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Introduction: The purpose of this report is to provide a brief but frank assessment of the accomplishments and the problems of WCC during my first year of my two-year term as chairman of this great Cambodian-American organization that I am proud to be part of, and to provide some suggestions for changes in the organization, strategies and policies in order to make WCC more relevant, efficient, and professionally-oriented membership.
 

I.  Recent political developments in Cambodia and WCCıs role in promoting democracy:

After the Bloody  July 5 coup of last year, Hun Sen appeared to be on the top of the world. He had the king in his pocket. The international community with the exception of the United States had more less acknowledge Hun Senıs coup. ASEAN was ready to recognize Hun Sen, so did the European Union. Thanks to the US Congress, the whole Hun Senıs scheme to impose his dictatorship on the Cambodian people was more or less aborted. The United Nations and ASEAN seats were denied to his so-called government, and the Japanese had second thought about working only with Hun Sen.

A show trial was arranged by the Japanese to have Ranariddh tried in Hun Senıs Kangarooıs court and he was reluctantly pardoned by the king his father. The opposition parties were hastily herded into Cambodia with a vague promise of protection and freedom of organization including access to mass media. Hun Sen did waste any time to start to intimidate and kill opposition parties members again. The so-called friends of Cambodia hastily urged the opposition to take part in the election while they were already prepared to acknowledge any result that Hun Sen may want to give them. The European Union, ASEAN, and Japan were again ready to endorse the free rein to Hun Sen to run Cambodia as his own fiefdom.

As expected, there were no major overt incidents during the elections days, which led Mr. Steve Solarz to calculatingly pronounced the now-famous ³there is a miracle on the Mekong.² But immediately after the departure of the so-called international community, Hun Sen started to be himself again and the crack down on the mass demonstration by the Sam Rainsy and FUNCINPEC parties resumed earnestly.

Fortunately, the US Congress stood firm against these maneuvers which forced the State Department to be more cautious in dealing with Hun Sen and the opposition. But behind the Congressıs back, the State Department continues to put pressure on the opposition to form a coalition government with Hun Sen, knowing full well that it is a government totally dominated by Hun Sen. Since there will be no more forest left within two years in Cambodia, Hun Sen will be confronting a massively starvating Cambodian people. That is why, it is important that the opposition should not be part of any coalition government with Hun Sen  which will miserably fail and will inevitably be facing a general population revolt.

Thanks to the US Congress, the opposition is still holding firm against any pressure from the Japanese, French, ASEAN, the State Department, and the king. How long will the opposition be able to resist the pressure?  It is difficult to tell. But as long as we have the US Congressıs suport of the democratic force in Cambodia, Hun Sen can be contained. To reach our goal of totally liberating Cambodia from Hun Senıs tyranny, he must be brought to justice as soon as possible as indicated in House resolution 533.

At this point, it is timely and important to remind ourselves what WCC is all about. As stated in our bylaws and other policy papers, the main objectives of WCC are;

        1. to promote and defend democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in Cambodia by working very closely with the Legislative (Congress) and executive branches (Administration) of the government in the host countries and by keeping a close watch of the behavior, strategies and policies of Cambodian political leadership.

        2.  to empower Overseas Cambodians in the host countries by getting them to be more involved in the economic social, and political process, and by encouraging  them to be active and responsible citizens in the host countries.

         3.  to develop the ethical and moral basis and to give back dignity and honor to all Cambodians by standing up against tyranny and dictatorship and by recognizing and honoring all Cambodians who believe in and take part in the leadership in defending the universally accepted principles of a civil society such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
 

II. WCCıs activities and accomplishments

 It should be said at the outset that when assessing WCCıs results and achievements I did not have the intention of boosting about ourselves. There are those who have already said that what WCC is said to have accomplished is really done by other people. So that, WCC is only taking advantage of the situation which was conceived and implemented by somebody else.

There is a old saying which states that ³Success has many fathers whereas failure is an orphan.² So it is normal that people, especially some Cambodians who never did anything good for the Cambodian people but is always ready to criticize. The characteristic of this group of persons is known in history as the ³mentality of a defeated nation² which can be summarized as ³easy to criticize and slow to recognize.² This mentality is very prevalent among Cambodians, especially those living abroad. We must not let this kind of mentalities borther us. In order to be on course with our mission, WCC members must understand what are the objectives of WCC and how much it has been able to accomplish. Only armed with this conviction can WCC as a group remain coherent, efficient, and purposeful. We have a lot of obstacles to face together and a lot of hard battles to be won. Let us move ahead with confidence and humility.

        1.  Organizational aspect; during the 1997/98 period WCC has expanded at every level; For instance, WCC chapters increased from two (Northwest and New York/New Jersey) six chapters (new chapters in Northern and Southern California, Northeast, Pennsylvania), with potential chapters in Minnesota, Florida, and Texas.  Active membership increased by almost seven folds from 26 to 73; while supporters rose from 270 to about 800, and friends of WCC increased from 2000 to about 7000. New overseas members, supporters, and friends of WCC also increased during the period; namely, in Canada, Australia, Holland (see attachment I).

         2.  Substantive aspect; despite its very limited financial and staff resources, WCC was able to achieve the following results in the crucial fields of changing US policy from supporting Hun Sen and the CPP to Condemning Hun Sen. Therefore the democratic force in Cambodia received more political room for maneuver. As  Chairman of WCC, I was in a number of events to defend the causes of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. These events included interviews by mass media organizations including radio  (National Public Radio, BBC, and Radio Pacifica) and TV (CNN and Public Choice) shows. I also participated in the Cambodian Policy Studies Group consisting of members from academics, news media, the Congress, the Administration, NGOs set up and financed by The United States Peace Institute, SAIS Johns Hopkins, and the  Asia Society to monitor the political situation in Cambodia, before, during, and after the July 26, 1998 elections. On June 18, 1998, I also took part  in a seminar on ³Human Rights Situation in Cambodia before the elections², organized by Amnesty International and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Finally, on October 2, 1998 I testified in the senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asia and Pacific Affairs on ³the post election situation in Cambodia and US policy Options.²
Needless to say that access to these debating places are priceless and fantastic opportunities to make the case in the defense of the Cambodian democratic causes. Money cannot buy these opportunities. My main interventions in these public debates were to expose Hun Senıs diabolical and murderous behavior and those who are his allies, such as King Sihanouk.

My interventions and work with some key congressional staff and strongly supported by the New York WCC chapter, led to the historic adoption of two key and historic resolutions, one by the House (resolution 533) co-sponsored by Chairmen Gilman and Gerald Solomon and initiated and introduced by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Resolution 533 was approved by the whole House without opposition. A similar resolution (senate resolution 309) was co-sponsored and introduced by Senators Jessie Helms and Mitch McConnell. It will be set for vote when the Congress reconvenes in January of next year.

These two resolutions would for the first time indicate that there is now a unanimity of view in the Congress about the culpability of Hun Sen and the Congress of the United States is prepared to provide back up means to bring Hun Sen and his fellow murderers to justice. It also, for the first time, that the Congress has unmasked the State Department policy of condoning Hun Sen murderous behavior by saying that Hun Sen is the only choice for Cambodia. The reasoning behind this policy is that Hun Sen has the guns and the control of the civil and military administration, therefore there is nothing the world can do about it to change that situation. Accordingly, the international community must accept Hun Sen eventhough he is not democratic and even if he had murdeered a few hundred Cambodians.

This policy is nothing short of being condescending if not plain racist which means that the lives of brown-skinned men and women are dispensable. These views have been again and again expounded by State Department officials at the highest levels in the debate framework such as the Cambodian Study Group mentioned earlier. My interventions were always to point out that if Hun Sen is told that he is the only one that counts why should he change at all.

This immoral policy has led to the continued killing and oppression by Hun Sen and the CPP with impunity. Therefore, resolutions H.R.533 and S.R 309 are the first step to correct this injustice toward the Cambodian people and for the first time there appears to be a glimpse of hope to all peace-loving Cambodians.

However, we should not forget that these resolutions are only a first step in the right direction. There is no room for complacency . Therefore, WCC must continue to endeavor to become more efficient and to work even harder in order to translate these resolutions into actions or legislations to bring Hun Sen to Justice.

This leads me to talk about some of the main problems that WCC has been facing during this period of fast growth and rapid expansion, and how we can address them otherwise WCC might fold like many other Cambodian organizations with similar intentions, and how we can take these weaknesses into consideration when establishing WCCıs work program for the coming year.
 

III.  How to tackle the growing pains and how to build our future

        1.  WCC problems of growing bigger and faster and suggested solutions
 

        To address the problem of growing pains, we must keep in mind that our only defense is to be coherent, mutually supportive, and trusting each other. This is only possible if we have discipline and fairness in dealing with each other. During the past year, there have been a lot discipline problems which have led WCC no choice but to either suggesting those unhappy members due lack of discipline or commitment to resign or not to accept new members because there is a clear impression that that new member showed repeated signs of lack of discipline or complete misunderstanding of what WCC is all about.

There are also some members who criticized WCC for asking too much in terms of commitment from them. They said that they cannot give 24 hours of their life to WCC alone. They want to devote their time and commitment to other causes and  organizations. To these people, we simply say that because the nature of WCCıs work, a lot of sacrifice and commitment are required from its members. There is no room for half baked people. If these people cannot commit themselves to this rigorous demand for their time and energy we recommend that they leave quietly. This does not imply that these people are bad. It simply implies that they donıt have the right degree of  commitment that is expected of them for WCC to do what it sets out to do. These people can go and join other organizations and we wish them well.

Moreover, there are those members who criticized WCC for trying to create a new Cambodian. They said that this idea sounded like Pol Potıs policy of creating a new society. Again these people were either not sincere or totally misunderstood what WCC meant when it talks about creating a new Cambodian mentality. By new mentality, WCC meant to make Cambodians simply as normal as any person in a civilized society, no more no less; that is person capable of distinguishing right from wrong. The purpose of this approach is to change from a mentality of a defeated-nation person - which most Cambodians are - to a dignified and honorable one. Is this too much asking? To be normal like everybody else is not a far fetched target.

However, this change  in mentality is a precondition for the survival of the Cambodian society. We can see how easily a Cambodian betrays his own friends, family country either for money or perks. That is why we must reintroduce into our community the concepts of loyalty, honesty, and mutual respect. We must also reintroduce the sense of justice and fairness which are sorely lacking in our community.

We must learn to be fair by giving credit to those who deserve it and to be unmerciful to those who betray us by openly giving them hell . We must get rid of the habit of thinking that when Cambodians talk they think they already have taken some actions and when they talk louder they think they have already found solution to the problems. That is simply pure illusion. And this  malady is very pervasive among overseas Cambodians.

For instance, they are writing letters to the president of the United States or to the Secretary general of the United Nations they think they have already found the solution, which make them feel good. But, in reality, this may not be enough to have any impact on the problems that Cambodia is facing. The  same observation goes for public demonstrations in this country. These demonstrations may give those who paricipated in them a feeling of accomplishment. But unless these demonstrations are well organized and have sufficiently large number of participants, they are not very effective. They can only be a waste of already meager resources. Demonstrations in Cambodia when well organized and under proper control, can be very effective, as those which happened right after the elections. But even there, there were problems of crowd control and discipline which did backfire.

However, WCC supports the right for everyone to do whatever they want. But, since we donıt have that much financial and human resources at our disposal, it is better to use them wisely and productively. That is why WCC is concentrating its limited financial and human resources into working with the US Congress directly by being actively immersed into the US political system. In other words, to know how to work with and use the system well. In this context, WCC has amply demonstrated that we are fairly efficient and successful in this strategy, as I have been trying to demonstrate in my earlier discussion of the achievement of WCC.

There are also those who claimed that WCC does not do enough for the Cambodian-American community here in the USA. To these we simply say that how can any Cambodian-American expect to have any dignity and identity once Cambodia has disappeared from the map of the world. We would then become cultureless and nationless, like American Indians. By giving dignity and honor back to our people WCC is already rendering  a great service not only to Cambodians living in Cambodia but to all overseas Cambodian-Americans. By encouraging Cambodian-Americans to be integrated in the American society and by empowering our community to be accepted as equal among equals, WCC is giving that dignity, pride back to  all of us who have lost almost all sense of confidence and self respect. That is why WCC is staying deeply engaged in the political process in this country and by encouraging Cambodian-Americans to pursue excellence in whatever field they chose to be in. In taking this approach, we all stand only to gain both in terms of self-respect and acceptance by others in our adopted country.

         2.  Suggestions for work program in 1998/99

        As mentioned earlier the only salvation for Cambodia is to make sure that Hun Sen will no longer be involved in Cambodian political affairs. In addition, any future Cambodian leaders must also not be allowed to be given blank check, and they must be held accountable to the people. In the present context where Hun Sen is the law, Cambodians, especially overseas Cambodians must make sure that Hun Sen is not literally getting away with murders. Since the king is now aligning himself with Hun Sen, there is no countervailing force which could stop Hun Sen from destroying Cambodia, the only countervailing power is to have the help from the US Congress.

This has been the basic reasoning and strategy on which WCC has been using to counter Hun Senıs destructive power. This strategy has turned out to be the right one. If this strategy is the path to liberating, then WCC should continue to use it and to strengthen it. But we should remind ourselves that this is only half of the story. The other half remains in the hands of thsoe who are leading the battle against Hun Sen in Cambodia. They must do their share in the right way. If they fumble we all loose. That is why we have the right to question their integrity and correctness in their policy decisions and personal conduct.

In order to strengthen WCCıs capability to work for the liberation of Cambodia from Hun Senıs yoke, the efficiency of its organization and the moral conduct of its members must be  improved further. Unfortunately, not all WCC chapters have been working efficiently. Not all WCC members are making sufficient effort to contribute to help achieve the intended objectives. There still are a lot of bystanders. For instance, WCCıs executive committee should totally restructured and restaffed to make it more relevent and  work load should be distributed more equally. This is called consolidation.

The other main weakness resides in the strategy used by WCC. There is a glaring  lack of contact between some chapters and local staff and members of the Congress from their respective state. This is the main direction where WCC should concentrate our effort to consolidate and to become more active inn the political process in our adopted country. Only by becoming more involved can WCC be more potent in helping Cambodia to become a truly democratic, law abiding, peaceful, and civil society.

Let us not fool ourselves. We still have a long way to go. WCC must not be complacent. WCC need everybody to be one hundred percent involved in our difficult but noble mission to revive our culture and our way of life and regain our identity back. It is up to all us, free men and women who have freely chosen to work together within WCC to do our utmost in order to effect necessary and sufficient changes in the current tragic situation in Cambodia for the benefit all Cambodians wherever they may be. If this suggestion for changes receives the approval of the majority of members present at this convention, the Chair and the Board of Directors will gladly  request the excutive committee to carry out this mandate as the basis of WCCıs activities in the coming year.

Thank you for your kind attention.
 

Naranhkiri Tith, Ph.D.

Chairman, WCC Board of Directors
And Professor of International Economics
SAIS, Johns Hopkins University