Kramanation WEAR KRAMA CAMPAIGN

Cambodian-American model/actress/entrepreneur/nurse/rights activist iKandy Land brings sex appeal to the wearing of krama (photographer: Michael Siu, make-up artist: Maria Broussard; 21 Aug. 2010). "I’m not in the business of modeling, just because I think I’m pretty. I have future aspirations of becoming more than just a model, but a role model, a leader and an entrepreneur. I’m here to inspire those with hardships to conquer all that life throws at them, and to fulfill their dreams. You have to push yourself to the limits, and for me, there are no limits to success!" -iKandy

Lead singer of band Dengue Fever touring with her kramas (Hong Kong, Norway, 2010)

The Cambodian Ray Charles, Mr. Kong Nai very cool in his krama (Photo: Dan Schwarzlose for Cambodian Living Arts, Aug. 2010)

CHAN Sopheak in Germany this April 2010 during Study Tour for Cambodian provincial government officials of German Regional Management approaches (his Khmer colleagues from Sotre Nikum, left; deputy district goveror from Banteay Meanchey, right - with 2 German ladies also enjoying wearing their kramas).

Need we say more? The krama is the way to go... (photo: internet)

Kunthea Seng from California in her favorite krama visiting her family in Cambodia, 2010

ECCC Senior Assistant Prosecutor Anees Ahmed of India via London prosecutes genocide killers in it; here at public forum of the Center for Social Development under leadership of Theary Seng, in Takeo on 1 Aug. 2008.

The happy KI Media family in Kramanation
(Credit: Sacravatoon of Mr. UNG Bun Heang)

Little genius Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt and Brad Pitt don their Khmer kramas (Photos: internet)

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"For Cambodians of my generation and older (and maybe younger also?) who grew up having a krama around us everywhere we go (from waking up till going back to sleep), kramas are a necessity in our life. Then things changed sometimes between 1970 and 1975 (maybe closer to 1975), suddenly, kramas were used as a symbol of the resistance against the US by the KR, especially the red-colored kramas. With the advent of the KR between 1975-79, we tend to identify the red kramas with the KR soldiers. Some of my relatives, especially along the western areas of Cambodia, never talked about the KR at all; they rather called them "puok ah khmao" - the black-clad people with their krama, of course. To this day, I still cannot dissociate the KR hardship/suffering/tragedy from the krama symbol they used. Hopefully, this happens only to me. I find it really strange that something I used to cherish in my childhood turned out to be something I ended up distancing myself from later in life." -- Anonymous

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Theary Seng somewhere on the Cambodian road in 2008... the krama also goes well with bright yellow Gap rain boots

Southeast Asia Correspondent Luke Hunt proudly wearing his krama at the 65th Commemoration of Victory over Japan Day, near Sandakan (Borneo, 15 Aug. 2010)

Proud to be Khmer. Jimmy Srun in his krama on the top of the world (Preah Vihear, Aug. 2008)

Photographer John Vink on the other side of the lens donning the krama (purchased in Cambodia in 1989) in Peshawar, Pakistan circa 1990, photo taken by street photographer.

Boran Tum of Washington, DC is chairman of Cambodian Community Day, here at the Cultural Day celebration in Alexandria, VA, 2009.

James Turpin of UNOHCHR based in NYC defends human rights in krama-style, here at Barcelona (December 2009)

The breezily beautiful British Sophea Omnou of Virgin Media in her silk kramas (of Wallington of Surrey, south of London, UK, Aug. 2010). Read her moving, eloquent tribute to her parents and all her 7 siblings who perished during the KR years.

Artist/poet Chath pier Sath in Siem Reap (above) and at his solo exhibition at the French Cultural Center (below with Agnes, Jan. 2010)

The beautiful author/activist Loung Ung sashaying her silk kramas (above with Senator Patrick Leahy).

Interim director of the Center for Justice & Reconciliation and Advocacy/Outreach Manager SOK Leang at a Human Rights Panel in Brussels sponsored by the European Union, June 2010.

Judith Haugwitz, speechwriter to Germany Federal Minister of Health, very cool and natural in her krama, taking baby Karl for a walk in their neighborhood in Berlin, 2010.

Cambodian Living Arts festival at Chaktomuk Theatre... young people in their colorful kramas, Aug. 2010.

Rotary Peace Fellows at Chulalongkorn University, a lawyer from Michigan Nancy Wonch (above) and Rosemaria Carlozzi of Italy, wrapped in their kramas with Theary Seng after an engaging afternoon at CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education / Center for Justice & Reconciliation (Phnom Penh, 6 Sept. 2010)

Andy Brouwer, product manager of Hanuman Tourism, has many kramas and style choices.

Master musician Eang Sithul suavely wrapped in a colorful silk krama with soprana Amara, Marc de la Cruz, Vuth Chanmoly (Phnom Penh, 2010. Photo: Amara Chhin Lawrence).

Very cool ! Kym Thach proudly, suavely parties in it - New Year's Eve, 2009, Washington, DC.

Arn Chorn Pond and Cambodian Masters in their colorful kramas, Cambodian Living Arts (Photo: Daniel Rotherberg, 2009)

CARE billboard at Newark International Airport (NYC) snapped by Theary Seng as she was running to catch a flight home - June 2010 - a Khmer woman in iconic krama.

All wrapped up in a krama (Photo: Cambodian Living Arts, 2010)

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Comrade Duch Must Not Be Made the Sole Scapegoat of the Khmer Rouge Crimes

17 August 2010
By Theary C. Seng

Late last month, the Extraordinary Chambers (informally, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) convicted the former commandant of the notorious Tuol Sleng torture center, Comrade Duch, for crimes against humanity in the sadistic murders of at least 14,000 Cambodians (possibly including my father) and a handful of foreigners and sentenced him to 35 years of imprisonment. The conviction marked a milestone for Cambodians after having waited some 30 years for some form of credible justice.

However, many Cambodian survivors, including myself, viewed the sentence to be too lenient and incomprehensible in light of the enormity of his crimes. After the Extraordinary Chambers deducted 5 years to redress violations of his rights when he was held illegally in prior military detention and 11 years for the time he’s already served from the 35 years, the victims are left with Comrade Duch effectively receiving only 11 hours of imprisonment for each life he brutally murdered.

(It should be noted that the Trial Chamber correctly considered Duch’s impressive cooperation—confession and remorse which I believe are genuine—as mitigating factors into their sentence of 35 years.)

Moreover, we are appalled at the scant, laughable reparations offered to the victims of Tuol Sleng. We join the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia in demanding that learning centers be established in all the 24 provinces to be furnished with the assets and equipment of the Tribunal once it has closed operations.

Upon hearing the verdict, Hong Savath, a woman sitting next to me who had been raped and orphaned by the Khmer Rouge and lost a relative at Tuol Sleng, went into shock and almost collapsed in my arms, as captured by the images flashed around the world.

Yesterday, 16 August 2010, the Prosecutors filed an appeal against the lenient sentence. We welcome this appeal even if it has the potential of delaying the trial of the “senior” Khmer Rouge leaders in Case 002 because Comrade Duch’s defense lawyer Kar Savuth had already stated his intention of appealing the verdict anyway. Here, the Prosecutors beat him to it.

Up until this puzzling verdict, we Cambodian survivors have been viewing the Extraordinary Chambers as a very powerful catalyst in breaking the 30 years of “communicative silence” and transitioning us into a culture of dialogue and honorable memorializing.

For many years since Vietnam invaded and ended the Khmer Rouge regime in January 1979, these killer wandered the country with impunity thanks to Cold War politics. Despite their shared Communist ideology, the Soviet Union and Vietnam were sworn Cold War enemies of China: China continued its financial and military support of its satellite, the Khmer Rouge, now straddling the Thai jungle border to the west of the country; the Soviet Union supported the occupation of Vietnam in Cambodia. Still smarting from the Vietnam War and viewing China as an indispensible ally, the US backed a coalition government of Khmer Rouge and non-Communist Cambodian forces with Prince Norodom Sihanouk as its nominal head. This government dominated by the Khmer Rouge was given a seat at the United Nations with support from the US, Europe and pro-West ASEAN nations (e.g. Thailand, Singapore).

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought about the Paris Peace Agreement in 1991 which involved all the four Cambodian factions, including the Khmer Rouge. However, the Khmer Rouge boycotted the 1993 general elections envisioned by this Peace Agreement. The elections produced a 2-headed government of First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen and dwindled the power of the Khmer Rouge.

In June 1997, one month before Prince Ranariddh was to be overthrown in a violent coup d’etat by Hun Sen, the Co-Prime Ministers wrote the Secretary General of the United Nations requesting assistance in trying the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. It would take until June 2003 for the UN and the Hun Sen-government to conclude the Agreement to establish the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (its full official name) and until mid-2006 for this Extraordinary Chambers to come into operation.

Hence, the Extraordinary Chambers is the lowest common denominator resulting from a long entangled political compromise, a broken legal construct from the very beginning, but nonetheless the most serious, credible attempt to try the mass crimes of 1975-79.

Since the Tribunal’s operation, civil society has been engaging the Cambodian population to discuss long overdue topics of history, accountability, trauma, peace and reconciliation using the Extraordinary Chambers to jumpstart these conversations. This “court of law” as an object lesson has helped to multiply the benefits in the “court of public opinion”. However, this lenient verdict has taken the air out of us and broken the momentum in our stride toward a more comprehensive justice of both legal accountability and just peace. We will need to regain our composure and faith very quickly (to fight against the strong tide of cynicism from setting in) from this setback in order to concentrate on the larger picture, which is the demand for the quick start of the "senior Khmer Rouge leaders" in Case 002, the core of the Extraordinary Chambers.

Despite our deep disappointment at the light sentence for the grave crimes committed, Case 001 regarding Comrade Duch is significant in familiarizing us Cambodians with the legal process at the Extraordinary Chambers and raising the comfort level of our participation; in this regards, this simple case was a test-run for the heart of the matter—the more complicated trial of the senior Khmer Rouge leaders, Brother No. Two Nuon Chea, KR former Head of State Khieu Samphan, KR Minister of Foreign Affairs Ieng Sary and his wife, KR Minister of Social Affairs Ieng Thirith.

We must bear in mind that Comrade Duch was the commandant of only one Khmer Rouge detention center (Tuol Sleng) and only one “killing field” (Choeung Ek) among at least 200 detention centers and thousands of killing fields spread across the whole country. Phnom Penh was not the only crime scene, but almost every rice field, pagoda and school in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge rounded up their victims – mainly fellow Cambodians evacuated from the capital Phnom Penh and the major towns, believed to be tainted by western imperialism, thus “new” to hardship and suffering – at night for mass execution into graves dug by the victims the day before. They saved the bullets for the war against Vietnam; with their own people, the Khmer Rouge butchered and whacked them from behind at the stem of the neck by more crude farm instruments like hoes. Many died later from asphyxiation from the 20-30 bodies on top of them in the mass graves and the oppressive tropical heat.

Other detention centers resulted in more deaths than the 14,000 at Tuol Sleng. For example, in the Boeung Rai detention center in the heart of the “Eastern Zone” where I was detained as a 7 year old child, the Khmer Rouge killed 30,000 prisoners including my mother. In this prison, every night the Khmer Rouge guards chained the ankles of all the prisoners; they tried to chain my ankles but they were too bony and could slip in and out of these shackles; my job at night was to bring the toilet bucket to other immobile prisoner. One night, a crazy woman in our cabin screamed “I’m thirsty! I’m thirsty!” and drank from the toilet bucket; later the Khmer Rouge prison guards squeezed her head to death with a coconut cruncher for amusement to pass the languid day.

Comrade Duch is “most responsible”, according to the Tribunal, for these grave crimes against humanity of 14,000 lives at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, but he was not a "senior" Khmer Rouge leader and should not be made the sole scapegoat of this murderous, genocidal regime where 1.7 million lives were lost.

His conviction on 26 July 2010 is a very good start, even if disappointing in terms of the light sentencing; but it is only a start in the legal process as well as the journey of healing. The heart of the Extraordinary Chambers is the anticipated trial of the senior Khmer Rouge leaders in Case 002, which we must advocate for it to happen quickly before they die of old age, ill health and/or from more invidious political interests.

Should this Cambodian government make Comrade Duch who was not a “senior” Khmer Rouge leader the sole scapegoat of the regime by obstructing the start and completion of Case 002, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal will be considered a failure for the millions of dollars wasted and the irreversible cynicism it has embedded in a society already fractured by distrust and fear. If that is the case, let the record show, we have registered our deep disappointment.
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Theary C. SENG, a lawyer and first recognized Civil Party to testify at the Extraordinary Chambers, is the author of Daughter of the Killing Fields (first published with Fusion Press London, 2005; to be published in North America for the first time with Seven Stories Press, NYC, forthcoming).

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Theary Seng's Clarification on the France 24 Phone Interview

Theary Seng's Clarification on the France 24 Phone Interview

Friday, July 30, 2010
By Theary C. Seng

Regarding the telephone interview I gave yesterday (July 28) with France 24, I would like to make the following clarifications:

1. I am the founder of the Center for Justice & Reconciliation and founding president of CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education, no longer of the Center for Social Development since the politically-motivated injunction order removing me in July 2009.

2. There is real fear that Duch, not a "senior" Khmer Rouge leader, will be made the sole scapegoat of the murderous, genocidal KR regime; we know this current Cambodian government never wanted this Tribunal and certainly not the Case 002 involving the senior KR leaders to move forward.

Hence I have two theories viewed through the lens of political interference:

(i) The dramatic, public sacking of Duch UN lawyer Francois Roux at the eleventh hour is to irreversibly discredit Duch as a star witness in Case 002 involving the senior KR leaders, the heart of the Tribunal. Duch has been consistent in implicating the senior KR leaders. What is the best way to discredit a star witness but by attacking his credibility. Before Duch's changing of position and sacking of his lawyer, it was an open question whether Duch has rehabilitated and genuine in his remorse and confession; the switch and the sacking erased any credibility for many regarding Duch's reformed character and will cast an even darker shadow on anything he will have to say in Case 002.

(ii) Because this Tribunal has been so contextualized by political interests and regularly punctured with overt invidious political interference, it is difficult for me not to be a bit cynical to think that the incomprehensibly lenient sentence has the hand of politics behind it to create this cynicism that is unfortunately surfacing.

BUT, BUT... we need to think of the larger picture which is the demand of Case 002. Without the start and completion of Case 002, this Tribunal will be considered a failure - a waste of everyone's time, energy, resources in the millions and worst the embedding of irreversible cynicism in a society already so fractured by distrust and fear. We CANNOT, CANNOT let this happen. We have to move on from our anger and disappointment and channel that energy toward advocating, demanding for the quick start of Case 002, the heart of this Tribunal.

- Theary Seng, Phnom Penh, 29 July 2010. www.thearyseng.com

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