One shouldn’t forget the fact it is the Khmer leaders: those that should have the greatest vested interest in helping their own people that show a complete disregard for majority impoverished population back then and today. I don’t believe it was the Americans that “taught” Khmer Rouges soldiers to cut open “traitors” bodies, rummage for the beating heart, and take a bite out of it as a show of ultimate bravery. I don’t believe the billions of dollars of foreign aid (the majority US) pouring into this country annually, is responsible for mass eviction of thousands of families, torching their houses, stealing their meagre possessions, beating the men and leaving them utterly destitute, an event that is happening daily.

We (NGO’s) did not, and are not “wiping our hands” of mess that decades of civil war and disgraceful international and domestic policy has left for us, but we are daily fighting an uphill struggle against the misogynistic, autocratic and repressive leaders. The most constructive thing the international community can do is to stop thinking of Khmers as pawns of foreign policy, or as dependent, “pushed around”, and ignorant and to empower people with the tools to lift themselves out of poverty. The day that the government of Cambodia starts to take responsibility for its people, rather then speeding past them in their Lexus SUV’s, deluging them with the putrid flood water of ludicrous urban “development”; may be the day that arrogant Western portrayals of the “poor Cambodian” are replaced by admiration and genuine respect for this nation.

Cambodian’s haven’t let bygones be bygones; they are living everyday like the rest of us, but never forgetting. Why not do as the headline suggests, and talk about Cambodia today, because we cannot move forward if we keep writing history.

Thank you for taking the time to respond in such detail, and for your powerful suggestions. I must make a note here that I was essentially a tourist when I dropped into Cambodia. It was my meeting with this country’s history that made me stop in my tracks, lock myself in a hotel room with a pile of books, and write an article about what I learned. It was also the beginning of a turning point in my life, the moment at which I decided I wanted to be a photojournalist. Such was the power of their story. I have felt for a long time that this examination was quite superficial and that is why I would like to return, to go much deeper, and I am looking forward to working with someone who has a current perspective and a sober, even-handed view of the history. I have been tempted to remove this article from my blog, as it is very much a novice’s attempt at journalism, and clearly that shows, but I am quite interested by the responses it has generated, and even if the comments are full of crticism, they are telling a story which I think is important.

Many of the photojournalists I have met who did projects on Cambodia all tracked down some fromer Khmers Rouges assasin or something of the likes. It is true that the world, if it is interested at all in Cambodia, seems fixated on this short, brutal part of their history, because as many suggest, percentage-wise, it was the worst case of genocide in such a short period of time. I think people are still shaking their heads, and surely, as you suggest, this is not conducive to looking forward and treating the ills of society today. Thank you for pointing this out.

I suppose you could look at the current situation in Iraq and say the same, that it is not the Americans who have taught the Iraqis to kill their own people, blowing themselves up in the middle of markets, stringing up bodies in villages and killing any family memebrs who try to retrieve them. Brutality exists in all of us, and war has a way of expediting its resurgance. When someone invades your country, kills your women and children and destroys your land and businesses, it is not so difficult to imagine the resulting madness and chaos that seems to spread like wildfire. I do believe it would be a mistake to underplay the role US foreign policy has played in the breeding of wars around the world, the madness that this gives birth to, and the mistrust of the guilty party that lingers on for decades. Why, still today, for example, is the Laotian government trying to elimintae the remaining Hmong population that conspired with the CIA some 30 years ago during the war?

Thank you for this public debate.

I can’t add your feed to Feedburner. How I do this?

I am not sure how this works, actually. Sorry. Better to ask a blog techie…all I know how to do is write and take pictures.