A New Chapter of Betrayal Is Being Written in Our History
School of
Vice: Online news sites like Khmerisation and KI Media have grown in strength
and popularity from the moment of their inception and over the years of their
existence owing in the main not only to the industry, dedication and the
passion of their team members, but also to the many excellent inputs by so many
anonymous and non-anonymous contributors through comments, op-eds, editorials
as well as great and hard-hitting analyses like this piece by Khmer Academy. This
fact has, perhaps, been far too easily overlooked by some of their friends and
foes alike. The strength of these sites lie not in the sheer quantity of reproduced materials from
various sources like the Phnom Penh Post, Xinhua etc. - quantity which in my
view can be at times unnecessarily excessive and counter-productive,
[especially this had been the case during much of KI Media's operation until
the last year or so] notwithstanding the well-meant intentions and effort of
their staff and minders. On the other hand, 'popularity' in terms of the scale
in readership following and data by and of itself does not necessarily indicate
the sites' effectiveness or positive influence as such, for these factors are,
in my view, better reflected in the actual quality
in both the followers/readers themselves and through the substance or relevance
of the materials posted. There was a time when, perhaps, hundreds of news items
had been posted in a matter of hours, and most readers would have just browsed
rather than read what were flashing before them! And this is not simply because
they didn't like reading lengthy articles as does Ms Jendhamuni either! Those who know and appreciate quality will
recognise and value it as such, even if they remain largely in the minority
among the vast clientele of a news site's coverage. Nevertheless, I personally
see the need to reach out to all who deep down harbour genuine concern for
their beloved ancestral homeland of Cambodia, despite their perceived coarse
language or level of education and or restricted world-view. The picture of the
three men above should serve to remind us all of the need to engage and educate
all segments of society and the danger that can come of their neglect and
isolation as these men had been before the enemies of the Khmer people seized
upon their opportunity to induct, brainwash and exploit them for their own long
term profit and motives.
Reproduced
from KI Media
A
New Chapter of Betrayal Is Being Written in Our History
26 June 2012
Op-Ed by
Khmer Academy
'No stability, social development or economic progress can justify the loss of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. To believe otherwise is to succumb to treason, a misdeed that my conscience, and I trust yours too, can neither accept nor allow.'
Our country
is presently going through another dark moment of its history as we witness a
new chapter of betrayal is being written. The authority has recently admitted
that several villages, including the birth place of H.E. Heng Samrin, the
current Chairman of the National Assembly, will be ceded as part of the Eastern
border demarcation process. This is totally in contrast to what it has said,
and unjustly prosecuted those who disagreed, for years that not a single
millimeter of our lands would be lost.
The
authority, with its justification, wants us to believe that due to the
different accuracies found in maps with different scales, some adjustments
along the border have to be made, thus unavoidably resulting in some villages
on both sides being swapped. If that is really the case, why so far only
villages on our side but none on the other side have been identified to the
public? It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that the alleged errors and map
inaccuracies only occur on our side. How can a village where the Chairman of
the National Assembly and his siblings before him were born, raised and farmed
belong to another country? Note that on the 6th of August 1966, Hanoi declared:
"Thlok Trach village [is] on Cambodian territory". Why is it no
longer the case?
Several
other central questions with regard to the entire border demarcation process
remain unanswered. The complete lack of transparency and public consultation
since the beginning of the process only confirms the suspicion by some and
allegation by others that our lands are being ceded to the neighbor, illegally
and deliberately.
It is
evident that the Eastern border demarcation constitutes an application of the
so-called 1982 and 1985 treaties which were signed when our country was
officially recognized by the U.N. as under occupation. As such, the entire
demarcation and the treaties which form its basis are flawed; they are not only
in violation of our sovereignty and constitution, but also in contrary to the
known international laws.
'It is a mistake of historical proportions to assume that border conflicts can be resolved through a one-time land concession.'
Apparently,
a number of high ranking officials tacitly recognize the loss of lands in the
demarcation but are misled and in some cases forced to accept the loss as a
necessary compromise in order to establish a permanent boundary and preserve
the remaining of the country. It is a mistake of historical proportions to
assume that border conflicts can be resolved through a one-time land
concession. Our past experiences have repeatedly taught us not to naively rely
on treaties, physical fences or border posts to safeguard our country from the
expansionists. Those treaties or border posts give us nothing but a false sense
of security because the expansionists never have, and never will, the intention
to respect our sovereignty. They always come back for more, taking our lands
village by village until nothing left of our country.
It is both
heartbreaking and utterly appalling that while the parliament of our neighbour
solemnly and unilaterally adopted a law placing the disputed Spratly and
Paracel islands under the sovereignty of its country, our parliament did just
the opposite for our villages – stripping off the immunity of its members who
dare to courageously stand up for the motherland.
Fellow
compatriots, I dare you to break your silence. Our collective silence and
inaction make us all an accomplice of this betrayal. We can’t pretend there is
no problem or walk away from it. Nor can we consciously contend with the usual
inexcusable excuse: “I can’t hold the country alone”. No one can, and no one is
being asked to hold the country alone; but everyone is duty bound to stand up
and do the right thing for the motherland, for our children and the children of
our children so that they can have a place to call home. Those who threaten us
with the use of force or violence will only bring violence upon themselves.
No one is
expected to carry the burden alone. The burden must and will be shared by all
citizens. Those who stand up and speak out will inspire others. Beloved
compatriots, we are the master of our own destiny; believe in it, embrace it
and you won’t be disappointed. We hold the key to our future. We can unlock and
free ourselves from the shackles of expansionism. Together, step-by-step we
will overcome the obstacles and prevail. Remember, we are not in this alone.
The outside world, especially “the enemy of our enemy”, is watching and willing
to help our cause, but we have to take the first step and prove to them that
we’re worth helping.
No
stability, social development or economic progress can justify the loss of
national sovereignty and territorial integrity. To believe otherwise is to
succumb to treason, a misdeed that my conscience and I trust yours too, can
neither accept nor allow.
Khmer
Academy
12 comments:
Dear School of Vice,
First of all, I would like to say that I admire your spirit and value your time maintaining and improving this Blog. Most of all, I love to read your op-eds, etc.…. I, as well as other readers of this blog, have been very impressed with your English and well intention.
However, most of the time, I find it is very hard to follow and understand your long and complicated sentences. In my opinion, it would be best if you could somehow simplify your sentences in to shorter, easy-to-read ones. After all, I strongly believe that you want your readers, most of whom are also English naive such as myself, to read and capture the substances in a short period of time (as you also are well aware of time value such as yours which was spent in this blog), instead of spending time trying to understand what you are trying to deliver.
Also I believe simpler sentences will help you save time and energy as well.
With all well intention and best wishes. Please forgive me or ignore if this is an unacceptable request.
Your naive English reader
Happy reading…. (smile).
Dear poster @ 7:31 PM,
Thank you for your courteous and very constructive feedback. I do respect and value readers' comments such as yours.
After all, as you have very well put it time and effort will be to no avail if most readers can't make head and tail of what School of Vice is talking about!
It is not the first time that readers have raised this issue about my long, complicated sentences, and I suspect, it won't be the last either... Nevertheless, I will endeavour to keep things brief and concise so as to help readers digest what they read.
However, saying that one will try does not always mean that one will succeed!! The task of writing a journal, a report or anything of public interest can often be both frustrating and fulfilling at the same time as anyone who has written such materials would confirm.
The author or writer can sometimes proceed along pretty much the same deductive and dispassionate line as does a scientist in like situations with the focus being fixed upon how matters/events conspire to become what they are. See, it's another complicated sentence and an example of failed promise already!
If I am able to simplify and make short an otherwise lengthy and complicated sentence without diluting or compromising as to its essence or unadulterated substance, I will try to do so. Yet, again I recognise that we are all on a learning curve, and that some have particular strengths and weaknesses in different fields and no one is or can claim to be all-knowing in all aspects of things.
True learning begins with being open-minded and having the humility to learn from others. Having the intelligence and wisdom to discriminate between purported facts and fictions may hold the key to worthwhile learning, I think.
By the way, I blame my literary mentors and all those great men and women who came before us for my style of prose and perceived bulky sentences!
Thanks again for your helpful suggestions, and please do not humble yourself. School of Vice is not above criticism!
7:31 PM,
You forgot the "t" in your signature. I have a hunch that you are not "naive," but "native" English reader :)
not innocent by-stander
:)
Thank-you KI for posting these three guys who have committed treason to our nation for so many years. It is good to have the word "traitor" written across their faces and to start to call them Traitor, Traitor and Traitor as they are, and also stop to address to them as Samdach, the raison why we should honor these criminals. We should stop.
Sorry, naive seems to makes more sense than native
na·ive [nah-eev] Show IPA
adjective
1.
having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
Another native by-stander
na•tive*ˈneɪ tɪv(adj.)
being the place or environment in which a person was born or a thing came into being:
one's native land.
pease write this book , I will support by buying this book. I already know this history but I want to help preserve this history of Khmer evil, the three traitors.
Dear School of Vice and KI- Media Team,
Thank you for taking my little request into consideration. I don’t expect it to be a priority. After all I will have to learn more English.
Please know that I will always be thankful for your dedication and efforts in providing and maintaining this blog as a platform for all readers from around the world and all concerned parties to learn and share the information, which is very limited, about our nation. Please also know that I understand that you all do your best with each article and op-ed before each of them is posted. And that, I know, takes lot efforts and energy while you have to sacrifice and balance your regular working time and family life.
Again and as always, thank you for what you are doing for our nation. And whatever your team decides to do, I will always come back to spend my little time digesting as much as I could from your blog.
From Your naive English reader
By the way, it took me 2 hours to write this thank you note. I have to consult the dictionary of Samdach Sang Chuon Nath so many times. I hope you don’t mind me posting this…(smile)
Suggestion to the CNRP:
1- Common sense:
When the CPP ignored the Khmer people’s wills on the election day by NOT even counting their vote, and simply made up the numbers of the seats that they got 68 and the CNRP got 55, did the CPP ask the CNRP and Khmer people’ permission?
2- The CNRP will never achieve its ultimate goal if it kept acting always one step behind the CPP. The CNRP must execute its plan by using RIGHTEOUSNESS as the base for its decision. You cannot follow the law of the traitor Hun Sen and won.
3- The CNRP must know when to concede when not to.
For instance, before the election, you could not win without the new NEC. The solution for that, you made the nationwide demonstration after Sam Rainsy’s return demanding the NEC’s overhaul, and the CPP had no choice but to accept your demand because the movement of the people was so overwhelming favoring the CNRP. The CNRP must know how to take advantage of the momentum.
I had suggested in KI every day (after Sam Rainsy’s return) urging the CNRP to switch from campaigning to demanding the NEC’s reform until the election day, making the election impossible so that the CPP could not proclaim itself as the winner. Some readers in KI made comments saying that they have never thought about that and suggested to KI and the CNRP to adopt my idea.
After the election, you must stick firmly with your original demand: the inquiry about the election’s irregularities. Nothing else. Only after you have finished this step that you proceed to other areas. If the CPP refused, that would be the starting point of the fight. And the CNRP will be the winner because the vast majority of Khmer people and the international community support the CNRP.
The CNRP needs to strengthen Khmer people’s morale by stop saying that we don’t want people to die during the demonstration.
In effect, we make peaceful demonstration to demand for justice to find the thief who stole Khmer people’s votes. If the CPP violently suppressed the people, that would be good for the CNRP because the international community will intervene to help Khmer people and enforce the 1991 Paris peace accord.
On the contrary, the CNRP should inform Tea Ter Banh, Hun Sen, and the evil Vietnam that at least 100,000 Khmer people are willing to sacrifice their life to save Cambodia. And 100,000 is absolutely the psychological winning number over the traitor Hun Sen and Vietnam.
4- Personally, I do not want Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha to march with the people in the field during the demonstration for security reason. We need these 2 leaders to lead the country after the fight with the traitor Hun Sen and the evil Vietnam is over. Can the CNRP ask the gathering in this October 6th about this idea? If the demonstration can go well without these 2 leaders, why should we risk their life?
The new technology has dramatically changed the way people do thing, we should
take advantage of it. Besides, we don’t know how the CNRP survive without these 2 leaders. The CNRP will be so vulnerable to the CPP’s attack.
Bun Thoeun
I would like to add 2 more to this list: Sihanouk and Sihakmoni
Not sure whether the readers want to see the poster's picture in their face all the time just as Theary Seng's picture is annoying them?
We Khmer people must learn that ignorant people can not be leaders.
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