Sichan Siv will tell his story in Long Beach this week. (Courtesy Sichan Siv)Hennessy: An amazing story of an odyssey from the Killing Fields to the White House
05/16/2009
Tom Henessy
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
Life dangled from a precipice. Your best chance of survival was to pass yourself off as an illiterate peasant.
If you were educated, you might die. If you wore glasses, suggesting you were educated, you might die. If you were seen foraging for food, even grass or insects, you might die.
It was Cambodia, 1976. A year earlier, the Khmer Rouge had taken power. Now they were determined to establish a primitive society, one easily ruled. When the decade ended, they were gone. But up to 2 million people were dead.
Or so it is thought. No one can make an accurate count.
But Sichan Siv, 27 years old, resourceful and brave, had survived. He was especially vulnerable, having once worked for the humanitarian group CARE and having helped refugees from the Vietnam War, which, if revealed, would have meant certain death.
Siv escaped Cambodia by walking 500 harrowing miles past land mines, Khmer Rouge patrols, decomposed bodies, wild jungle animals and booby traps. It took him almost a year to reach neighboring Thailand.
Separated from his family by the Khmer Rouge, he never saw his loved ones again, but he survived in part by recalling his mother's words: "No matter what happens, never give up hope."
It was a message that would carry him to the United States, the White House and the United Nations.
Coming to Long Beach
Sichan Siv will tell his remarkable story Tuesday in Long Beach as a guest of the Long Beach Library Foundation.
Meanwhile, I have interviewed him from his home in San Antonio, Texas, where he now lives and has written his story in a book called "Golden Bones."
Q: What is meant by "Golden Bones?"
A: Cambodians call somebody who is extremely blessed and lucky a person of golden bones.
Q: And you were extremely lucky to have escaped Cambodia. Why did you leave?
A: The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a land of blood and tears. It was an enormous slave labor camp where people toiled for 18 hours a day with only one meal. It was deepest hell. I was sentenced to death twice, for trying to escape and for damaging a truck.
Q: Your life under the Khmer Rouge and while trying to flee Cambodia was nightmarish. Do you still dream about those days?
A: Not anymore. I used to have nightmares for a long while. As I woke up, I felt very relieved when I realized that I was in America.
Q: How did you escape Cambodia?
A: On Feb. 13, 1976, I jumped off a logging truck in northwest Cambodia and ran across the jungle for three days having nothing to eat or drink. I fell into a booby trap and was severely wounded. In Thailand, I was jailed for illegal entry before being transferred to a refugee camp. I spent a few months teaching English to fellow refugees and being ordained a Buddhist monk. I arrived in Connecticut on June 4, one month before the Bicentennial.
To the White House
Q: After being sponsored by a Connecticut family, you assimilated very quickly. How did you manage that?
A: I felt I had to adapt to be adopted. So I did everything that came my way to the best of my ability, from picking apples to driving a taxi. I got a scholarship to graduate school at Columbia. I worked on Wall Street and other places until 1988 when I volunteered in the (George H. W.) Bush campaign. I was one of the lucky few to be asked to serve at the White House in 1989.
Q: That's a remarkable career.
A: I was at the right place at the right time. The Bush transition was looking for someone to handle the communications aspects of our national security. I was born in a poor country, spoke several languages, and was familiar with international relations. When President Bush left the White House in 1993, I returned to the private sector and continued to work on global issues. This experience also helped me when George W. Bush nominated me to be a U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 2001. I was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
Q: What do you consider the achievements of the Bush presidents?
A: It's hard to describe them in a few sentences. At the White House, first among equals was President George (H.W.) Bush's decision to extend Most Favored Nation trading status to China and to receive the Dalai Lama. Then you have to give high marks on his management of the post-Cold War world. At the U.N., George W. Bush was the first president to increase foreign assistance by 50 percent since JFK, and the first head of state to bring human trafficking to the world's attention. I feel very privileged to have served two presidents, and through them the American people.
Q: In 1992, you returned to Cambodia as a member of the highest-level mission to that country since 1975. Describe what it was like to go back.
A: It was an emotional return. I had left 16 years before, on foot through the jungle. I returned as a presidential assistant in a U.S. government aircraft. I did not recognize anything. For a few hours, I was numb.
Q: Soldiers returning to their old battlefields sometimes say it is therapeutic to see them at peace. Has that been the case for you in returning to Cambodia?
A: It is therapeutic. I try to take my wife there once a year to reconnect and to show her new places. (Siv's wife, Martha, is Texan.) In November 2008, we went to Ratanakiri (a province) in the Northeast, a remote wild and mountainous region. I was there with my older sister 40 years ago. It brought back fond memories, as well as sad ones.
Q: What does Cambodia need to do at this point in its history?
A: Cambodia needs to address domestic issues such as injustice, crime and corruption. When these are resolved, it can be a politically mature nation.
Q: You travel often to American cities with large Cambodian populations. Why?
A: It's part of carrying my mother's wisdom of never giving up hope, as I describe in "Golden Bones," and encouraging others to continue to work hard, do great things, and lead a good life. I also try to connect all these communities so that they can compare and build upon their experiences.
Cambodia to Texas
Q: You now live in Texas, a far cry from life in Cambodia. How is that working for you?
A: I love Texas. While growing up in Cambodia, I enjoyed watching Western movies in French and was amazed at the "can-do" attitude of Texans. As we usually say, "I was not born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could." I also love California. Each time I am here, I say to myself, "I'll be back."
Last month, Siv was honored for his service by being given the George H.W. Bush Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association's Award. The award came with a letter from the former president, who wrote, in part: "When we think of you, we think about an outstanding leader and public servant; we think about honor, decency, and integrity....Well done, my friend and well deserved."
Tom Hennessy's column appears on the first and third Sundays of the month. He can be reached at 562-499-1270 or by e-mail at scribe17@mac.com.
HEAR HIS STORY
Former Ambassador Sichan Siv will speak from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Long Beach's Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave.
Admission: $30 benefiting the Long Beach Library Foundation. For reservations, call 562-628-2441.
The book: Barnes & Noble will sell copies of "Golden Bones."
05/16/2009
Tom Henessy
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
Life dangled from a precipice. Your best chance of survival was to pass yourself off as an illiterate peasant.
If you were educated, you might die. If you wore glasses, suggesting you were educated, you might die. If you were seen foraging for food, even grass or insects, you might die.
It was Cambodia, 1976. A year earlier, the Khmer Rouge had taken power. Now they were determined to establish a primitive society, one easily ruled. When the decade ended, they were gone. But up to 2 million people were dead.
Or so it is thought. No one can make an accurate count.
But Sichan Siv, 27 years old, resourceful and brave, had survived. He was especially vulnerable, having once worked for the humanitarian group CARE and having helped refugees from the Vietnam War, which, if revealed, would have meant certain death.
Siv escaped Cambodia by walking 500 harrowing miles past land mines, Khmer Rouge patrols, decomposed bodies, wild jungle animals and booby traps. It took him almost a year to reach neighboring Thailand.
Separated from his family by the Khmer Rouge, he never saw his loved ones again, but he survived in part by recalling his mother's words: "No matter what happens, never give up hope."
It was a message that would carry him to the United States, the White House and the United Nations.
Coming to Long Beach
Sichan Siv will tell his remarkable story Tuesday in Long Beach as a guest of the Long Beach Library Foundation.
Meanwhile, I have interviewed him from his home in San Antonio, Texas, where he now lives and has written his story in a book called "Golden Bones."
Q: What is meant by "Golden Bones?"
A: Cambodians call somebody who is extremely blessed and lucky a person of golden bones.
Q: And you were extremely lucky to have escaped Cambodia. Why did you leave?
A: The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a land of blood and tears. It was an enormous slave labor camp where people toiled for 18 hours a day with only one meal. It was deepest hell. I was sentenced to death twice, for trying to escape and for damaging a truck.
Q: Your life under the Khmer Rouge and while trying to flee Cambodia was nightmarish. Do you still dream about those days?
A: Not anymore. I used to have nightmares for a long while. As I woke up, I felt very relieved when I realized that I was in America.
Q: How did you escape Cambodia?
A: On Feb. 13, 1976, I jumped off a logging truck in northwest Cambodia and ran across the jungle for three days having nothing to eat or drink. I fell into a booby trap and was severely wounded. In Thailand, I was jailed for illegal entry before being transferred to a refugee camp. I spent a few months teaching English to fellow refugees and being ordained a Buddhist monk. I arrived in Connecticut on June 4, one month before the Bicentennial.
To the White House
Q: After being sponsored by a Connecticut family, you assimilated very quickly. How did you manage that?
A: I felt I had to adapt to be adopted. So I did everything that came my way to the best of my ability, from picking apples to driving a taxi. I got a scholarship to graduate school at Columbia. I worked on Wall Street and other places until 1988 when I volunteered in the (George H. W.) Bush campaign. I was one of the lucky few to be asked to serve at the White House in 1989.
Q: That's a remarkable career.
A: I was at the right place at the right time. The Bush transition was looking for someone to handle the communications aspects of our national security. I was born in a poor country, spoke several languages, and was familiar with international relations. When President Bush left the White House in 1993, I returned to the private sector and continued to work on global issues. This experience also helped me when George W. Bush nominated me to be a U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 2001. I was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
Q: What do you consider the achievements of the Bush presidents?
A: It's hard to describe them in a few sentences. At the White House, first among equals was President George (H.W.) Bush's decision to extend Most Favored Nation trading status to China and to receive the Dalai Lama. Then you have to give high marks on his management of the post-Cold War world. At the U.N., George W. Bush was the first president to increase foreign assistance by 50 percent since JFK, and the first head of state to bring human trafficking to the world's attention. I feel very privileged to have served two presidents, and through them the American people.
Q: In 1992, you returned to Cambodia as a member of the highest-level mission to that country since 1975. Describe what it was like to go back.
A: It was an emotional return. I had left 16 years before, on foot through the jungle. I returned as a presidential assistant in a U.S. government aircraft. I did not recognize anything. For a few hours, I was numb.
Q: Soldiers returning to their old battlefields sometimes say it is therapeutic to see them at peace. Has that been the case for you in returning to Cambodia?
A: It is therapeutic. I try to take my wife there once a year to reconnect and to show her new places. (Siv's wife, Martha, is Texan.) In November 2008, we went to Ratanakiri (a province) in the Northeast, a remote wild and mountainous region. I was there with my older sister 40 years ago. It brought back fond memories, as well as sad ones.
Q: What does Cambodia need to do at this point in its history?
A: Cambodia needs to address domestic issues such as injustice, crime and corruption. When these are resolved, it can be a politically mature nation.
Q: You travel often to American cities with large Cambodian populations. Why?
A: It's part of carrying my mother's wisdom of never giving up hope, as I describe in "Golden Bones," and encouraging others to continue to work hard, do great things, and lead a good life. I also try to connect all these communities so that they can compare and build upon their experiences.
Cambodia to Texas
Q: You now live in Texas, a far cry from life in Cambodia. How is that working for you?
A: I love Texas. While growing up in Cambodia, I enjoyed watching Western movies in French and was amazed at the "can-do" attitude of Texans. As we usually say, "I was not born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could." I also love California. Each time I am here, I say to myself, "I'll be back."
Last month, Siv was honored for his service by being given the George H.W. Bush Asian/Pacific American Heritage Association's Award. The award came with a letter from the former president, who wrote, in part: "When we think of you, we think about an outstanding leader and public servant; we think about honor, decency, and integrity....Well done, my friend and well deserved."
Tom Hennessy's column appears on the first and third Sundays of the month. He can be reached at 562-499-1270 or by e-mail at scribe17@mac.com.
HEAR HIS STORY
Former Ambassador Sichan Siv will speak from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Long Beach's Main Library, 101 Pacific Ave.
Admission: $30 benefiting the Long Beach Library Foundation. For reservations, call 562-628-2441.
The book: Barnes & Noble will sell copies of "Golden Bones."
46 comments:
This guy looks very much enjoy his American lifestyle. He indulges himself in this environment rather than thinking of his poor compatriots.
I admire this mindset.
Only you that proud of yourself right? What a stubborn guy who only knew your own benefit. The rest of Khmer who went through the ugly and terrible's life under Khmer rouge are like trash except some puppets including YOU!!! You forgot where you are coming from like those traitors who sold the country to yourn and siam. Remember you are born from gold not from human.
You guys jealous???
His guy act only show off to all of us, but he have never ever helped the poor people in Cambodia.
Remember this man, he only show off, he never gives anything back to the community.
Asho!!
Red-Ant
Dear KI,
Please do not show this guy again. He is never concerned and care of poor khmer people. He only show off.
Thanks.
Yes, This guy just show off himself.
mness loeung bonn taam cheay samput.
Ki, please stop showing this guy's face.
Khmer Long Beach
Yes, This guy is more worse than Hun Sen. Somehow, Hun Sen helps poor people, but this guy only shows of, and he never helps poor people since he was in Whitehouse.
Now, again he is as Ambassador, but what benefits he works for Khmer people. As you see he only shows of like this.
I met this guy while attending university of Houston and he is whitewashed and careless of his root and ancestary.
Please don't show him again on KI
Looking at the good side in every human being, I think about going to see and hear what he is going to say. But still I can't afford to pay $30.00. The fee is a litle too much.
Haha...i'm glad pple know the real him. He is Chen-Kmao like chort-kampeun (Chen Kampot).
to the guy in the picture, oh, please,...man! Lay-off that big ego...
It proves that one is decent enough by not going to support the unnecessary cause.
9:34 PM,
No one is jealous because of his success. Sichan is a self centered guy, obsessed with his own success, and he is good at enjoying it.
There is one difference between Sichan and his lovely wife Martha. Every room has only Sichan's pictures but not Martha's.
Q: What do you consider the achievements of the Bush presidents?
I don't know how to describe this: The country went to war under false intelligence. Unprecedented uses of executive power that infringes on citizens' liberty. The highest deficit ever created even after 9 billions of budget surplus from the Clinton Administration.
Oh, just so many achievements so short time to describe.
Love Khmer
Red-Ant inform you,
Keep your $30 donate to the poor in Cambodia, it is to pay to this show of guy.
$30 means nothing for him, when he need it he does not even think how he did when he was and is a big good.
Red-ant bites the most big guy who provide fruitless to our root.
Red-Ant
1:35 AM
what this sucker sichan gets to do with prez bush's fiscal responsibity? I used to be democrat, but the dem are annoying me for their lack of responsibility also.
they are so fast to blame prez bush with the growing federal budget deficit without analyzing it.
curious to find the true of the root of the problems?
false intelligence? there're two things you need to know. prez bush defended us americans so we can be sleeping, partying and fucking each other peacefully. two it can be russia or germany who sold weapons to saddam removed those wmd before american troops got there.
to you increased taxation of the people who are high income earners and overtaxing corporations is great because you are supporting communism-socialism.
and stop blaming prez bush for sichan's ego.
Firstly, my hat go off to all the Khmer compatriots, scholars, intellectuals, and the Khmers around the world in and outside the Khmer Empire nation, who's tirelesly to helps fought for Khmer Krom to reach our independent in the near future.
Secondly, this coming June the fourth Khmer Krom and Khmer around the world will commemorated and observed the lost of Kampuchea Krom 60th aniversaries. To all Khmer around the world, please help participates in this events by seeking the information from Khmer Krom representative everywhere in your community.
Thirdly, my respectfully goes to the team of KI-Media. So far your team had done a tremendous job for the Khmer benefits and keep up the good works.
Fourthly, to all Khmer abroad please bring back The Fourth Factions or Paris Peace Accord unity strategy models.In the early ninety the only Youn pullout from Cambodia because we Khmers had united. Back then king Seyhanouk had all the power, popularity and was incharged. Every body respected him from Khmer perspective and the international community perspective. If I were him I would use this power and popularity to declare to the world community that the Khmer people still under the supression, aggression of Youn and Seam. In doing so, his reputations and credibility will be installed next to the Great Khmer King Jayavarman VII.
In the case of Kampuchea Krom, if we use this exact models we Khmer will once again liberated Kampuchea Krom from the Youn iron grips.And possibly Khmer Krom can declare their independent or reannexed to Cambodia who knows.
Respectively your,
Khmer Empire
Most of the above poster's are what I called, a typical jealous Khmer people.
Everyone of them failed to congratulate his atrocity and his accomplishment.
What he choose to do with his money is non of your business. Every humans are different.
Shouln't he enjoy life after what he went through?
If everyone of you is so concern about poor people back home, maybe you all need to pursue in higher educations?
Or, donate your time with the organizations like.... Red
Cross. Or, just all talk.
Has any of you make any contributions to your native home?
Last, don't blame other's for your failure to succeed.
3:26 AM
"false intelligence? there're two things you need to know. prez bush defended us americans so we can be sleeping, partying and fucking each other peacefully. two it can be russia or germany who sold weapons to saddam removed those wmd before american troops got there."
Nice fairy tale and thank you for sharing.
Fuck Democrat.
Very will said 4:36.
3:26 am doesn't appreciate the men and women of the arm force that are out there risking their life to proctect us from harm. Right or wrong, we as an Americans have a responsi ility to protect the Kurds from Saddam Hussein regime. It's a win-win war.
After all, we did recovered WMD hidden in the hole.
Took it to court and then hang him.
God bless the U S of A!
Please do respect others for their legally success in life. We must understand that each of us has only one life and two hands. We can only do so much for ourself and to help other. Some people can offer others with very extra-ordinary help. But some can only offer with a small help. It is most important to understand that as long as we haven't created any suffering to others and we still live in dignity and with high integrity, that is very superb enough. In Cambodian society, it is very hard to see people who can succeed without having to exploit from others. We must celebrate together for having good citizen like Siv Chan around the world. His success in life is also one of the proudess Cambodian. Areak Prey
Congratulations! I'm proud of you to be a Cambodian with an outstanding and distinguished career in American administration.
Anyway, given your high profile and American citizenship, many Cambodian are still wondering what you could do as a Cambodian to contribute to your own nation's development, especially with regard to what you mentioned Cambodia should in your interview.
Remember, action speaks louder than words!!! I look forward to your concrete actions to save this poor country from Vietnam and Thailand's invasion politics.
The guy is a potato!
I am glad to see everyone use their freedom of speech to comment freely on this site.
Love or hate Sichan Siv, he accomplished more than many of you all combine. Please stop hating and start doing something with your life.
Let's take the jealousy hats off and honor a fine Cambodian descent that work hard to achieve in the land of opportunity,America.
11:33 AM
Oh! Shut your hole. And your wife, too, asshole. You're nothing, but a fucking asshole, ass licker shithead.
2:16PM
I feel bad for you. Having read your expression of anger, you must not be happy with your personal accomplishment as a human being so far...huh.
Wish you well in your life.
Imperialism must not be allowed in our country--Cambodia, that is.
Yes, the American imperialism is not welcome in Cambodia.
Yes, North Korea and China are right about the US.
YOU LOVE TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA....YOU GUY HAS FORGOT YOUR COMPATRIOTS WHO ARE THIRSTY FOR UNCORRUPTED, JUSTICE, AND UNCORRUPTED.
BY FORGOTTEN YOUR NATIVE, YOUR GOLDEN BONES WILL SINK TO HELL SOONEST...
I know NOTHING about this guy; however, what I've known about this guy si that he would have not achieved what he has accomplished, if it had not been for Mrs. Martha. Yes, this lady was the key to his success at the time, otherwise this guy would still be driving a cab in the New York city.
I dare the Phnom Penh Embassy guy refute my comment.
2:16pm,
Why so much hatred?
After reading your posted comment and due to your poor choice of word; I can't help but notice your distress against other to succeed have taking a dramatic turn in your life.
You sir....... is a sign in lack of education.
Dear all kind readers,
The point is that success or not, sign in lack of education or, this is our fortune to do daily working. every one of us have a job to work for our own living. But the main point is our duty giving back to the community.
Think again and again, how much this guy giving back to community, poor people? nothing!. Show of back to his own root, and suck from us while we want to see him, it's cost $.
Thanks.
4:28 AM said:
"Most of the above poster's are what I called, a typical jealous Khmer people.
I answer: Jealous is not the right word. It is Siv's ego makes his critics criticizing him.
4:28 AM said:
"Everyone of them failed to congratulate his atrocity and his accomplishment."
I answer: Don't blame others for Siv's odd behavior. Respect must be earned.
4:28 AM said:
"What he choose to do with his money is non of your business. Every humans are different.
Shouln't he enjoy life after what he went through?"
I answer:
Yes everyone is difference that's why the world is at war and suffering non-stop. If we are the same there was never been wars and never will have.
4:28 AM said:
"If everyone of you is so concern about poor people back home, maybe you all need to pursue in higher educations?
I answer:
How do you know these critics including I don't have higher education higher than Siv Chan, a bachelor Pol Sc from Georgetown?
4:28 AM said:
.Or, donate your time with the organizations like.... Red
Cross. Or, just all talk.
Has any of you make any contributions to your native home?
I answer:
How do you know these critics and I didn't or don't do help the poor people at back home? And what Siv Chan do besides show off his pictures at every toilet in the house?
4:28 AM said:
"Last, don't blame other's for your failure to succeed.
I answer:
How do you know these critics and I are failure? Just because we don't brag like Siv Chan, does not mean we, some of us don't have a PhD, Master degrees or MD or Law Degrees etc...
Don't blame CRITICS because the guy is a snob, a braggart. Compare his little degree with Dr. Tith, Dr. Peang or with thousand new generation Sic Chan is BS. Good thing that his great wife Martha lift him up, we appreciate her for that. Khmer people respect Martha but not that snob. The snob is a self-centered and he is annoying every creature of the world, he thought he is everything? He has no respect for others.
Tell him "FUCK Siv Chan".
8:40 PM
You need to see a therapy ASAP before your life falls apart.
Sincerely,
A good Samaritan
There was one time I asked Sichanthis :
- Do you have in mind what will you do to help Cambodia?
- My job in the US, the world's most powerful nation is far more inportant than Cambodia. He answered.(In Bush father's administration).
Dear all readers and posters of this wonderful forum of free speeches,
"For what I do not know I cannot speak ill about one person's life." - A quote from a very famous member of the new generation of Cambodia.
But yes, I have to admit that some people love to critic others without searching for the truth.
Hat off to this author of this saying: "Remember, action speaks louder than words!!! I look forward to your concrete actions to save this poor country from Vietnam and Thailand's invasion politics." 10:07 AM
I have withnessed a lot of GOOD people that work very hard to get where they are. But for some, I truly doubt about their success. I'm referring Siv Sichan's success for something more than just a self-doubt.
Please do remember, folks, that a REAL successful person should be very humble and compassionate. Needless to mention those wonderful individuals because you all khow who they are.
My deepest congratulations to those who have achieved life's success in EVERY FEAR MEAN through these vitues of intergrity, honesty and dignity!
May the Supreme Lord Buddha bless Cambodia and her people!!!
Your bro
Opps! Sorry I realised I mispelled the word FAIR. Please disregard the previous word of "fear" because I didn't pay much attention when I typed.
My sinecre apologies for the orthographic mistakes.
From your bro
8:40pm,
I doubt that you have a degree in Political Science. If you do have a degree in Pol Sc, you wouldn't answer a questions with a questions.
I could be wrong, but if I do..... congratulation to you.
I know nothing about this man or his profile.
It appeared that you two knew each other at some level and that you dispiced of him for whatever reason that maybe.
My perspective is; judge a person for his or her success and reward them with an applaud. Who know! Maybe that's all it takes to bring them back to common sense.
Sometime too much educations lead to a lack of common sense.
Last, critism does nothing but agitate a person.
Maybe, that's why he is what he is?
If Thai or Viet people read this blog, they would have much fun to see Khmer descendents “Khum Knea” like dogs. We can see hatred among Khmer. It is not a good sign. If this guy has access to White House and he don’t work for Khmer interest as some claimed, why don’t other Khmers tried their best to use him for the Khmer interest? If we cannot use him to influence White House; at least, we can invite him to speech in some place. He is a celebrity now. Then, raise $30 admission tickets to help poor school kids in Cambodia.
May be, I have a weird brain. I believe that each Khmer love their Motherland and people alike. If they have chance to help, they will give their hands in. If they cannot help today, may be some day. The only problem with Khmer people is discouragement. I hope, those Khmers who do not like to be dampened will not do so to others. I hope more Khmers will learn to think in positive way and inspire other Khmers.
Afterall, I may not be facinated about what he have done to help Khmer; but, I admire his achievement. May be, Khmer don't know how to use him yet.
9:04am being jealeous is in khmer genes...even the khmer king has it in his.
I agree that we all should encourage one another. You will always see that angry people get angry; jealeous people get jealous; sad people get sad.
Learn to respect others so you may live longer
You over exaggagerated. Jealous is not caused by genetics, or Khmer genes or Yuon genes or Siam genes, etc...
If you cannot distinguish between Jealous and faultfinder or literary critiscism, don't claim yourself a scholar, because you aren't.
This is not a jealous case, it is about his self centeredness, some people dislike.
This literary criticism for his own good, but the old boy hates to be reminded or told because he sees himself above everyone.
One good thing is that we love Martha, she is a wonderful woman.
Hope she can help that old boy to be more humble instead of being so obsessed with himself in front of the mirror in every room and toilet. Eventually he will have all paper toilet with his old pictures on it.
I am just a poor Med Student drive a cheap sport car to school. Don't bother to attack me.
:)) leave the old boy alone dude. Let him be "Mean tae anh" who cares?
Old people don't change it, becuz they don't believe they are wrong.
to all reader,
i think this guy not try to shaw off himself, what he try to do is to help the khmer next generatinon try to work hard, study hard as much as they could, because we have an opporturnity to be an anythings we would like too as long as you had and ability to do so.
we all should proud of him that he is a first asian american who work with American political office.
he is a good model to all khmer next generation. please to all khmer people do not think in negative way.
12:09pm
"he is a good model to all khmer next generation...?" He sure is not my role model, and about 90% of the posters have negative feelings toward the man. I am not sure if he's anyone's rolde model. I don't see humility in this man although he's had many accomplishments. And he's not an inspirational figure.
5:05 PM,
at lease he do something to the out sider know about khmer, what did you do to help khmer to get to known to the world? according to a lot of issue i had read about khmer in United States are
gange, hight school drop out, very poor among other races if we do compare with other Asian ethic.
if you read about social work book, they grade us very low than other ethic. Majority of us are on welfare,school drop out,very little college educate, very few cambodia people have a courage to challenges to the workforce. if we do work in the workforce majority of cambodia hold possition as assembly and only fight among each other to show up they tought among dump, where as veitnames and other ethic race holp position as engineering, accounting, business man most of all those ethic rather than khmer get higher possition than khmer.
this is a man that we could proud of because he could help us by lifted our chin up hight, that we can say we are khmer. we been grade low among other ethic but we are the first one who could hold a very very hight possition in America political office.
can you immaginate about that? in addition he is not a khmer any more this is Unted States of America, a place that a lot of races try to get to the top possition but no one can only khmer are the first one who could break through this tight wall and he also came to united States as a grown up man and he can do this i am proud of him as khmer. how about you any gold or plane for you future to recognize by america?
and i do not mind if he show off himself little bite higher than us because he try so hard to get this far. what did you do if you were in his shoes ? i think you are may be above him if you were in his shoes, so stop complain about other and try to do good things for yourself and you races. do not dump ass and be a smart guy.
to Sichan sive,
congrattulation on your success, i am very proud to have you to presenting to the khmer people.
hope that you do not take serious on those common above. i think they just being jelouse on you.
dear Ki please show more on this guy and please do not listen to those jelouse people above.
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