Statement delivered at the United Lao Movement for Democracy of Minnesota Conference on Human Rights Violation, Chemical Welfare, Killings Fields, and Restoration of Democracy in Laos Washington, DC - March 18, 1999

By PekThov Tan, Member of the Board
World Cambodian Congress (WCC) for Peace and Development

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Good Morning Lady and Gentlemen,

First, I would like to thank the United Lao Movement for Democracy of Minnesota, the organizers of this conference, and ULMD President, Mr. Shoua Cha for inviting me to share the status of our struggle for democracy in Cambodia to this august audience. Second, I would also like to take this opportunity to express our admiration to our Laotian friends for their honorable belief and commitment to fight for democracy.

The theme of today conference touched on all aspects of democracy, and its agenda clearly illustrated the efforts of the organizers to bring forward all atrocities that the people of our region have endured: from Myarmar (Burma) to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, with specific mentions of the suffering of ethnic minorities. Indeed our region was never a place for democracy and violations of basic human rights were and continue to be well spread, with the minorities being singled out for barbaric treatments by despotic authorities.

On behalf of the World Cambodian Congress, I would like to share with you today our struggle for and defense of democracy in Cambodia. I will divide my statement into two parts:

1/- Overview of human rights violation and abuses of democratic rules in Cambodia, and
2/- WCC's approach to achieve lasting respect for human rights and democratic principles for all Cambodians.

Like in Myarmar (Burma), Vietnam, Laos and other less developed countries, respects of basic human rights in Cambodia were far below the lowest standard. Furthermore, events of the last 30 years were the worst in the world history with genocide, crime against humanity and coup d'etat with cold blood killings of opposition leaders. These atrocities were well documented and widely publicized by the United Nations Human Rights Office in Cambodia and they constituted the base for the United Nations recommendation to establish an International Tribunal to prosecute their architects.

However, unlike in neighboring countries, Cambodian leaders were bashing about their records of human rights respect by comparing themselves to the genocide Khmer Rouge era from 1975 to 1979. Even though they themselves were cadres of the Khmer Rouge, they shamelessly denied their former affiliation and have been using all tactics to protect those Khmer Rouge leaders who rallied to them from international prosecution. More recently, the Cambodian authorities under Hun Sen were presenting a new trick by calling for a trial in their kangaroo tribunal where political dictates were the rules rather than the exceptions, and where the rule of law and fair judicial process were totally absent.

While the United States Congress, honorable organizations and scholars were calling for true democracy, the State Department and the world community at large led by Japan, France and Asean have been trying to force the Cambodian people to accept the dictates of Cambodia's "strongman" Hun Sen with the full support of the King of Cambodia. Although the King had been a strong voice in Cambodian politics for over 40 years, however, lately his personal and family interests have taken the upper hand while he has completely forgotten democracy, justice and the welfare of the citizens.

The atmosphere of impunity and widespread corruption further complicated this bleak picture. While the people called for justice to start on new ground so that they could trust the rule of law, those in charge tried to scare the world with unfounded threat of civil war. They wanted to force the people and the world to bury the past for the sake of reconciliation and "let bygones be bygones". The world had twice witnessed how current Cambodian leaders abused their constituents wishes expressed at the United Nations sponsored elections of 1993 and last year elections. Furthermore, rampant corruption at all levels of government, disastrous consequences from uncontrolled and well-spread deforestation, drug traffic, unchecked aids epidemics and child prostitution will surely accelerate the destruction of the society. These were the consequences of lacking democratic rules where check and balance should be in place along with clear separation of power, but they were not.

Over the 2000-year history, Cambodians did have benevolent dictators who cared about the people and brilliantly succeeded in offering welfare to their nations. Yes, Cambodia did have spectacular proof of such pride from the 10th to the 14th century, but that only represented a short break of its long suffering because of lack of respect for democratic principles. Worse, its decline coincided with the rise of the modern era elsewhere based on sound rules of law and respect of human rights.

There was no doubt that most Cambodian leader only consider their own interests and their party/group benefits. Whenever it suited them, they did invoke the people names. The world community was not different either because they judged us through those leaders who were their primary contacts. It was not always possible to count on them to put pressure on those corrupted leaders to behave when the people themselves could not demand accountability from their own leaders. Therefore, when people start to understand their rights and began to fully exercise those rights without fear, then and only then that real democracy was there to stay.

WCC members and supporters wrongly believed that the world community under the auspice of the United Nations would diligently implement the Paris Peace Accords of 1991 to bring true democracy to Cambodia. They thought it was possible to nurture such belief because the world gathered major players in the process and planned to spend US$ 2.8 billion, a unique undertaking in the United Nations history. When it was clear to them that the implementation did not fully follow the letters of the Paris Accords, it was too late to change it. Unfortunately, we all knew that the tragedy in Cambodia today was the consequence of the failure of that process. Yet, many major powers continued to claim that it was a smashing success! We did not know whether they counted corpses, degree of corruption or very large-scale deforestation to make such judgement.

We also believed that it was too easy to blame others and exempted ourselves from any responsibility. That was normal human nature but it was not right either, and it would never solve the problems. That was why the World Cambodian Congress (WCC) for Peace and Development, a not-for-profit organization created in Rockland County, New York to advocate for the rule of law and respect of human rights in Cambodia adopted a Two Prong approach as follows:

1 - We believed in the United States foreign policy to Expand Democracy throughout the world. The United States Congress has called upon the completion of the implementation of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords to bring peace and justice to Cambodia. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed many resolutions on Cambodia and the latest ones was HR 533 of October 10, 1998 Expressing the Sense of the House of Representatives Regarding Culpability of Hun Sen for War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide in Cambodia. The Honorable Gilman, Salomon and Rohrabacher sponsored that resolution and its version in the Senate, SR 309 will be shortly introduced under the sponsorship of the Honorable Helms, Roth and McConnell.

2 - However, WCC also believed that Cambodian-Americans and Cambodians throughout the world, including those residing in the country should fully understand democratic principles, the rule of law and Citizens Roles. They should exercise their rights by demanding full accountability from their leaders and stop following them, either blindly or under the guns. We set to empower Cambodian Communities through the pursuit of excellence and the restoration of moral, ethical standards, and human dignity. And we count on them to make the difference.

Please allow me to conclude by quoting the Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, our benefactor and champion of democracy who told a gathering of Cambodian-Americans in New York in August, 1998 that: "The Seeds of democracy have been sown in Cambodia and democracy will triumph in Cambodia over tyranny -- you mark my word. If Hun Sen chooses to rule Cambodia as strongman, he too will find his way to the garbage heap of history along with Suharto, Marcos and other Asian strongman."

Thank you.