Contrary to Alex Hinton's assertion in his book" why Did they Kill?" that the Khmer Rouge genocide was due to a purely Cambodian character, this article article and the following Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's resolution clearly showed that the Khmer Rouge's crime against Humanity could not have been committed without the devious and misrepresentation of humanism in the ideology of Communism.                 

• An Antidote to Moral Blindness

http://www.nysun.com/article/34399

             June 14, 2006 Edition - Section:  Arts and Letters

                  In Cuba, a completely sane 16-year-old student named Jose Alvarado Delgado is committed to a mental hospital, given electroshock therapy, and force-fed psychotropic drugs. In the Soviet Union, Evgenia Ginzburg is interrogated by the secret police for seven days straight, without sleep or food. In Vietnam, Doan Van Toai sees a fellow prisoner commit suicide by biting off his own tongue and choking on it. In Cambodia, Haing Ngor witnesses a Khmer Rouge soldier suffocate a pregnant woman with a plastic bag, then rip out the fetus with a bayonet.

                  As I read these accounts of victims of communism collected in "From the Gulag to the Killing Fields" (ISI Books, 760 pages, $35) - an anthology of memoirs from around the world and across the century, including famous writers and anonymous prisoners, ardent revolutionaries and innocent bystanders - I kept thinking of a phrase from Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt's influential 2000 book, "Empire": "the irrepressible lightness and
joy of being communist." Substitute the word "fascist" in that sentence, and you would have a sentiment that every civilized person would instantly condemn as not just evil, but insane. Yet "Empire," with its eleventh hour attempt to rehabilitate communism as a source of political hope, was widely hailed in the academy as a great achievement. Decades after Stalin's purges, Mao's Cultural Revolution, and Pol Pot's genocide, it is still possible for educated people to associate communism with lightness and joy, and to be praised for doing so.

                  The momentary celebrity of Messrs. Negri and Hardt is a trivial matter. But the moral blindness of which that celebrity is a minor symptom is anything but trivial. It is, in fact, the reason Paul Hollander,
the eminent scholar of Soviet communism, spent the last decade assembling this large, frightening, and important book. In his brilliant introduction, "The Distinctive Features of Repression in Communist States" - the best brief summary of the nature and crimes of communism that I have read - Mr. Hollander notes:

                  While there is a vast literature on the Holocaust ... and while it has justifiably stimulated a huge and continued outpouring of research, moral outrage, and soul searching, the mass murders and other atrocities committed in the Soviet Union under (and after) Stalin have inspired little corresponding concern and interest.

                  Stalin, however, is at least recognized as a figure of almost unparalleled evil and cruelty; outside the lunatic fringe, he has as few admirers as Hitler. More perplexing is the continued willingness of Western intellectuals to make cult heroes of other communist despots. It is still not uncommon to find admirers of Lenin, seen as the pristine embodiment of communist virtue, or of Fidel Castro, seen as the daring patriarch of Third World liberation. Other communist regimes are simply missing from our moral radar. For all that has been written about the Vietnam War, most Americans know next to nothing about what happened in South Vietnam after the communist victory. The famine that struck Ethiopia in the 1980s is remembered here as a humanitarian crisis, not as the criminal result of Mengistu's collectivization policies. Finally, and most ominously, there is the People's Republic of China - usually portrayed in the news media these days as an emerging capitalist dynamo, but still governed by the Communist Party that gave its people famine and forced labor, the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square.

                  In short, while it is common to speak of the defeat of communism in the Cold War, that defeat has not been total, especially in the way communism is remembered and understood. It is still possible for Western intellectuals to deny the crucial lesson of the 20th century, that utopian politics are shortest route to dystopia. And this denial is all too easy to understand. After all, if the rhetoric and the declared intentions of communism are so good - universal liberation, perfect equality, an end to want - how can the reality be so bad?

                  That is the question raised, again and again, in "From the Gulag to the Killing Fields." It is one of the common themes running through these eyewitness accounts of every communist regime in the 20th century, from Russia to Cuba, China to Nicaragua, Bulgaria to North Korea. Naturally, the details of what each author experienced - the methods of torture, the inflections of propaganda - vary according to time, place, and cultural background. Witnesses from Vietnam are especially shocked by the communist cadres' rudeness to their elders; in Ethiopia, Mengistu's refusal to allow his victims to be buried is seen as the worst possible outrage.

                  But the disbelief remains constant. Everywhere, the victim of communism initially finds it impossible to believe that a revolution in the name of the people could oppress and destroy the people. How could it be that, in the words of the Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov, "no other political religion ... has ... a stronger impact on the baser human instincts and passions ... [and] has given such encouragement to human vice generally, as the Communist ideology"?

                  The shock is especially great for true believers, who so often fall victim to their own revolution. Evgenia Ginzburg, an old Bolshevik and wife of a high-ranking Soviet official, was shocked that an NKVD interrogator would manipulate her answers: "Why don't we have a stenographer to put them down?" she asks, only to be met with "peals of laughter." Anna Larina was shocked at the fantastic accusations brought by Stalin against her husband, the Soviet leader Nikolai Bukharin: "The sheer mass of crimes ... could not possibly have been committed by one criminal in his entire lifetime." Inevitably, given the audacity of the regime's persecution, the prisoner begins to wonder if he is guilty in some way he never suspected. "Was I a criminal?" Harry Wu wonders after being sent to a forced labor camp. "Perhaps my ideas had brought harm to the majority of the Chinese people."

                  The psychological and material techniques of communist oppression are not, of course, a secret. They have been plain, for those willing to see, at least since Stalin's show trials of the 1930s. But for scope, comprehensiveness, and direct emotional power, no document of those techniques surpasses "From the Gulag to the Killing Fields." Any reader who begins reading the book with some lingering sympathy for communism will close it with the words of Teeda Butt Mam, a victim of the Khmer Rouge, echoing in his ears: "Silently, I berated myself, tortured myself, for being so gullible. Why had I allowed myself to believe the lies? Would I never learn?"

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(CPP and Funcinpec Alliance officially sealed)

By Vong Sokheng

The two congresses held last month by the Kingdom's governing political parties ended with strategies for upcoming elections and resolutions to forge even closer coalition ties at all levels government.

According to their respective agendas, the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Funcinpec aimed at building solidarity and cooperation in the government, legislature and other state institutions in the spirit of national reconciliation.

"We highly value the fruitful cooperation between the CPP and Funcinpec, our inseparable partner," CPP President Chea Sim wrote on the party's Web site on November 30.

Hun Sen, Prime Minister and vice president of the CPP, avoided reporters after the party's November 23 extraordinary congress. However, on the CPP's Web site he wrote that the continued cooperation between CPP and Funcinpec is considered to be Cambodia's prime opportunity to preserve peace and stability and would heal the scars left behind by the decades-long war.


"Concession and stability are invaluable, but it is not easy to obtain and safeguard them. Peace is key to ensuring co-existence and cooperation to prevent internal disintegration and hostility," said Hun Sen.

CPP forces defeated Funcinpec troops and deposed then-first Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh in 1997. This has been cited as a key political event that has shaped past elections.

The CPP and Funcinpec broke down the political deadlock a year after the 2003 national elections. This current era of political cooperation has been a major test for politicians and the major political parties in Cambodia.

"I have said time and again that the two parties should consider their partner's firmness being their most important interest, while making all out efforts in the spirit of faithful partner on the basis of legal principle and democracy aimed at strengthening and promoting one another," said Hun Sen.

Hun Sen and Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh will be the only prime ministerial candidates in the 2008 elections. This was established at the conclusion of the respective congresses as the two parties promised to uphold their political guidelines.

"Just now Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh, President of Funcinpec, on its behalf, declares the Funcinpec's support to me-Hun Sen-for the post of Prime Minister in case the Cambodian People's Party wins. I declare the CPP's support for Samdech Krom Preah for the post of Prime Minister in case Funcinpec wins the election," Hun Sen said in his speech on November 14 to the Funcinpec congress at the Olympic Stadium.

He said that over the last decade Funcinpec and CPP have endured many challenges and gained much political experience together.

"Our rich experiences indicate clearly the indispensability in the leading role of the two parties in the political process of Cambodian society," Hun Sen told about 4,000 members of Funcinpec. "Whenever our two parties are strong and reconciling in their leadership of the state and national construction, the country and its people will certainly be enjoying peace, stability, social order and harmonized progress."

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the national road between Siem Reap and Poipet on November 19, Hun Sen said the two parties have a common objective and that either party's success would be the success of the coalition.

"We-CPP and FUNCINPEC-would furthermore collaborate from bottom to top in getting things done," said Hun Sen.

High level CPP officials such as Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, CPP secretary-general Say Chhum and other CPP parliamentarians Ek Sam Ol, Pen Panha, and Cheam Yeap, attended the Funcinpec congress. No Funcinpec officials, however, were invited to the CPP congress.

The CPP appointed 121 new members to the CPP's powerful Central Committee, adding to the existing 153 members, the party's central committee now having a total 268 members.

One political analyst said, on condition of anonymity, that a majority of the new CPP members were loyal to Hun Sen and that this will ensure that there are no other party members to challenge the prime minister's candidacy.

The analyst added that there has long been a rumor that a faction led by Chea Sim and Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng would mount a challenge inside the CPP that would lead to a division in the party.

"During one period between sessions a development arose which was complicated but we managed to normalize the situation," said Chea Sim, who attributed the resolution to experiences, patience and responsibility stemming from the party's strong internal unity and solidarity.

Ranariddh told party supporters at Olympic Stadium that to succeed in a long term political alliance with the CPP, the parties must not make defamatory statements against each other during the election campaign.

"The two main parties will make a joint political program for the forthcoming election campaign," Ranariddh said.

However, at the party celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) on November 29, the party leader Sam Rainsy spoke to his several thousand participants by long distance telephone from Paris. The self-exiled leader said that he will return to Cambodia in the near future to lead the party and promised to change the party's name when Cambodia has a real democracy and the fair judicial system.

He told his supporters that the current party name will return to its original Khmer Nation Party (KNP).

"I admire all the colleagues who do not surrender [to CPP and Funcinpec] and still struggle for the benefit of the nation. I am proud to have brilliant supporters. Our party will grow bigger every day even if there is intimidation," said Rainsy. "There is no one who can break our party."

Rainsy has been in France for months. He fled Cambodia when his parliamentary immunity was withdrawn earlier in the year.

On November 22, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a third summons for Sam Rainsy to testify in his ongoing defamation lawsuit by Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh.

Rainsy accused Ranariddh of being involved in bribe-taking during the formation of the coalition government after the political deadlock following the 2003 elections.

Kong Kom, acting president of the SRP, said that the alliance between CPP and Funcinpec will die when the parties are not be able to reform the judicial system, administer good governance or reduce poverty because of the corruption within their ruling parties.

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 14/24, December 2 - 15, 2005
© Michael Hayes, 2005. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief
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(The Phnom Penh Post; November, 2005)

Members of parliament from the two main political parties voted on November 11 to approve a supplemental border treaty with Vietnam after discussion on the issue that spanned seven hours and which saw SRP members walk out of the Assembly in protest before the final vote.

The remaining 97 parliamentarians from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Funcinpec voted unanimously to approve the supplemental treaty by a raised-hand vote.

King Norodom Sihamoni is expected to sign the treaty, although he is being lobbied from several quarters not to do so. Sources say that both Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An spent around four hours at the Palace on November 6 briefing the King on the details of the treaty.

Previously, in a speech delivered on October 17, Hun Sen had warned that the monarchy might be abolished if it was "difficult to sign" the treaty.

The treaty will become effective when the ratified documents are officially exchanged between the two parties at a ceremony in Phnom Penh at an as yet undisclosed date.

Yim Sovann, an opposition parliamentarian, said the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) would appeal to King Sihamoni not to sign the controversial supplemental border treaty because of doubts over its Constitutional validity.

"The supplemental border treaty violates the Constitution and many technical issues need to be clarified," Sovann said.

Hun Sen promised the National Assembly that the government was committed to maintaining Cambodia's existing territorial integrity and said he was working to build an exact and peaceful border between Cambodia and Vietnam.

"On behalf of the government, I would like to promise to the National Assembly that we would like to work hard from the bottom of our heart and do everything in order to carry out all the treaties to be effective," Hun Sen said.

He said the government will continue its work on border demarcation, including the installation of border markers, and continue to negotiate with Vietnam over the outstanding issues on both land and sea borders.

"I hope that history will not condemn me as a traitor while I have been working hard to resolve the border issues," Hun Sen said.

Sok An said the supplemental border treaty is designed to build an exact border line that will be verifiable both on the ground and from maps.

"Our target is to build a clear border [with Vietnam] and a treaty that would not result in ceding Cambodian territory," he said.

He explained to the National Assembly that negotiations on the border issue with Vietnam have been based on 26 separate maps printed in 1964, which he said were recognized by more than 30 countries.

He said the border negotiations have been based on maps with a scale of 1:100,000 and 1:50,000, but Sovann said this was contrary to Article 2 of the Cambodian Constitution.

According to Sovann, Article 2 of the Constitution says the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia is inviolable, with the border defined using 1:100,000 scale maps made between the years 1933 and1953 and internationally recognized between the years 1963 and1969.

However, Sok An said that Cambodia and Vietnam had not used maps during the negotiations that would cause Cambodia to lose territory, and that the maps used to negotiate the treaty signed in 1983 between the then People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) and Vietnam were the same as those made in 1964.

"I think that there is nothing strange about verifying and negotiating over the border issues; we need to define the precise border with Vietnam, and then the border issue can no longer be used for political purposes," said Sok An.

Funcinpec had previously called the PRK-era treaties signed with Vietnam "illegal." With its opposition to the treaties dropped, Funcinpec MPs were now fully on board with the ruling CPP during the Assembly vote.

Hun Sen said in his speech to the National Assembly that Cambodia's land border with Vietnam ran for 383.5 kilometers: 191 of which was in Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri and Kratie; 173 kilometers in Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kandal and Takeo; and an additional 19.50 kilometers on river areas in Prey Veng and Kandal.

The supplemental agreement resolves six out of seven disputed border areas with Vietnam. One outstanding area of contention is a 50-square-kilometer piece of territory in Dak Dam commune, Orang district, Mondulkiri province. The treaty stipulates that both countries will continue to discuss the disputed area in an effort to find a solution to the disagreement.

In a press release issued on November 11, opposition lawmakers mourned the supplemental border treaty, saying that "Cambodia lost its sovereignty to Vietnam."

Radio journalist Mam Sonando and teachers' union leader Rong Chhun are being held in prison, and arrest warrants have been issued for others who allegedly accused Hun Sen of ceding land to Vietnam via the border treaty.

"We have taken action against those who tried to use the border issue for political purposes in order to create chaos and topple the government, and make the country unstable," Sok An said.

Oct 2005 22:20:23 GMTSource: Human Rights Watch

Reuter-- (New York, October 18, 2005)-The government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen should release recently arrested critics of the government, withdraw all arrest warrants against activists, and end the climate of fear that he has created in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today. In response to criticism over a new border pact with Vietnam, Hun Sen has launched a sharp and sudden crackdown on dissent. Authorities have arrested the president of an independent teachers association and the director of Cambodia's only independent national radio station, and they have ordered the arrests of other civil society leaders.

Many of Cambodia's leading human rights advocates, trade union activists, and opposition party members have now fled the country or gone into hiding.

"This is the most severe assault on dissent in Cambodia since the aftermath of Hun Sen's coup in 1997," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"International donors and embassies must make it clear to Hun Sen that they will not tolerate the reversal of the important strides made in basic human rights during the last decade."

The crackdown started with Hun Sen's visit on October 10-12 to Vietnam, where he signed a controversial border treaty. On October 10, dozens of armed police officers surrounded the Phnom Penh home of Mom Sonando, director of Beehive Radio FM 105. He was arrested the next morning on charges of defamation after having aired an interview with a Cambodian activist in France who is highly critical of the border treaty.

Upon return to Cambodia, Hun Sen announced that he would prosecute anyone who alleged that he, or the Cambodian government, had "sold land" to Vietnam. Such statements are an "act of treason," he said.

In a meeting with international investors on October 14, Hun Sen announced that legal action was being taken against four members of the Cambodia Watchdog Council, a nongovernmental organization that had issued a statement on October 11 criticizing the border agreement.

On October 15, police arrested Cambodia Watchdog Council member Rong Chhun, who is also president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, as he was attempting to cross the border to Thailand to seek asylum. No arrest warrant was produced, but he was charged with defamation and incitement under articles 60 and 63 of the Cambodian penal code, which carry prison terms of five years for incitement and one year for defamation and a fine up to $2,500. Charges have also been brought against other members of the Cambodia Watchdog Council, including Chea Mony, President of the Free Trade Union Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia; Ea Channa, representative of the Student's Movement for Democracy; and Men Nath, president of the Civil Servants Association.

"Legal action should not be used as a tool of repression to silence the political opposition and government critics in Cambodia," said Adams. "Hun Sen needs to accept that in a democracy leaders will be criticized when they make controversial decisions."

In a speech broadcast on Cambodian television on October 17, Hun Sen threatened to abolish the monarchy and sack military chief Ke Kim Yan and other officials if they did not abide by his orders. He warned international organizations and foreign governments not to interfere. He called on the Thai government to extradite Cambodians suspected of fleeing to Bangkok over the weekend to seek asylum. (See appendix below).

The Cambodian government is now pressuring the Thai government to return individuals who have fled to Thailand for sanctuary. Returning persons to a place where they face persecution would violate the strict international legal prohibition against non-refoulement.

"The Thai government should not even discuss the return of individuals who are facing persecution for the peaceful expression of their political beliefs," said Adams. "To do so would make Thailand complicit in this assault on free expression."

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