DJ Ano's arrival for the live TV interview to dispel the rumours.Opinion by Khmerization
22nd November, 2008
The supposed disappearance of Miss Suon Pheakdei, called DJ Ano, has caused a stir throughout Cambodia and in within some circles of the Khmer communities overseas. The DJ Ano rumours, if anything at all, has taught us one thing: and that is, our gullibility and our failures to check facts have made us all, me included, look like fools.
Without prejudice and without judgement, I have no intention of accusing her of purposefully fabricating the rumours nor have I any evidence to suggest that she was wilfully faking her own disappearance. But I can say this, her disappearance, with a high degree of certainty, has the hallmark of a conspiracy theory. It has all the criteria of a fake disappearance. In fact, it is probably a publicity stunt and a self-glorification, staged for the purpose of a publicity consumption. In layman’s term, her disappearance, was probably a publicity coup, conspired, aided and abetted by her mother and her employer, TV3, in order to make her and TV3 more famous. And I will say this, if she was not personally involved in the faking of her disappearance, one question remained to be answered: why didn’t she, her relatives or employer come out to dispel the rumours so earlier?
In order to prove a conspiracy theory, let’s look at what happened during the period of her disappearance: At the height of the rumours, when there were news that DJ Ano was attacked with 83 razor blade cuts to her body and private parts and that she had died in a Vietnamese hospital, all her friends, mother, management of TV3, remained tight-lipped. The management of TV3 said that they didn’t know anything about her whereabouts and that she did not apply for permission of leave. Everyone seemed to be in hiding and too scared to say anything, when journalists and human right investigators went to her homes to enquire about her safety and whereabouts. All the two addresses where she used to live appeared to have been deserted, when in actual fact all her relatives and DJ Ano herself lived in Phnom Penh with her mother.
When the sky was about to be clear of the clouds, the people mentioned above sang a different tune. Shortly before DJ Ano was about to appear live on TV3 to dispel the rumours on the night of the 19th of November, they all have a lot of things to say about her. Mr. Khampuon Keomony, director of TV3, who had denied about her whereabouts before and who said that she was on absence without leave, has now issued a statement saying that DJ Ano was alive and well and that she had a “leave permission” to go on holiday in Malaysia, Macau and Hong Kong. Her mother, Mrs. Suon Pov, has boldly come out and bragged to Koh Santepheap reporter that “in the past few weeks” DJ Ano lived happily in their rented house with her in Phnom Penh.
On her part, during her interview with the Angkor Thom magazine, DJ Ano said that she had a “leave permission” to go on holiday overseas with a few friends. She told Angkor Thom that: “At the same time as when I disappeared from my TV programs, the rumours (of attacks on me) have emerged and I didn’t think that people were talking about my name. I thought it was someone else who has the same name as me.” OK, doesn’t she know her own name?
And by the look of it, all her employer’s as well as her mother’s statements and even her own alibi seemed very contradictory and at times, didn’t add up. She said that she felt very “hurt” when she heard all about the false news of her disappearance and the razor blade attacks on her. One would imagine that, if she was so “hurt” about the rumours, why didn’t she come out to dispel the rumours so early? So, was all of this fuss a hoax designed to get the attention?
Well, if she is seeking self-glorification and publicity, she has certainly got it. But whether her fans, who have been fooled for the past few weeks, will forgive her or not is another matter. There is an old saying that ‘one can forgive but one cannot forget’. I certainly will forgive her but I certainly will never forget her actions or inactions in fooling the public, including myself, if that was her real intention. If, in the future, hapless and unfortunate things happen to her as has been cruelly rumoured in the past few weeks, she probably won’t get the sympathy and attention to the amount that has been poured in in the past few weeks.
I am thankful that she has come out alive and unscathed and I wish her all the best for her future career. But I am furious that she has allowed the rumours to spread like a wildfire for so long and that it has taken her, her family and her employer, TV3, this long to come out to deny the rumours. This is outrageous and beyond comprehension.
Her action or inaction, in the rumours and disappearance and of not coming out to dispel the rumours at an early stage, is unethical and immoral. It is the betrayal of the trusts of her fans and probably have angered them all. They are owed an unreserved apology. And on my part, I shall offer my apology unreservedly and unequivocally to those who have been misled by my previous articles. And I shall offer my unconditional apology to the late Gen. Hok Lundy and his wife, whom my previous articles have unfairly smeared and vilified. I’m so sorry, mate!
22nd November, 2008
“Without prejudice and without judgement, I have no intention of accusing her of purposefully fabricating the rumours nor have I any evidence to suggest that she was wilfully faking her own disappearance. But I can say this, her disappearance, with a high degree of certainty, has the hallmark of a conspiracy theory.”
The supposed disappearance of Miss Suon Pheakdei, called DJ Ano, has caused a stir throughout Cambodia and in within some circles of the Khmer communities overseas. The DJ Ano rumours, if anything at all, has taught us one thing: and that is, our gullibility and our failures to check facts have made us all, me included, look like fools.
Without prejudice and without judgement, I have no intention of accusing her of purposefully fabricating the rumours nor have I any evidence to suggest that she was wilfully faking her own disappearance. But I can say this, her disappearance, with a high degree of certainty, has the hallmark of a conspiracy theory. It has all the criteria of a fake disappearance. In fact, it is probably a publicity stunt and a self-glorification, staged for the purpose of a publicity consumption. In layman’s term, her disappearance, was probably a publicity coup, conspired, aided and abetted by her mother and her employer, TV3, in order to make her and TV3 more famous. And I will say this, if she was not personally involved in the faking of her disappearance, one question remained to be answered: why didn’t she, her relatives or employer come out to dispel the rumours so earlier?
In order to prove a conspiracy theory, let’s look at what happened during the period of her disappearance: At the height of the rumours, when there were news that DJ Ano was attacked with 83 razor blade cuts to her body and private parts and that she had died in a Vietnamese hospital, all her friends, mother, management of TV3, remained tight-lipped. The management of TV3 said that they didn’t know anything about her whereabouts and that she did not apply for permission of leave. Everyone seemed to be in hiding and too scared to say anything, when journalists and human right investigators went to her homes to enquire about her safety and whereabouts. All the two addresses where she used to live appeared to have been deserted, when in actual fact all her relatives and DJ Ano herself lived in Phnom Penh with her mother.
When the sky was about to be clear of the clouds, the people mentioned above sang a different tune. Shortly before DJ Ano was about to appear live on TV3 to dispel the rumours on the night of the 19th of November, they all have a lot of things to say about her. Mr. Khampuon Keomony, director of TV3, who had denied about her whereabouts before and who said that she was on absence without leave, has now issued a statement saying that DJ Ano was alive and well and that she had a “leave permission” to go on holiday in Malaysia, Macau and Hong Kong. Her mother, Mrs. Suon Pov, has boldly come out and bragged to Koh Santepheap reporter that “in the past few weeks” DJ Ano lived happily in their rented house with her in Phnom Penh.
On her part, during her interview with the Angkor Thom magazine, DJ Ano said that she had a “leave permission” to go on holiday overseas with a few friends. She told Angkor Thom that: “At the same time as when I disappeared from my TV programs, the rumours (of attacks on me) have emerged and I didn’t think that people were talking about my name. I thought it was someone else who has the same name as me.” OK, doesn’t she know her own name?
And by the look of it, all her employer’s as well as her mother’s statements and even her own alibi seemed very contradictory and at times, didn’t add up. She said that she felt very “hurt” when she heard all about the false news of her disappearance and the razor blade attacks on her. One would imagine that, if she was so “hurt” about the rumours, why didn’t she come out to dispel the rumours so early? So, was all of this fuss a hoax designed to get the attention?
Well, if she is seeking self-glorification and publicity, she has certainly got it. But whether her fans, who have been fooled for the past few weeks, will forgive her or not is another matter. There is an old saying that ‘one can forgive but one cannot forget’. I certainly will forgive her but I certainly will never forget her actions or inactions in fooling the public, including myself, if that was her real intention. If, in the future, hapless and unfortunate things happen to her as has been cruelly rumoured in the past few weeks, she probably won’t get the sympathy and attention to the amount that has been poured in in the past few weeks.
I am thankful that she has come out alive and unscathed and I wish her all the best for her future career. But I am furious that she has allowed the rumours to spread like a wildfire for so long and that it has taken her, her family and her employer, TV3, this long to come out to deny the rumours. This is outrageous and beyond comprehension.
Her action or inaction, in the rumours and disappearance and of not coming out to dispel the rumours at an early stage, is unethical and immoral. It is the betrayal of the trusts of her fans and probably have angered them all. They are owed an unreserved apology. And on my part, I shall offer my apology unreservedly and unequivocally to those who have been misled by my previous articles. And I shall offer my unconditional apology to the late Gen. Hok Lundy and his wife, whom my previous articles have unfairly smeared and vilified. I’m so sorry, mate!
