Original report from Park City, Utah
02 February 2010
It was curiosity over the killing of his family members under the Khmer Rouge that led journalist Thet Sambath on a personal quest to find the truth. He wanted to know who gave the orders.
His search led him through the hierarchy of the Khmer Rouge, a process that took years of research and interviews with cadre who received orders, undertook the killing, and, finally, to the regime’s top ideologue, Nuon Chea.
Thet Sambath began working with experienced British filmmaker Rob Lemkin in 2006, based on reporting that began in 2000, and eventually earned the trust of Nuon Chea.
The result of the decade-long project became “Enemies of the People,” a documentary that received the World Cinema Special Jury Prize at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US last week.
“This award is very meaningful,” Thet Sambath told VOA Khmer by phone from Park City, Utah, where the festival is held. “It is not only for me, but an honor for all Cambodians. On the other hand, it is very significant that it will encourage more former Khmer Rouge cadres who committed wrongdoings to come out and tell the media about the truth, because I made this documentary with cooperation from Nuon Chea and his honesty. He was honest about decisions to kill Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.”
“It really means an awful lot to our film, because it is a real recognition of the work of Sambath and the work that I was able to do with Sambath over the last few years,” Lemkin said. “And I think it will mean that we can use this award and the things that come with it to reach a very big audience and hopefully have a very positive effect on people’s lives in Cambodia and elsewhere.”
The film provides a unique look at the regime’s chain of command, as told by foot soldiers and cadre, as the filmmakers seek to connect the dots from orders given to orders carried out.
After traveling back and forth to visit Nuon Chea, who is now in detention awaiting an atrocity crimes trial at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, Thet Sambath persuaded Pol Pot’s lieutenant to describe how the two leaders set out to kill party members and others they deemed enemies of the people.
Interviews took place at Nuon Chea’s small, stilt home near the Thai border, in Pailin, one of the last Khmer Rouge strongholds.
“Our project was to transform the nature of society,” Nuon Chea says in the film. “We did not allow private ownership of anything....land or factories.... All these came under collective control, but those who did not want change became set against us…. Ours was a clean regime, a clear-sighted regime, [and] a peaceful regime. That was our aim, but we failed because the enemy’s spies attacked and sabotaged us from the start.”
The Khmer Rouge eliminated schools, markets and private ownership in a bid to create a society from scratch, a failed experiment that led to the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians.
In one scene in the film, two Khmer Rouge officers, who give their names as Khuon and Suon, show the exact location where they executed people. Some of the ditches where they buried the bodies have become rice fields; one is a pond that local people use for bathing. The former soldiers talk about the foul smell of blood and its stain on their hands, and one of the men graphically illustrates how he killed his victims by slitting their throats.
In another scene, a former Khmer Rouge district chief denies knowledge of the killings, until she is confronted with a subordinate who says he received orders from her to kill. She concedes, saying she only relayed orders from her superiors.
Many former Khmer Rouge soldiers now live low-profile lives in rural Cambodia, hiding their backgrounds by changing their names.
In “Enemies of the People,” the producers arrange a meeting between the executioners and Nuon Chea, so that they may ask why such fatal orders were issued. Nuon Chea tells them not to feel guilty, as they were simply following orders.
Nuon Chea says his regime sought all remedies to correct wrongdoers, before deciding to “smash” them.
"If we kept these people, they would kill the nation,” Nuon Chea says. “I have feelings for both the nation and individual, but I clearly distinguish between them. If we must choose one or the other, I choose the nation. The individual I cast aside.”
His search led him through the hierarchy of the Khmer Rouge, a process that took years of research and interviews with cadre who received orders, undertook the killing, and, finally, to the regime’s top ideologue, Nuon Chea.
Thet Sambath began working with experienced British filmmaker Rob Lemkin in 2006, based on reporting that began in 2000, and eventually earned the trust of Nuon Chea.
The result of the decade-long project became “Enemies of the People,” a documentary that received the World Cinema Special Jury Prize at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US last week.
“This award is very meaningful,” Thet Sambath told VOA Khmer by phone from Park City, Utah, where the festival is held. “It is not only for me, but an honor for all Cambodians. On the other hand, it is very significant that it will encourage more former Khmer Rouge cadres who committed wrongdoings to come out and tell the media about the truth, because I made this documentary with cooperation from Nuon Chea and his honesty. He was honest about decisions to kill Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.”
“It really means an awful lot to our film, because it is a real recognition of the work of Sambath and the work that I was able to do with Sambath over the last few years,” Lemkin said. “And I think it will mean that we can use this award and the things that come with it to reach a very big audience and hopefully have a very positive effect on people’s lives in Cambodia and elsewhere.”
The film provides a unique look at the regime’s chain of command, as told by foot soldiers and cadre, as the filmmakers seek to connect the dots from orders given to orders carried out.
After traveling back and forth to visit Nuon Chea, who is now in detention awaiting an atrocity crimes trial at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, Thet Sambath persuaded Pol Pot’s lieutenant to describe how the two leaders set out to kill party members and others they deemed enemies of the people.
Interviews took place at Nuon Chea’s small, stilt home near the Thai border, in Pailin, one of the last Khmer Rouge strongholds.
“Our project was to transform the nature of society,” Nuon Chea says in the film. “We did not allow private ownership of anything....land or factories.... All these came under collective control, but those who did not want change became set against us…. Ours was a clean regime, a clear-sighted regime, [and] a peaceful regime. That was our aim, but we failed because the enemy’s spies attacked and sabotaged us from the start.”
The Khmer Rouge eliminated schools, markets and private ownership in a bid to create a society from scratch, a failed experiment that led to the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians.
In one scene in the film, two Khmer Rouge officers, who give their names as Khuon and Suon, show the exact location where they executed people. Some of the ditches where they buried the bodies have become rice fields; one is a pond that local people use for bathing. The former soldiers talk about the foul smell of blood and its stain on their hands, and one of the men graphically illustrates how he killed his victims by slitting their throats.
In another scene, a former Khmer Rouge district chief denies knowledge of the killings, until she is confronted with a subordinate who says he received orders from her to kill. She concedes, saying she only relayed orders from her superiors.
Many former Khmer Rouge soldiers now live low-profile lives in rural Cambodia, hiding their backgrounds by changing their names.
In “Enemies of the People,” the producers arrange a meeting between the executioners and Nuon Chea, so that they may ask why such fatal orders were issued. Nuon Chea tells them not to feel guilty, as they were simply following orders.
Nuon Chea says his regime sought all remedies to correct wrongdoers, before deciding to “smash” them.
"If we kept these people, they would kill the nation,” Nuon Chea says. “I have feelings for both the nation and individual, but I clearly distinguish between them. If we must choose one or the other, I choose the nation. The individual I cast aside.”
4 comments:
KHMER WORDS IN THE THAI LANGUAGE
Astonishing facts of Khmer influences in the Thai language (up to 40% according to research):
* อิทธิพลของภาษาเขมรในภาษาไทยมีถึง ๔๐% ของภาษาไทยทั่วไป ที่เราเรียกกันว่า "กัมพุชพากย์" ซึ่งคนไทยทุกๆคนควรรู้ (...ถ้าเราเกลียดเขมร แล้วจะเอา คำเหล่านี้ออกจากภาษาไทย...ผมเชื่อว่าเราจะแย่กันแน่นอน!)
ภาษาเขมรมีอิทธิพลในภาษาไทยมาช้านาน โดยมีหลักฐานชัดเจนย้อนหลังไปอย่างน้อยในสมัยกรุงศรีอยุธยา โดยปรากฏในปริบทต่างๆ ดังนี้
๑. ในวรรณคดี (เช่น ลิลิตยวนพ่าย, โคลงกำสรวล, คำฉันท์ดุษฎีสังเวยกล่อมช้าง) ได้แก่ เพ็ญ, พร, ไถง, ผกา, ผอูน, แข, อัญขยม, ฉนำ, ฉงน, จำรัส , กบาล, ละออ, ชิด, ลือ, ไพร, ดุจ,
ดำรง, ฯลฯ
๒. ในภาษาพูดทั่วไป เช่น จมูก, ถนน, สพาน, เพลง, สระ, เสมียน, แห่, ขบวน, จบ, จำ, นำ, รำ, ยำ, ใน, นี้, ที่, ตาม, ยาม, คง, ช่วย, แนะนำ, วง, มูล, ก็, สม, สงสัย, พยายาม, ปัญหา, ภัย, ร่วม, รวบรวม, เรียบเรียง, เรียบร้อย, เรื่อง, รุ่งเรือง, เครื่อง, ครอบครอง, เคารพ, กังวล, สหาย, สนม, ทหาร, ชน, ชนบท, จ่าย, จำหน่าย, จัด, กำจัด, ตรวจ, ตำรวจ, อาจ, อำนาจ, เดิน, ดำเนิน, เกิด, กำเนิด, กด, กำหนด, ตรา, ตำรา, ตรวจ, ตำรวจ, อวด, อำนวด, ชาญ, ชำนาญ, เชิญ, อัญเชิญ, พร, อวยพร, แต่ง, ตำแหน่ง, นึก, รำลึก, เสร็จ, สำเร็จ, เสียง, สำเนียง, สรุป, สวด, สะอาด, ฉลาด, สนุก, สบาย, สว่าง, สร้าง, ก่่่อสร้าง, นาง, นาย, ตา, ยาย, แม่, ลา, ลาภ, ออกญา, สนม, เสียดาย, ขาด, ทุน, ข้อ, บวก, ร่วม, ราย, ประชาชน, ประชากร, ประจำ, ประกาศ, ประกวด, ประกอบ, ประมุข, ประณีต, ประดับ, กระจัด, กระจาย, กระแส, กระเบื้อง, จับ, จอง, ปัจจุบัน, ประมาณ, ปรากฏ, เสมอ, เสนอ, โรง, เรียน, รักษา, บำรุง, บำเรอ, บำรัส, บำบัต, บัง, แบบ, บาง, ละเอียด, ทราบ, ตะบอง, ตอบ, ต่อ, ตั้ง, เตือน, แถม, หรือ, สำหรับ, สำคัญ, ครบ, คิด, ผลิต, สัมผัส, โดย, ควร, เฉพาะ, เพราะ, เคาะ, เกาะ, กรุง, เขต, ตำบล, ทะเล, ทะเลสาบ, ฯลฯ
๓. ในราชาศัพท์ เช่น ขนง, โขนง, เขนย, เสวย, บรรทม, เสด็จ, สมเด็จ, พระองค์, พระนาง, พระเจ้า, กรมพระ, กรมหลวง, กรมขุน, ทรง, กราบ, ถวาย, ละออง, ธุลี, พระบาท, แถลง, ทูล, บังคม, ประชวน, ฯลฯ
๔. ในชื่อ จังหวัด เช่น กรุงเทพมหานคร, ศรีอยุธยา, สุโขทัย, นครราชสีมา, กาญจนบุรี, เพชรบุรี,ราชบุรี, ชัยภูมิ, กำแพงเพชร, ลพบุรี, นครนายก, ฉะเชิงเทรา, นครพนม, สุรินทร์, บุรีรัมย์, ศรีสะเกษ, อำนาจเจริญ ฯลฯ
๕. ในตัวเลขสิบตัว เช่น ๐, ๑, ๒, ๓, ๔, ๕, ๖, ๗, ๘, ๙
๖. เป็นแม่แบบอักษรไทยทั้ง ๔๖ พยัญชนะ และ สระ (ก่อนไทยเอามาแก้ให้สดวกง่ายขึ้นมา) ตัวอักษรเขมรที่ไทยใช้ตลอดมาและไม่ได้เปลี่ยนลักษณะ (ซึ่งเขมรยังใช้อยู่ปัจจุบันเหมือนกัน) เช่น ร, -ัั, -า, -ำ, -ิ, -ี, -ึ, -ื, -ุ, -ู, เ-, ฯ, ๆ, -็, -์, -ํ, ๏, ๚, ๛
can't read your thai language
Thai, would you translate your comment in English or Khmer please.
We want to hear from you.
I heard people want to organize an organization represent the Khmerrouge Victimes!
One small purpose that sound so loud is about getting compansation as a group or and small token to organize a religion ceremony!
That sound so sad and scary to me!
Today Cambodia people kind of thinking that money can solve anything from get away from raping to muder, to accid attack!
Do we want to send a maasage that what Khmerrouge Victimes want is not justice and thruth but money? Money is more iportant than justice and life?
Mr. Chom Mey the Self called KhmerRouge Victime Who Only Dared to Loook At Duch in Eyes to Eyes, preferes some money and 50% justice!
What is 50% justice ?
Justice for the Camodian now (Since we all victimes) is the thruth of what happening! Since real thruth could never be found or not only just one thruth! we want to hear the lawyers crose exame of who saw or involve with the crime!Specially the higher
rank!
We want this process of justice to teach the next generation of how not to let the crime to be happening against from the point of view of the King down to a poor hadicape citizen!
We want notthing more thant gathering as many thruth as posible. NO money nor imprison any body! But what was wrong who did wrong, and how was wrong!
So the whole country or may be the whole world can create a system that prevent the crime of genocide to happen again any time any where else!
No MONEY for the wrong reason please! our country is corrupted to the core! They are selling justice for money and thing that for peace and forgiveness!
My relative lives can not be replaced by any money! But the thruths that help prevent the evil to strike again any where on earth!!
2:15 AM
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