Original report from Phnom Penh
16 September 2008
Kim Sru is a vendor at Olympic Market in Phnom Penh. In the 1970s, she was in a Khmer Rouge mobile youth unit in Battambang province. The 49-year-old vendor survived the regime because she never expressed her opinion, nor asked nor complained of orders or principles of any kind. She was afraid she would be killed if she did.
"Those who dared to complain or talk politics were killed by the Khmer Rouge," she said in a recent interview.
In Pol Pot's era, officially called Democratic Kampuchea, Cambodians were deprived of their rights to free expression or constructive criticism. If anyone spoke out or complained about anything a cadre did not like, he or she would be executed as an enemy of the Angkar, the Organization.
Experts say that even now, with the Angkar long gone, its effects linger on, in victims who suffered trauma, and in the next generation, who suffer as well.
Kim Sru's experience under the Khmer Rouge has had an effect on her two sons. She has banned them from talking politics or expressing their opinions on the rich and powerful, or any leaders of the country.
"I advise them not to talk about politics as so doing is dangerous," she said.
"If I just chat with friends [about politics], that's ok. But, if I speak out in public places, she does not allow me to do so," said Sok Sambo, one of her sons. "I think she does not let me talk about the leaders or the powerful maybe because of her fear left behind by the Khmer Rouge regime."
Dr. Mony Sothara, head of the psychiatric department of Phnom Penh's Preah Kossamak Hospital, said most survivors of the Khmer Rouge suffered years of trauma as they experienced torture and threats and witnessed violence and murder.
This trauma is being passed to their children, experts say.
"In my study, I found that parents who were traumatized by the Khmer Rouge regime tend to be too protective of their children," said Om Chariya, a psychology assistant at the Center for Social Development, who recently interviewed 200 high school students in Phnom Penh for her study on the transmission of trauma to the second generation.
"Being too protective causes their children to suffer from depression and anxiety," she said.
Psychiatrist Ke Chhum, of the Cambodia-Soviet Friendship Hospital, said for the past few years about half of his trauma patients have been young people. He said they may have mental problems because of their parents' trauma together with social problems facing youth today.
That has caused a shift in the types of patients he receives, from those 40 and up in the 1990s, to a younger generation now.
"About 40 percent of the population are young people between 15 and 20," said Dr. Chhim Sotheara, manager of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization. "So just imagine in the next 20 years how they will lead their lives, when they become parents themselves, if now they are brought up by their traumatized parents."
"Those who dared to complain or talk politics were killed by the Khmer Rouge," she said in a recent interview.
In Pol Pot's era, officially called Democratic Kampuchea, Cambodians were deprived of their rights to free expression or constructive criticism. If anyone spoke out or complained about anything a cadre did not like, he or she would be executed as an enemy of the Angkar, the Organization.
Experts say that even now, with the Angkar long gone, its effects linger on, in victims who suffered trauma, and in the next generation, who suffer as well.
Kim Sru's experience under the Khmer Rouge has had an effect on her two sons. She has banned them from talking politics or expressing their opinions on the rich and powerful, or any leaders of the country.
"I advise them not to talk about politics as so doing is dangerous," she said.
"If I just chat with friends [about politics], that's ok. But, if I speak out in public places, she does not allow me to do so," said Sok Sambo, one of her sons. "I think she does not let me talk about the leaders or the powerful maybe because of her fear left behind by the Khmer Rouge regime."
Dr. Mony Sothara, head of the psychiatric department of Phnom Penh's Preah Kossamak Hospital, said most survivors of the Khmer Rouge suffered years of trauma as they experienced torture and threats and witnessed violence and murder.
This trauma is being passed to their children, experts say.
"In my study, I found that parents who were traumatized by the Khmer Rouge regime tend to be too protective of their children," said Om Chariya, a psychology assistant at the Center for Social Development, who recently interviewed 200 high school students in Phnom Penh for her study on the transmission of trauma to the second generation.
"Being too protective causes their children to suffer from depression and anxiety," she said.
Psychiatrist Ke Chhum, of the Cambodia-Soviet Friendship Hospital, said for the past few years about half of his trauma patients have been young people. He said they may have mental problems because of their parents' trauma together with social problems facing youth today.
That has caused a shift in the types of patients he receives, from those 40 and up in the 1990s, to a younger generation now.
"About 40 percent of the population are young people between 15 and 20," said Dr. Chhim Sotheara, manager of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization. "So just imagine in the next 20 years how they will lead their lives, when they become parents themselves, if now they are brought up by their traumatized parents."
3 comments:
Thailand’s Humpty-Dumpty government still in freefall
MIDWEEK
By BUNN NAGARA
http://thestar.com.my
IT HAS been a week since Thailand’s best-known celebrity television chef, Samak Sundaravej, cooked up a political storm as prime minister that flung him back to the kitchen from Government House.
Since then the country has been in search of a new prime minister, but talent at the top is thin. At first some Samak stalwarts in his People’s Power Party (PPP) wanted to renominate him to snub the court decision that unseated him, but discretion prevailed.
Mass demonstrations paralysed parts of Bangkok and a functional government for weeks, so a prime minister’s absence from office could have been missed easily. As protesters also occupied the grounds of Government House, a chef’s job might seem more meaningful by comparison.
The crux of the protest had been Samak’s supposed affiliation to deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, still on the run from corruption charges. The movement against Samak had rumbled for weeks before a report was filed against him for the offence of accepting another job while being prime minister.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court then ruled that Samak was guilty, and shooed him from the premier’s roost. The PPP then successfully nominated as acting premier Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin’s brother-in-law, which to protesters seemed like shunting the country from the frying pan to the fire.
This week Thailand has to settle on a new prime minister, and that is where things begin to get really messy. For many Thais however, all this hassle is tragic because it is so unnecessary.
There are those who concede that Somchai, after all, is the best PPP candidate to remain as prime minister. He is said to be pleasant, level-headed, conciliatory, a former judge and justice minister, and above all was never tainted by the dubious Thaksin family deals.
But to protesters motivated by sentiment and symbolism, Somchai looks just like another Thaksin surrogate. He happens to be married to Thaksin’s sister, and for them that is enough to reject him.
However, there are factions within Somchai’s own party that would also oppose his candidacy for reasons of their own. Rifts within the PPP, evidenced earlier over Samak’s renomination, have now taken on a life of their own over Somchai’s candidacy.
A party faction opposing Somchai even reportedly hinted of a military coup if the party nominated him. But it is unlikely that these PPP politicians had consulted the army before making those noises.
For now at least, the massed protesters seem to be sidelined in the news by arguments within the PPP. Instead of the protests seeing some amicable resolution, more dissidents have been spawned among government leaders themselves.
Yet none of this means that the protests are winding down. The situation centred in Bangkok has become only more complex and confused, as crucial solutions become even more elusive.
Not so long ago, the thousands of noisy protesters had been targeting a folksy Samak caricatured by his own blustery blunders. As of yesterday at least, they are now targeting Somchai and just about any candidate the PPP might nominate.
This is only getting further from any sensible outcome, since the PPP as the main party in the governing coalition retains the mandate to nominate the prime minister.
So far the palace, the army and the opposition Democrat Party are staying their hand, but things could get still more complicated anytime.
The anti-government protesters, as led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, had for some time now lost their focus and declared purpose. They now want to replace elected parliamentarians by appointed representatives who might better reflect the interests of the urban elite.
The latest mess had prompted thoughts of dissolving Parliament yesterday, ahead of today’s scheduled parliamentary election of a new prime minister. Some 2,250 police officers and soldiers have been deployed in and around Parliament this morning to ensure order.
But even all the king’s men and all the royal elephants would not be able to put together a credible, functioning government so easily.
To 11:00AM,
WTF, you're posting news here. We can find news to read jackass.
Great don't listen to Ah jackas born from corrupted sperm of cpp. they know nothing just to say yes or no though dont realy know where the hell they are going to.
FUCK AH LOP CHKOUT 3:21
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