Recently, I met up with friends (from NY) of a friend (of India) at a "happy" eatery along the riverfront of Sisowath Quay (maybe I will detail this adventure/episode in another post!). As with most first time visitors to Cambodia, they were compelled to visit Tuol Sleng Museum.
It is a place I used to visit at least once or twice a week for months years ago either for interviews/films (as journalists like this place as a backdrop), or for the regular tours my staff used to give for provincial villagers prior to their joining our public fora on Justice and Reconciliation in their respective provinces, or for commemorative ceremonies, or with visiting friends/family or dignitaries/celebrities. At one point, the Tuol Sleng management restricted my filming/interviews there and shadowed me on other visits.
As it has been years since I last set foot onto this "history museum" premise and since I have tuned out completely the shenanigans of the KRT/ECCC* and anything related/associated with it (save the one comment I gave to VOA on Im Chaem's "conversion" to Christianity), I was interested in hearing their impression of the place.
I was very careful not to ask leading questions for fear of giving away my misgivings as I really wanted to know their genuine impressions without my clouding their thinking.
Each individually echoed the sentiment of the other; they came out of the place independently believing that Duch is the chief culprit, holding the main, if not sole, responsibility for the Khmer Rouge reign of terror.
This is a deep concern -- Duch as the sole scapegoat for the KR atrocities -- I have had for years now since the inception of the KRT/ECCC, particularly the start and preeminence given to Case 001** which involves Duch and Tuol Sleng/Choeung Ek.
This concern is framed by my larger concern for historical memory and its production from selective truths, half-truths, carefully spun and salted with bits of lies here and there, stamped with approval by the UN / international community (the governments involved in funding and staffing the KRT/ECCC, e.g. Japan, US, France, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, etc.).
However, we must keep in mind:
1. Tuol Sleng is only one among 200 Khmer Rouge prisons. Choeung Ek is only one among thousands, if not tens of thousands, "killing fields" strewn across Cambodia.
2. Duch is only "most responsible" for the crimes committed at Tuol Sleng / Choeung Ek where he was the director.
The ECCC limited its authority over 2 categories of Khmer Rouge individuals, what in law is known as "personal jurisdiction": (i) "senior leaders", e.g. Khieu Samphan, who had power over all of Cambodia during the KR regime by virtue of their position, or (ii) "those most responsible" who oversaw the deaths of many (a more arbitrary determination with emphasis on number and kind of deaths), even if their authority is contained to a location, like Tuol Sleng, and not cover the whole of Cambodia.
3. It is believed that Tuol Sleng / Choeung Ek claimed 16,000-20,000 lives for which Duch as the director of these sites is "most responsible".
Out of the 200 KR prisons, about 10 had a death tally of 30,000 each. Boeung Rai Prison where I was detained as a child and where my mom was killed was one of these 10 KR prisons. These prisons are not under investigation and part of the KRT/ECCC, even if I did get the KRT / ECCC to mention Boeung Rai in passing in one of its documents.
4. Tuol Sleng is famous and an easy tool for political propaganda because it (i) is located in the capital center, at a school, to boot!; (ii) has foreign victims with easy buy-in from the respective victims' governments; (iii) related, these victims were persons of renown, e.g. brother of my friend Rob Hamill who happens to a world class Olympian from New Zealand with an award-winning film made about his life; (iv) well-preserved evidences--mainly, documentary (written confessions, photographs, shackles) and human survivors (with compelling stories, e.g. Vann Nath).
5. Tuol Sleng as a "history museum" had a very insidious beginning as a political tool of propaganda***.
Immediately upon invasion and occupation of Cambodia, the Vietnamese military had all the bones and Tartarus relics of the defeated KR regime gathered and preserved, with a particularly focused attention on Tuol Sleng prison and its associated Choeuk Ek killing field.
The Western world governments, China, and ASEAN (Thailand and Singapore in particular; not yet include Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) were firmly against Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia (thus, the UN seat to KR), so Vietnam used Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek to try to sway international opinion to justify its invasion and subsequent occupation of Cambodia. Initially, the Vietnamese occupiers only allowed journalists to tour Tuol Sleng.
6. Related to point 5 above, the message (via written text, signs or listening tours) is laced with political propaganda. For example: As of my last visit to Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek, the number of deaths still being used is 3 million, when it is now widely accepted among scholars non-partisan on this point, that it is 1.7 million.
__________
* The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) is officially called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
** I continue to chuckle (more accurately, snicker!) at the positive outlook, the confidence, the faith of the inventers of the KRT/ECCC, that envisioned the ECCC could, would try at least 100 cases, thus Case 001, Case 002; rather than numbering them Case 1, Case 2; or Case 01, Case 02.
Case 001: Duch "most responsible" for crimes committed at Tuol Sleng Prison and Choeung Ek Killing Fields;
Case 002: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith -- who were "senior leaders" with authority over all of Cambodia during the KR regime.
As much as I tried to jumpstart Cases 003 and 004 for them to go to trial, politics dictate NO!
***A non-Cambodian friend had suggested to me that Kem Sokha is a racist for his statements about Tuol Sleng or S-21 (Vietnamese conspiracy) and the Koh Pich Stampede (orchestrated by Vietnam). I don't think so. I think he is stunningly ignorant which makes him dangerous. When one is ignorant, one uses crude language and crude instruments, either to the harm of the other party (Vietnamese) or to the harm of the nation (Cambodian sovereignty), in excessive use of force or in excessive retreat/concession.
Excerpts from The Cambodia Daily, 27 May 2013:
In the recording, Mr. Sokha appears to accuse Vietnam of setting up the former school building to look like a Khmer Rouge prison and torture center.
“The Vietnamese created this place with pictures [of the victims]. If this place is truly Khmer Rouge they would have knocked it down before they left,” Mr. Sokha said in the recording.
“You should know that if the Khmer Rouge killed people, would they keep it to show to everyone? If they knew they killed many people, why would they keep this place?”
It is a place I used to visit at least once or twice a week for months years ago either for interviews/films (as journalists like this place as a backdrop), or for the regular tours my staff used to give for provincial villagers prior to their joining our public fora on Justice and Reconciliation in their respective provinces, or for commemorative ceremonies, or with visiting friends/family or dignitaries/celebrities. At one point, the Tuol Sleng management restricted my filming/interviews there and shadowed me on other visits.
As it has been years since I last set foot onto this "history museum" premise and since I have tuned out completely the shenanigans of the KRT/ECCC* and anything related/associated with it (save the one comment I gave to VOA on Im Chaem's "conversion" to Christianity), I was interested in hearing their impression of the place.
I was very careful not to ask leading questions for fear of giving away my misgivings as I really wanted to know their genuine impressions without my clouding their thinking.
Each individually echoed the sentiment of the other; they came out of the place independently believing that Duch is the chief culprit, holding the main, if not sole, responsibility for the Khmer Rouge reign of terror.
This is a deep concern -- Duch as the sole scapegoat for the KR atrocities -- I have had for years now since the inception of the KRT/ECCC, particularly the start and preeminence given to Case 001** which involves Duch and Tuol Sleng/Choeung Ek.
This concern is framed by my larger concern for historical memory and its production from selective truths, half-truths, carefully spun and salted with bits of lies here and there, stamped with approval by the UN / international community (the governments involved in funding and staffing the KRT/ECCC, e.g. Japan, US, France, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, etc.).
However, we must keep in mind:
1. Tuol Sleng is only one among 200 Khmer Rouge prisons. Choeung Ek is only one among thousands, if not tens of thousands, "killing fields" strewn across Cambodia.
2. Duch is only "most responsible" for the crimes committed at Tuol Sleng / Choeung Ek where he was the director.
The ECCC limited its authority over 2 categories of Khmer Rouge individuals, what in law is known as "personal jurisdiction": (i) "senior leaders", e.g. Khieu Samphan, who had power over all of Cambodia during the KR regime by virtue of their position, or (ii) "those most responsible" who oversaw the deaths of many (a more arbitrary determination with emphasis on number and kind of deaths), even if their authority is contained to a location, like Tuol Sleng, and not cover the whole of Cambodia.
3. It is believed that Tuol Sleng / Choeung Ek claimed 16,000-20,000 lives for which Duch as the director of these sites is "most responsible".
Out of the 200 KR prisons, about 10 had a death tally of 30,000 each. Boeung Rai Prison where I was detained as a child and where my mom was killed was one of these 10 KR prisons. These prisons are not under investigation and part of the KRT/ECCC, even if I did get the KRT / ECCC to mention Boeung Rai in passing in one of its documents.
4. Tuol Sleng is famous and an easy tool for political propaganda because it (i) is located in the capital center, at a school, to boot!; (ii) has foreign victims with easy buy-in from the respective victims' governments; (iii) related, these victims were persons of renown, e.g. brother of my friend Rob Hamill who happens to a world class Olympian from New Zealand with an award-winning film made about his life; (iv) well-preserved evidences--mainly, documentary (written confessions, photographs, shackles) and human survivors (with compelling stories, e.g. Vann Nath).
5. Tuol Sleng as a "history museum" had a very insidious beginning as a political tool of propaganda***.
Immediately upon invasion and occupation of Cambodia, the Vietnamese military had all the bones and Tartarus relics of the defeated KR regime gathered and preserved, with a particularly focused attention on Tuol Sleng prison and its associated Choeuk Ek killing field.
The Western world governments, China, and ASEAN (Thailand and Singapore in particular; not yet include Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) were firmly against Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia (thus, the UN seat to KR), so Vietnam used Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek to try to sway international opinion to justify its invasion and subsequent occupation of Cambodia. Initially, the Vietnamese occupiers only allowed journalists to tour Tuol Sleng.
6. Related to point 5 above, the message (via written text, signs or listening tours) is laced with political propaganda. For example: As of my last visit to Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek, the number of deaths still being used is 3 million, when it is now widely accepted among scholars non-partisan on this point, that it is 1.7 million.
__________
* The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) is officially called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
** I continue to chuckle (more accurately, snicker!) at the positive outlook, the confidence, the faith of the inventers of the KRT/ECCC, that envisioned the ECCC could, would try at least 100 cases, thus Case 001, Case 002; rather than numbering them Case 1, Case 2; or Case 01, Case 02.
Case 001: Duch "most responsible" for crimes committed at Tuol Sleng Prison and Choeung Ek Killing Fields;
Case 002: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith -- who were "senior leaders" with authority over all of Cambodia during the KR regime.
As much as I tried to jumpstart Cases 003 and 004 for them to go to trial, politics dictate NO!
***A non-Cambodian friend had suggested to me that Kem Sokha is a racist for his statements about Tuol Sleng or S-21 (Vietnamese conspiracy) and the Koh Pich Stampede (orchestrated by Vietnam). I don't think so. I think he is stunningly ignorant which makes him dangerous. When one is ignorant, one uses crude language and crude instruments, either to the harm of the other party (Vietnamese) or to the harm of the nation (Cambodian sovereignty), in excessive use of force or in excessive retreat/concession.
Excerpts from The Cambodia Daily, 27 May 2013:
In the recording, Mr. Sokha appears to accuse Vietnam of setting up the former school building to look like a Khmer Rouge prison and torture center.
“The Vietnamese created this place with pictures [of the victims]. If this place is truly Khmer Rouge they would have knocked it down before they left,” Mr. Sokha said in the recording.
“You should know that if the Khmer Rouge killed people, would they keep it to show to everyone? If they knew they killed many people, why would they keep this place?”
Kem Sokha actively said terrible things to make CNRP to look bad and helped to make CPP as much more reasonable.
ReplyDeletehttp://kimedia.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-bridge-too-far-for-sokha.html
Can Miss Theary Seng, the lawyer explain some law to the Khmer folks on Khmercircle BlogSpot?
ReplyDeleteManekseka Sangkum:
Well, the Vietnamese regime doesn't acknowledge the existence of ethnic groups in Vietnam either, including these hill-tribes referred to by the French as "Montagnards". In their books, they are all "Vietnamese"!.
In light of these reported claims [by Vietnamese media, mostly] about "stateless Vietnamese" living in Cambodia, it is actually the Montagnards and other indigenous minorities such as the ethnic Khmers of the Mekong Delta who are the de facto "stateless" peoples of Vietnam today.
-----------------------------------
You are incorrect, let me correct you:
the Vietnamese regime acknowledges the existence of ethnic groups in Vietnam these hill-tribes referred to by the French as "Montagnards". In their books, they are all "Vietnamese nationals". Vietnam also acknowledges 50 plus other ethnics as minorities, but they all are Vietnamese national.
Ethnic Khmers of the Mekong Delta who are NOT the de facto "stateless" peoples of Vietnam today. Their state is Vietnam and they are Vietnamese national. Point and case, Truong Thi May, the miss Universe contestant, was a Khmer ethnic who happens to be a Vietnamese national and represented Vietnam.
Montagnards are not stateless. Their country is Vietnam. Their citizenships are in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese ethnic in Cambodia is stateless because they don't have citizenships neither Vietnam nor Cambodia.
http://khmercircle.blogspot.com/2018/03/hun-sen-says-montagnards-dont-exist-in.html#more
-------------------------------
Cambodia is prone to have Pol Pot and genocidal behavior because of stupid Khmers.
@8:58 AM
DeleteKeep on sobbing and sniffing her fart, miserable yuon troll. LOL
It is sad that Cambodia has very few educated and reasonable people like Ms. Theary Seng. Most Khmers are actually very stupid, including the older generations who were still in shellshock from the Khmer Rouges, and the younger generations who were kinda lost and dumbfound.
DeleteLast year 2017, International Math Olympiad, Vietnam ranked 3rd in the world while Cambodia ranked 105th out of 111 countries/territories.
https://www.imo-official.org/results.aspx
Vietnam = VNM, Cambodia = KHM (Khmer).
USA ranked 4th, one spot behind Vietnam. The American team were mostly Chinese American with no White students. If Cambodia had Vietnamese Cambodian in their team, I am sure their ranking would improve dramatically.
I used to tutor Khmer students in college and oh my God... they were the most stupid students I have ever met.
I spent a stupendous amount of effort to get through these Khmers' learning challenges. And they revered me as "oh my God" since I was the only one who could get through them.
@8:20 AM
DeleteYou must be a very stupid mo*******ker to fall in love with this Khmer blog, right ah idiot yuon troll. LOL