The United Nations has been playing a more positive role in Cambodia since UNTAC's days. With the appointment of Mary Robinson as the UN high commissioner for Human Rights is the step in the right direction. Thomas Hammarberg has been very courageous in exposing Hun Sen's murderous conduct during and after the July 1997  coup.

Unfortunately, China has now allied itself with Hun Sen because of the Taiwan issue. This, for instance, has prevented the United Nations and the United States from making more progress to bring the Khmer Rouge to justice. The other major event since my last letter to all of you is obviously the reported death of Pol Pot. With Pol Pot death, there seems to be a renew effort to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, especially by the United States and the United Nations. Other nations such as Great Britain and Australia have also expressed such interest. This event has also allowed the international community to realize that Hun Sen is very much involved in this Khmer Rouge genocidal policy by harboring notorious Khmer Rouge leaders such Keo Pong, Ke Pauk, Ieng Sary and others, and by continuing to apply that policy in Cambodia against members of all opposition parties as reported by the United Nations Human Rights Center in Cambodia.

Hun Sen is now feeling the heat from the international community, with the exception of France. The worsening in the Cambodian economic situation resulting from the Asian financial crisis and the aid cutting has also increased political pressure on Hun Sen from within, as the civil and military staff have received no or limited pay. There is more inflation and lower growth. The budget deficit is growing and the balance of payments situation has worsened. All these economic problems have helped to put Hun Sen in the defensive and to be more flexible. The case in point is the pardon of Prince Ranariddh. All this does not mean that Hun Sen is abandoning his grand design to rig the election and to keep the power for himself.

The Cambodian situation is complicated by king Sihanouk ambivalent dealing with Hun Sen.

II. What WCC has been doing in response to these changing situation was to continue to provide accurate and timely information to different organizations such as the NGOs, the Policy Study Group on Cambodia, the US government both the Congress and the executive branch, and other foreign governments. WCC also continued to provide background information on these events to our own community here and abroad.

In this context, I participated in several meeting in the Policy study Group whose main mandate is to inform and give on recent developments of the political situation in Cambodia policy recommendations to the US government - both the executive and the legislative branches. Two meetings did take place; one in December 1997 and a more recent one in march 1998. Attending these meetings include all important players in Cambodian policy-making process such as representatives from the US Congress, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Press, NGOs, Academics. During these meetings I was able to articulate the Cambodian point of view that normally would not have been heard. In this sense, these meetings are very crucial to provide a more accurate and balanced information on the true picture of Cambodia than from the State Department alone which is biased toward supporting Hun Sen.

WCC is also involved in the work of the Congress on Cambodia. For instance, a House resolution No. 361 was passed by an overwhelming majority (391) condemning Hun Sen killings of almost 100 member of opposition parties during and after the July coup, and his efforts to tamper with the election process.

WCC is also working with Dan Bob a Staff member of Senator William Roth, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to try to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to Justice. I will meet with him on May 14 on that issue.

I will also be attending a conference on Human Rights and the election in Cambodia on June 18, 1998 cosponsored by SAIS Johns Hopkins, Amnesty International, and the US House Human Rights Committee to discuss the human rights abuses by Hun Sen and his continued efforts to obstruct the electoral process.

In our efforts to consolidate WCC organization and spirit, Tan Pek Thov and I had made a number of trips and visits to different cities, namely, to Chicago, Minneapolis, Providence town, to Philadelphia (Thov alone), and San Francisco (twice and me alone). Although, they are time consuming and financially draining, these trips provide the most effective way for WCC members to get to know each other and to understand each other better, and to be sure of the kind of organization WCC that should be and is through open and sometimes heated discussions.

Last but not least, WCC was able to produce a petition with more six thousands signatures form the Cambodian community to thank President Clinton (with copies to selected members of the US Congress and the International community) for having made the decision to bring Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders to justice and to request him not to forget the crimes that were committed by Hun Sen and his CPP against innocent Cambodians whose only crime was to try to fight dictatorial and murderous conduct.

III. Some assessments and observations on WCC activities and progress, along with lessons learned and suggestions for strengthening WCC as an organization and WCC members' code of conduct.

As described earlier, despite WCC's very limited resources, we have been able to make good progress in terms of increase in activities, organization, and ability to communicate among ourselves and with other organizations.

First of all, WCC has now four solidly state based chapters, namely, in Northwest, Northeast, New York/ NewJersey, Pennsylvania. Four potential chapters are in the process of being established; in Minnesota, Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia, San Francisco, and in Southern California.

In expanding, WCC starts to have some problems in the selection of our new members. The main problem is the question of setting criteria for becoming a member of WCC. In other words, we should ask what kind of people WCC wants to have as a member. Because, Cambodians have generally lost practically all respect for justice, honesty, dignity, humility and fairness, WCC must be careful that our members must learn how to be a normal person again. This, in turn, would require that each member of WCC is expected to accept the notions of justice, dignity, humility, honesty, and fairness, as part of our code of conduct.

Dignity, in turn implies that WCC does not accept vulgarity in our relationship and expression among ourselves and with other people.

Humility and honesty imply that there is no room for ego trips for WCC members. We must all work for the common good that is for the survival of the Cambodian people and not for our own interest. Therefore, there is no place for the cult of personality. Fairness and justice imply that there must be order and discipline in WCC, which recognizes the role that each individual can play in the organization. Some who have recognized ability and moral authorities must be allowed to lead and others must contribute according to each person capability. This does not mean that there is no discussion or there are only blind followers. Discussion among members are not only allowed but are encouraged and are the condition of any free society.

However, aimless and unconstructive discussion must not be allowed, simply because we don't have time and resources. Everyone can and must participate in any discussion. But, undisciplined and destructive discussions must be stopped and exposed. This is the responsibility not only of the leadership but of the membership as a whole.

What progress has WCC made so far? a lot compared only to a few months ago. We have increased in strength based on the number of membership. We have also learned how to work together better and to appreciate our  respective strengths and weaknesses. We have established our electronic networking (thank to Kantol and Visal).

Our weak points are the fact that WCC is not yet financially self sufficient. We don't have any physical set up such as a secretary and a small office to do all the manual work that required for the job that I am ask to do. Too much burden is put on me and Thov. There is a tremendous financial and human demand that unreasonably puts pressure on me that cannot last forever. I am exhausted, mentally and physically. That is why I had to stop teaching for one year.

These are the facts that WCC members must be aware of. Just to illustrate the kind of work required and the burden imposed is the case of producing the petition. There was a lot of problems of logistical support for sending all the mail to desired destinations. There was the time consuming effort to write and rewrite the petition and covering letter. There was the problem of getting the signatures and to centralize them so that they can be used efficiently.

Finally, There is the problem of trying to expand. WCC must never beg new members to join us. There is a limit of time and patience when we must stop. Remember only that WCC has two objectives; 1) is to get the support from the US Congress, and 2) is to change the mind and mentality of our community.

To be able to work with the congress, we need people who can interface with members of the Congress at the state level, not only by writing but by direct face to face contact. The other requirement is that a member of WCC must be able to communicate well with the members of the Cambodian community at large, so that we can get their support in terms of signature or even financially.

What we don't need are those not believers in our philosophy and approach to solving the Cambodian problems. We don't have to warm anybody's hand to get their support. We need those who can contribute in deeds not in talk to our ultimate goal which is to make a new Cambodian person and liberate our country of birth from tyranny and oppression from within and from outside. It is a monumental task that WCC is trying to achieve. But I firmly believe that with the change of mentality and strong principles and commitment from all our members we can achieve it sooner rather than later.

Warmest regards to all.