Those in the world who don't know about justice being served to the people responsible for atrocities that took place in Cambodia over 30 years ago may perhaps want to join the steady stream of visitors that arrives each day at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phom Penh, Cambodia. Designated as "S 21", Tuol Sleng served as a detention and interrogation facility during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge reign of terror that lasted for 1366 days between 1975 and 1979. The former school turned torture chamber was transformed into one of Cambodia's top tourist attractions several years ago and today buses packed with foreigners or Khmer schoolchildren have replaced the trucks jammed with blindfolded prisoners that began arriving after FANK (the Forces Armées Nationales Khmères) troops finally surrendered to Pol Pot's army.
Its former kingpin, Kaing Geuk Eav, commonly referred to as Duch, finally went on trial this week over 30 years after the Khmer Rouge Army was quickly toppled Vietnamese forces in 1979. Although at least 12,380 were executed at Tuol Sleng, it was only one of nearly 200 such facilities that existed in Cambodia at the time. One-hundred seventy-seven S-21 prisoners were released.
"This is the story of every Cambodian family, not just my own" remarked survivor Leung Ung, an American resident, as she sat on a bench at the Killing Fields just outside Phnom Penh on a clear tropical winter day. Her book, First They Killed My Father, documents her family's hardship during the Pol Pot years. When her candor is taken to task, it's the present Cambodian citizenry that must decide who is punished. Cambodia today boasts one of the youngest populations of any country in the world. Seventy percent of the populace is under 30 years of age, meaning they are too young to have vivid memories of this stain on human history.
Rummaging through the closet of history can be fraught with complexity in any country. After roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus perished at the hands of genocidal maniacs nearly twenty years ago in Rwanda, it was nine years before the wheels of justice began turning. In Cambodia, it has been over thirty. Producing the spark of a collective will in Khmer society that will ignite bright flames of respect due those held in dark rooms at Tuol Sleng has been difficult.
Article 51 of the Kingdom of Cambodia's constitution states, "Cambodian people are masters of their own country. All powers belong to the people. The people exercise their power through the National Assembly, the Senate, the Royal Government, and the Courts".
Transparency International placed Cambodia in 162nd place out of the 179 countries listed in their 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, (CPI) with Iraq, Burma (Myanmar) and Somalia bringing up the rear. After courting former Khmer Rouge members during a coalition building process in the early 1990's, Cambodia's President Hun Sen, 57, launched a brief "coup" in July 1997 and assumed unquestioned power. He's faced no realistic opposition since and hasn't seemed anxious for the trial to start. Its pretrial proceedings have also been plagued with alleged corruption. Today, Cambodia is essentially a one party state since Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, (CPP) enjoys huge majorities in both the National Assembly and Senate.
Given that Hun Sen controls the elite Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Brigade 70 and an additional reserve force of 4,000, (known as the "Bodyguard Unit") he has in effect, a personal militia. A former Brigade 70 officer was quoted in a June, 2007 report prepared by Global Witness; "Brigade 70 has also been involved in protecting illegal activities and has committed serious crimes such as killing, smuggling, illegally arresting people and violating people’s personal property.” Also answerable to Hun Sen is the National Military Police (NMP), a paramilitary force of nearly 8,000.
Apart from this local support, Mr. Hun Sen also enjoys widespread global sustenance. His administration is the beneficiary of direct military aid from the USA, Australia, Vietnam and China, and one-half of the government's 1.2 billion USD 2008 budget came from international donors. Donors have pledged 900 million USD to Hun Sen for 2009. Who supports the men, women, and children that perished in Cambodia more than three decades ago is less clear, but if doubt and indifference to human rights and suffering exists, following the trial of Kaing Geuk Eav is highly recommended.
Its former kingpin, Kaing Geuk Eav, commonly referred to as Duch, finally went on trial this week over 30 years after the Khmer Rouge Army was quickly toppled Vietnamese forces in 1979. Although at least 12,380 were executed at Tuol Sleng, it was only one of nearly 200 such facilities that existed in Cambodia at the time. One-hundred seventy-seven S-21 prisoners were released.
"This is the story of every Cambodian family, not just my own" remarked survivor Leung Ung, an American resident, as she sat on a bench at the Killing Fields just outside Phnom Penh on a clear tropical winter day. Her book, First They Killed My Father, documents her family's hardship during the Pol Pot years. When her candor is taken to task, it's the present Cambodian citizenry that must decide who is punished. Cambodia today boasts one of the youngest populations of any country in the world. Seventy percent of the populace is under 30 years of age, meaning they are too young to have vivid memories of this stain on human history.
Rummaging through the closet of history can be fraught with complexity in any country. After roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus perished at the hands of genocidal maniacs nearly twenty years ago in Rwanda, it was nine years before the wheels of justice began turning. In Cambodia, it has been over thirty. Producing the spark of a collective will in Khmer society that will ignite bright flames of respect due those held in dark rooms at Tuol Sleng has been difficult.
Article 51 of the Kingdom of Cambodia's constitution states, "Cambodian people are masters of their own country. All powers belong to the people. The people exercise their power through the National Assembly, the Senate, the Royal Government, and the Courts".
Transparency International placed Cambodia in 162nd place out of the 179 countries listed in their 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, (CPI) with Iraq, Burma (Myanmar) and Somalia bringing up the rear. After courting former Khmer Rouge members during a coalition building process in the early 1990's, Cambodia's President Hun Sen, 57, launched a brief "coup" in July 1997 and assumed unquestioned power. He's faced no realistic opposition since and hasn't seemed anxious for the trial to start. Its pretrial proceedings have also been plagued with alleged corruption. Today, Cambodia is essentially a one party state since Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, (CPP) enjoys huge majorities in both the National Assembly and Senate.
Given that Hun Sen controls the elite Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Brigade 70 and an additional reserve force of 4,000, (known as the "Bodyguard Unit") he has in effect, a personal militia. A former Brigade 70 officer was quoted in a June, 2007 report prepared by Global Witness; "Brigade 70 has also been involved in protecting illegal activities and has committed serious crimes such as killing, smuggling, illegally arresting people and violating people’s personal property.” Also answerable to Hun Sen is the National Military Police (NMP), a paramilitary force of nearly 8,000.
Apart from this local support, Mr. Hun Sen also enjoys widespread global sustenance. His administration is the beneficiary of direct military aid from the USA, Australia, Vietnam and China, and one-half of the government's 1.2 billion USD 2008 budget came from international donors. Donors have pledged 900 million USD to Hun Sen for 2009. Who supports the men, women, and children that perished in Cambodia more than three decades ago is less clear, but if doubt and indifference to human rights and suffering exists, following the trial of Kaing Geuk Eav is highly recommended.
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