Former U.S. ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council Sichan Siv and his wife Martha
Sichan Siv with his mortocycleCambodian Killing Fields Survivor Tells His Story In New Book
By Greg Flakus, VOA
San Antonio, Texas
02 July 2008
Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council Sichan Siv has written a new book, called "Golden Bones," that tells how he survived the Khmer Rouge terror in his native land and came to prosper in the United States. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from San Antonio, Texas, the author admits that luck had a lot to do with it.
Former U.S. ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council Sichan Siv and his wife Martha
On a patio outside his home, Sichan Siv shares a toast with friends who have come to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of his arrival in the United States. At that time he had only $2 in his pocket.
But Sichan Siv had something else on his side, as he explains in his book "Golden Bones."
"Cambodians believe that somebody who is very blessed and lucky is a person with golden bones," he said.
Luck and a lot of hard work helped Sichan Siv go in 13 years from being a poor refugee to being the first Asian-American deputy assistant to the president of the United States, under the first President George Bush. In 2001, the current President Bush appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
But Sichan Siv's real luck started well before all that. He survived one of the most brutal periods of modern human history when the Khmer Rouge took over his country in 1975.
He was working with the relief agency CARE at the time and could have escaped had he made it to the U.S. embassy on time.
"I missed the last helicopter by 30 minutes because I decided to go to a meeting trying to help some 3,000 refugee families stranded in the province," Siv recalled. "Five days later, the Khmer Rouge came and they emptied the cities and all the urban centers and they put everybody to forced labor."
He lost his mother and all other members of his family in the killing fields, and nearly lost his own life as well.
"I survived 10 brutal months under the Khmer Rouge with countless brushes with death," said Siv. "Then I made it to Thailand after I spent three days walking across the jungle in northwest Cambodia. I fell in a booby trap and was severely wounded, but I arrived in Thailand completely exhausted."
Thai authorities arrested him for illegal entry and then took him to a refugee camp where he taught English to fellow refugees and intensified his devotion to Buddhism.
Although he avoids bitterness, Sichan Siv says he wants to see former Khmer Rouge leaders held accountable for their crimes.
"There is not one Cambodian who has not lost someone or something dear to them so everybody wants to see justice brought to these people," he said.
Five former Khmer Rouge officials are being prosecuted by a special genocide tribunal in Cambodia. Their cases are expected to be tried later this year.
Today, Sichan Siv enjoys going for rides around San Antonio on his motorcycle. He cannot forget the horrors of the past, but he seems determined to concentrate on his new life here. This self-styled "Cambodian cowboy" also enjoys horseback riding and has helped herd cattle on a ranch in west Texas where his wife, Martha, was born and raised. She says they chose to live in San Antonio partly because of its western atmosphere.
"Sichan says that when he was growing up in Cambodia he listened to all those John Wayne movies dubbed in French, so now he is living it out in San Antone!," she said.
As his book goes on the market, Sichan Siv hopes he can help readers understand what it has meant for him to have this new life in the United States.
"I hope that they will understand that in America everything is possible, that when you have dreams you can turn your dreams into reality," he said.
Sichan Siv has found his dream here, but he says he will never forget those in Cambodia who were unable to escape their nightmare.
By Greg Flakus, VOA
San Antonio, Texas
02 July 2008
Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council Sichan Siv has written a new book, called "Golden Bones," that tells how he survived the Khmer Rouge terror in his native land and came to prosper in the United States. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from San Antonio, Texas, the author admits that luck had a lot to do with it.
Former U.S. ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council Sichan Siv and his wife Martha
On a patio outside his home, Sichan Siv shares a toast with friends who have come to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of his arrival in the United States. At that time he had only $2 in his pocket.
But Sichan Siv had something else on his side, as he explains in his book "Golden Bones."
"Cambodians believe that somebody who is very blessed and lucky is a person with golden bones," he said.
Luck and a lot of hard work helped Sichan Siv go in 13 years from being a poor refugee to being the first Asian-American deputy assistant to the president of the United States, under the first President George Bush. In 2001, the current President Bush appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
But Sichan Siv's real luck started well before all that. He survived one of the most brutal periods of modern human history when the Khmer Rouge took over his country in 1975.
He was working with the relief agency CARE at the time and could have escaped had he made it to the U.S. embassy on time.
"I missed the last helicopter by 30 minutes because I decided to go to a meeting trying to help some 3,000 refugee families stranded in the province," Siv recalled. "Five days later, the Khmer Rouge came and they emptied the cities and all the urban centers and they put everybody to forced labor."
He lost his mother and all other members of his family in the killing fields, and nearly lost his own life as well.
"I survived 10 brutal months under the Khmer Rouge with countless brushes with death," said Siv. "Then I made it to Thailand after I spent three days walking across the jungle in northwest Cambodia. I fell in a booby trap and was severely wounded, but I arrived in Thailand completely exhausted."
Thai authorities arrested him for illegal entry and then took him to a refugee camp where he taught English to fellow refugees and intensified his devotion to Buddhism.
Although he avoids bitterness, Sichan Siv says he wants to see former Khmer Rouge leaders held accountable for their crimes.
"There is not one Cambodian who has not lost someone or something dear to them so everybody wants to see justice brought to these people," he said.
Five former Khmer Rouge officials are being prosecuted by a special genocide tribunal in Cambodia. Their cases are expected to be tried later this year.
Today, Sichan Siv enjoys going for rides around San Antonio on his motorcycle. He cannot forget the horrors of the past, but he seems determined to concentrate on his new life here. This self-styled "Cambodian cowboy" also enjoys horseback riding and has helped herd cattle on a ranch in west Texas where his wife, Martha, was born and raised. She says they chose to live in San Antonio partly because of its western atmosphere.
"Sichan says that when he was growing up in Cambodia he listened to all those John Wayne movies dubbed in French, so now he is living it out in San Antone!," she said.
As his book goes on the market, Sichan Siv hopes he can help readers understand what it has meant for him to have this new life in the United States.
"I hope that they will understand that in America everything is possible, that when you have dreams you can turn your dreams into reality," he said.
Sichan Siv has found his dream here, but he says he will never forget those in Cambodia who were unable to escape their nightmare.
25 comments:
"As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from San Antonio, Texas, the author admits that luck had a lot to do with it."
It was more like: " Martha had (and has) a lot to do with 'where he's at' right now."
Without his wife Martha, the old boy would have not gotten to where he is now, he may still be a taxu driver with a degree of political sc. But heh, he has luck that was what his wife came. LOL
To have the cake and eat it, too (pussy and a good job). Wow! You can't go wrong with that.
Heng Soy
I spotted this news on Google news, too; I chose to ignore, but you have the nerve to copy and pasted on this site to annoy us (once again).
That is why his name is Heng and Soy. He misspelled I think. It is Heng Joy as (J=Ch).
I think he (or she) is Choy houy hang around.
j’en ai rien à foutre with this useless-to-the-society Cambodian-American cowboy.
This guy is a fake. He's tying to make money. He's only used 13 min. of his 15 min. of fame. And he's where he's at because he screwed one of Bushes, relatives.
If he really want to help cambodia, he should use his fame and name to bring attention to Cambodia. Just like how China is occupying Tibet, he should raise awareness how Vietnam is still occupying cambodia.
Instead of riding his bike around San antonio, he should donate the sale of his book to a children charity in Cambodia.
In short, this guy is an asshole, self-serving, self image hungry. he must be a typical cambodian.
2:52 PM, u should say "He must be a typical CHINESE Cambodian." I agree this old man is not interested in Cambodia's difficulty. He is actually playboy. It is the nature of Chinese Cambodian.
Glden Bones Ach Anh.
Why can't us Khmer be proud of our own people. When we see others doing better than us, we tend to pull them down. Such destructive mentality. We're like crabs in a bucket, pulling others down.
Doesn't matter how he got there, just be happy for him and all other successful Khmers.
Do something to improve your own lot instead of bitching and moaning about the success of others.
Preah Vihear will not be listed, 80% sure. UNESCO WILL USE completely different reason to justify the decision. They will say,priority must be given to some heritage from Czech or Somewhere else for the physical condition of the site. They just do not just because of small country like Cambodia, damage their good relationship with Thailand.
I hope RGC will close the border at Preah Vier forever. And let us develop the site witout the help from UNESCO.
no we will break the gate to claim our temple back.
Cambodia - Descent into Chaos (Part Two)
COULTHART:
Three weeks ago, Pol Pot missed his chance to wipe out the entire top brass of Cambodia's armed forces. In an extraordinary event played out, one suspects, largely for the local and foreign media, Cambodia's bitterly factionalised military was urged to patch up its differences, lubricated with copious quantities of free government grog.
But no amount of love songs can ease the tensions inside Cambodia's military or hide the tight smiles on the so-called coalition government's top table.
RAINSY:
The country now is in a deadlock. The government is paralysed. This means that we are heading for chaos with no political solution in view. Every party, especially the two ruling parties who cannot work together any more, they are preparing for a military confrontation.
COULTHART:
Only a few weeks ago, someone tried to murder Sam Ramsy as he marched with his Khmer Nation Party followers on the National Assembly, urging democratic reform. At least sixteen people died, including his bodyguard.
Now, after an overseas publicity tour, he's marching back into Cambodia to confront the man he accuses of trying to assassinate him, Hun Sen. Despite these heavily-armed bodyguards, some of his own followers say he's pigheaded and reckless. It's not a question of it he'll die, they say, but when.
As you were driving along today in the motorcade, did it ever cross your mind that somebody might have another go at you?
SAM RAINSY - KHMER NATION PARTY:
Yes, any time. When you are involved in politics in a country like Cambodia, you can be killed or wounded any time. So it is like a soldiers [sic] going to war.
COULTHART:
Are you frightened of dying?
RAINSY:
Yes. I don't like this idea to die.
COULTHART:
Have you prepared yourself for the possibility that you might die this time in Cambodia ?
RAINSY:
Yes, I am afraid to die. But I realise that sometimes we have to overcome our fear to do what we think is right.
COULTHART:
Before he returned here to Cambodia, Sam Ramsy talked to his wife, Samira [ph.sp.] and youngest daughter Rachel about his plans. He's not the charismatic populist, but many Western observers think he's the best hope Cambodia's got for a genuinely democratic leader. And there's no doubting the almost-messianic zeal that drives him.
RAINSY:
I want to see more justice in this country, social justice. There are so many people who live in desperate conditions, who just have no hope for their future and there are so widely spread corruption [sic], there are a few very rich people, very powerful people who think that Cambodia is their private property.
COULTHART:
But few events underline more just how fickle the rule of law is in Cambodia than one day back in early April here at Phnom Penh's airport. One of those very rich people, indeed Cambodia's most powerful tycoon, Teng Bun Ma [ph.sp.], walked out here on the tarmac with a Russian pistol and pointed it at a 737. Furious that Air Cambodia had lost his luggage, Bun Ma shot out the jet's front tyre with the crew and passengers still on board. A ricochet could have caused disaster, but no one, including Cambodia's First Prime Minister is game to lay a finger on Bun Ma.
Sir, if a prominent Australian businessman took a gun and shot a plane on an Australian airport, he would be taken off to jail and locked up for a very long time. Why has that not been done to Mr Teng Bun Ma?
RANARIDDH:
Because Cambodia today is in complete shamble because Cambodia turn into a lawless state. No one dares to do anything against Teng Bun Ma.
COULTHART:
The reason why is because Teng Bun Ma is one of Hun Sen's closest backers, so prominent a supporter that he shared the glory with the Second Prime Minister in December when Ieng Sary defected. But as the respected conservative news magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review, revealed in 1995, this pillar of the regime is suspected by the United States of being a major heroin trafficker. Mr Bun Ma strenuously denies it. But the magazine followed up in April this year with more evidence, including leaked US documents showing Bun Ma is on a secret government blacklist, banned from entering America because of intelligence revealing he's a suspected drug trafficker.
RANARIDDH:
I think that the narcotic problem, drug problem is the major concern, not only of me but of the … of Cambodia as a whole. We must not let this country, let's say indirectly run by a Mafia … Mafia, some richest man in this country, and they are very close to the rulers of this country.
COULTHART:
Not surprisingly, Hun Sen's political rivals have seized upon these revelations about one of his closest allies. Ranariddh's Funsen Pek and Sam Rainsy's KNP have both accused the Second Prime Minister of funding his extraordinarily generous election handouts from the profits of drug traffickers. I am wondering whether you think it is appropriate for you to be receiving so much election monies when it seems the American government has concerns about a man who is funding your election campaign?
HUN SEN:
[Via interpreter] When did you hear that? Well, you're from Australia. I don't think Australia ever hears enough accurate information about Cambodia.
COULTHART:
Despite Hun Sen's denials, the magazine investigation revealed Bun Ma is a major backer of Hun Sen's CPP. He even gave him this Mercedes limousine, the use of a helicopter and quite literally helped fund the government's dry season offensive against the Khmer Rouge in 1994.
How much money have you received from Ten Bun Ma for your election campaign?
HUN SEN:
[via interpreter] There's no need for me to respond to that. Of your ten questions, seven are provocative. Is that the way Australians normally behave?
COULTHART:
It is a major concern of people here in Cambodia that Mr Teng Bun Ma is a major supporter of your election campaign and he is allegedly a drug trafficker. Why is that such a difficult question to answer?
HUN SEN:
[Via interpreter] Am I a criminal that has to answer questions like this?
RANARIDDH:
Mr Ten Bun Ma told me personally that he spent twenty million, you know, in favour of the CPP in 1993.
COULTHART:
More recently, another senior adviser to Hun Sen, this man Mon Reththy, was implicated in a seven tonne marijuana bust. He also denies it and says the marijuana found in this container was a frame-up.
MONG RETHTHY - BUSINESSMAN:
[Via interpreter] I am a small piece in a big game of chess. They're just trying to hurt Hun Sen, the Second Prime Minister.
COULTHART:
When we interviewed the government official in charge of Cambodia's police, Mr Ho Sok, he was happy to show us his evidence against Mong Reththy.
HO SOK - SECRETARY OF STATE:
[Via interpreter] This document here proves it.
COULTHART:
Only a few weeks ago, Mr Ho Sok's other bodyguard was executed by anonymous government troops after he attempted to encourage voters in his village to back Ranariddh's Funsen Pek and not Hun Sen's CPP. Ho Sok told us cheerfully he expects to be assassinated. In fact, a few weeks ago, Hun Sen publicly threatened to kill him if he prosecuted his senior adviser.
HO SOK:
[Via interpreter] Mr Hun Sen has already said on radio and TV that if I ever arrested Mong Reththy, I'd better start wearing a steel helmet. And even though I'd be doing the right thing to arrest him, doing so would mean war.
COULTHART:
Neither, it would seem, is Mr Ho Sok game to take on Teng Bun Ma, even though the tycoon has admitted shooting the 737.
HO SOK:
[Via interpreter] If Air Cambodia makes an official complaint, then we'll investigate it.
COULTHART:
Do you think that they will complain?
HO SOK:
[Via interpreter] They're just too scared to complain.
COULTHART:
There is little in the way of a rule of law in Cambodia, but flamboyant Police General, Skadavy Ly Roun, makes do with what he has. Today, he's deporting a crook who was dealing guns and drugs and running illegal immigrants into Australia. The hood is furious because Skadavy refused his offer of a twenty thousand US dollar bribe. He was caught before he could carry out his threatened hit killing of the Police Chief with stolen machine guns.
Nobody can prove it, but everyone suspects the Phnom Penh judge who sentenced him so lightly for an earlier offence, was bribed. Such corruption is endemic, so Skadavy didn't even bother taking his deportation of this crook back to the courts. He just threw him on the plane and ran him out of town.
Was it a proud moment for you?
SKADAVY LY ROUN - POLICE GENERAL:
I feel very pleased, I feel very pleased myself, you know, when I arrest him the second time.
COULTHART:
But truth is, Skadavy is powerless to combat the newest crime scourge to hit his country, the international drug traffickers. There is no budget here for drugs investigations. Last year, his deputy was murdered in a Phnom Penh cafe after he dug too deep into military involvement in the illicit trade.
A 1995 US State Department report warned that high-level military officials and powerful businessmen who give support to politicians are involved in heroin smuggling in Cambodia. But neither America nor Australia has any police based here full time. Cambodia is fast becoming a narco-state.
I suppose the problem for you is that because you're up against a corrupt group of people in the military, in the navy, that means that it's very hard for you to stop the flow of drugs.
LY ROUN:
It difficult to stop. We cannot.
COULTHART:
And nobody in Cambodia truly expects the local police is capable of investigating who murdered so many of these peaceful protesters eight weeks ago. Everyone suspects some in Hun Sen's CPP had a hand in ordering the attack, but our investigation of what happened here shows how weeks after the event, even the most basic inquiries have not been made by police. It also reveals just how methodically well planned this attack was.
As best as we can piece together, this is what happened on Easter Sunday eight weeks ago. The government knew the demonstrators were coming because for the first time ever it had approved their right to march.
RAINSY:
It looks as if we were attracted, drawn into a trap.
COULTHART:
Unusually, troops from Hun Sen's personal bodyguard were deployed around the park where the demonstration stopped. They watched on as Rainsy gave the floor to a female demonstrator. Then the attack began. The man behind this camera was one of the first to be critically injured.
...[File tape of demonstration]...
That last grenade seems to have been calculated to cause maximum carnage. It was thrown after the others had already exploded into the fleeing crowd, and it was viciously effective. Between seventy to eighty per cent of the one hundred and seventy demonstrators were injured or killed, among them, Sam Rainsy's bodyguard who died shielding his boss from the blast.
RAINSY:
He push me down just when the first grenade exploded.
COULTHART:
How do you feel, as a man knowing that you're only alive today because another person gave his life for you?
RAINSY:
I could never forget his sacrifice. And I feel compelled to go on with my battle with more determination.
COULTHART:
Hun Sen's troop of bodyguards still stood watching, as at least one of the grenade throwers ran straight towards them. This witness who has to be disguised to protect his own life, gave chase.
UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS:
[Via interpreter] I chased him until he got to the soldiers, but he disappeared through them and then they aimed their guns at me. Everyone was screaming, he threw a grenade at those soldiers. They wouldn't stop him.
COULTHART:
Were the soldiers close enough to see what people were saying and what was going on?
WITNESS:
[Via interpreter] Yes, because everybody was shouting.
COULTHART:
So there is no doubt in your mind that when the soldiers let the man through, they should have realised he was the grenade thrower?
WITNESS:
[Via interpreter] Yes.
COULTHART:
Hun Sen's soldiers refused to let these victims be taken to hospital for at least an hour after the attack. And despite several independent corroborating eyewitnesses who all confirm Hun Sen's bodyguards let a murderer through their lines, the Second Prime Minister denies any CPP involvement in the attack, dismissing Sam Rainsy's allegations as politically motivated.
HUN SEN:
[Via interpreter] Look, just because a dog bites my leg doesn't mean I'm going to bite the dog back.
COULTHART:
There is no direct evidence that Hun Sen or his party ordered this attack. The Second Prime Minister has quite rightly said judgment should wait until after an investigation by the American FBI. But Sam Rainsy was clearly the main target, and it's Hun Sen and his party who stand to benefit most from his death.
RAINSY:
There is no other body who would be so interested to see me dead.
COULTHART:
To our surprise, all of the witnesses we interviewed had still not spoken with the police, fully six weeks after the attack. Many suspect they'll end up dead if they do. This second eyewitness actually saw two of the grenade throwers close up.
I want you to tell me if there is anybody in that photograph who you recognise as the assassin.
He says he can identify them, so we showed him photographs of the crowd immediately before the attack to see if he recognised anyone. He'd already described a man wearing a military jacket, unusual in the tropical heat, and he picked this man out almost immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS 2:
[Via interpreter] I think it was him, the one in the military jacket and civilian shirt.
COULTHART:
If I was to ask you is that the second man that threw the grenade, what degree of certainty, what percentage of certainty would you put on it?
WITNESS 2:
[Via interpreter] I'm eighty-five per cent sure. He looks the same height, the same weight.
COULTHART:
Sunday understands the FBI also now has sketches of attackers seen by other witnesses. Reportedly, they are eighty per cent sure who did it. Sam Rainsy predicts this will be Hun Sen's undoing.
RAINSY:
I think that he did not suspect that any serious investigation would ever be conducted. As for the previous and countless political assassinations, there has never been any serious investigation because any serious investigation would lead back to the Communist Party and to Hun Sen himself.
COULTHART:
Humanity dictates that the people who did this be tracked down and tried. And for what it's worth, Cambodia's fragile constitution is meant to guarantee the Khmer people the freedoms of expression and assembly. Australia has played a key role in bringing Cambodia this far on the first faltering steps to democracy. The new challenge will be, what will we do if Cambodia plunges into tyranny once again?
WALEY:
Ross Coulthart reporting from Cambodia. The producer, Nick Farrow.
ENDS.
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/cover_stories/transcript_173.asp
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4:34 PM
You have egregiously wasted our valuable space and the site.
Corosive bones!
Hi, I am a KR survivor, and I am crap, here is my book.
cann't believe that most people here are such a small mind and full of envy. Perhaps crazy or lop.
He tells you how he gots here and how he can survive and prosper with $2 to start. If he can do it with that so can you? Stupid! or may be most of you here should be a rubber or a criminal and should go to jail instead. That may be better for you and who cares....you deserve a nasty place in life..lalalalala...
Fuck you ah Siam come in with your fucking f115 we will killed you as mutch as we can, If you killed us thank you to help us out missory! But we want to take as many of you with us as we can!
Ah siam we may be brother in death!
Agree with 3:38 PM and 4:07 PM.
We should be proud for Khmer like Siv Chan, like him or not. And UNESCO won't let Preah Viheah to be listed as the World Heritage, because Canada does the business with Thailand and they won't hurt their relationship with Thailand for a small poor Cambodia.
Yeah, but what's more important is that UNESCO recognized that the temple really belongs to Khmer people of the Issan province, and the Khmer in Cambodia are not Khmer but French.
Such and ignorant guy 6:04
Why? it seems all true to me.
Ignorant? Why don't you do a DNA test on your king and tell us about it.
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