Dear President Obama:
Thank you for winning re-election
— for both the sake of Americans and the peoples of the world — and proving
once again the tenacity and strength of American democracy. And welcome to
Cambodia.
It is imperative that, as the
first sitting US president to visit this country, you raise the following
matters with Prime Minister Hun Sen during your two-day stay in my birthplace.
Human rights, democracy
I cannot understand the
difficulty of the dilemma facing you in attempting to balance strategic
interests by curbing the influence of China and human-rights issues, which is a
sea of violations that run deep in this country.
I cannot understand the dilemma
because it’s a false dilemma.
America’s national interests in
Cambodia are human rights and political pluralism. They cannot be any other.
I am fully aware of how naïve I
sound to some analysts who paint the world in broad strokes and, in the
process, erase pivotal, unique traits of Cambodia.
But if you are to take into
consideration the unique historical development of Cambodia vis à vis
superpower politics, it is in America’s strategic interests in the medium and
long term to side with human rights and democracy.
Especially now, in light of
globalisation and information communication technology.
If history is any teacher, the US
must not repeat its disastrous policies of the Cold War years by once again
turning Southeast Asia into a political theatre.
As you know, Cambodians bore the
ultimate price during the Khmer Rouge genocide. Your visit can write a more
admirable American narrative in Cambodia for the present and the future by
making human rights and democracy the unwavering flagship of your strategy.
A public apology for the illegal US bombings of Cambodia, which created
the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide
Not only should you not repeat
the failed US geopolitics of the Cold War here in Cambodia, but you have a
unique, grand opportunity to right those wrongs by publicly acknowledging the
illegal US bombings that took the lives of half a million Cambodians and
created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide.
The Cambodian victims of this
campaign demand a public apology.
If you have the moral courage to
make this public acknowledgement, it will do more good for us victims than any
high-priced hybrid court will ever be able to accomplish in terms of offering
reconciliation
and a sense of justice.
Push for ECCC Cases 003 and 004 as the firm condition for US withdrawal
The Extraordinary Chambers in the
Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is an irredeemable political sham, embedding impunity
with an international stamp of approval and legitimacy the longer it goes on.
The insidious political
interference into cases 003 and 004 is but one illustration of this, and the
new co-investigating judge, American Mark Harmon, has yet to do much on these
cases.
The US must unequivocally support
the basic principle of judicial independence and threaten to withdraw from the
ECCC if cases 003 and 004 do not move forward.
This strong US stance — threat
backed by action — will set the tone for the rest of the international
community and will put the government of Hun Sen on notice of America’s
seriousness in combating impunity and pursuing justice and reconciliation, not
only for the Cambodian people but for Americans as well.
In sum, the Cambodian people,
like the rest of the world, look to you for political leadership – but more
important, moral leadership which, in this age of information and
communications technology and globalisation, does translate into political
capital.
CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian
Civic Education is a partner of the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and
Human Rights’ Speak Truth To Power project.
As you have often quoted this
truth of Robert F Kennedy, may you be reminded when you meet with Prime Minister
Hun Sen of how we Cambodians yearn to have you stand with us in tearing down
the “walls of oppression and resistance”.
“Each time a man stands up for an
ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice,
he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which
can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
With my highest regards,
Theary C. Seng
Founding president of CIVICUS:
Center for Cambodian Civic Education and the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims
in Cambodia
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