Time will bring wanted changes

December 30, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Tomorrow evening's sunset will end the old year, and the new year of 2010 will be upon us, with its 365 new days for us to do what we desire: Building a new future with our creative and productive thinking; or continuing the old past, repeating old thoughts and actions.

Welcome to the New Year's new opportunity!

As some busily perfect a new set of resolutions, some are more focused on figuring what went wrong in the year that's ending. Like most of you, I have spent some time reflecting on the highs and lows of 2009. Some memories are worth a replay; others I would just as soon forget.

University of Scranton psychology professor John C. Norcross reminds us that "Obsessive rumination about past events can trap patients in a self-defeating cycle from which they cannot extricate themselves. It can actually retard healing."

But I don't think most of us obsess. So I prefer a more energizing reminder from the Sanskrit: "Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life ... today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day. Such is the salutation to the dawn."

I recall telling my politics students at the University of Guam: "This moment is the only moment you have. Respect its possibilities. ... If today seems shrouded in hopelessness, pray. ... Regardless of what this day brings, thank God. An untouched day awaits you tomorrow."

I'd like to take credit for the expression of those sentiments, but truth be told, I scribbled this quote from a book at an airport bookstore as I awaited my next flight.

Thus, earlier this December I seized my moment and braved the cold and windy winter day in America's northeastern region, and took a trip to the nation's capital to visit someone I had met by chance some 36 years ago: a Khmer-born former international civil servant with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and retired professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Naranhkiri Tith.

A specialist in country analysis, Tith manages a controversial Web site on which he calls for a "progressive and systematic overhaul" of Cambodian society as the only way to gradually resolve Cambodia's current economic, institutional, legal, political and social problems.

Former Czech dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel termed a person like Tith "an irritant wherever he is," because as "the chief doubter of systems" he constantly disturbs, bears witness, provokes, rebels against pressures and manipulations because it's an intellectual's role. And Burmese human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi termed such a person, one with "a questing mind" that always questions and always seek answers.

I found Tith, now "76-and-a-half," he told me, to fit what Havel and Suu Kyi described. Tith says what he thinks, and he thinks deeply. He knows Khmer society so well and Khmer personalities in particular. I was privileged to be shown his scholarly works and rare collection of documents about our shared homeland. It confirmed what he said to those who know him that they can be sure to find him making a stand wherever human rights and freedom of choice are at risk.

His PowerPoint presentation at SAIS earlier this year, "Khmer Empire: Implications from its Organizational and Operational System on Present Day Events in Cambodia," contains a comparative study of Sinicized Vietnamese and Indianized Khmer administrative and political organizations.

Briefly, Vietnam's "pyramid" model places the ruler at the apex of power, with clearly defined links flowing down to the lowest officials at the base, governed by written code and a system of meritocracy for every rank and role of officials.

Cambodia's model consists of "a series of concentric circles," with the ruler with absolute power at the center. The system is lacking in clearly defined authority as well as in "close linkage" between the center and outer circles, and yet, "petty centers of power" exist. Qualification for employment or promotion is based on "quasi-hereditary family, ability and opportunity to gain the ruler's notice."

While Vietnam embraces "clearly defined borders," Cambodia embraces the "porous concept of hinterland or buffer zone."

Tith said, "Not much has changed since the Angkor time for the majority of Cambodians."

Tith's presentation reveals his philosophy, backed by selected documented literature, which he summarized in two sentences: "Cambodia needs a total change in personal and social behavior, modus operandi, and institutions, especially the leadership. Nothing short of totally reinventing a new Cambodian society and individual."

I was conscious that for the few precious hours that Tith and I spent together -- this time out of choice -- the only "light" time was a brief opportunity to exchange greetings with the gracious Mrs. Tith.

As we parted, we acknowledged that time will certainly bring the change we want to see and it would be a miracle if either one of us will see the fruits of our efforts.

But miracles happen. God works in mysterious ways.

Though the Chinese proverb, "One generation plants trees, the next generation gets shade," flashed in my head, I reminded myself that I have this moment, with its possibilities, I have this day to live well to make yesterday a dream of happiness and tomorrow a vision of hope, and God's promise of strength, comfort and light.

Happy New Year!

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.