King-Father is against the Special Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Translated from French by M. Preuk

Several tens of million of US Dollars [will be used] to judge a handful of dying and unrepentant Khmer Rouge Leaders, instead of spending this huge sum to pull the Ordinary Khmer People, victims of the Khmer Rouge, from the extreme poverty and social injustices

By N. Sihanouk

Phnom Penh, July 6, 2006

The Khmer Rouge super-torturers and killers still alive, are not [just] 5 or 6, but hundreds, if not thousands, who are responsible for the death – following atrocious, indescribable sufferings and humiliations – of more than one million, if not two, of innocent Khmer men and women, including Patriots who are members of the FUNK and GRUNC.

If there need to be a true JUSTICE, all the culprit men and women who are denounced by our People must be arrested, judged …

But, this is not the true goal of this article. Being Buddhist, I must rid myself of Hatred, of Scorn, and of the Spirit or the Desire for Revenge.

The fact is that, in spite of noble efforts and admirable, beneficial and countless achievements in their favor by H.E. Samdech HUN SEN, by H.E. Lok Chumtiev BUN RANY HUN SEN, by the CPP, etc…, our Ordinary People, i.e. the very large majority of Khmer men and women [living] inside this 2nd Kingdom of Cambodia, remains in extreme poverty, often lacks rice and other food staples, and, last but not least, is in increasing number, chased and deprived of their lands. And this “2nd Kingdom” Cambodia itself is officially classified among the poorest and the most backward countries in the world, and this, in spite of the numerous and incredible “homes” of the Super Rich, in spite of their ultra sumptuous villas, their highly luxurious cars, their enormous bank accounts, jewelries and other treasures worthy of Super Maharaja before the Independence and the Democratization of India.

Far from me is the idea of turning the rich people to become less rich, and the Destiny privileged people to be less “privileged”!

However, I am coming back, one more time, to what haunts me: these tens of million of US Dollars that will be spent futilely to judge the Ta Mok, the Duch – as devilish as they were – the Khieu Samphan, the Ieng Sary, the Nuon Chea (the other day, Mr. Nuon Chea said on TV5 etc…: “What I did was strongly rightful: I saved my People and my Country.”)

Among the 80s “surviving” victims of the Khmer Rouge (Democratic Kampuchea), several died of old age or from illnesses.

But the million of our Ordinary people, “the young generation” in this beginning of the 21st Century, are the authentic offspring (sons, daughters, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandsons, granddaughters, great- grandsons, great-granddaughters) of the authentic victims of Polpotism.

With the tens of million of US $ set aside for the “trial,” – a trial which in fact honors Duch, Ta Mok, Khieu Samphan, Nuon CHea, Ieng Sary, that is only 5 or 6 sick and unrepentant elderly – one could provide extremely beneficial services to this Ordinary People by offering them mechanical machineries [to achieve] their “Water Policy”, fertilizers for their crops, lands which they were dispossessed, decent housings, plows, livestock (plowing oxen and buffaloes), barnyard fowls, and other useful stuff to pull them out of their misery.

To be frank and to call a cat a cat, I am against this Special Tribunal which has been established in Cambodia to judge 5 or 6 Khmer Rouge people, and [I] support the use of the enormous sum, planned and offered for this “trial,” for the victims of the K.R. atrocities, and for their offspring.

Signed: N. Sihanouk