Re: http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc/browse_thread/thread/c159a7a2817e3f90
Suorsdey Loork Khoar Chev, I have to disagree with you when you say the killings (genocide) should be blamed on the Viets, Sihanouk, and the Khmer Rouge. I firmly believe that the Khmer Rouge and the Khmer Rouge alone bear responsibility for the killings. The reason is, during the genocide, the Khmer Rouge leadership and the Khmer Rouge leadership alone had total control over the country. The Khmer Rouge leadership didn't include Sihanouk. If Vietnam had ordered or encouraged the Khmer Rouge leadership to commit the genocide against their own people the Cambodian people, the Khmer Rouge leadership could simply have disobeyed the order or ignored the encouragement. It's important to point out that no Khmer Rouge leader, be it Pol Pot or Ieng Sary or Khieu Sampahan or even Duch, has ever accused Vietnam of training or ordering or encouraging them to commit the genocide. It's interesting to notice that the UN and the international community have never accused Vietnam of playing a part in the genocide. Even the US, who was hostile to Vietnam for having invaded Pol Pot's Kampuchea to destroy his regime, for quite some time after the invasion, has never accused Vietnam of being involved in the genocide. My family and I escaped to Vietnam in about mid-August 1975, not in April 1975. So I lived for about 4 months under the Khmer Rouge regime. Although this may not be a very long time, I already witnessed by my very own eyes the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge. At the very beginning: they entered Phnom Penh and won the civil war about noon of 17 Apr 1975, (I together with other people applauded them, not because we welcomed their victory, but because we believed the war ended and we were happy about that), at about 2:00 pm the very same day, they started to force people out of the capital; my family (of course including me) and all the people in my area were forced out at about 11:30 pm; yeah, in the middle of the night. And that was only the beginning. It's not accurate to say that I love the Viets more than the Thais. It's accurate to say that I experienced myself the facts that the Viets treated the Cambodian refugees as human beings while the Thais treated the Cambodian refugees as street dogs. Thus it's accurate to believe that I like the Viets and dislike the Thais for t heir treatments of the Cambodian refugees. However I'm still grateful to Thailand for accepting Cambodian refugees, although unwillingly; it was the UN and the international community especially the US who urged it to do so and who paid for the costs of handling the refugees. In Toronto Canada where I now live, a racial group (I won't specify who they are, for fear of being accused of racism and more seriously for fear of putting myself in a possible danger) constitute only about 10% of the population, but they commit about 90% of the reported crimes. According to people who live here for 30 years or more, this has been going on for at least about 30 years now. Why don't they change themselves and abandon the lives of crime?? Because their community leaders always blame on other races particularly the Whites for the ills and the crimes of their members. They never look in the mirror and try to find out what's wrong with them. This attitude of the leaders is a license for the members to continue to commit crimes. Similarly, the Khmers who blame other nations for the Khmers killing the Khmers have the same attitude as the leaders of the above- mentioned racial group. If the Khmers don't look in the mirror and try to find out what's wrong with them but instead they blame other nations, they send a message to other Khmers that it's ok to kill the Khmers (you're not at fault when you kill innocent Khmers, it's the fault of other nations), a new genocide will likely happen again, or a series of smaller-scale massacres will take place again and again and again. I know what's wrong: it's hatred. The Khmer Rouge committed the genocide against the Cambodian people because they hated the Cambodian people. I don't need to read any book about the genocide; I experienced the Khmer Rouge regime hands-on. Besides, when a Khmer accuses other nations of making the Khmers kill the Khmers, he/she implicitly declares, perhaps unknowingly or subconsciously, that the Khmers are so silly that other nations can make them kill other Khmers. Pheng Kim Ving -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org
