My husband drew this portrait of myself soon after my baby was born. There were no oils. He would go around the street trying to look for paint in the big, big sea of rubbish. He was really thrilled in gaining his skill back after it got rusty for four years. I had to sit for him to draw for a few hours and I had to run to feed the baby and come back. We really, really fell in love; it was really sentimental. We built up our relationship through hardship. I know many couples divorce soon after Pol Pot because that was the circumstance that they decide to tie the knot.
- cultural background: Cambodian
- town, region, country of origin: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- start of migration journey: Bangkok, Thailand, 1980
- place of arrival in australia: Brisbane on 25th May 1980
- first home in australia: We were sponsored by my brother-in-law and lived with his family in Brisbane.
- first job in australia: I volunteered as a receptionist for a small taxation office to practice my English, then a TAFE teacher for young, unemployed Cambodians in Sydney.
- other jobs in australia: Interpreter for health department; restaurant owner; Cambodian liasion and multicultural lisasion officer, NSW Police – all located in Sydney.
Phiny Ung’s migration memories:
I was born in 1956 in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. My parents were usually away from home so I spend most of the time with my grandmother and grown-up siblings in Phnom Penh.
Agriculture is a big influence [on] our economy and [we] have very natural gift of plenty of fish around December to February. I was so amazed how we can get close to nature. That goes back to the way that grandma used to do things. She passed it on and made sure we learned. She usually had the tamarind paste – put a bit of water to get some juice – and mix with some garlic and onion, brown it. Then she cooked with some fish sauce and also with some meat, then we can go with a very nice fish. It was very, very happy time. I was fortunate to be a favourite granddaughter.
Mum and Dad go to different province where [Dad] was the governor. Summer in Cambodia were with my parents and the younger siblings. Dad attend[ed] a special school to train for diplomat [and] my [eldest] brother was an army lieutenant in the Sihanouk regime. He got married in early January [1975 and] it was fortunate he got injured a few months before the country fall onto Pol Pot regime otherwise we would have been separated from him.’
Phiny’s eldest brother’s wedding, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, January 1975“I got that photo from his wife’s relative who lives in France, otherwise I wouldn’t have anything. I couldn’t carry much of a memory from my past during my escape to the Thai border.”
The evacuation of Phnom Penh was in April 1975 when Pol Pot came to power. The Khmer Rouge told [us] that the Americans will bomb soon so to survive we have to get fast out of the city.
We learned later that they just want to punish people who live in the city because we were the enemy of state. They said people who [worked] with the government would be called back in a few weeks when they install the new regime. Who is to know that they kill because they want to clean the old regime and start the new one?
They evacuate three or four million people in a few days. It was shock and disbelief. It was terribly chaotic, there was no planning. A big tragedy unfolded, we did not know what to say except follow orders. There’s always a gun fired to the air, to push and order people to move on. The streets were full of people. People died along the street, some woman gave birth to a baby on the street. It was horrible, horrible.
My father inherit a sword from his family heirloom. It’s been passed on a few generations. Mum used to tell us not to take the sword out from the case, only in a very emergency situation when it needs to be used and that meant killing people. Our great, great grandfather had used the sword to fight. I think it is more than a good 200 years. I recall Mum and my biggest sister work hard trying to hide this sword into a long pillow where she can also fit some other valuables, belongings and currency. When we settle in the countryside, Mum told one of our brothers to bury the sword. We can only take it out when Pol Pot finish or we return to capital city.
My parents were born in Phnom Penh so my father decided to follow his good friend (Bunheang’s[1] uncle), to the eastern part of Cambodia, about 100 kilometres away. Dad’s philosophy is that if we can go somewhere with water and rice plantation then we will survive. I remember we would take a break and try to feed two abandoned children because they’re separated from their parents. It just fit perfectly to the saying, ‘Every man for themselves’. Those babies were about 20 months old, just lay on the concrete floor. I spent some time to put food in their mouth but I could not take the baby with me because I have other things for my family and we had to move on, we’re not allowed to stay and do what we want – the Khmer Rouge soldier would move people on every minute. We would be shot.
During Pol Pot, regardless of what government ranking you were, [you] fall into enemy of state category, what they consider to be educated or intellectual. Even my [siblings who] were high school students, the widow of the army officer and a primary school teacher. Mum came from a very well trained family. The way she talked, the way our family was set up, we’d been accused that we were connected to royal family. That put us into a class. The ideology created hostility between two groups of people who live in the city and in the countryside. I was very angry, very upset about the way we’d been treated but then again you look at the primitive [life] of the farmers.
We were accused of being corrupt, having lifestyle of imperialism, capitalism, that we’d been brainwashed. We were treated as traitors. [There] was a very severe sentence for that. Usually they take to the pagoda and interrogate people there. All I know is that my father and eldest brother [had] their hands tied to their back, taken away to the re-education camp which was the gaol. The villagers [said] they’d been beaten and taken away. We never seen them [again].
They planned to take us all, they really made us go through a very, very traumatic time. It was torture, psychological torture, where we had to prove that we’re loyal to the government organisation, Angkar, they want to test our resilience. [When] taking family member, we’re not to show any emotion because we had to be very strong and work very hard to prove our loyalty. We cannot cry or display any emotion in public [otherwise] we’re having the same fate, we’d be taken away.
The only thing we can focus or encourage to do so is to work 15 or 16 hours a day, wearing the black pyjama – a wrap type thing – and no school, no market, no money. It just was purely working seven days a week. We just had to follow the instruction by getting up at dawn, working on rice field production, and come home at dusk.
When we reach 16 we had to join the mobile brigade or conscription to join the battlefield. Some children never return to their family. When we get married we are allowed to work at the local village and do rice production, dig the dam and many other heavy work.
We had been put into lots of assignments risking life: we’d been ordered to do some work on the other side of a river without knowing how to swim. I would just hang onto a buffalo tail, there’s no OH&S (occupational health and safety) for people because it’s Communist. They don’t respect life and there’s no humanity; it’s just survival.
The Communists are trying to control people, everything belonged to Angkar with very, very grass roots people to take power. You just had to follow what they say. You cannot take your own knowledge and say, “Look, this is not the right way”. You just have to be dumb, deaf and blind to follow the order. In order to be alive you have to be obedient. They’d been trained to dislike or be hostile with the city people.
Bunheang was a student at the university of fine arts and a cartoonist [for] a well-known newspaper. He’d been strong in political cartoons since he was 17 years old so he had been [well] trained in Cambodian politics. We decided to ‘tie the knot’.
I was worried that we will be accepted for marriage; I was a daughter of a government official and [his] family also from ‘imperialist’ background. We’re not allowed to hold hands, walk side by side, call each other [names to] show affection like ‘honey’, ‘darling’. Every night they have spy to check.
We cannot pick any time to get married because Angkar permit[ted] people to get married only twice a year; it is a mass wedding. Both families have to put an application to the chief of the village. On 5th October 1977 we had to walk about five kilometres from our village to attend one of the temples. Angkar [use] it as the big centre because it was no longer to practice religion. They divide the wedding into morning and afternoon, the morning for people very close to the organisation, the grass root people.
It was a very sad but funny business if you compare to the normal life wedding, like my brother’s and sister’s. You don’t have to prepare anything, you just have to go to work until the eve of the wedding. I had to borrow some good clothes from the neighbour because my black pyjama that I had been issued was so worn out.
I still recall that day. I was so upset and sad because my father was taken away two years before that and I lost three siblings so it wasn’t really a joyful day. We don’t even know what our future would be like.
The way of the wedding is to go in front of the chief of the village. There was a long table and a list with names. Because they’re not able to read and write that well and we cannot show them that we know how to, we just put our thumb into that stamp pad and print our thumb next to our name, so we don’t actually have a marriage certificate! That was the main ceremony. Next day we had to go to work, business as usual.
Soon after the Vietnamese regime came in we knew there was going to be a change. We don’t trust that Vietnam will bring any peace or stabilisation to Cambodia apart from looking for their own interest to invade.
I get pregnant with my first daughter so the first thing to do is to look for some place I can give birth with comfort. Living in the countryside there is no hospital and I’m not comfortable to follow traditional midwife. Knowing it is a big risk, we try to join the new government installed by the Vietnamese army. My husband joined with the department of information [with] his skill of drawing. We have regular ration for our salary and a really nice hospital. That was in 1979 and my daughter was born in July.
My husband had been told he would be sent to do training in Vietnam or East Germany. We suspect it might not be the case because of the racial hostility [for] ethnic Chinese which falls into my husband’s family. So we knew we’re not really that safe.
After Pol Pot we cannot go back to our own family home because it’s been occupied by the government official because that’s quite a big house. Nothing is belonging to you anymore, everything is to the government.
To travel to the Thai border is almost impossible at that time, only the people that transport food. So we bribed the driver of the truck that carried rice to Battambang, the province close to the border. It’s about 250 kilometres away but it took us ten days because the road had been badly damaged during the war. We paid them in gold and have to go on top of rice which is really dusty. That is really hard with the five months old baby.
We almost got killed several times; sometimes the lorry capsized. We had to pass through many checkpoints and don’t have any more valuable thing to trade, so I have to make the decision to follow my husband and [his] family because my mother-in-law had some gold. It was a tough decision to leave my mother and younger siblings behind. If I survive, then I will find a way for them to follow me.
Mum lost Dad and four other children, it was tough enough, but to lose me again, not knowing what’s going to happen because I might not be successful with my escape and the grandchild? But if I don’t come then my husband would not come, so I just had to be brave. We were so upset knowing we were going to be apart. I don’t know where the strength came from. She gave me a statue of Buddha and the photo of my great-uncle dressed as a very high ranking senator.
I had to leave behind lots of significant things including the sword. Another memorable thing was the portrait my husband draw of myself soon after my baby was born. There were no oils. He would go around the street trying to look for paint in the big, big sea of rubbish. He was really thrilled in gaining his skill back after it got rusty for four years. I had to sit for him to draw for a few hours and I had to run to feed the baby and come back.
We really, really fell in love in that I never knew before. It was really sentimental. We built up our relationship through that hardship and get to know each other. I know many couples divorce soon after Pol Pot because that was the circumstance that they decide to tie the knot.
But I knew I could do something with this education certificate. I learn the skill of hiding things during Pol Pot because it’s a matter of life and death. I insert that small certificate into the waistband in several folds. I knew it’s a big risk because it explains what I do, where I was born, even the table number I sat during the exam. It prove[s] my level of education, which isn’t very high but high enough for guards to consider I would be a threat to the government. I don’t know whether I’ll be alive or dead during my escape but I’m just looking for something to represent me and that’s the only thing I had at that time.
We present a false document at every checkpoint. Our original application is to attend the wedding of a relative near the border. Smuggling and bribery is in full practice so we pay those guards but the photo and Buddha statue [were] confiscated. They said, “You connected to the high ranking government?” so I had to make up story, but they have the small statue and said, “You’re trying to smuggle out of the country with this”. They just kept accusing and accusing and I said, “No, with baby I do not go anywhere, this is for my family heirloom, it’s left over from the Pol Pot regime. This is sacred for our family”. So we pay them gold or some bracelet and they keep quiet but then they took away the photo and the Buddha. But I’m glad I make the good decision of folding that certificate into my trouser waistband.
It was very, very scary experience, it was a miracle. We follow the guide we hired to show us the way to the Thai border. For local villagers, this is their trade; it’s a clandestine type of smuggling. I didn’t know I was pregnant with my second child, too stressed to know what’s happening.
For about 12 kilometres that would be about six or seven hours’ ride. Sometimes you’re slow, there’s several checkpoints and the very difficult part was to pass guerillas – Khmer Rouge resistance – and the Vietnamese troops which represent the government.
When we pass the Vietnamese we say we go to the next village to express our loss during Pol Pot. The Vietnamese have to give compassion to prove that they are friend to Cambodia. Then we go to Khmer Rouge and I pretend to be the wife of that [local villager]. It’s really hard to hide skin colour, the appearance, when you’re not really a farmer or villager. For me I can blend in alright but my husband, it was so terrible.
We managed to get to [the border] and were trying to get to the camp [to] access international aid. We registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to get our rations. There were several camps. There was a horrible experience where some refugees in the next [camp] were taken back by the Thai government. We had to take risks all the time, we were not sure whether we were being totally protected or not, we could not communicate with the Thai driver.
Finally we [were] taken to the proper camp and stayed there for about three months. I managed to contact my aunty in Paris, so she sent money. Straight away I found someone to go back to Cambodia and then trying to get my surviving relatives, my mother and siblings, to the camp. My husband has a brother who lives in Australia so he sponsored us. That was [why] we left so quickly and move[d] to a holding centre [for two months], waiting for the flight. We were held back for six weeks because my daughter was very ill and had been taken to hospital.
Each day we go to the big centre to see [if] our name is on the board [to depart]. Your destiny [is] from day to day. Once we [were] called, I cannot lose the opportunity [but] then was so worried I would leave before my mother and sibling arrived. I can’t telephone, there’s no means of communication. We were so fortunate that they arrived just 10 days before I left. I managed to take a photo of them and I treasure that Polaroid. I was just overwhelmed with joy to be reunited with them and at the same time knowing there was only half of [the family] that made it.
Phiny’s family reunite at Khao-I Dang refugee camp, Thailand, January 1980“Mum, my sisters and brothers arrived and reunited with me. It was one of my happiest times to be together again [but] only half of [the family] made it.”
I accomplished one of the tasks I promised my mother [but she] was upset I left her again. That’s the second time we had to say goodbye but this time we would have more of a hope. I would try to get them out and I did.
[Coming to Australia was] the feeling of the unknown, the feeling of surviving, feeling to be grateful. I can’t deny I feel relieved and happy but it’s mixed with that sadness. [On] 25th of May 1980, I arrived in Brisbane and that was such a wonderful experience.
We were greeted by one of the immigration officials and it was so warm a welcome. I just never thank enough to the Australian government and the people the gratitude that [they] gave me life. This is the first thing I can put my trust in. I’m no longer cheating death, we were not at risk. I have a place to live without fear of being killed. And when I met that officer although we cannot communicate, I can understand and they really do their best to make the three of us feel welcome. Once we touched down, we were so overwhelmed.
The officer put us in a taxi. We saw the big road, the city and things like that and then the taxi driver happened to be female!! It was a Sunday and I did not know shopping wasn’t open so the city is quite deserted. We have a sense of suspicion all the time because we’d been through too much and I said, “What’s happening? Where’s the people?” Later we learned many people go to church.
My brother-in-law did not know the day we arrive [so] when we arrive to their house it was a complete surprise! They’re all scream[ing]. Then my daughter is so dehydrated because she had diarrhoea and didn’t eat. She looked half-dead and didn’t talk. It was so horrific. That night my sister-in-law call her friend, a paediatrician. It’s so lucky we have the top class treatment.
She had to be hospitalised that night and it was so difficult to let her go. We’re curious about [the hospital] and it was just a big experience. It was like coming out from hell and then we see different faces, different way of people treating. That is really mesmerising.
We stayed there until I gave birth to my second daughter in September. Then we move out from my sponsor to try and settle ourselves. During that time my husband managed to get a part-time job soon after he finished his English class. I was busy with two babies, so he’s the only one who can earn. I got home tutor and I learn English with the children [watching kids’] TV programs. That was a very good experience.
Phiny & Bunheang with their two young daughters, Brisbane, Australia, 1980“[On] 25th of May 1980, I arrived in Brisbane and that was such a wonderful experience. This is the first thing I can put my trust in. I’m no longer cheating death, we were not at risk. I have a place to live without fear of being killed. Once we touched down, we were so overwhelmed.”
It took us a few weeks before we get rid of all the jetlag and of course adjust our way of life. The cooking – we didn’t really have difficulty comparing to other refugees [who] have to get used to lamb. So we did not experience the government migrant hostel so we accommodate to our liking with the rice and things like that, so I have no trouble.
When we come home, after the daily chore, we say, “What can we tell?” because even our own relative, my brother-in-law who sponsor us, find it hard to believe what happened. So we had to tell. Luckily Bunheang can use his skill of drawing.
He get the Indian ink, cardboard and some pointy pen. He said, “You have to remind me what you saw”. So we talked together, combined [our] experiences and then he start into his drawing. So every night when I put the children to sleep, we sit together, concentrate and recall. This is our homework [for] nearly four months. Every night.
We have no photograph and we worry we may forget. So it’s sort of an archive. After it’s built up for more than 90 drawings, then he start to show people. Much later he [worked with] a Queensland University lecturer to publish a book called Murderous Revolution.
» Khmer Rouge Toons illustration website
We have nightmare all the time. When I hear the knock at the door, I just don’t want to open [it]. We do not know who’s there, who will bring bad news; my mother and surviving relatives are still at the camp. So I hate to answer door. I had enough bad news. I was so afraid.
I did not know until much later that [the drawings were] helping us let our traumatising experience flow out. When you were the victim of terrible experience you can only think about what’s happening. You don’t have time to think what you’re going to do next. At that time there wasn’t a system of having counselling and with our culture, counselling is very much talking to your religious leader, relative or someone elderly in the community.
We have French as our second language. We [studied a little] English during secondary school but we only start to learn English when we arrived in Australia. When I arrive[d] in Australia the language experience was [intertwined with] discrimination. I can understand English but I can’t speak [much] just yet because I need a lot of practice. I recall when I went to greengrocer and trying to pick a few pears, that shop owner snatched that bag out and pour out the pears, grab all of the second grade and then charge me. I used my gesture not accepting that and protest. He just show me out of the shop, like, “You’re not accepted”. I recall I haven’t seen much of Asian appearance at that time so I was really the new face of physical appearance of the migration in the 1980s on the streets of Brisbane.
It’s sad but I cannot take that sort of racial discrimination as a very serious thing because I’ve been through too much. We learn to accept that we are newcomers so maybe this is the way it is? Communication was a really big problem but we try hard to learn and win the support by just being nice and friendly to others, not respond in a negative way. That’s the only way I can put myself into facing the discrimination which is a thousand things – on the bus, the train, sometime we got spat at but it’s [not] life threatening. It hurts, it’s really hard to take, but then we [had] a lot more to deal with, so we managed to toss it aside.
There’s no need to get involved in that kind of provocation. “Well you think you are the winner, so be it. We are the loser? Yes, of course I’m a loser; I lost my land, I lost my home country, I lost everything and I’m just coming to look for peace”. So we have to stick to that peaceful life.
Bunheang got an illustrator job in Brisbane three months after he attended the English class with the migrant education centre but it was only part-time, only about $10 more than the unemployment benefit because we have two small children and I wasn’t working.
I sponsor my mother [and siblings?] and they join me a year after [in Brisbane but] late ’81 [we came to Sydney]. My husband got a very good job he always dreamed to do, working in the animation studio. The studio in Sydney offered that position for a trial for 10 days. Bunheang did not believe that he get paid while on trial and the pay was almost double.
When he told me [he got the job], first I was so thrilled but then again it hit me hard I had to leave my mother again because I can’t afford to take them with me. So Mum again had to go through with a sense of loss, the third time.
Mum followed me [to Sydney] a year after, [she] missed her grandchildren. There is more opportunity in Sydney, we have more cosmopolitan, more Asian sort of concentration than Brisbane at that time. We become tourist at many occasion by learn[ing] the public transport. [Even] though it was very limited resource we were so happy.
Many other fellow refugee were not able to gather their strength to pick up the pieces in settling with the new life. The lack of confidence has really deterred [some] and I was able to work with many to build confidence and [improve their] education levels. I started as a receptionist with a small taxation office [where] I brought our tax return, but that was volunteering. It was only for a short time, trying to practice my English. Later I got a very good job as a part-time teacher with TAFE to work with young, unemployed Cambodians [aged] between 15 and 24 for three years. I also worked as a healthcare interpreter with the health department.
Australia [was] about to celebrate the bicentennial year, ’88, and the market crashed. The company my husband worked for suffered a great loss, so we [were] nervous because we bought a home. We thought maybe we look at a new venture by starting our own business. That was in 1988 and we went to Mosman [on Sydney’s lower north shore]. We found an old Bulgarian restaurant, Sofia, so there is no connection to Cambodia at all! We introduce[ed] our food to the Australian community in the upmarket northern suburbs. We travel three hours a day from the Fairfield area [in south-west Sydney] and we decide I have to resign from my government position. if I can escape from one country to another I [shouldn’t] worry too much!
Apsara, the dancing angel [which] culturally is very Cambodian, went surprisingly well thanks to my grandmother and mother who passed on the cooking skill. I use[d] all the family recipes. It lasted about four years [but] it was hard to run with small daughters and we didn’t close until two in the morning.
My husband decorated the restaurant with his drawings; that captured lots of attention. Word of mouth really did us a big favour; we seem[ed] to attract professionals and politicians. I recall Mr and Mrs Greiner[2] came to dinner and the producer, Bruce Dover, from A Current Affair with Channel Ten, was a regular face.
Bruce talked about the Pol Pot drawings and our life experiences. He said, “Do you think you can go back?” That was in 1989. At that time, it wasn’t really accessible [for] Cambodians to return because of the political situation with Vietnam. We had to get permission from the government because they control everything.
Mum was so shocked. How could I be so silly to leave [my] husband and children behind to take such a big risk? I said, “Mum, it’s not about money, it’s about confronting my past and the hope that I might find my sibling or Dad”. I heard people united after many years [after] they separate. If I knew [where] Dad is buried or siblings were killed, then I would be able to [have] closure because we did not really have a chance to grieve properly.
So I was an interpreter with the film crew to do the documentary, that’s all I knew. But once I got there it turned out I was the person that they were going to make the documentary about! They called it The Waiting Fields[3].
It was a really big experience and I spent about two weeks in Cambodia. The focus was on the refugee experience. I met my surviving relatives and went to the site where it was still fresh with mass graves. I didn’t go to Tuol Sleng prison because I wasn’t ready to. That was the place they held my father, brothers and sister and kill or torture them. I’ll never be ready to go to a place like that. I went to a place not far [away] and saw the remaining clothing still scattered everywhere. I learned [my grandmother] passed away when Pol Pot came to evacuate people from the city to the countryside.
I met my aunty. It was a complete surprise [for her]. I recognised her straight away but she took awhile to just absorb the reality. She didn’t know that I return to my homeland, nobody know. After we escape, we don’t communicate [for] a long time. Through another refugee friend we know she is still alive and okay in Phnom Penh. They film[ed our reunion] after nine years.
She said I am welcome to take whatever I want to take back, especially the sword and my portrait. I was speechless. I knew if I go myself as a tourist, I wouldn’t be allowed to take it because the government controls everything.
I arrange with the film crew to look for my family home. They organised to have a big family gathering. Finally we found it and I took some photos. People get really excited as it’s obviously it’s filming [by] foreigners. What shocked me most was that the orchard garden and big playground we all loved had been replaced by ugly timber. Another shock was that people were quite withdrawn.
Phiny revisits her family home, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1989“I was so excited when the film crew finally found my family home. [But] I walk in and it’s totally different. The look of it is run down, disgusting, old paint and the second shock is new faces I don’t know. They speak my language but I had never met them before.”
Everybody is grateful I’m back alive. I leave Mum to make the decision who is to inherit the sword and [she] pick one of my brothers and I picked up [its] wooden case. So I take that as my belonging even though I’m a girl and not right [to] continue that inheritance. It’s part of the culture, you know. Too bad I was born a woman!
In 1993, the Dateline program at SBS television [wanted] me to confront the Khmer Rouge chief of our village. I’d been working voluntarily with the Khmer Community of New South Wales in 1984. One day I saw the Khmer Rouge chief of our village talk to our welfare worker for housing commission. I recognised him straight away and I believe he would feel the same way.
He accept[ed] he was the Khmer Rouge cadre but denied the killing. That’s another tragedy unfold I’ve got to learn to live with. A person involved with the life and death of my family is here with his ten surviving children. It was really tough. For my part I have to talk about it for the sake of my own history, but some people in the community portray me as the troublemaker and that I am jealous of his family’s business success.
There are people who have done some terrible crime but then live with us every day and pretend to be a good person or try to forget their past without asking proper forgiveness. He was trying to hide that and if I’m not exposing it the story would just go untold. Many have recognised him but wouldn’t dare take the same step.
My pure intention is I want to rest, I want to find closure for my personal tragedy. I cannot find my father’s body, I cannot find my father’s grave, I cannot locate the place where he was killed so what else do I have? [If I] hear the perpetrator apology I can forgive them.
Other people have difficulty to face the truth and try to sweep [it] under the carpet. The Khmer Rouge trial taking place in Cambodia [with] United Nations [support] also opens cans of worms.
In 1993 I fell pregnant with my third child and it happened to be a boy. We believe that was the gift from the big Buddha and my wish was granted. There’s 11 years gap so we decided to have another one, so we have four children, two girls and two boys.
That was in 2001 when my brother who inherited the sword got married in Melbourne. It is family tradition to take a photo before we carry the dowry to the bride’s family. That took me back to the time when I reunite with my family at the camp, but now we have triple numbers in that photo.
Phiny’s youngest brother’s wedding, Melbourne, Australia 2001“It is family tradition to take a photo before we carry the dowry to the bride’s family. That took me back to the time when I reunite with my family at the camp, but now we have triple numbers in that photo.”
I know it’s difficult to be an individual who lives in constant fight of the difference in society and I just want to help the disadvantaged where they cannot use their intellectual ability or language skill to guide themselves. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 25 years with serving the community [in a] development job. I [currently] work with the New South Wales police force as ethnic community liaison officer.
I work with any community, particularly the new emerging community where I have a lot of experience about understanding issues on prejudice, discrimination, racial tension. We tackle the problem about social hatred or why the community not really trust police or why the police don’t understand the community perception.
I decided not to go back to Cambodia. I can’t stand the corruption. I can’t stand the different level of life with poor and rich. I cannot tolerate the social injustice. It doesn’t matter how much I miss Cambodia, my homeland. I know I won’t return until the country goes back to the standard I would like to see.
PHINY UNG was interviewed on 20 January 2010
Interview, research, text edit, photography & film production by Andrea Fernandes, NSW Migration Heritage Centre
Film edit by Linda Kruger
Web layout by Annette Loudon, NSW Migration Heritage Centre
With assistance from Bunheang Ung and Cambodian Buddhist Society
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[1] Bunheang and I later married.
[2] Nick Greiner was the NSW Premier at the time.
[3] A few years beforehand the movie The Killing Fields came out. (This film was based on Cambodian life during the Pol Pot regime.)
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U.S.-funded Training Course Strengthens Information Technology Skills at Ministry of Justice
January 13, 2010
Ninety-seven members of the Ministry of Justice received diplomas on Wednesday, January 13, for successfully completing an intensive information technology (IT) training program funded by the United States. The five-month course – the first of its kind offered at the ministry – provided basic technology skills to the graduates and trained them on the use of an electronic information system that is being installed at the ministry by the United States.
At a ceremony at the Ministry of Justice, USAID Mission Director Flynn Fuller joined Minister of Justice Ang Vang Vathana in congratulating the graduates.
“This is a fantastic achievement,” Fuller said. “The United States shares your vision of an efficient, transparent and accountable justice system, and we are committed to working side by side with you to make this happen.”
Fuller also praised the new information system, which will modernize the way the Ministry of Justice documents the work of the courts. As more and more Cambodians come to trust the country’s courts to resolve their disputes, the volume and complexity of the ministry’s work will increase, an issue the new system will help address.
The system consists of an office intranet for file sharing, a webpage to publicize court information such as caseloads and clearance rates, and a series of databases:
A new trafficking-in-persons database that will track individual cases and allow for analysis of trends in the prosecution of human trafficking.
A new detention database that will enable the Prosecution Affairs Department to more efficiently track detainees, allowing the department to identify and remedy excessive detentions, which are a key challenge facing the justice system.
A justice statistics database that will – for the first time – allow the ministry to chart and analyze annual trends in caseloads and clearance rates. Using these statistics, the ministry will be able to more accurately and efficiently identify criminal and civil case backlog, and better advocate for ministry resources to reduce case delays caused by an overloaded system.
The United States is providing nearly $2 million this year to strengthen Cambodia’s legal system by training judges and lawyers and by providing the public with greater access to information about the courts.
Samdech Hun Sen speech(1)
Keynote Address at the Inauguration of the “Sugarcane Factory”
Koh Kong, January 25, 2010
Your Venerable Monks,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen distinguished national and international guests,
Dear the compatriots,
It is my great pleasure to be here to inaugurate the sugarcane factory which is a joint investment of Koh Kong Industry Co., Ltd. and Koh Kong Plantation Co., Ltd. This factory, which is located in Chi Kor Leu Commune, Sre Ambil District of Koh Kong Province, in addition to its dynamic contribution to development effort and improved living standard, will transform this area into a production base for domestic supply and export markets and subsequently a developed border zone. In this sense, we are proud of this achievement since it will be a source of new opportunities of socio-economic development including productivity improvement, job creation, and local development.
I highly welcome the investment of both companies while Cambodia is in great demand of contribution from the private sector, as I have often said “private sector is the engine of growth”. I would also like to encourage the implementation of this investment project, both in-farm and off-farm work, so that the business will succeed. The successful operation of this factory will send a signal of favorable and predictable investment environment to international investors. I highly appreciate all companies investing and operating in Cambodia amid the global financial and economic crisis. Along with this, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the Royal Government’s firm stance on welcoming ad encouraging investment in Cambodia. We will strive to strengthen and expand economic cooperation and broaden industry and trade development through the elimination of trade barriers. This task will allow us to raise the capacity and quality of domestic production, and improve Cambodia’s competitiveness in the regional and global markets. Along with this, I would also like to extend my appreciation to related ministries/institutions, local authorities, government officials, armed forces and all the compatriots for their concerted effort to solve smoothly any issue arising from the construction of this factory and create a favorable environment to attract new investment projects.
Prices of agricultural products will increase both for today and tomorrow since the demand for human consumption is gradually increasing and rising oil price makes the use of some agricultural products relatively more attractive for energy production. This represents a new opportunity for a country with vast agricultural potentials like Cambodia but a threat to those without this advantage, especially poor countries. Considering this perspective, Cambodia prioritizes human consumption demand while energy production demand is also taken into account, like what we are doing in this area.
Samdech Hun Sen speech(2)
Agriculture represents a big chunk of growth but we fail to maximize gain from this sector due to underutilization of arable land, limited diversification and lack of production means and technologies. In fact, if we look at the sugar cane plantation, Cambodian farmers have practiced the mixed sugar plantation of about 13,297 hectars by receiving the yield of about 385,588 tons in 2008. But, this crop has not been processed into substantial and industrialized products yet. It is just to serve the daily need of the people’s living. Cambodia has, so far, had small enterprises for palm sugar production in order to meet the small demand of the people in their daily living. Through this, Cambodia does not have sufficient sugar to meet the need of the people nation-wide and Cambodia is necessarily importing the white sugar and many thousand tones of sweet products, in particular, from Thailand and Vietnam. According to the report in 1990, Cambodia needed the sugar of 43,000 tons, equal to 5 kg for each individual per year among the 8,6 million people and in the year 2000 Cambodia needed the sugar of 80,300 tons, equal to 7,3 kg for each individual per year among the 11 million people. Recently, based on the statistic in the year 2007, Cambodia imported the sugar and other sweet products from 18 countries in total of 30,340 tons. Based on this data it is shown that Cambodia needs to be almost totally dependent on the import of sugar and other sweet products from foreign countries while Cambodia has enough natural resources to produce those products.
Samdech Hun Sen speech(3)
Realizing that Cambodia has strong potential in growing sugar cane to be processed as white sugar, together with the strong commitment of Cambodia toward the development of private sector through promoting this kind of investment, 8 companies proposed the investment on planting sugar cane and building sugar factories. The Royal Government of Cambodia has warmly welcome this initiative by allowing those companies to receive, in principles, the investment on growing sugar cane and building sugar factories under the scheme of economic land concession, in which there are 2 companies located in Koh Kong province and 3 companies located in Utdor Meanhey province, 1 company located in Kratie province and 2 companies located in Kampong Speu province with the total economic land concession of 66,000 hectars. At the same time, the Sugar Industry Company Limited is to invest on the economic land concession of 9, 700 hectars in Sre Ambel district of Koh Kong province, and according to the report by December 2009, the Company has claimed the land for about 5, 288 hectars, which is above the plan of 2, 488 hectars, and with the plantation of 2, 910 hectars, equal to 103 % of the implementation plan. As for the Koh Kong Plantation Company Limited, it has to invest on the economic land concession of 9, 400 hectars in Botum Sakor district of Koh Kong province, and according to the report by December 2009, the Company has claimed the land for about 4, 621 hectars, which is above the plan of 1, 506 hectars, and with the plantation of 4, 421 hectars, equal to 140% of the implementation plan. At the same time, both companies have cooperated to build the sugar factory on the land of 60 hectars in this area with the ability to absorb the fresh sugar of about 6, 000 tons per day and ability to produce 600 tons of sugar per day. However, the company can only produce the fresh sugar to support the factory of only 2, 000 tons per day due to the shortage of labor forces. In fact, during the growing and harvesting season, starting from January to April 2010, both companies need 5, 000 to 6, 000 contracted workers for daily operation, in which the companies have only 4, 000 workers. Each worker will receive about 10,000 Riel to 20,000 Riel per day. Also, these companies do need employees, skilled workers and contracted workers of 350 people to work in the factories and their salary will range from USD 80 to 120 USD. This statistic shows that the companies will contribute to solving employment opportunities and income generation for the people, which is responding to the objective of poverty reduction through expanding additional jobs. When our people have enough income for their living we can reduce the migration of the people from this area to the cities or other urban areas.
Along with the white sugar factory, which is to be inaugurated now, we will also receive a number of sugar factories in Utdor Meanchey province, which is planned to be completed by 2011, with the ability to absorb the fresh sugar cane of about 7, 000 tones to 11, 000 tons per day, and ability to produce sugar from 700 tons to 1,100 tons per day. The sugar factories in Katie province, which will be completed in 2013, can absorb the fresh sugar cane of 5, 000 tons per day and is able to produce 500 tons per day. Therefore, based on the above projects, Cambodia can produce 7, 2000 tons of sugar in 2010 and could be increased to 156, 000 tones to 204, 000 tons in 2011, and in the year 2013 we will be able to produce white sugar from 216, 000 tones to 264, 000 tones. The quantity of these products can make Cambodia able to fully supply the local demand and is also able to export more.
Samdech Hun Sen speech(4)
In this regard, the establishment of this sugar factory will make the farmers, who plant sugar cane, have new markets; and this factory will respond to the local sugar demand by substituting the import. This clearly shows the attention made by the Royal Government by not just only setting out the national development strategy and fully promoting the local resource potential to receive economic efficiency, but also expanding and strengthening the Cambodian competitive productivity and capacity in the context of globalization to ensure sustainable economic growth.
In fact, this factory would be the largest sugar factory in Cambodia for meeting domestic demand and exports, which will increase the domestic production of import substitution goods and increase market competitiveness.
Beside those direct benefits as mentioned above, this sugar factory will create abundant opportunities for the entire socio-economy in Cambodia. Our people could directly earn their income from this factory through wholesaling or retailing sugar at provinces, cities, urban and rural areas, providing transportation services, repairing and maintenance services, establishing handicraft or other supporting industries, encouraging farmers to plant sugarcane to supply to this factory. The other significant benefit that Cambodia gains from this factory which is a long-term development strategy include knowledge, skills and technology transfer to the country for the development of the agro- industry and those industries that support agriculture sector. Evidently, in its Capacity Building Program, this factory has sent 52 of its staffs to attend technical training overseas. This program will increase the flow of knowledge and skills to Cambodian people, which is the strong foundation for industrial development in Cambodia.
The inauguration of such large scale factory is another proof among other achievements that the Royal Government of Cambodia has achieved during the Fourth Legislature of the National Assembly. It reflects the righteousness and successes of the government in implementing the Rectangular Strategy-Phase II as adopted in this mandate.
I also would like to take this opportunity to advice relevant Ministries, local authorities, the company and people living in this area to continue to pay high attention with great accountability, contribute to the project development and progress, and ensure the sustainable operation of this factory as follow:
Samdech Hun Sen speech(5)
1st : Relevant Ministries, institutions, especially the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training must cooperate, coordinate and disseminate information to all people about the labor needs of the company to reduce the unemployment of people.
2nd: Relevant Ministries and competence authorities, especially the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy must strongly cooperate with the company by having a clear monitoring program and consistently control the program to ensure that the production and outputs are in compliance with the industrial standard.
At the same time, the Ministry of Environment must take a lead in controlling the industrial waste and cooperate with the company in implementing the principle of Clean Technology to reduce waste and other negative impacts to the environment and people, as well as creating a good environment to build trust from new investors.
3rd: All levels of local authority must cooperate with the company to ensure good security, and order in the area.
4th: The company must try its utmost to ensure that its products complies with the technical standard, strengthening and upgrading capacity to promote the image of Cambodian products and resolve all challenges relating to the market competition. Moreover, the company must respect the Labor law, Environmental Law and other existing regulations. The company must adhere to the principle of environmental and social responsibility by cooperating with the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy and the Ministry of Environment in enforcing the Law on Factory and Handicraft Management, Environment Protection Law, for the welfare, safety, and try to avoid any negative impacts on social environment, that may cause from the operations of this sugar factory. Additionally, the company must continue to expand its production as agreed in the contract, by ensuring reasonable competitive market price for agro-products, providing sugar cane seeds, tools, planting techniques, soil laboratory to improve soil quality for local farmers and other areas that have potential for sugar cane plantation, which the company can rely upon for supplying for this factory.
At the same time, the company must help develop this area and take care of the welfare of its employees and their families, by building houses, health centers, Buddhist Temples, schools, water ponds, wells and other infrastructures as the foundation for facilitating the working and living condition of its employees and their families to raise their living standard and to develop this area.
Samdech Hun Sen speech(6)
5th: Other enterprises, handicrafts, industries and all people must show stronger support for local products to motivate entrepreneurs and producers to produce more products for the socio-economy of Cambodia. When we do that, we will have a mechanism of mutual support, create the equilibrium of demand and supply, promote national competitiveness of Cambodia which is the key factor for accelerating economic growth and national development.
6th: People living in this area and other nearby areas, must stop hunting wildlife and encroaching forest. You should turn to sugarcane plantation, find job in this sugar farm factory to raise your living standard, to avoid danger jobs, preserve the forest and wildlife to attract more tourists to visit this area.
In this spirit, I firmly hope that all relevant ministries, local authorities, company and all people will continue to carry out their duties with high accountability.
Last but not least, I wish the company success and fast progress in its production, distribution, and sales with strong support from customers nationally and internationally.
Finally, with the inauguration of this “Sugarcane Factory” in Koh Kong province, May I wish Your Venerable Monks, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished National and International Guests, Compatriots the Four Gems of Buddhist Blessings.
EndItem.
Not again.
Heh, Mr Hun Sen speech translator, you have been doing a very fine job. Keep on kissing Hun Sen’s ass, how does it smell to you? I bet to you, it smells like roses, heh.
Keep it on buddy; perhaps someday you would be awarded an Ohna, heh.
Do you think people in the forum give a shit about reading your shitty translation?
In Cambodia people stay awake and clap when Hun Sen gives speech in public, because too many of his agents are in the crowd. But people fall asleep when they privately listen to his speech on the radio at home. Therefore, who gives a shit about reading his speech?
Do us a favor, Mr Translator, save us some space on the forum, because nobody is going to read it.
It is your right to post it, but I think you are wasting your valuable time.
Wow sad miracle story. My parents told me their side but it's not as sad as this story who try to struggle and find freedom and wealth. They had gone thru many things and amazingly half of their family are with them. Wish all my family are here with me but none can make it only my parent.
Nice story, similar to my parents's story. Thx
I enjoyed reading this story, it keeps me humble. And teaching to me feel the pain of another's woe.
This is a very beautiful story. Thank you Bang srey Phiny.
You have come a long way. Congratulations.
I know Bong Phiny very well but I don't think she knows me. She is a very determine person. She is very kind, gentle and always willing to help others. She used to come to my parent's house for her traditional clothes to be made for the new year or other special occassion. I used to see the documentary about the journey back to cambodia and also how she exposed one of the notorious murderers, but I remembered he denial and said that he only followed the order from above. In the end he got away from the crimes that committed. His son was my class mate and he did the translation for his father. so, yes i know them all. Aust
It is sound pretty convincing by just saying one acted of others's oder. If a drug gangster killed someone and be arrested and charged, will he got away with it by just telling the court he just followed an order from the tops? I don't think so and so do you because he had involved with a criminal action.
Every Khmer Rouge servival who have been migrated to the 3rd country have their own story , but all are very similar . To me , I am not very epress with this because we all have been there .
2:21PM
What is "Epress"?
2:21 PM
Do you mean impress (epress)?
If it's the case I don't think Bong Phiny writes her story to impress anyone. I too know her very well and I am glad to see her story have been archived with the Power House Museum on the Migrant Heritage Program.
It's true that millions of Khmer people had been the victims of the KR genocide but if we keep quiet as if it the common story for what ever reason the story would be forgotten and the young generation will forget or would not know.
I admire her courage to do this as I haven't been able to come to term in sharing my personal tragedy as it's too painful to remember. So 2:21 PM please write your story too even you can't write in English, write in Khmer language to share with the other victims and help the young generation to learn from the experiences. I'll certainly use her story to tell my children to help them understand about the KR regime and what happened from 1975 to 1979 and so on. Would you ?
Thanks for sharing the story. I like what you said, that some people who committed horrible crimes, but pretend to be good and live next to us.
These kind of people also exist outside Cambodia. I used to live in an apartment near school, then the apartment adjacent to mine found a girl was strangled stabbled multiple times. I was chilled when the police traced the murderer, that was a guy who sat in my Math class. He usually shy and quiet, and he lived on the 2nd floor below mine.
I forgot to say that girl was White, very pretty girl and I liked her a lot and a lot of guys liked her too.
You know I sent her a rose as a secret admirer, and until before she was murdered still didn't know that I sent her a rose.
When are we Khmer going to heal if some of us keep denying the truth ? This kind of story will be lost in the next 50 years if we don't write it down. Bang Phiny, please keep up the good work, and I wish you every sucess and happiness for the rest of your life- for what you have been through.
Wonderful but so sad story!
"“Well you think you are the winner, so be it. We are the loser? Yes, of course I’m a loser; I lost my land, I lost my home country, I lost everything and I’m just coming to look for peace”. Such expression of your love and emotion to our motherland does win the respect of my heart! .
It is the right topic for Hun Xen translator to put interpretation of his master's here? If you want to post your translation badly, lear to chose the topic of an article, fool.
5:58 PM
You have lost a lot, and so have I, but one thing we should never lose: HOPE.
Hello Meeng Phiny,
Love your portrait that Pu painted, and I love your memoirs.
GOD Bless you and your family members
Pi Kmouy Pross
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