People's Cry and their
Struggle
Wong Yock Leng
(General Secretary of
Background
Peace has always been an
elusive word for the Cambodians. Since the decline of the Angkor Empire (modern
Cambodia's predecessor) in the 19th Century, Cambodia was always being pushed
into countless rounds of political chess game, often playing the role of a mere
pawn in relation to its stronger neighbours. First, it was
In the 1960s, when the escalation between America and Vietnam rose to an all-time high, America
sought to install a regime in Cambodia which favoured US policies. It then
backed General Lon Nol to stage a coup d'etat, and took over the reins from
Prince Norodom Sihanouk whose neutrality policy was worrying. During this time,
In 1975,
The Road to Recovery
The road to recovery for
the Cambodians is perhaps a tough one. As our resource person for the first
input for
However, though steps
taken by the government is slow, there is still a gradual sense of making life
a better one. Development and reconstruction of roads from cities to provinces
are underway, irrigation systems are being built, policies to reduce
deforestation, and more private schools for a decent education are encouraged.
Religion and freedom of expression is allowed although they should not be seen
and felt as a malicious threat to the government. Various government plans are
launched to increase salaries of government officials to reduce corruption, and
also to campaign against
drug-trade, arms possession,
kidnapping and robberies.
Churches and Christianity in
Our second input was a
presentation of Cambodia's churches and Christianity by Yuak Kuntheasambo, a
pastor from Khmer Presbyterian Fellowship.
Christianity enjoyed a
relatively breezy period since mid of this century but soon things started to
go awry when Pol Pot came into power in 1975. As it was perceived as a foreign
evil, Christianity was disallowed. People were moved to the rural to cultivate
lands, and education provided by the missionaries was discontinued as it was
seen as an unnecessary tool in the rural. During this time, many educated
Khmers were killed for they were thought to be foreign sympathetics. In 1979
when the Vietnamese gained power, Christianity was still seen in an unfavourable
light and was not given much room to recover. But many secret churches were set
up for those who stayed in this faith steadfastly. In 1990, the government
became more relaxed and in the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, rights to religion
was granted and Christianity was then able to gain some grounds. Many foreign
missionaries came once again and in 1995, the Kampuchea Christian Council was
established (KCC). To date, the
However, there are some
problems that many Cambodian Christians face. Firstly, the foreign missionaries
who came brought along their wealth which are used to build big churches,
attracting only the rich, creating a larger gap with the poor.
Moreover, these foreign
missionaries introduced into Cambodia different denominational groups, which
was not a common sight in the early days, and created disunity and disagreement
amongst churches as a result. The foreigners also have a poor knowledge and
respect of Cambodian culture and tradition and often try to inject their
foreign ideas into the lives of the Cambodian Christians.
Exposure
We had two full days of
exposure, and on the first day, we went to the
As we walked into the
compound of the former Toul Sleng Prison where the
The tortured victims
were then led to the "Killing Fields" in Cheoung Ek to be killed.
Words could not describe our sadness when we saw the mass graves there. Out of
the 129 mass graves, only 86 were identified and dug out for proper burial, the
rest was perhaps un-identifiable and inaccessible. We had our morning devotion
under one Bodhi Tree and offered our prayers to the people who had died with a
suffering spirit.
The third place we visited
was the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam). It was established in 1995
as a field office for the Cambodian Genocide Programme (CGP) of
So far, DC-Cam has
already covered 140 out of 170 provinces to recover the facts and records. And
most villagers were supportive to its work, they were ready to talk about their
experiences which they witnessed or which they had gone through themselves.
Many felt relieved from the years of painful silence and wanted justice to be
meted out. Of course such detailed documentation is dangerous work for DC-Cam
because they might inadvertently meet some people who were accomplices of the
regime then. But, to ensure just documentation, DC-Cam is ready to take
precautions and carry on fight for justice.
The second day of
exposure brought us to the Health Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Soldiers
which provides a living community for former soldiers who became disabled
during the civil war. This centre houses 164 families and has a total of 500
people, and is solely financed by the government, providing food and basic
necessities.
As we walked around the
community, we noticed that most of the people seemed to be walking listlessly
and have nothing much to do. There is a serious lack of vocational training
facilities for adults as well as children. The only vocational skill provided
for adults is English and Khmer languages, and children have to attend school
outside the community as there is no schooling facilities there.
We moved on to the
second place which was a rural area occupied by former war refugees. These
people had fled to neighbouring
Many of us were saddened
by the places we had visited so far as the glimpse of hope seems beyond reach,
and we pondered on the last place of exposure if it could hit us with another
depression. However the Center of the Dove in Ang Snoul District greeted us
with a pleasant sense of peace and serenity. This center is established by the
Jesuits Service (JS) and has two main programmes namely the Centre for the Disabled
and the Rural Development Centre for people who are either disabled by the war
or who live in the poverty line respectively.
In the Centre for the
Disabled, vocational skill trainings such as electricity, welding, carpentry,
sculpture, mechanic, weaving and sewing. It also offers training in agriculture
with emphasis on animal health and permaculture, principles of sound farm
management and small businesses. The teachers are Khmer and many of them are
disabled themselves. At present, there are 100 disabled men and women enrolled
in this school. The fees for these lessons are fully subsidised by JS and it
has a wonderful Outreach Programme whose officers go to villages and scout for
people who are disabled and might be keen to learn some practical skills to
enhance their sense of dignity while providing themselves with a permanent or
part-time income generating possibility.
The Rural Development
Centre set up programmes that could meet the real needs of villagers. Thus,
instead of setting up monetary banks which may be useless in rural areas, the
Center sets up Rice and Animal Banks; Water Programme; Animal Raising, Rural
Health Programmes; Women in Village Development; Farmer's Solidarity Groups and
Adult Literacy Programme. All these programmes help villagers to manage their
own farms in a better and effective way while not overly dependent on the
government's limited resources.
We were greatly
heartened by the programmes and enthusiasm of these two centers and the smiles
on the villagers' face gave us much warmth. Although financing the centres is an
uphill task, JS' emphasis on using love as a motivating force to
reconciliation, peace and justice for people who have been hurt in the war, is
perhaps the strongest will to walk this journey despite whatever difficulties.
To understand a country,
it will not be a full one if there is no informal exposure to the night spots.
During some of the nights, many of us went to the sex-trade areas, bars and
discotheques. The experience in those places could perhaps cause the wrath of
many feminists. Although legally speaking, sex trades are not permissible,
still they are very much alive and happen in bars, massage parlours and
discotheques. In abundance and cheap rates (USD 4 for a sex-worker along the
red-light district, ~USD 25 for a call-service or in higher-end bars and pubs),
we dare not think of the worst situation for the women in terms of physical,
mental and emotional health.
Sharing on Exposure
The fourth day of the
Workshop brought us back to a more subdued mood as we shared our thoughts and feelings
on the past few days' experiences. Unanimously, most of us were not aware of
what
The Landmine Issue
The Landmine issue is
definitely one of the more eminent problems of
During the wars,
Mine Education involves
teaching the villagers the dangers of landmines and ways to avoid tramping on
them accidentally. However, as villagers are often eager to start
re-cultivating the lands, they would overlook the dangers and take the risks.
Moreover, some rural areas are inaccessible by roads and transport, this
complicates information to be reached. Thus far, CMAC has sent officials to as
many villages as possible, educating the villagers as much as possible.
With the current number
of mines and the speed of clearance, it needs 300 years for total clearance,
but as Mr. Leng hoped, landmines' life expectancy is about 75 years, if
Cambodia could wait this long, the road to recovery is perhaps easier.
Socio-Political-Economic Issues of
We had the privilege of
Mr. Klye Gillespie from the UN High Commission for Human Rights in
According to Mr.
Gillespie, the most prevalent Human Rights problems are:
1)
Impunity: child prostitution, kidnapping, robberies, murders,
unlawful land confiscation, corruption among police and judiciary system, are
some of the threats to security, peace and justice. Money rules in
2)
Limited Press Freedom: the freedom of expression by unhappy
individuals or communities is curbed.
3)
Rampant Political Arrests: fighting between the two main
political parties commonly see many intimidation and harassment toward the
people and other political parties.
4)
Trafficking: of women, men, children, into the sex-trade
industry. Usually, such acts involved the high officials or the wealthy, thus
many cases are unresolved.
5)
Labour Rights Violation: usually involved the foreign
companies in
Some Economic Rights problems are:
1) Health Care: inadequately provided and
expensive. There are few hospitals and many dysfunctioning problems like
insufficient medicine, electricity in the wards. Only the wealthy can afford
better health care, and even so, usually they would get treatment abroad. With
the national budget allocating only 15-20% to health care, education and
housing, and 60% to the police and military, very little could be expected for
such needs.
2) Education: in 1994-5, the two opposing
political parties, out of their own egos, compete to build schools. However,
the irony was there was no teachers even though there were schools! Presently,
less than 5% of the population has
secondary education, and 30% are illiterate. More women have less
education than men (as usual). Foreign NGOs helped by providing more private
schools but the government is not doing much. What most Cambodians need now is
vocational training as foreign factories need skill labour, but, it is
inadequately done in this aspect.
3) Economic: there is a high percentage of
malnutritioned people especially children and refugees who have returned after
the wars. But there are insufficient lands to grow food because of land-mines
and little development plans.
Dialogue -with
The Cambodian SCM was
just established 3 months ago, and at present it has about 10 members. Our
exchange with them shed some realisations on the difficulty of school life and
social awareness in
When we asked the youths
on their assessment to
Action Plan
The 3 guiding principles
and the consequent recommendations are:
1)
Recommendations to SCM-Cambodia
a)
As SCM-Cambodia is a relatively new movement, it needs a
lot of consolidation to keep it alive with the existing students. Thus, they
have to identify their focus and vision. Following that, regular small group
discussions on social issues are important. A small scale internal exposure
programme for the Cambodian students is a good method to let them learn and
feel for its society.
b)
While students in
c)
SCM-Cambodia could apply for internship or volunteer with the
NGOs in the country to get a better knowledge on organising work.
2)
What can we do in our respective movements?
a)
Exchange and Internship programmes between movements could be
a possibility so that SCM-Cambodia could use the experience to reflect on their
own society. However, both the movement and intern should have the committment
to learn and grow together from each other's experience.
b)
Movements could exchange information using the internet and
could render assistance in setting up web pages for this method of
communication.
3)
Recommendations to sub-regional, regional and
international level such as WSCF-AP and WSCF-IRO.
a)
Students with potential leadership could be sent to WSCF-AP as
an understudy to the work of the regional office. While WSCF-AP could also send
1-2 persons to train the staff of SCM-Cambodia.
b)
Financial support to be given by WSCF or WSCF-AP when it is
appropriate and needed.
Goodbye Cambodia
It was raining as we bade
goodbye to our Cambodian friends. As the van approached