Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian children are in need of good shoes.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
50-year-old Nhem En, a man who headed a small group of photographers charged with visually cataloguing the men, women and children arriving without justice or cause at Tuol Sleng S 21 Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia over 30 years ago has caught the entrepreneurial spirit in Cambodia.
Although it's common knowledge that he reportedly seeks $500 USD per interview from visiting journalists, he knows how to strike up marketing programs when the iron is hot.
Expected to testify during the the ECCC tribunal in Phnom Penh, the former Khmer Rouge member is not facing charges.
Here is the report that was filed by AFP awhile back.
START
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Cambodian photographer's attempt to sell the sandals of late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has yielded only one bid -- 790,000 fake dollars offered in protest at the sale, a report said.
Nhem En, who photographed inmates at the regime's main torture center and also snapped pictures at official regime ceremonies, announced last month he was selling the footwear along with two cameras. The shoes belonging to Pol Pot, who died in 1998, were made of car tires, while the two cameras were manufactured in Germany and Japan.
But "bidder" Pok Leak Reasey told English-language Phnom Penh Post newspaper that he was offering 790,000 fake dollar bills traditionally used to make offerings to spirits of the dead. "And the reason why I have offered the money in ghost notes is because I want to say that all material remaining from the regime is worth nothing," he said, according to the paper.
Ghost money is used during funeral rites in many parts of Asia. Up to two million people died of starvation, execution, overwork or torture as the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, dismantled society in a bid to forge a communist utopia.
The former chief of Tuol Sleng prison, Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- is currently on trial for crimes committed during the regime. Cambodia's UN-backed court also plans to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Copyright © 2009 AFP.
END
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
50-year-old Nhem En, a man who headed a small group of photographers charged with visually cataloguing the men, women and children arriving without justice or cause at Tuol Sleng S 21 Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia over 30 years ago has caught the entrepreneurial spirit in Cambodia.
Although it's common knowledge that he reportedly seeks $500 USD per interview from visiting journalists, he knows how to strike up marketing programs when the iron is hot.
Expected to testify during the the ECCC tribunal in Phnom Penh, the former Khmer Rouge member is not facing charges.
Here is the report that was filed by AFP awhile back.
START
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Cambodian photographer's attempt to sell the sandals of late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has yielded only one bid -- 790,000 fake dollars offered in protest at the sale, a report said.
Nhem En, who photographed inmates at the regime's main torture center and also snapped pictures at official regime ceremonies, announced last month he was selling the footwear along with two cameras. The shoes belonging to Pol Pot, who died in 1998, were made of car tires, while the two cameras were manufactured in Germany and Japan.
But "bidder" Pok Leak Reasey told English-language Phnom Penh Post newspaper that he was offering 790,000 fake dollar bills traditionally used to make offerings to spirits of the dead. "And the reason why I have offered the money in ghost notes is because I want to say that all material remaining from the regime is worth nothing," he said, according to the paper.
Ghost money is used during funeral rites in many parts of Asia. Up to two million people died of starvation, execution, overwork or torture as the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, dismantled society in a bid to forge a communist utopia.
The former chief of Tuol Sleng prison, Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- is currently on trial for crimes committed during the regime. Cambodia's UN-backed court also plans to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Copyright © 2009 AFP.
END
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