"A voice from Phnom Penh -- Thinking Gray"

AHRC-ETC-044-2010
December 15, 2010

An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Last year, a reader e-mailed me from Phnom Penh to say he has enjoyed reading my columns on the Internet and that he will be the first in line to sign up for my classes should I return to teaching. Thus, began a long distance relationship that later brought photos of Khmer village children and their teacher and big brother, a handsome young chap -- photos that I attached to my computer screen until today.

Having learned much from and about the young man, Makara, born to a Khmer father, a soldier with long relationships with Vietnam, and raised by a grandfather in Sre Kok village, Anlung Romiet, Kandal province, I asked if I might write a column about his life and his thinking, which, I said, would benefit Cambodians and non-Cambodians interested in the Khmer people's future.

As I sent him additional questions, I reminded him that published materials would remain public in perpetuity; that my article would bring out friends and adversaries, praise and unkind comments. His usual prompt responses revealed a quick-witted young graduate of the Royal University of Phnom Penh with an English literature degree, who embellished the words I used in my articles to throw back at me: "I love my motherland, I do what I can, with what I have, which is very little, where I am, in a country reigned by terror and injustice."

Touche!

Unlike father unlike son

What captivated my attention was what emerged as the story about a loving father and a respectful son who are so much alike in their personality traits with strong beliefs, and yet, so dissimilar in their views of the world around them.

The father was a member of the Khmer military and had long-term relationships with the historical enemy of all Cambodians, the Vietnamese, in Cambodia. The son feels a danger in the Vietnamization of Cambodia. The father appreciates Premier Hun Sen as "the only man who can control and stabilize Cambodia." The son sees Hun Sen as "a thorn, the source of the country's many problems as he holds on to power too long."

Childhood

As his mother lived with his father in Phnom Penh, where he "held a high position in the Ministry of Defense," Makara, born in 1983, was raised by his grandfather at Sre Kok.

Makara wrote, "during the communist time (1980-1989)" his family was "a bit wealthy"; his father earned enough money to buy food, good clothes, and furniture, for a flat in Phnom Penh -- the regime provided flats to ranking officials the military and in the government.

At age 5, Makara moved to live with his parents in Phnom Penh in 1988. But, he remembers, "My life in Phnom Penh was not happy."

The power and influence of Soviet Communism was waning in Eastern Europe; the Soviets were withdrawing from Afghanistan; and in 1989, the Vietnamese began to withdraw troops after a decade of military occupation of Cambodia.

With their withdrawal, Makara's father lost his post in the Ministry of Defense, allegedly because he was "not flexible enough" with the new Cambodian rulers. "Then our lives became so hard and difficult," Makara said.

In 1991, Makara, then 8, moved back to Sre Kok -- his parents could not send him to school in Phnom Penh -- and was enrolled in school at Anlung Romiet: "My life was in the ricefield with cows."

"I loved life in the countryside. We ate Prohok every day." He told his grandfather he wanted to live in the village forever; the old man replied, "At this time you want to stay, when older you want to live only in the city." Makara thinks his grandfather was right.

He remembers being so happy to help his grandfather cut and carry grass almost every day; and he even thought of becoming a "professional" oxcart driver as he saw "how cool some guys looked," driving the oxcart!

In 1999, while Makara was in high school, his parents sold the flat in the city and returned to live in Anlung Romiet. Makara moved in to live with them -- in a wooden house: "My life was still a bit high." Then, he developed interests in politics and history as his father and his uncle discussed the kind of "good leaders whom we should follow and respect."

The English language was appealing to him. For six years, from 1997 to 2002, the year he graduated from high school, Makara took private English lessons for an hour a day, though he studied French, "nearly a dead language in Cambodia today," in public school.

In 2002, he also passed his university entrance exam, and received a scholarship from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Now 19, Makara rented a room in Phnom Penh so he could go to RUPP. His parents scraped five dollars a week (20,000 riels) to help Makara. In 2006, Makara received his Bachelor's degree.

Life's turning points

Makara described the years 2002-2006 in Phnom Penh as the years "society really affected my thinking and reaction. I saw the many faces of bitterness, and hardships of the poor; I saw how the non-poor lived." The different subjects he studied at the university "also affected my thinking, and sharpened my interest more in politics and society."

While studying at RUPP, he taught English in his spare time in 2003 and earned roughly US$ 15 per month, an earning that rose to 50 in 2004. By 2006, the year he graduated, he was making about 300 a month.

In 2007-2008, Makara started business classes at Cambodia Japan Cooperation Center; and until August 2010, he was a business development officer (marketer) for the Far East Manufacture Services Cambodia Co., Ltd, a United Kingdom-based company. He earned 500 a month.

Makara knew his potential in business enterprises. Today, he wants to open two small businesses. To soothe his conscience, which nagged him to remember that education is the necessary vehicle to improve society, and that it's education that breeds quality thinking, which he believes helps to make durable changes, Makara decided he would do both: Open new businesses and acquire a higher degree.

What a "can do" attitude!

Balancing reality and idealism

Makara's father, 62, is now a "retired soldier"; Makara's mother, 50, is a housewife and a farmer.

Makara described his father as a "real communist … a communist political lecturer, unrivaled by contemporary high ranking officials." He sees his father as "incorruptible, helped a lot of poor people … served public interests rather than his own."

"Educated in Sihanouk time," his father reads and speaks French and speaks Vietnamese.

Makara said he learned his father was recruited by the Vietnamese after 1979; that he received "political and military training" for "probably, two years," in Hochiminh-ville in "1980-1985," and training with Vietnamese experts at Cambodia's Dey Eith, Kien Svay.

With Vietnamese language skills, his father "traveled to and from Vietnam routinely"; he recruited Cambodians to train as "military doctors, mechanics, and so on."

Makara said, his father "worked best with Vietnamese experts," who trusted his honesty and appreciated his hard work.

Makara complained his father's appreciation of Hun Sen for "stabilizing the country and ending the civil wars," goes too far. "He never gets along with me at all on this matter."

Though Makara acknowledges that Sen keeps a lid on chaos in Cambodia, Sen is not a good leader for Cambodians.

Makara says "I feel so gloomy because lots of Vietnamese are now living in Cambodia and continue to come live. They are wealthy, protected by someone in Cambodia, and can't be touched … I feel so sad to see Vietnamese vote in Cambodia. You can see millions of them now living in Cambodia, while lots of Cambodians remain uneducated."

Makara's reported dialogue with an old man with vast experiences in politics and Vietnamese in Cambodia, affirmed Makara's fear of Cambodia's future in the next 50 years: Vietnamese immigrants and their children in Cambodia will be all Khmer, who control everything in the country with the help of today's high ranking officials, who are actually Vietnamese serving in the Hun Sen government. With Vietnamese who become Khmer, and Khmer who are Vietnamized, what will Cambodia become?"

Historical records show 5,000-8,000 Khmer children were removed from Cambodia and taken to Vietnam by the Viet Minh in the early 1950s as they were ordered by the Geneva Conference to return to Vietnam. Today, half a century later, what have those children become if not Cambodians with Khmer bodies and Vietnamese heads?

Sick of the elite and the rich

Makara insists Cambodia "has good people and good land … but we have a powerful, selfish, greedy, family-ism (sic.) leader," who holds on to power too long.

Under Hun Sen's rule, Cambodians, ignorant of modern living and of what modernity entails, now talk and want "nice villas, brand new cars, and latest modern equipments," says Makara: "Most of them are from Ok-nha and high ranking officials' families. If you listen, you hear them talk only about building villas, owning latest model cars."

The very popular US$120,000 Lexus series 2010 vehicles are "rubbish now," as the 2011 models are available. "Villas, cars, girls," are their talk; they donate money to Cambodian Red Cross for "acknowledgments from (first lady) Bun Rany and (Premier) Hun Sen -- which is good for their businesses and careers."

Thinking gray

Makara didn't appear to think in all "white" or all "black"; he talked "gray" -- which appears most realistic.

He's vehement in his dislike of the corruption and injustice of the Hun Sen regime; but Makara says, not everyone, whether in the current government or in the opposition, is all "virtuous" or all "evil." Everywhere, people display a range of behaviors from good to bad and much in between.

Cambodians in general lack knowledge and information about life and living in other countries -- says Makara; most Cambodians are poor and not educated; the mass media and the opposition that can help enlighten the people, are not doing that.

Makara asserts, the opposition "should not oppose and accuse the government" at every turn; "No one likes to be blamed all the time." He admits that the opposition has brought competition to Khmer politics, but it should educate the people more about "its policies and programs."

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is "smart and clever, a western guy who wants no wealth nor property, he's not greedy … but a bit cowardly to face Hun Sen," says Makara. "He doesn't need to dare to walk to prison, but who cares for a leader speaking from abroad? With Sam Rainsy as leader, Cambodia will prosper. But this is just a long dream for me."

Makara believes the democrats can be an alternative to Sen and his cronies, that democratic values and free expression are solid essential elements of durable stability and order, that there's no alternative to a good education for all Cambodians.

This reminds me of Burmese human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi's recent emphasis on "value change," because "regime change" only replaces men with other men drawn from the same lot.

Changes

Enumerating the changes he wanted to see in Cambodia in order of importance, Makara says, "First, I would like to see change in the high echelons of leadership, and even if some replacements come from the ruling Cambodian People's Party itself, this should not matter, not all CPP members are bad people, just as not all opposition members are good."

"Second, I want to see better education, because good education allows better thinking; actions led by better thinking bring more durable changes to society."

"Last, I want to see more western companies coming to invest in Cambodia rather than those from China and Vietnam!"

I find enlightening Makara's views on individual rights and freedom. He admits they are limited and restricted under Hun Sen. "This is true, but why not use our heads and think smart. Actually, there's much more freedom than you imagined for us to exploit to achieve other things besides things political."

His thought appears to parallel the long established Eastern philosophy that without stability and order, we cannot even think of "individual rights and freedom," and that individual rights and freedom can flourish only in a stable and secure environment.

Ironically, many western governments today have accepted the importance of maintaining stability and security in today's world.

Nevertheless, we must not forget, stability and order without rights and freedom constitute a dictatorship; and irresponsible exercise of rights and freedom is a license for tyranny.

There are other Makaras in Cambodia today. Their thoughts and reflections are worth consideration by Cambodians and non-Cambodians interested in Cambodia and her future.

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The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them.

About the Author:

Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. He currently lives in the United States. He can be contacted at peangmeth@gmail.com