Letter to the Editor
The Cambodia Daily
Three decades after the Khmer Rouge regime, and following the inauguration of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, it seems that the regime's victims are again the losers. It is the defendants' rights that capture everybody's attention, with $4.8 million designated for defense counsel fees.
But the well-being of the victims, who often say they fear to give testimony, appears not to have triggered the same concern.
The witness protection program recently disclosed by the ECCC does little to lay these worries to rest. Everyone who has spent more than one month in Cambodia knows how much comfort it engenders when the police are entrusted with ensuring witness safety.
I recently had the chance to talk to several Democratic Kampuchea victims, Chan Pheap, 56, spent one year in a Khmer Rouge prison in Kandal province, after her husband brother and father died at the hands of the regime.
Rather than expecting revenge from the tribunal, she hopes that the foreign powers that kept the Khmer Rouge in power will have to pay compensation in a form that is beneficial to Cambodia. This could include the construction of schools, hospitals, or irrigation systems.
Stefan Brenken,
Phnom Penh
But the well-being of the victims, who often say they fear to give testimony, appears not to have triggered the same concern.
The witness protection program recently disclosed by the ECCC does little to lay these worries to rest. Everyone who has spent more than one month in Cambodia knows how much comfort it engenders when the police are entrusted with ensuring witness safety.
I recently had the chance to talk to several Democratic Kampuchea victims, Chan Pheap, 56, spent one year in a Khmer Rouge prison in Kandal province, after her husband brother and father died at the hands of the regime.
Rather than expecting revenge from the tribunal, she hopes that the foreign powers that kept the Khmer Rouge in power will have to pay compensation in a form that is beneficial to Cambodia. This could include the construction of schools, hospitals, or irrigation systems.
Stefan Brenken,
Phnom Penh
2 comments:
Ant attempt by the government to ignore the khmer rouge, is to prove that;
-Cambodian government is not matured enough to be the government.
-Cambodia is always a country of injustice.
-Members of Cambodian government have plyed their role in the killing field.
-Cambodia is still a dangerous country to invest and to live permanently.
-Cambodian lives are lower than dogs and cats.
-Cambodian people are full of ignorance people.
THere were no foreign powers can decide to keep any Cambodian government in power. No foreign power can keep or eliminate Hun sen power in Cambodia. If Cambodians didn't want any of their government they must choose their own means to eliminate their government. If Cambodians are waiting foreign power to decide for them then Cambodian people will wait themselve for their last breath.
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