If Samuel Beckett met Pol Pot

The view behind the wire inside Tuol Sleng museum, formerly s-21 detention camp (Photo: Simon Roughneen)

Breaking a horrific silence onstage (Photo: Simon Roughneen)

Friday, 01 April 2011
Written by Simon Roughneen
Asia Sentinel

In some of Cambodia’s thousands of killing fields, the bones of the dead can sometimes be seen, rising to the surface after storms or rain, grisly emblems of an unburied past. Perhaps 16,000 died at the s-21 Detention Camp in Phnom Penh, or at Choeung Ek outside the city. All told, an estimated 2 million people died during Pol Pot's terror reign.

Some of that horror is being retold on the stage. On Wednesday evening, the town of Tik Panhaow as the scene of a searing, stark drama in the dimly-lit marketplace in front of the village pagoda, a bumpy hour's motorcycle ride outside Phnom Penh.

Tears run down Nhem Roeun's face as she watches and listens to the performers on a makeshift stage.

"Breaking the Silence" - A play about the Khmer Rouge regime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKdK6R-jSzA&feature=player_embedded

Khmer Rouge Play Raises Questions on Reconciliation

A scene from the play 'Breaking the Silence.' (Photo: by Jim Mizerski)

Suy Heimkhemra, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 10 August 2010

“I thought this story, 'Breaking the Silence,' was an encouragement to push the people who used to make mistakes to dare to confess those mistakes.”

“Breaking The Silence” is a play designed to encourage people to talk among each other about their experiences under the Khmer Rouge.

In much of Cambodia today, families still live among those who were members of the regime. They may never talk to each other or acknowledge their experiences.

“Breaking the Silence,” which was performed at Chaktomuk theater in Phnom Penh on Sunday, is a series of short skits designed to show people how they can begin a process of reconciliation.

The idea of reconciliation was highlighted by the verdict of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who received a commuted sentence of 19 years from the UN-backed tribunal last month for overseeing the torture and execution of more than 12,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison.

But following Sunday's performance, the audience was split on whether the ideas in “Breaking the Silence” can help.

“I thought this story, 'Breaking the Silence,' was an encouragement to push the people who used to make mistakes to dare to confess those mistakes,” Sok Lang, an employee of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation, told VOA Khmer after the show. “Because the story also explained that sometimes those people had committed cruel things just because of following orders.”

In his tribunal defense, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, said he had been following orders. He took responsibility for the crimes committed under his watch, and he asked for forgiveness from those who lost family at the prison.

Sok Lang said he wanted other Khmer Rouge cadre to publicly apologize. “And we also want those who suffered to accept the apologies, because it is the only way to reconcile our nation.”

Not everyone was convinced that reconciliation will work.

Sok Chea, another audience member, said he had lost his father, all her father's relatives, and all her mother's relatives to the Khmer Rouge.

“Therefore, what they want for reconciliation for me, by showing this play, was just on the surface of my pain,” she said. “But for my real heart, it cannot. The Khmer Rouge regime is unforgettable for me. What they want for reconciliation for us cannot make us do away with our pain.”

History Can Help National Healing: Professor

A scene from the play ' Breaking the Silence.' (Photo: Jim Mizerski)

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C Tuesday, 18 May 2010

“To have reconciliation in society for those people to apologize, that’s not to create a new fault and not to educate children to act with such wrongdoing. That is a proper apology for those who were victimized.”

The teaching of Khmer Rouge history through books, radio and other new methods can help the spirit of national reconciliation, a leading historian said Monday.

Sombo Manara, a history professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, said teaching the history of Democratic Kampuchea through such new initiatives as the radio play “Breaking the Silence,” was a path to peace, healing and reconciliation.

“Breaking the Silence” urges victims and perpetrators—many of whom live in the same villagers together but may never speak to each other—to address their collective trauma.

Sombo Manara said the radio play, which also toured as a live performance earlier this year and last year, can prompt memories and healthy debate.

“To have reconciliation in society for those people to apologize, that’s not to create a new fault and not to educate children to act with such wrongdoing,” he told “Hello VOA.” “That is a proper apology for those who were victimized.”

Sombo Manara also said apologies to victims from perpetrators not currently held by the Khmer Rouge tribunal would show the next generation a better way of doing things.

If apologies are made at the local level, it will help explain morality to the young, where the old can teach the rule of Buddha and merit and avoidance of sins, “in order to prevent such actions again,” he said.

Sombo Manara was responding to questions from guests about the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which is now seeking to prosecute its second case against jailed leaders of the regime. But so far only five have senior-most leaders been detained.

Low-ranking cadre will not be targeted by the tribunal’s prosecutors and judges, but Sombo Manara said they still bear some responsibility for helping the country overcome the atrocities of the regime.

Meanwhile, teachers who give lessons about the regime in history must make sure they are not producing new fault lines in the next generation through embittered or vengeful instruction, he said.

A Play’s Second Tour Furthers Reconciliation

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Takeo province
11 February 2010

Around 500 villagers have gathered at a former Khmer Rouge prison camp in Takeo province to watch the performance. The crowd, at Kraing Ta Chan prison in Tram Kok district, bursts into laughter as a man acting like a monkey jumps on stage, but soon, the play turns more serious.

In another scene, a man asks a former Khmer Rouge soldier whether she’s heard of any massacres by the regime. She quickly tells him, “No. There were no killings in this village.”

“You are telling lies!” shouts a victim.

The play, “Breaking the Silence,” which encourages Cambodians to speak out about their experiences under the Khmer Rouge—as victims or soldiers—has begun a second tour.

The play, a series of skits by six performers from Amrita Performing Arts, depicts the atrocities of the regime and their impact on modern Cambodia.

“As suggested by its title, the play is aimed at calling people to talk, talk, and talk about what happened during the Khmer Rouge period,” said Suon Bun Rith, country director for Amrita Performing Arts. “We talk not to retain anger but to reconcile and find ways to live together in harmony for the sake of the next generation.”

The play, sponsored by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, was first performed last February in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Kampong Cham, Kandal and Takeo, ahead of the trial of Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, by the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The second tour, from Feb. 3 to Feb. 12, comes as the tribunal prepares Case No. 002, with a trial of Duch and four senior leaders of the regime expected to begin later this year.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center, said the play seeks to encourage more people pay attention to the tribunal.

“All the scenes are from facts, and we want people to better understand that Case No. 002 is the most important and historical for them,” he said. “And through the court, we want people to look at how they can reconcile with and forgive low-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres now living next door.”

Annemarie Prins, the Dutch author of the play, said she hoped it would keep people talking about past ordeals and help them deal with psychological trauma.

“The big trauma is still with the people who survived, and many of them find it very difficult to talk about what happened,” she said. “And to talk about trauma, especially genocide, is very important in order to work through the terrible time for both perpetrators and victims; it’s extremely important to heal and to be able say, ‘I’m so sorry,’ to somebody you harmed in some way or another.”

Soy Ser, a former prisoner at Kraing Ta Chan, said he felt less angry with former Khmer Rouge soldiers after seeing the play.

“When they performed in a scene where they try to reconcile, my anger calmed down a bit,” said the 52-year-old survivor, who lives in the same neighborhood as some of the Khmer Rouge he encountered.

Khim Sochanvireak, a 12th grader from Chea Sim Takeo high school, said the performance had helped him understand better what happened under the Khmer Rouge, convincing him the regime was murderous.

“The play makes us understand that Pol Pot killed his own people,” he said. “So we should not let the same thing happen again.”

Play Aims For Khmer Rouge Reconciliation

Cambodian actors rehearsed a play, called "Breaking the Silence", in Phnom Penh.

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
23 February 2009

A Cambodian play designed to help people speak more openly about their experiences under the Khmer Rouge is scheduled for viewing in rural areas, following a performance in Phnom Penh this weekend.

The play, “Breaking the Silence,” was established under cooperation between the Document Center of Cambodia and the Amerita Art organization.

Director Annemarie Prins, of the Netherlands Featuring Artists of the Secondary School of Fine Arts, did research in several provinces in Cambodia about the sadness, horror and daily lives during the Khmer Rouge. Prins found that some regime victims and former perpetrators live as neighbors but do not talk to each other.

Youk Chhang, director of the Document Center of Cambodia, said the play would be performed mostly in the countryside, to help people understand there can be reconciliation and tolerance between victims and perpetrators.

“We aim to show ‘Breaking the Silence’ in some rural areas so that the people will be able to see and participate in the show,” he said. “There are about seven cases that we picked from real life during the Khmer Rouge regime, after research and study by the Documentation Center of Cambodia. We used these cases to produce a story to show the audience.”

The play will be performed in Kampong Cham, Kampot, Kandal and Takeo provinces, and is completely Khmer in character, including speaking, ideas, proverbs and songs, he said.

In 2007 the Document Centre of Cambodia put out a play “Searching for the Truth,” which earned strong support from Cambodians.

Ser Sayana, a Documentation Center staff member and an assistant for the play, said the performances were a part of the center’s outreach program.

“I think when people see it they will understand, because the show is really based on the daily lives of people during the Khmer Rouge,” she said.

“Some people who were members of Khmer Rouge, or whose relatives were Khmer Rouge members, are now living around or near Khmer Rouge victims, as neighbors,” she said. “Those former Khmer Rouge members are still hiding in their minds, without speaking out, to let somebody know, their inner sadness. So this show could allow them to speak out in a way to brings reconciliation and tolerance.”