, Allah, while Cambodian Buddhists mix animism with Theravada Buddhism, in customs influenced by ancient Hinduism.

Cambodia’s Muslims, commonly referred to as Chams, celebrate important Islamic holidays, such as the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and Ramadan, a period of fasting, said Suos Komrey, Cambodia’s prime Islamic leader, or mufti.

“All Cambodian Muslims can freely celebrate Khmer New Year but are not allowed to go to the pagoda for prayer,” he said.

However, Loh Abdul Rosman, imam of the Kilometer 9 Mosque, outside Phnom Penh, said it was an individual’s right to pray at a pagoda, even a Muslim.

Meanwhile, many Muslim youths enjoyed New Year celebrations.

“I feel happier than usual,” 20-year-old Meut Salah told VOA Khmer as the holiday was underway. “We are playing popular games with other Chams every night.”

Muslims Enjoy Khmer New Year, Quietly

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 April 2009

Sitting on a small wooden bed inside a new mosque on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, So Pey Tah, a 50-year-old Muslim, sat talking with neighbors as all around her, Khmer compatriots were loudly celebrating the New Year.

Cambodia’s predominant Buddhists observe a lunar new year, in mid-April, in raucous celebrations that include three days of revelry, water fights, late-night dances and trips to the pagodas.
So Pey Tah, on the other hand, like most of Cambodia’s 500,000 Muslims, observed the holiday without burning offerings to the incoming spirit of the new year, selling sweets instead.

“We have to celebrate it together because we’re living in the same country,” she said. “But for me, we don’t make any offerings to welcome a new god, because we have a different religion.”

Adherents of Islam believe in one god, Allah, while Cambodian Buddhists mix animism with Theravada Buddhism, in customs influenced by ancient Hinduism.

Cambodia’s Muslims, commonly referred to as Chams, celebrate important Islamic holidays, such as the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and Ramadan, a period of fasting, said Suos Komrey, Cambodia’s prime Islamic leader, or mufti.

“All Cambodian Muslims can freely celebrate Khmer New Year but are not allowed to go to the pagoda for prayer,” he said.

However, Loh Abdul Rosman, imam of the Kilometer 9 Mosque, outside Phnom Penh, said it was an individual’s right to pray at a pagoda, even a Muslim.

Meanwhile, many Muslim youths enjoyed New Year celebrations.

“I feel happier than usual,” 20-year-old Meut Salah told VOA Khmer as the holiday was underway. “We are playing popular games with other Chams every night.”

Death in Pailin: Finally the court is looking into the case

28 April 2009
By Ung Chansophea
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

The Battambang deputy prosecutor summoned hospital staffs who left a pregnant woman to die on 15 March 2009 because she did not have the money to pay for the care.

Six Pailin hospital staffs are summoned on 19 May to present themselves to the Battambang tribunal in a case involving Van Yoeun.
Ang Neang, the deputy director of the Pailin hospital, who was on duty during the death, is among those who are summoned.

In the evening of 15 March, Mith Saron, a man who lost his right foot, drove Van Yoeun, his pregnant wife to the hospital because she suffered intense pain. Because he did not have the 100,000 riels ($25) that was requested from him, Mith Saron suffered the following sarcasm from the hospital staff: “How do you dare come to the hospital?”

Due to lack of medical care, Van Yoeun died at 5AM on that day.

While her husband did not want to bring this case to court, Koy Kanya, the Battambang deputy prosecutor, looked into the case and he sent out summons without giving any detail in the case involved.

“It must be about that pregnant woman,” said Chhorn Makara, the Adhoc NGO coordinator in Pailin. “Following the death of the patient, the police questioned the hospital staff and they had an order signed by Koy Kanya. If there was any consequence in this affair, it is normal that he [the prosecutor] looks into this case. He told me personally that it was a flagrante delicto case.”

Death in Pailin: Finally the court is looking into the case

28 April 2009
By Ung Chansophea
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

The Battambang deputy prosecutor summoned hospital staffs who left a pregnant woman to die on 15 March 2009 because she did not have the money to pay for the care.

Six Pailin hospital staffs are summoned on 19 May to present themselves to the Battambang tribunal in a case involving Van Yoeun.
Ang Neang, the deputy director of the Pailin hospital, who was on duty during the death, is among those who are summoned.

In the evening of 15 March, Mith Saron, a man who lost his right foot, drove Van Yoeun, his pregnant wife to the hospital because she suffered intense pain. Because he did not have the 100,000 riels ($25) that was requested from him, Mith Saron suffered the following sarcasm from the hospital staff: “How do you dare come to the hospital?”

Due to lack of medical care, Van Yoeun died at 5AM on that day.

While her husband did not want to bring this case to court, Koy Kanya, the Battambang deputy prosecutor, looked into the case and he sent out summons without giving any detail in the case involved.

“It must be about that pregnant woman,” said Chhorn Makara, the Adhoc NGO coordinator in Pailin. “Following the death of the patient, the police questioned the hospital staff and they had an order signed by Koy Kanya. If there was any consequence in this affair, it is normal that he [the prosecutor] looks into this case. He told me personally that it was a flagrante delicto case.”

As Losses Mount, Plans To Help Economy Emerge [-Where's that loud mouth PM who said that Cambodia will not be affected by the economic crisis?]

Kong Chandararoth, president of the Cambodian Institute of Economic Study and Development.

By VOA Khmer, Reporters
Reports from Phnom Penh & Washington
28 April 2009

Cambodia’s four main economic drivers have sustained multi-million dollar losses so far this year, despite insulation from the financial markets, a leading economist said Monday.A report released by the International Labor Organization released Monday shows losses of $280 million in garments, $260 million in tourism, $180 million in agriculture and $45 million in construction.

Despite those losses, Cambodia remains somewhat insulated from the global financial crisis, said Kong Chandararoth, president of the Cambodian Institute of Economic Study and Development.

“Our country is not close to the financial market, so that does not have an impact as serious as other countries,” he said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Cambodia’s agriculture has also made the global financial downturn easier that industrialized countries, he said.

Organizations like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank have warned that Cambodia’s economy will shrink this year, thanks to the financial crisis.

However, Kong Chandararoth said such predictions were “too dark about Cambodia,” and he predicted economic growth around 5 percent for 2009.

Cambodia’s situation is further different from other countries, he said, because it does not have a stock exchange or other financial markets, which have been hard-hit by the collapse of the US financial market.

Meanwhile, the government has prepared a package to restore the economy, including tax exemptions, tourism promotion, and help for construction, agriculture, garment factories and other investments.

The government announced Tuesday it will release $25 million to the agriculture and garment sectors, in an effort to mitigate the effects of the global downturn.

The money—$18 million to agriculture and $7 million to garments—will be used to increase farm production and help train people who have lost their jobs thanks to the slowdown.

Government officials made the announcement during the semi-annual donors meeting on Tuesday.