By Khmerization
16th August 2010
The subject of Hor Namhong’s role in the Khmer Rouge regime, in particular his role as chief of Boeng Trobek Re-Education Centre, has been controversial and contentious that sometimes led to ignominious debates among his supporters and detractors.
While Googling for articles about him a few weeks ago, I stumbled into an article in DetailsAreSketchy blog critiquing me about my earlier article about the man. The author called my article “a pack of lies” and that my claim about Hor Namhong in the article “sinks pretty low”.
The author of DetailsAreSketchy had gone into extraordinary length to defend Hor Namhong’s role at Boeng trobek by portraying him as a victim and called his Boeng Trobek’s role as “inmate", “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate”.
The author had attempted to exonerate Hor Namhong from any Khmer Rouge crimes because Hor Namhong is a “foreigner”. “Nobody, not even Sam Rainsy, believes that Hor Namhong was director of anything, much less the Beoung Trabek detention center, known as B-32. The “B” stands for borateh, the Khmer word for foreigner”, said the author.
In the same paragraph, the author went further to portray Hor Namhong as not “in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood”, but one of its victims. “From 1967 until his return in 1975, Hor Namhong was stationed outside the country, making him, in the eyes of the KR leadership, a foreigner, and thus an extremely unlikely candidate for insider status in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood.”
Well, DetailsAreSketchy, how do you define the word “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate” in this context?
The Khmer Rouge was a very secretive organisation and they do not appoint anyone to any position if they do not trust that person and if that person is not “in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood”. In the Khmer Rouge regime, even a leader of a small mobile group called Korng Chalat has the power of life and death. He/she has the power to send anyone to execution. The fact that Hor Namhong was appointed “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate” as you have claimed, suggests that he is a person whom the Khmer Rouge can trust. By the way, many “inmates” from Boeng Trobek were sent to be tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng. Who sent them there? It has to be the “chief inmate” of the centre, the same as inmates in Tuol Sleng were sent to their tortures and executions by Duch, the chief who had just been convicted of crimes against humanity by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
The author claimed that Hor Namhong was a victim and was not part of the KR’s Angkar Leu because he had lost many relatives during the KR period. Well, Duch, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and even Pol Pot had claimed they were the victims and have lost many relatives during the KR regime. So who was the real Angkar Leu then? And who were responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians?
DetailsAreSketchy’s angry critique of my article warrants my explanation below:
“It might be true that Hor Namhong and his family were originally the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, he had been immediately favoured by the Khmer Rouge leadership and appointed “chief” of Boeng Trabek. To be favoured by the KR, someone has to be one of them. As the author is not a Khmer and had not lived through the KR period, I don’t think he/she understood in depth about the Khmer Rouge modus operandi and the power wielded by its officials. Hor Namhong, whether he was a “chief”, “liaison officer” or “chief inmate”, has the power of death. During the KR period, chief of a village, leader of a small group (10 people) and anyone who has connections with the KR officials has the power to send anyone to their deaths. Many inmates of Boeng Trabek who had been sent to their tortures and deaths at Tuol Sleng have to be finger-pointed by chief of the centre. The chief of the centre was the one who know who was the “enemy” and who was not.
It is true that the word “boratess” means “foreign”. In the Khmer Rouge terminology, the word “boratess” or the abbreviation “Bor” was used to denote “foreign Ministry” or “foreign Affairs”, not foreigners like American, French, or Vietnamese or Thai. The abbreviation “Bor” (Bor-32 or B-32) used to call Boeng Trobek was used to denote a centre that housed diplomats who served in foreign countries or inmates who returned from overseas.
Many former inmates such as Ong Thong Hoeung and Mrs Keo Bunthouk had testified that Hor Namhong was chief of Boeng Trabek. Read here: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/05/hor-namhong-his-wife-and-his-son-were.html.
and here: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/06/testimonials-on-hor-nam-hongs-role-at.html”.
My explanation had incurred the wrath of the author who fired these comments:
“I do not believe that Nor Namhong was part of the Angka. I believe he was selected to be the coordinator whose job was to tell people to get up or to line up. If Nor Namhong did not do what he was told he would have been executed. No doubt. People who lived in that situation did not think about who would be the next one to go to the killing fields but rather thinking how many more scoops of rice stew they would get before they died. I am pretty sure everyone was a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime.
I just can not believe that all these years because of political differences these victims of the Khmer Rouge could not get their heads out of the water. They are still trying to accuse one another for their own politics. If Nor Namhong does not have any position in the current Cambodian government other than just ordinary Cambodian (former Khmer Rouge or not) then Khmerization who support Sam Rainsy couldn’t care less about Nor Namhong. There would not be any books written about him. The fact is that there are many Khmer Rouge leaders living in Cambodia today. However, Sam Rainsy has made so much effort to focus on one particular person for his own political game.”
Well, Duch had also claimed that he did what he did because he just followed the orders of the Angkar Leu. And that if he did not follow its orders, he too will be executed. The difference between Hor Namhong and Duch here is that Duch got 35 years in prison and Hor Namhong roam freely and actually thrived.
My comments also incurred the ire of one of Hor Namhong’s fans and sycophants. He got personal with my comments with this comment: “khmerization is a jackass and will do anything to defame anybody who is only remotely connected to the CPP. HNH is fodder for his would-be journalism.”
Well, I do not know what drove the author of DetailsAreSketchy, whom I assumed to be a white person, to go into extra length to defend Hor Namhong’s supposed crimes in the KR regime and to accuse me of being a supporter of Mr. Sam Rainsy. One does not get personal with Hor Namhong’s detractors such as me unless that person is a big beneficiary of his current regime whose leadership comprised many ex-KR leaders.
I might be a supporter of some of Mr. Sam Rainsy’s policy, but by no mean a clueless supporter of the man himself. By the same token, I do not despise Hor Namhong, but I do despise of the fact that he and his current regime represents tyranny, corruption, incompetence and human rights abuses in Cambodia. And I hope DetailsAreSketchy sees this side of the man and his past rather than trying to defend him blindly and bitterly.
16th August 2010
The subject of Hor Namhong’s role in the Khmer Rouge regime, in particular his role as chief of Boeng Trobek Re-Education Centre, has been controversial and contentious that sometimes led to ignominious debates among his supporters and detractors.
While Googling for articles about him a few weeks ago, I stumbled into an article in DetailsAreSketchy blog critiquing me about my earlier article about the man. The author called my article “a pack of lies” and that my claim about Hor Namhong in the article “sinks pretty low”.
The author of DetailsAreSketchy had gone into extraordinary length to defend Hor Namhong’s role at Boeng trobek by portraying him as a victim and called his Boeng Trobek’s role as “inmate", “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate”.
The author had attempted to exonerate Hor Namhong from any Khmer Rouge crimes because Hor Namhong is a “foreigner”. “Nobody, not even Sam Rainsy, believes that Hor Namhong was director of anything, much less the Beoung Trabek detention center, known as B-32. The “B” stands for borateh, the Khmer word for foreigner”, said the author.
In the same paragraph, the author went further to portray Hor Namhong as not “in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood”, but one of its victims. “From 1967 until his return in 1975, Hor Namhong was stationed outside the country, making him, in the eyes of the KR leadership, a foreigner, and thus an extremely unlikely candidate for insider status in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood.”
Well, DetailsAreSketchy, how do you define the word “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate” in this context?
The Khmer Rouge was a very secretive organisation and they do not appoint anyone to any position if they do not trust that person and if that person is not “in the Khmer Rouge brotherhood”. In the Khmer Rouge regime, even a leader of a small mobile group called Korng Chalat has the power of life and death. He/she has the power to send anyone to execution. The fact that Hor Namhong was appointed “deputy inmate” or “chief inmate” as you have claimed, suggests that he is a person whom the Khmer Rouge can trust. By the way, many “inmates” from Boeng Trobek were sent to be tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng. Who sent them there? It has to be the “chief inmate” of the centre, the same as inmates in Tuol Sleng were sent to their tortures and executions by Duch, the chief who had just been convicted of crimes against humanity by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
The author claimed that Hor Namhong was a victim and was not part of the KR’s Angkar Leu because he had lost many relatives during the KR period. Well, Duch, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and even Pol Pot had claimed they were the victims and have lost many relatives during the KR regime. So who was the real Angkar Leu then? And who were responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians?
DetailsAreSketchy’s angry critique of my article warrants my explanation below:
“It might be true that Hor Namhong and his family were originally the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, he had been immediately favoured by the Khmer Rouge leadership and appointed “chief” of Boeng Trabek. To be favoured by the KR, someone has to be one of them. As the author is not a Khmer and had not lived through the KR period, I don’t think he/she understood in depth about the Khmer Rouge modus operandi and the power wielded by its officials. Hor Namhong, whether he was a “chief”, “liaison officer” or “chief inmate”, has the power of death. During the KR period, chief of a village, leader of a small group (10 people) and anyone who has connections with the KR officials has the power to send anyone to their deaths. Many inmates of Boeng Trabek who had been sent to their tortures and deaths at Tuol Sleng have to be finger-pointed by chief of the centre. The chief of the centre was the one who know who was the “enemy” and who was not.
It is true that the word “boratess” means “foreign”. In the Khmer Rouge terminology, the word “boratess” or the abbreviation “Bor” was used to denote “foreign Ministry” or “foreign Affairs”, not foreigners like American, French, or Vietnamese or Thai. The abbreviation “Bor” (Bor-32 or B-32) used to call Boeng Trobek was used to denote a centre that housed diplomats who served in foreign countries or inmates who returned from overseas.
Many former inmates such as Ong Thong Hoeung and Mrs Keo Bunthouk had testified that Hor Namhong was chief of Boeng Trabek. Read here: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/05/hor-namhong-his-wife-and-his-son-were.html.
and here: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/06/testimonials-on-hor-nam-hongs-role-at.html”.
My explanation had incurred the wrath of the author who fired these comments:
“I do not believe that Nor Namhong was part of the Angka. I believe he was selected to be the coordinator whose job was to tell people to get up or to line up. If Nor Namhong did not do what he was told he would have been executed. No doubt. People who lived in that situation did not think about who would be the next one to go to the killing fields but rather thinking how many more scoops of rice stew they would get before they died. I am pretty sure everyone was a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime.
I just can not believe that all these years because of political differences these victims of the Khmer Rouge could not get their heads out of the water. They are still trying to accuse one another for their own politics. If Nor Namhong does not have any position in the current Cambodian government other than just ordinary Cambodian (former Khmer Rouge or not) then Khmerization who support Sam Rainsy couldn’t care less about Nor Namhong. There would not be any books written about him. The fact is that there are many Khmer Rouge leaders living in Cambodia today. However, Sam Rainsy has made so much effort to focus on one particular person for his own political game.”
Well, Duch had also claimed that he did what he did because he just followed the orders of the Angkar Leu. And that if he did not follow its orders, he too will be executed. The difference between Hor Namhong and Duch here is that Duch got 35 years in prison and Hor Namhong roam freely and actually thrived.
My comments also incurred the ire of one of Hor Namhong’s fans and sycophants. He got personal with my comments with this comment: “khmerization is a jackass and will do anything to defame anybody who is only remotely connected to the CPP. HNH is fodder for his would-be journalism.”
Well, I do not know what drove the author of DetailsAreSketchy, whom I assumed to be a white person, to go into extra length to defend Hor Namhong’s supposed crimes in the KR regime and to accuse me of being a supporter of Mr. Sam Rainsy. One does not get personal with Hor Namhong’s detractors such as me unless that person is a big beneficiary of his current regime whose leadership comprised many ex-KR leaders.
I might be a supporter of some of Mr. Sam Rainsy’s policy, but by no mean a clueless supporter of the man himself. By the same token, I do not despise Hor Namhong, but I do despise of the fact that he and his current regime represents tyranny, corruption, incompetence and human rights abuses in Cambodia. And I hope DetailsAreSketchy sees this side of the man and his past rather than trying to defend him blindly and bitterly.
9 comments:
I think Hor Nam Hong's defenders in this article are jackasses themselves. What Khmerization did in his article was just detailing the aspects of the defamation laws in an independent court. Hor Nam Hong's defenders did not lay out evidence to back up their arguments, but just called anyone who criticized Hor Namhong, including Sam Rainsy, a jackass. They are clueless because they didn't live through the KR regime.
Do they have any witness left from Boeng Trobek. If we do so please ask those people that survives and find out the truth. Don't just pointing fingers on each other.
Let's all pray to God that the UN will soon call the cleaner. Amen
Dear KI team. Thank you all very much to provide many aspect on Khmer Rouge genocides who are still alive and take a high position to continue their killing with cool blood. I am one of the victim during Khmer Rouge regime, I am the ones who is a student from Lon Nol regime and like JUSTICE more than anything. Since I satrted realising the life within my family< i almost did not know the real rice plant at the rice field. Unfortunately, I was demended with other Khmer victims to work hard and not enough foods, not enough time to sleep, no more education, no entertainment, no health center, no currency, no business, no news from abroad, no communication. I was working to wait only one day of my life to end. These genocides are still alive with their comrades and relatives. Many of them are the high superior inside Cambodia, some of them have been sent to be spies at abroad which they can continue to kill the opposition person (not a political party) with many tricks and no one can know that Hun Sen and his subordinates committed the crime. I lived with difficulty in Cambodia and I do realise all kinds of the situation during Khmer Rouge. I do not have any proof for proving that all those genocides are living freely, but I could say what I knew since I was treated badly as slave and some of the genocides I recognise so far. I am not a young generation. I was 21 years (1975) in Lon Nol regime and being mature during nightmare regime. In 1979 I was a soldier with Khmer Heng samrin in company 134 at battambang province and I fled to the Khmer-Thai border for avoiding to live again under the communist party. I stuggled many years to be refugee and when he time of repatriation, I come back to Cambodia without any assistance from the UNHCR. I have to join the communist party again within this bloody regime under Yuon's control. I have no more place to settle my life that's why I am living with suffering again in this nightmare for my kids to wait for the real and genuine democracy comes to spread out inside Cambodia. I have many issues to say but it is just this for now.
Please continue to disseminate all the matters which you collect from the real people to show that democracy in word in Cambodia continue to kill people cooly.
Thanks
KI Media, thanks for unmasking the KR criminals and their hypocrite defenders. Those who are defenders of such criminals are defending crimes and encouraging a culture of impunity. They killed 1.7 million Cambodians, so we are not happy with anyone, even outsiders, to come and defend them. We lived through hell during KR regime, so people like Hor Nam Hong, Keat Chhon, Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Hun Sen and other CPP leaders who were ex-KR leaders should be punished for their crimes.
There are more than one hundred Boeung Trabaek survivors now live in Cambodia, Europe and America. They do not get involve as witnesses because they think that there are too much lies already on this blog. The tree re-education camps of Boeung Trabaek were actually administered by Khmer Rouge soldiers (they were Savorn, Sinn, and others). They choose among those diplomats and students from abroad assigned to live there (Inmates for some) to be presidents and committee members. The committees received orders from the KR soldiers and disseminated to others in the camps. Those who were too tolerant to returnees were themselves accused as traitors to the revolution and killed in Toul Sleng. Among them, Chau Seng, Vann Piny, et al. Every day there were meetings for criticism self criticism. You had to criticise yourself to be considered honest and wanting to re-educate yourself to be a good member of the new society. The group leaders of three, the team leaders, had to report this to the president of the returnees (Chau Seng, etc.). In turn the committee presidents ought to report the criticisms and self-criticisms to the Khmer Rouge soldiers who supervised the camps. Those presidents and members of the committees ought to criticise them self as well or being criticised by others camp members. When reported, and they had to report this to the Khmer Rouge prisoner guards, the members being criticised were picked up later on and no one know where about. We all learn lately that some of them were killed in Toul Slaeng. That the thrush. In that situation, the returnees who wanted to survive did whatever they can. But not all of them succeed. Needless to talk about hardship in those camps. All survivors who are living now in Cambodia, in Europe or in America consider themselves the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, all of them, no exceptions. You know why there were no witnesses in recent court case in Paris, even if some of them used to be the opposition supporters. You can speculate and make good for yourself, but the truth is there. I do not think that all returnees from Europe put in the tree re-education camps in Boeung Trabaek had the luxury of liberty compared to the rest of the population in the country in that time. They were not free to speak their conscience unless they voluntary wanted to be picked up for unknown destinations. Re-education in communist countries means torture, including psychological torture. They were starved to death. Whether they were presidents of the committees or not. My deepest respect to the memory of all compatriot returnees who were drawn back to the motherland by patriotism. Among them the prominent Cambodians as Mr. Phung Ton, Chhouk Meng Mao, etc.
Cambodia was a concentration camp during the Khmer Rouge and Boeung Trabek was one of them. In my camp life was difficult. Chau Seng was a Minister during Sihanouk. He was chief of the camp. Like other camp or village, even if you did not do anything wrong, you will be the first to be killed if Angkar changed its policy. That is why Chau Seng and Piny was killed.
Dont'forget that Hor Namhong fought the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s and 1990s, while Sam Rainsy cooperated with the Khmer Rouge in New York. Read this mémoire!
The more people are expressing their ideas,or speaking up the more the truth will come out of their mouths.There are no secrets hiding in this world.It takes to discover all secrets,but still find out in weeks,months,years,or centuries to come.All persons did bad things or good ones will appear in front of their eyes and hear from their ears.
10:04 PM, you should say Hor namhong fought for the vietnamese against khmers, while sam rainsy fought to liberate cambodia from vietnamese control. anyway, hor namhong was ex-khmer rouge leader who killed too many khmers. sam rainsy fought against vietnam that's why you and me can live free from vietnamese control now. without people fighting from outside of the country like sam rainsy, there will be no untac and vietnam would not leave cambodia and maybe cambodia kandal already become another kampuchea krom.
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