“Just-Us” Justice

November 30, 2010
Op-Ed by Justin C. Sok

I have great admiration and gratitude for the outpouring of the genuine sympathy and the many relief efforts for Khmer people from around the globe reaching out to offer their support to the survivors and their families who were injured and those who had lost their loved ones at the “Diamond” Island Bridge. The victim’s agony and anger hung in the air like an angry rain cloud waiting to expel its load. I have shared their pain and lose. It was a lost for all of us. For those who had lost their lives during this terrible tragic event, may you rest in peace. For the victims’ families and for those who were fortunate to have survived, I wish you well and hope those who were injured quickly recover.

They were the innocent, industrious, and seasonal farm-workers, and citizens from the rural community. They had saved their hard-earned money and have been waiting with great anticipation to participate in the national annual Water Festival, which is celebrated at the end of the wet season. They came to the Phnom Penh city to see the modern life, cars, skyscrapers, and city’s sparkling neon lights. In the night, they looked up to the vastness of the sky, squinted their eyes, searching for the stars. But there weren’t any stars left in the sky. They have learned that some people in the city are fortunate to own their stars and proudly wear them on their uniforms. And soon, they have realized that anything could be out there, behind the darkness, in the future; anything could possibly happen now.

During this national annual Water Festival, the elite society took the opportunity to strut off their success from the greasing-palm of the businesses, with golden spangled stars on their uniforms, hobnobbed with their insignia of honorees and ranks, tossing champagne and hors d’oeuvres, emblazoned on their fronts - interspersed on both sides with outrageously expensive homes and cliffs with made-for-Hollywood views, advertising their business products and merchandises on the billboards, named their man-made island, “Diamond” Island and their bridge, “Diamond” Island Bridge, displaying their ornate watercraft with scintillating neon lights, which float lazily atop the murky water-like surface, and of course, with their wishful and greedy thinking for more fruitful years to come. With their sordid attitude and “reckless disregard” to human lives, they had no idea what was about to happen right before their eyes.

At the dusk, it was hot, humid, and clear; but still the people could hardly see any stars left in the sky. The bridge is short and with narrow suspension, and it hosted thousands of people sandwiched together. Some had speculated that, the electrical wires and cables might not have been properly installed. And some had witnessed that there was, “water host spraying by the military police, who had only taken 24-hour crash courses in training, to break up the rascals,” which would make it more likely for anyone to get electrocuted. There was no one to monitor crowd control, and therefore, it was inevitable that some individuals with culpable minds started with their own scare tactics, shouting, “The bridge is going to collapse!”

The South Korean peninsula received heavy shelling from artillery fired by the north – it destroyed towns, injured some people and left two of their soldiers and two civilians dead. Two days later, the Defense Minister of South Korea resigned. In Cambodia, estimated more than 350 innocent lives were stampeded to death and hundreds more injured within hours. The next day, the chief of police, with his air of superior, waving his finger-pointing and self-assured attitude, issued a statement, “I believe that the [police] authority completed their duty, they did well in helping and saving the victims on the Koh Pich Bridge already. Personally, I worked hard to help them also, but we couldn’t help them on time because there were too many people, and the bridge was narrow so it was difficult to work there.” With their hen-scratching investigative notes, they were finger-pointing with one another over whom has the ability to appear in limelight to do good public relation - to seal all knowledge of what had really happened prior to and after the tragedy, will be in a locked and buried in caskets.

Victims of the stampede (Photo: AP)

This is another macabre and unjust incident, which once again, has echoed of our unpalatable memorable flashback to the dark days. With no one is being held responsible for, and soon, the tragedy of the Diamond Islander Bridge will be like footstep in the sand, either lost in the empty stretches of time or blown together in an impenetrable blur of inconsequence. With their collective harebrained ideas, irresponsibility and lack of accountability, they had no sketchy on the details to offer to the public’s demand as to what had led to the tragedy. To add insult to the injury, Chea Kean, deputy secretary general of a government festival committee announced, "The ceremony will still be held as usual." In addition, Prime Minister Hun Sen appeared before the public as tutelary, kneeling down at the memorial service near the bridge where the festival goers were killed, holding incense sticks, and perhaps, quietly reciting and sermonizing Lord Buddha rites, and searching for the divine from above to be forgiven and for guidance. The smoldering smoke from the incense sticks, which he was holding, slowly evaporated, caused to irritate his eyes, presumably, the public has speculated that he might have shedding some tears. He has described the disaster as “Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-1979 reigns of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population.” Historically, the public would have objected to the statement made by Prime Minister Hun Sen. They believe that he has a lapse in judgment and his statement would further lacerate on old wound. The public can assert that: (1) some of the former Khmer Rouge comrades who had their hands stained with blood are currently serving on his administration; and (2) the worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge regime 1975-1979 was not the recent tragedy of the Diamond Island Bridge, but the K-5 plan. Retrospectively, the K-5 plan, which took place in the mid 80‘s, which the innocent people were rounded up from the outskirt of the countryside, enticed them into work force with low wages. Their mission was cleared, “have them work on the minefields”: (1) to make way for the Vietnamese armed forces, and (2) the fields would serve as a buffer zone against Siamese. They executed a policy, “shoot-to-kill” for those who would attempt to escape. People were killed by stepping on land-mines. The people had inadequate food to eat, died of overwork, starved to death, suffered from illnesses and inadequate medical care, and were raped and tortured.

For the past week, the mainstream medias have been pitching one softball question after another, back and forth, and the government has dodged one important question asked by the public, “Who is responsible for the Diamond Island Bridge tragedy?” And recently, Prime Minister Hun Sen, with his own “confession,” had appeared before the public on behalf of his administration and stated, “This was a joint mistake that nobody expected. I would like to inform our countrymen that nobody must receive punishment in an accident.” Oh, really! With an estimation of more than 350 innocent people who died a violent death, hundreds people more were seriously injured under your watch, and the whole nation comes to mourn of our lost loved ones, and no one should be held accountable? Not even one rat and/or roach? In a democratic world, “losing one life is too many.” Someone must be brought to justice, in both civil and criminal court. And someone must pay for the punitive damages, be sentenced to jail, and/or resign.

MP Sam Rainsy, President of Opposition Sam Rainsy Party, is a man of integrity. On October 25, 2009, MP Sam Rainsy was invited by our Cambodian farmers to Chantrea District, Svay Rieng Province, to witness the illegal movement of border posts that were covertly planted by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s administration and his counterpart, “Hanoi,” inside our Cambodian land. MP Sam Rainsy and our Khmer farmers had made a formal request to the government to intervene and to defend for our homeland, but was denied. MP Sam Rainsy and the Khmer farmers put their own cleanup plan into motion, knowing they could not leave something this serious up to the “circle of incompetence,” uprooted those illegal movement border posts. Despite of all the legal evidence and documentations that MP Sam Rainsy had produced and presented to the government, the two innocent Khmer farmers were convicted and sent to serve 12-month sentence in jail, and MP Sam Rainsy was convicted of having “instigated, disturbed the peace, and destroyed public property,” and he was sentenced to jail in absentia for 13 years. In the developed world, justice is for the jury to decide. But in Cambodia, justice is for the government decides, “just-us” justice!

One wonders, “How the world would react if these 350 deaths were the result of the military police violently abusing them during a peaceful demonstration – demanding their fundamental rights? How would this administration handle it differently if this tragedy was the consequence of a terrorist attack?

Thank you

P.S.: I would like to take this opportunity to say “hello” and “Chum Reap Sur” to each and every Koun Khmer around the globe.