Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanna wish you guys, particularly those in the States, a Happy Thanksgiving. I’ll be celebrating mine with a friend’s family in Appleton, Wisconsin this year. Hopefully it’ll be a blast.

Enjoy feasting guys!

Pol Pot and the Repentant Swede

It was an error many might have made, and did, in fact, make. But Gunnar Bergstrom and his crew of Swedes from the Sweden-Kampuchea Friendship Association did not leave Cambodia in 1978 with any negative impressions of their hosts.

The tour had witnessed an immaculate display of choreographed state control by the Khmer Rouge. There was, of course, the mandatory state reception by one-time Francophile Pol Pot, ample food and good drink. Tours to the revolutionary countryside and the camps were tightly controlled. The impressions could not be anything but positive. The lot of those grinning peasants under the Pol Pot regime was, the group concluded, a good one.

Bergstrom left, not with the knowledge that the systematic murder of a population (some 1.7 million deaths in all) was taking place, but with a sense that the progressive forces of history had taken root in Indochina. The Khmer Rouge, with some destabilising help from American bombing, had not only emancipated the people of Cambodia; they were going zealously to reform their society.

The repentant Swede returned to Cambodia last week after 30 years, hoping to atone for his self-deceptions through meeting the victims of Pol Pot’s Year Zero scheme. He will front up to public forums addressing survivors. He is readying himself for the grief that follows when those in denial face the confessional. Part of it is already in print, in the form of a book, Living Hell. In words to the Associated Press prior to his departure, Bergstrom claimed that, ‘We had been fooled by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. We had supported criminals.’

Bergstrom’s seduction by the communist revolution was merely one of thousands that took place in the 20th century among the European intelligentsia. The Hungarian polymath and intellectual Arthur Koestler described his conversion in the 1930s. One only had to see the rotting crops that a capitalist state refused to distribute amongst the populace, citing the need to be frugal and stringent in the face of economic hardship. The Great Depression saw to it that capitalism would receive a bad press for most of that century. Communism, in turn, had its defenders till the day the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

Silence was the logical response from someone like Bergstrom. After all, one would not want to disbelieve the utopian project. ‘There were many times when the doubts crept into my mind, but I wouldn’t express them to the group of other people until later.’ But it was a silence that found itself on all sides of the Cold War. The disappearances and murders in South America at the hands of authoritarian regimes were kept under wraps by directives from within the White House and State Department. The very absence of records and bodies suggested a lethal silence. No one would talk: the stakes were high in a global, at times Manichean struggle.

While the role of communist and Marxist intellectuals these days is a small one, the lessons of the communist tragedy still resonate. Some call the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. But victims were cast aside as the necessities of revolutionary progress. To paraphrase Lenin: let 90 per cent of the population perish as long as ten per cent live to see a better future. Pol Pot came as close as any to realising this maxim, though the ‘better’ future eluded him.

Others are bound to disagree that communism has had, with all its experiments and excesses, its day. Someone like the Slovenian intellectual provocateur Slavoj Žižek, currently one of the major intellectuals of the left, told The Guardian recently of a secret he wanted to share: communism will eventually win. Such figures see communism as the resurgent force that can cope with the capitalist excesses of the current global financial crisis.

If it does, it will certainly only be able to do so in a humanitarian way. But as Bergstrom fronts the victims of Pol Pot’s megalomania and genocide, one should also empathise with him. At least he finally repented.

---

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, and lecturer in history at the University of Queensland. He blogs at ozmoses.blogspot.com

A Khmer Was Once the Premier of Thailand

Khmerization digged up an interesting historical piece on Khuang Aphaiwong (ควง อภัยวงศ์), the former three-time Khmer premier of Thailand. Though he wasn’t really someone we should be proud of, this article is still worth reading. Enjoy!

The Aphaiwong family has ruled Battambang province for over one hundred years from 1795-1907. The first member of the Aphaiwongs to rule Battambang was Chaufa Ben, a native of Takeo province, who was a powerful military commander under the reign of King Ang Eng. In 1795, with the aid of the Thai army with Chau Ponhea Bodin as a commander, Chaufa Ben declared himself the Lord Governor of Battambang and swore allegiance to the Thai kings. He pays homage to the Thai kings and since then Battambang was put under the suzerainty of Siam. As a reward, he was accorded the title of “Chau Ponhea Apheithipess” which in Thai it is called “Chao Phraya Aphaithebet” or “Aphai”. This title was later adopted as a family name of Ben’s descendants of Aphaiwong, when his descendants moved to live in Thailand, after Battambang was returned to Cambodia in 1907.

When Chau Ponhea Apheitipess Ben died in 1809, his son, Pen, ascended the Lordship of Battambang with the same title of Chau Ponhea Apheitipess. Chau Ponhea Pen ruled Battambang for only seven years and died at a young age and was then succeeded in 1816 by his son, Ros, who ruled Battambang for twenty years. When he died in 1835, Chau Ponhea Ros was succeeded by his son, Nong. There was no record of how long Chau Ponhea Nong ruled Battambang, but there was a record which shows that in 1856 he had ordered his official to buy a Tripitaka scripture from Siam to give to Wat Po Veal temple. When Apheitipess Nong died he was succeeded by his son, Year called Nhonh.

Lord Chhum, The Last Lord Governor of Battambang

Chau Ponhea Nhonh was very close with Chau Ponhea Bodin, the Thai military commander for Battambang. As such, he married his eldest daughter, Neak Mchas Klip, to Bodin’s son named Em Singhaseni. When Ponhea Nhon became old, Mrs. Klip took charge of the provincial affairs. The Thai king was so impressed of her managerial skills and so was preparing to appoint her husband, Em Singhaseni, to succeed Ponhea Nhonh. Chhum, the only son of Ponhea Nhonh, knew of the plan and became jealous and had Em Singhaseni assassinated. And when Ponhea Nhonh died in 1895, Chhum succeeded Ponhea Nhonh as the Lord Governor of Battambang. Chhum ruled Battambang for only 12 years when it was returned back to the control of Cambodia. He and most of his relatives, numbers in the thousands, moved to live in Prachinburi province in Thailand. He was, effectively, the last governor of Battambang.

According to eyewitnesses, when Lord Chhum moved to live in Thailand, he brought with him about 100 cartloads of gold and assets, taxed from Khmer farmers in Battambang.

Khuang Aphaiwong, a Khmer Becoming the Prime Minister of Thailand

Lord Chhum, the last governor of Battambang, had more than 40 wives. Among the 40 wives, he had one Thai wife named Rord who bore him a son named Khuang who took the surname of Aphaiwong when his family moved to live in Thailand after Battambang was returned to Cambodia in 1907.

Khuang Aphaiwong was born in Battambang on May 17, 1902 and died on March 15, 1968 in Bangkok, Thailand. He served three times as the prime minister of Thailand.

He attended the Debsirin school and the Assumption College in Bangkok, and studied engineering at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France. After his return to Thailand he worked in the telegraph department, finally becoming the director of the department.

Khuang was one of the most important leaders of the 1932 coup that reformed the Thai monarchy from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

Khuang received the title as a major, when he joined the guard of King Rama VII, King Prajadipok, in World War II. The Thai king also bestowed upon him the title of Luang Kovit Aphaiwong. He had served as a minister of subsequent Thai governments before elected as prime minister on August 1, 1944. On August 17, 1945, after public pressures, he resigned to make way for a new administration.

In 1946 he was one of the founders of the Democrat Party, and became its first leader. His Democrat Party won the fourth national elections on January 6, 1946, which gained him a second term as prime minister starting on January 31. Only 45 days later, on March 24, his government was censured by a motion in the parliament and he resigned.

On November 10, 1947, he became prime minister a third time following a coup d’état led by Phin Chunhawan. However, the coup leaders were not pleased with the performance of Khuang’s government and forced him to resign on April 8, 1948.

The Aphaiwong Legacy

The Aphaiwongs had ruled well and, at times, misruled Battambang, depending on who you talked to. The Aphaiwong family was both loved and hated by many Battambang natives due to their feudal and oppressive rules. Many people who benefited from their rules loved them and cried when the family moved to Thailand, after Battambang was returned to Cambodian control. Many of these people followed the Aphaiwongs to Thailand but were abandoned by them. Most became destitute and decided to moved back to Battambang. Others, those who were oppressed by their oppressive rules, were overjoyed of their departures.//
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References:
1. Tauch Chhuong, Battambang During The Time Of The Lord Governor
2. Wikipedia, Khuang Aphaiwong.
3. Brittanica, Khuang Aphaiwong.

CNN Hero of the Year Announced; Not Phymean Nuon Though :(

VIA CNN.com: Liz McCartney, dedicated to helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes, has been named the 2008 CNN Hero of the Year.

McCartney, of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, received the honor at Saturday night’s taping of “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The telecast airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Thanksgiving on the global networks of CNN.

McCartney, who will receive $100,000 to continue her work just outside New Orleans, was selected from among the top 10 CNN Heroes after six weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 1 million votes were cast.

PS: Did I forget to mention that she is also a Boston College alum? BC Eagles rock!

Festival of Southeast Asian Music & Dance

FYI, my friends and readers in Boston.

Unfriendly Southeast Asian Neighbors

A truly excellent analysis worth reading and reflecting.

Daly City, CA, United States, — There are numerous border disputes in Southeast Asia. The most well-known case today involves the historic Preah Vihear temple and the four square kilometers of territory around it, which are claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia. Last month, Thai and Cambodian soldiers violently clashed near the controversial temple.

Fortunately the clash produced few deaths and injuries. But unfortunately, it generated ultranationalist and racist sentiments in both countries. Many Thais, including politicians, accused Cambodians of betraying Thailand in the past.

On the other hand, some Cambodians criticized their neighbor for being arrogant. Thailand and Cambodia do not only share borders, they also have a common political and economic history.

The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is just one of the many quiet conflicts in Southeast Asia, especially in the Indochina region. There are still unsettled border feuds between Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia today. Recently, a maritime dispute in the Bay of Bengal was reported between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Website of the Day: KhmerMix.com

The most recent initiative by Cambodian-American blogger Nhuong Son, KhmerMix.com is the latest addition to rapidly growing Cambodian online social networking scene. At first glance it looks just like another Facebook and Mitleap, but as you observe carefully, you’ll begin to see its uniqueness.

Features of KhmerMix.com include:

• Personalized profile page (Facebook-like)
• Photo and video sharing
• Global forums
• Groups
• News
• Personal blogs
• Video and voice chat
• Personal messenger system

Let’s check it out and help make this new Cambodian online community alive!

FREE TICKETs to Where Elephants Weep

I got this following message from Anthony Galloway at Expat-Advisory today. Thanks to Cambodian Living Arts, the producer of Where Elephants Weep, he is giving away FREE tickets to the amazing show. All you need to do is simply answering several very SIMPLE questions at the EAS forum.

Unbelievable – over 40 new members in one day to Cambodia’s fastest-growing Facebook group!

Please keep spreading the word via the facebook share button

For those who are new, yesterday we announced a competition to win *FREE* tickets for ‘Where Elephants Weep’, open to all who’d like to see the show, Khmer, expats, everybody.

And to encourage locals to break the language barrier, we will give two tickets to the very *first* Cambodian citizen to:

- register at http://www.expat-advisory.com/forums/index.php and enter the competition

go to this page
http://www.expat-advisory.com/forums/win-free-tickets-to-cambodias-1st-rock-opera-vt7200.html

And answer these three questions on our forum:
* who would you take to the show?
* why would you take this person?
* why you deserve the tickets?

Who will be the first?
Get your entry in now, the shows begin next week!

All other entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges.
Thanks to Raphaele, Andy, Mongkol and John for accepting positions on the judging panel.

Queries to Admin of this group or anthony@expat-advisory.com

See you at the show!
- A

So don’t you miss this opportunity! DO IT NOW! Do it while tickets last!

Where Elephants Weep

“WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP”

A First Ever Khmer Rock Opera

Music by Him Sophy
Libretto by Catherine Filloux

Produced By John Burt Productions in association with
Amrita Performing Arts

An original commission of Cambodian Living Arts,
a project of World Education

Join us in celebrating Khmer arts and cultural heritage at the performance of this world class, groundbreaking, Khmer Rock Opera.

“WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP” is a modern take on a traditional Khmer love story, merging local traditions with Western structures: Western pop and rock meet with ancient Cambodian lullabies and Khmer Rouge propaganda songs.

At CHENLA Theater, for the following nights only:

WORLD PREMIERE VIP PERFORMANCE – November 28, 2008
6:00pm   Champagne Arrival
6:30pm   Performance
8:30-9:30pm  Cocktail Reception
Kindly Provided By InterContinental Phnom Penh
Tickets: GOLD Circle $250  SILVER Circle $150 BRONZE Circle $100

GALA NIGHT PERFORMANCE – November 29, 2008
6:30pm   Performance
8:30-9:30pm  Cocktail Reception
Tickets: Exclusive Seating $75    Premium Seating $50    General Seating $25

GENERAL ADMISSION PERFORMANCES: DEC 5, 6, 7
Tickets: Exclusive Seating $12   Premium Seating $5    General Seating $2

TICKETS RESERVATION HOTLINE: +855 (0) 23 220 424, 017 603 408
Email: Info@whereelephantsweep.net
Website: www.whereelephantsweep.net

Cambodia’s New Intellectuals

Cambodian Charms

Rare Footage of Cambodia from the 1920s

ក្បួនសំពះ​របៀបខ្មែរ

Saturday Night Live: Sarah Palin Rap

Saturday Night Live – McCain QVC Open

Congratulations, President Obama!

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you — we as a people will get there.

said Obama during his victory speech in Chicago, IL.

Palin Brutally Punk’d by Fake French President Sarkozy: A Must-Watch

The popular Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel, aka “The Masked Avengers” ( Les Justiciers Masqués ) are notorious for prank-calling heads of state and celebrities who take themselves a little too seriously. Surely none take themselves so seriously as Sarah Palin. She was pranked by the pair today when they social-hacked their way past security and convinced her she was speaking to Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France.

Fake Sarkozy tells Palin that his wife is “hot in bed,” drops plenty of hints it’s a fake call, and suggests Palin would make a good president “one day you too.” She replies, “well, maybe in eight years!” Snip:

He tells Palin one of his favorite pastimes is hunting, also a passion of the 44-year-old Alaska governor.”I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun,” the fake Sarkozy says.

He proposes they go hunting together by helicopter, something he says he has never done.

“Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we’re getting work done,” Palin counters. “We can kill two birds with one stone that way.”

The comedian jokes that they shouldn’t bring Cheney along on the hunt, referring to the 2006 incident in which the vice-president shot and injured a friend while hunting quail.

“I’ll be a careful shot,” responds Palin.

Playing off the governor’s much-mocked comment in an early television interview that she had insights into foreign policy because “you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” the caller tells her: “You know we have a lot in common also, because … from my house I can see Belgium.”

She replies: “Well, see, we’re right next door to different countries that we all need to be working with, yes.”

(…) He also tells the Alaska governor that he loved the “documentary” made about her and referred to a pornographic film with a Palin look-alike made by Hustler founder Larry Flynt. She answers tentatively, “Ohh, good, thank you, yes.”

Perhaps most damning of all: at the very end of the call, despite the prank caller identifying himself as phoning in from MONTREAL, Palin tells “Bexie” as she hands the phone back that it’s a “radio station from France.”

Poor Sarah Palin!!!

Coming to Phnom Penh this November!!!

Don’t Miss the Cambodian Premiere of this Revolutionary Rock Opera
November 28 – December 7, 2008
Chenla Theater, Phnom Penh
Cambodia

Produced by Cambodian Living Arts
in association with John Burt Productions and Amrita Performing Arts.

For more information, visit http://www.whereelephantsweep.net/.

Somaly Mam on the Tyra Banks Show

My hero  Somaly Mam recently made an appearance and shared heartbreaking stories of her life and fight against sex slavery on the Tyra Banks Show. I am so glad there is someone like her who proudly stands at the forefront of fighting against the notorious industry and has made a huge difference in the lives of many Cambodian girls.

To learn more, please watch her three-part interview with the beautiful Tyra Banks.

Thaksin therapy

The Straits Times‘ Thailand correspondent Nirmal Ghosh asks if this past Saturday’s pro-Thaksin rally in Bangkok has changed the Thai political equation.

They started pouring in midway through Saturday morning, and were still coming in the evening to pack the Rajamangala stadium.

In the end, easily around 70,000 people were on hand, all in red shirts, turning the stadium into a sea of crimson.

The merchandise and the slew of information materials, as well as the packaging – even the chairs outside the stadium proper were red – clearly showed the pro-government, pro-Thaksin Shinawatra camp had after months of fumbling, finally had its act together.

An organiser surveys the packed stadium. Source: Nirmal Ghosh

ST Thailand Correpondent Nirmal Ghosh (left) with government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar (in red shirt) at the backstage of the event on Saturday.  Source: Nick Nostitz

There were shades of the marketing and branding acumen of the erstwhile Thai Rak Thai political machine that Thaksin Shinawatra had rode to power from 2001-2005 before it was demolished in 2006.

It was a calibrated response to the yellow-shirted, royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which still occupies Government House demanding that the ruling People Power Party (PPP) mentored by Thaksin – a wanted fugitive from the law in Thailand – resign to pave the way for sweeping political reform.

And Thaksin played to the gallery. Swirling lights and epic music provided a buildup to a phoned in question and answer session with Thaksin – reputedly in Hong Kong – followed by a pre-recorded video.

”I have grown old” he said – and he did look tired.

In a measured address, he said he had been invited to invest in many countries – but was not welcome in his homeland. He mentioned the economic damage Thailand is enduring because of the long political conflict coupled with the growing global recession.

He was ”on message” as political handlers would say. The crowd listened with rapt attention and erupted in cheers when he ended.

The show of strength – the PAD has been hard put to muster more than 10,000 people on the streets, much below their halcyon days of early 2006 when Thaksin was in power – meant the battle has been joined.

The taxi driver who took me back home to write up my report, was wearing a red T-shirt and was almost giggling with delight on the long drive from Ramkhamhaeng to Sukhumvit. Like many taxi drivers in Bangkok, he was from Isan – Thaksin’s stronghold. As he dropped me off, he announced that he was going right back to the stadium.

The mood at the event – under the banner of the pro-government Truth Today TV station (which if truth be told is considered boring government propaganda by many viewers) the mood was festive but importantly, also orderly.

There was no bad-mouthing or rabble-rousing, and the feared violence did not occur. Most of the crowd was pro-Thaksin, but several I spoke to seemed to resent being branded pro-Thaksin and said they were in favour instead of one person, one vote democracy – and definitely against the idea of military intervention.

The crowd dispersed happily after Thaksin’s speech. On the pavements outside the stadium they chattered and sometimes continued cheering, clearly elated by what was a cathartic night after months of pressure from the right wing, royalist PAD.

In contrast late Saturday night – or more accurately in the wee hours of Sunday morning – a group of young men out for the night took a wrong turn and reportedly found themselves stuck among some tyres and barbed wire laid out by the PAD to protect their protest site at Government House. The boys, upset, yelled at the PAD guards who promptly shot at them, hitting one of them in the back.

Earlier on Saturday as I arrived at the stadium around 5pm, I spotted former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama in from the cold. Noppadon – forced to resign earlier this year when a court found he had violated procedure in agreeing that Cambodia could apply for World Heritage status for the disputed Preah Vihear temple – was at a stall busily signing copies of a freshly minted autobiography.

In another stall former cabinet minister Jakrapop Penkair was signing red T-shirts with the word ”Dictator” on them crossed out in black. The man has a charge of lese majeste – insulting the monarchy – hanging over him, but was grinning from ear to ear as the crowds flooded in.

Former cabinet minister Jakrapop Penkair. Source: Nirmal Ghosh

Chaturon Chaisang autographs T-shirts. Source: Nirmal Ghosh

Next door was a stalwart of Thai politics, Chaturon Chaisang, a cabinet minister in successive Thaksin administrations and briefly leader of the Thai Rak Thai party before it was dissolved by the courts after Thaksin had been removed from power by the military. Chaturon was signing everything in sight and was being besieged as if he was a rock star.

Later he and Jakrapob sang songs on stage before Thaksin’s appearance.

A police intelligence officer sat prominently videotaping everyone who came to the event. When I paused to take a picture of him he good-naturedly moved the camera to focus on me. The police are probably pleased that the pro-government groups – loosely called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) have begun putting out their alternative version of the events of recent weeks. One booklet featured pictures of police being battered by PAD security ”guards” on October 7.

Police surveillance at the event. Source: Nirmal Ghosh

At 6pm when the national anthem played, the stadium reverberated with the sound of 70,000 voices.

At the other end of town the few thousand yellow-shirted PAD supporters still occupying Government House were doing exactly the same thing. But the Rajamangala event has changed the complexion of the game.

”Huge show of strength” the pro-PAD daily The Nation said in its story under the banner headline ”Thaksin: Reconcile” with the report focusing on his speech.

The front page was dominated by a fish-eye picture of the full stadium taken around 6pm, with the bleachers still empty.

The Bangkok Post had a similar picture but taken later, with all the seats full. The paper led with the headline ”Only royal kindness can get me home” – a line from Thaksin’s speech, interpreted as a plea for clemency from the King.

A repost from the Straits Times Blog

Keo Pichpisey in Minnesota

As part of her US tour, popular Cambodian karaoke star Keo Pichpisey threw a concert in Shakopee, Minnesota last night. Attended by close to a thousand people, it was probably the largest Cambodian-American gathering I’ve been to.

The dance floor was packed with Om Om, Pou Poo and Ming Ming who had been longing for such a night. ហេតុតែ​ខាន​រាំ​យូរ ម្នាក់ៗ​សម្រុក​មួយ​អស់ដៃ​តែ​ម្តង! មិន​បិទហាង មិនឈប់!

Pisey interacting with her audience. I have to admit that she was very graceful and stunning in person. Her long silky hair and black dress made her even more perfect.

Pisey with my friends Sarim and Raksa

My companions – Raksa, Sarim, Charya, Jenny and Saron. Without these guys, I wouldn’t have been there. Thanks a ton for the invite!