Hok Lundy: The Death of a Murderer

Opinion by Khmerization
11th November, 2008

“Hok Lundy’s death is a gain for the humanity because his death means that Cambodian has rid one of the worst human right abusers Cambodia has ever had.”

In Buddhism, karma has been described as a fate or destiny which was determined by one’s own actions. In the Buddhist philosophy, karma is the quality of somebody's current and future lives as determined by that person's behaviour in this and in previous lives. In short, if you do good things, good things will happen to you. But if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you.

If one believes in the Buddhist philosophy of karma, then the recently death of Gen. Hok Lundy, Cambodia’s notorious police commissioner, has been attributed to his own bad karmic practices. And judging from the reactions of my fellow bloggers to the death of Gen. Hok Lundy, I wonder if his death has anything to do with his karma.

Gen. Hok Lundy, during his 14 years tenure as Cambodia’s police commissioner, has committed numerous gross human right violations. His ruthless approaches to his critics and opponents have seen many of them brutally killed and tortured.

He has ordered or personally carried out many politically-motivated and extra-judicial killings against his opponents. As recently as last July, he has been reportedly named by the respected South China Morning Post as having some, either directly or indirectly, involvements with the murders of journalist Khim Sambo and his son because Khim Sambo has written an article critical of his gambling addiction at Bavet Casino, the place where his helicopter crashed that killed him last Sunday. In 1997, a few days after the July’s coup d’etat, Gen. Ho Sok, a secretary of state of the Ministry of Interior from the Funcinpec Party, who was supposedly Hok Lundy’s boss, was personally executed by Hok Lundy himself inside the Ministry of Interior’s building.

Gen. Hok Lundy has been linked to many other high profile murders as well. The murder of Piseth Pilika, an actress who had a secret love affairs with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the attempted murder on Touch Sounnik, a famous singer who was rumoured to be romantically linked with a high-ranking government official, were somewhat linked to Gen. Hok Lundy. Other politically-motivated murders include the grenade attacks in front of the National Assembly on 30th March, 1997 in which 19 peaceful protesters were killed and 190 others were wounded, the murders in 2003 of Chea Vichea, a union leader and the murder in 2003 of Om Radsady, a prominent politician, are all linked to Gen. Hok Lundy.

But the recent attempted murder on Miss Suon Pheadkei, called DJ Ano, a TV presenter and an actress who was rumoured to have had a love affair with Gen. Hok Lundy, should shock everyone. Miss Suon Pheakdei had disappeared a few weeks ago and according to witnesses, she was last seen bundled into a car by 3-4 men. She was later found with head shaved and her body, breast and private parts riddled with 80 razor blade cuts. She was treated in a Vietnamese hospital and is not expected to live.

The person who ordered the kidnapping and mutilations of Miss Suon Pheakdei’s body is rumoured to be Gen. Hok Lundy’s wife. After the news of Gen. Hok Lundy’s death, I received an email from a respected lawyer and in reactions to Lundy’s death he said: “Justice may be slow in catching up on this criminal, but karma isn't. We hope his wife, who is holding DJ Anoy’s hostage in a Vietnamese hospital, will face justice.”

When asked to confirm how credible his information is, he said: “I can't confirm; the info was relayed to me by a friend who works in the film/karaoke industry in phnompnh.”

The death of someone should not be celebrated. Instead, it should be mourned. But, when it comes to the death of Gen. Hok Lundy, one of the ruthless killers of Cambodia, the news of his death, if not celebrated, should be enthusiastically welcomed. Personally, his death means the passing of one of Cambodia’s worst human right abusers. But in respect to the spirit of the death, I offer my sympathy to the bereaved family, his wife being the exception considering what she had done to Miss Suon Pheakdei.

And from the point of view of the human right advocates, Hok Lundy’s death is a gain for the humanity because his death means that Cambodia has rid one of the worst human right abusers Cambodia has ever had.

After reading different reports and claims from different sources, one wonders if Gen. Hok Lundy’s death was accidental or it was an assassination. Some people claimed that some witnesses told them that there is a group of people who shot down the helicopter with a rocket launcher before it landed at a helipad at Bavet town. Other witnesses claimed that they saw a fire at the tail of the helicopter before it went down. Other said that the tail of the helicopter appeared to have been hit by something.

So, was the helicopter crash an accident or was it hit by a rocket launcher? If it was hit by a rocket launcher, could it be the work of someone who wanted to get rid of Hok Lundy? Here is what I have received in my email from the same respected lawyer in which he said: “hun Sen also happy to see him dead as he is a thorn in HS's good eye. Lundi also held HS (Hun Sen) hostage for a lot of awful things.”

In summing up this editorial, Hok Lundy’s death is a loss, not a loss to the humanity but a loss of one of Cambodia’s murderous top cop. His passing should be a cause for celebration. But one should be worried about his replacement, Lt-Gen. Neth Savoeun. Gen. Neth Savoeun, a nephew-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is no angel either. He has a reputation of being a ruthless and another serious human right abuser, if not on par with Gen. Hok Lundy, his notoriety is no better either. This is another case of one murderer being replaced by another murderer.//