Cambodian killings - After 30 years, survivors still push for someone to be brought to justice
Sunday, April 29, 2007
ANGIE CHUANG
The Oregonian (Oregon, USA)
The stories spilled out as soon as the microphones were turned on.
Portland-area Cambodian expatriates planned a two-day forum this weekend as a grass-roots version of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal -- the first such forum they know of in the nation.
For decades, the United Nations and Cambodian government have stalled in negotiations to prosecute senior leaders of the communist Khmer Rouge, who killed 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s. The tribunal is scheduled to happen later this year, but no firm date has been agreed upon.
On Friday's opening night, Portland organizers had planned a scholarly question-and-answer session with an expert on the Cambodian genocide. But instead, survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime told stories of soul-crushing labor and starvation, of parents and siblings slaughtered, of nightmares that still haunt.
Then, a woman stood up. Her hands shook.
"I did not come here to hear stories," she said, her voice clawing back tears. "I came here to find out who was behind the screen."
The killers could not have been Cambodian, she said. Cambodians would not kill fellow Cambodians, she shouted.
"CAN . . . YOU . . . TELL ME . . . WHO . . . IS THE REAL KILLER?"
The room, filled with about 150, fell dumbstruck. Ronnie Yimsut, the forum's chairman, grabbed the microphone.
"I was in a ditch. My whole family was there, too," he said. Yimsut had been left for dead in a mass grave by the Khmer Rouge as his parents and seven siblings were executed next to him. "The killer's name was Pum. He was from our village.
"I am telling you, Cambodians did kill Cambodians."
Such emotional, unplanned exchanges marked a milestone for survivors of the Cambodian genocide. At the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization in Northeast Portland and the next day at Portland State University, they wrote their own chapter in the reconciliation process.
From 1975-79, the Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of Cambodia's population through forced labor, starvation and execution. Cambodian expatriates have been particularly vocal in their frustration that the regime's leaders -- many of whom have died or are elderly -- have not been brought to justice.
Yimsut and other leaders of the Cambodian American Community of Oregon decided to take matters into their own hands. A year ago, they got a $3,000 grant from the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation and planned a local version of the truth-telling process.
Oregon and Southwest Washington's Cambodian community of about 10,000 is small compared to major enclaves in Long Beach, Calif., and Lowell, Mass. But, said organizer Kilong Ung, the movement had to start somewhere.
"I wanted to send a message that if a bunch of nobodies in Portland, Oregon, can get it done, then Cambodia has no excuses not to do it," said Ung, who lost his parents and younger sister in the genocide. Other Cambodian American organizations around the country have contacted him about holding similar events.
Sichan Siv, a genocide survivor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Portland event marked a new direction for the expatriate Cambodian community.
"They have worked very hard to show that Cambodia is not a killing field; it is a 2,000-year-old culture," said Siv, who flew in from Texas for the event. Now, it's time to face the hard truths of genocide -- one that is unique because it pitted countrymen against countrymen with no ethnic or religious differences.
Koann Tan of Tigard came to the forum with black-and-white photographs of her older brother and sister, who, starving, were killed while scavenging for food in a village.
Tan, whose husband is stationed with the Oregon National Guard in Kandahar, Afghanistan, said that for decades, she has kept up the stoic exterior of a military wife.
But she said she came to speak out because her oldest son is now 15, the same age she was when the Khmer Rouge sent her to a labor camp to build dams.
She wanted him to know.
"When I count the number of times I saw executions first-hand, I count five times," Tan said. The one that comes most often in flashbacks happened in a field. The Khmer Rouge soldier struck the victim with a hoe.
"The person was still getting up, still getting up," Tan said.
"It is like a rolling film in my head."
This weekend marked the end of suppressing her memories, she said.
"Now I start to tell my story."
Angie Chuang: 503-221-8219; angiechuang@news.oregonian.com.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
ANGIE CHUANG
The Oregonian (Oregon, USA)
The stories spilled out as soon as the microphones were turned on.
Portland-area Cambodian expatriates planned a two-day forum this weekend as a grass-roots version of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal -- the first such forum they know of in the nation.
For decades, the United Nations and Cambodian government have stalled in negotiations to prosecute senior leaders of the communist Khmer Rouge, who killed 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s. The tribunal is scheduled to happen later this year, but no firm date has been agreed upon.
On Friday's opening night, Portland organizers had planned a scholarly question-and-answer session with an expert on the Cambodian genocide. But instead, survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime told stories of soul-crushing labor and starvation, of parents and siblings slaughtered, of nightmares that still haunt.
Then, a woman stood up. Her hands shook.
"I did not come here to hear stories," she said, her voice clawing back tears. "I came here to find out who was behind the screen."
The killers could not have been Cambodian, she said. Cambodians would not kill fellow Cambodians, she shouted.
"CAN . . . YOU . . . TELL ME . . . WHO . . . IS THE REAL KILLER?"
The room, filled with about 150, fell dumbstruck. Ronnie Yimsut, the forum's chairman, grabbed the microphone.
"I was in a ditch. My whole family was there, too," he said. Yimsut had been left for dead in a mass grave by the Khmer Rouge as his parents and seven siblings were executed next to him. "The killer's name was Pum. He was from our village.
"I am telling you, Cambodians did kill Cambodians."
Such emotional, unplanned exchanges marked a milestone for survivors of the Cambodian genocide. At the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization in Northeast Portland and the next day at Portland State University, they wrote their own chapter in the reconciliation process.
From 1975-79, the Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of Cambodia's population through forced labor, starvation and execution. Cambodian expatriates have been particularly vocal in their frustration that the regime's leaders -- many of whom have died or are elderly -- have not been brought to justice.
Yimsut and other leaders of the Cambodian American Community of Oregon decided to take matters into their own hands. A year ago, they got a $3,000 grant from the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation and planned a local version of the truth-telling process.
Oregon and Southwest Washington's Cambodian community of about 10,000 is small compared to major enclaves in Long Beach, Calif., and Lowell, Mass. But, said organizer Kilong Ung, the movement had to start somewhere.
"I wanted to send a message that if a bunch of nobodies in Portland, Oregon, can get it done, then Cambodia has no excuses not to do it," said Ung, who lost his parents and younger sister in the genocide. Other Cambodian American organizations around the country have contacted him about holding similar events.
Sichan Siv, a genocide survivor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Portland event marked a new direction for the expatriate Cambodian community.
"They have worked very hard to show that Cambodia is not a killing field; it is a 2,000-year-old culture," said Siv, who flew in from Texas for the event. Now, it's time to face the hard truths of genocide -- one that is unique because it pitted countrymen against countrymen with no ethnic or religious differences.
Koann Tan of Tigard came to the forum with black-and-white photographs of her older brother and sister, who, starving, were killed while scavenging for food in a village.
Tan, whose husband is stationed with the Oregon National Guard in Kandahar, Afghanistan, said that for decades, she has kept up the stoic exterior of a military wife.
But she said she came to speak out because her oldest son is now 15, the same age she was when the Khmer Rouge sent her to a labor camp to build dams.
She wanted him to know.
"When I count the number of times I saw executions first-hand, I count five times," Tan said. The one that comes most often in flashbacks happened in a field. The Khmer Rouge soldier struck the victim with a hoe.
"The person was still getting up, still getting up," Tan said.
"It is like a rolling film in my head."
This weekend marked the end of suppressing her memories, she said.
"Now I start to tell my story."
Angie Chuang: 503-221-8219; angiechuang@news.oregonian.com.
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