From Khmer Rouge to KhmerOS: Cambodia’s New Era Begins With Technology

By Casey Mayville

Photo: Student using new KhmerOS software

Cambodia has all the makings of an idyllic tourist destination: miles of coastline, year-round warm weather and a rich cultural heritage. Instead, it is a country with a tumultuous past, one that has been caught for decades in the middle of warring nations and civil unrest. Used as a buffer zone by both the U.S. and the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War, Cambodia suffered from bombs, Communist influence and mounting internal struggles in the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-1970s, military extremist Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea — also known as the Khmer Rouge — were rapidly gaining power and thus began the destruction of Cambodian society. People were moved from the cities into the country to live and work in Pol Pot’s version of an agrarian utopia. Convinced that Cambodia needed cleansing, Pol Pot and his regime systematically executed an estimated two to three million of their own countrymen. Former government officials, intellectuals, students, businessmen and countless other innocent lives were lost during the five-year reign of the Khmer Rouge. A genocide comparable to the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge visited torture, mass executions and starvation on the population. Nearly half of Cambodia’s 7.3 million people were brutally exterminated while the living were left to pick up the pieces.

A closer look at Cambodia today will reveal a much improved picture. Although Pol Pot died before he could be held accountable for war crimes, his top officials will soon come to trial. The Khmer Rouge has been largely dismantled and the fighting between neighboring countries has been all but eliminated. But a country littered with landmines, suffering from extreme national poverty and battling internal corruption can hardly be considered a thriving nation. Still agrarian in nature, a majority of Cambodia’s estimated current population of 13.8 million people subsist on growing rice, corn and other crops. With an average life expectancy of 57 years and an average literacy rate of 67 percent, there is no question that Cambodia falls far behind many of the more developed countries of the world. Today, about 44,000 people have access to the Internet, which is about .3 percent of the population — a seven-fold increase from the year 2000. But with an ongoing struggle for the basics of survival, how can technology be considered a priority by and for the citizens of Cambodia? Is it something superficial that would be “ nice to have” or is it an essential ingredient for the country’s future economic prosperity?

A Brighter Future

Open Institute, a non-governmental organization based in Cambodia and headed by Spanish engineer Javier Solá takes the view that technology is indeed a key ingredient for Cambodia’s future well-being. “ Technology is an essential part of the infrastructure needed for the economical future of Cambodia,” explained Solá. “ Humanitarian help is more and more directed to try to create development, and not to solve [immediate] crises. Our project is bringing this infrastructure into Cambodia at the right time, as it will be necessary for most urban jobs within the next five years.”

Part of the answer is The Khmer Software Initiative (KhmerOS) — 2007 finalist in the Stockholm Challenge. With help from this program, the hope is that Cambodia will soon be able to open its doors to foreign development and trade.

Khmer Software Initiative

KhmerOS — initiated in 2004 — is based on two simple principles: 1) Basic technology is essential to development; and 2) The technology must be in the national language to avoid minority control. With the country’s history and current economics, proprietary software companies were not willing to make the translation investment so their products could be marketed there.

Cambodians — with the help of Open Institute — translated applications such as word processing, e-mail, spreadsheets and an Internet browser into Khmer using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). FOSS — which allows for translation, adaptation, modification and free distribution — became the backbone of the programming process. And since power consumption is an important consideration in Cambodia, FOSS’s low power consumption was crucial for sustainability.

During its first year of operation, 2004, Open Institute translated computer applications into the Khmer language. Project workers developed and standardized Khmer scripts and fonts, designed and manufactured keyboards and printed manuals in Khmer for the applications. Translation proved to be a challenge because the Khmer language lacks the equivalent for many words we use in the English language. For example, “ They have a word for ‘elder sibling’ and a word for ‘younger sibling’ but no word for ‘brother,’” Solá explained. The incompatibilities necessitated the use of some English words for clarification purposes.

Government and Education

In 2005, Open Institute teamed up with the government’s National ICT Development Authority (NiDA). Together, the two organizations trained approximately 3,000 government officials and 1,000 teachers. For those working in administrative government jobs, the new technology meant the possibility of using computers for their everyday work for the first time, as using English software was not a viable option.

Equally as important was distribution to school teachers and other trainers. Because the education system is the fastest vehicle in which to spread knowledge to the masses, KhmerOS aimed to educate the younger generation of Cambodians through schools and training centers. “ The education system produces the professionals of the future [and] these professionals will need computer skills,” said Solá.

Later, in 2006, a National Typing and Document Contest motivated several thousand students and professionals to learn how to type Khmer and use other applications. Knowledge of the KhmerOS program was spreading nationwide and soon schools and government operations all over the country were using the new software and technology. As the program matured, its focus shifted to accommodate social and cultural needs of the country. Open Institute began collaboration with the Cambodian Ministry of Education and by 2008, it became mandatory for all high schools with electricity (roughly 30-40 percent) to use the new technology. The most significant achievement of the project thus far has been its ability to involve the government in a positive and productive way, allowing ICT to become fully integrated into public policy.

Sustainability

To ensure that the new technology would have lasting power, KhmerOS made long-term sustainability a top priority. The physical elements of the project found their own way to sustainability. Technology for the Khmer script keyboards and textbooks was transferred to local vendors, who are now manufacturing and selling them. Other aspects of the project are also looking for interested third parties that will turn portions of the project, that now require funding, into businesses that make the system sustainable.

“ The most important success factor of the KhmerOS project has been its ability to bring together the [developmental] know-how of NGOs with the technological expertise of the FOSS community and the experience and vision of the Cambodian government,” said Solá. “ This has interested commercial stakeholders, leading to the sustainable low-cost use of local language ICT in education, government and local society, strongly reducing the digital divide.”

Change is always difficult, even when it brings clear advantages. But when change is necessary for survival, bold, and sometimes daunting, steps must be taken. By removing the language barrier, technology has been made accessible to most of the population and is helping Cambodia move out of the past and into the future; a future where information is just a click away.

Le génocide Khmer Rouge vu par les artistes

La Meta House et le Centre Bophana s’associent pour présenter une exposition en deux volets, fruit du travail d’une quarantaine d’artistes, cambodgiens et étrangers.

Baptisée « The Art of survival », l’exposition interroge sur le génocide perpétré par les Khmers Rouges et sur son impact sur la société cambodgienne contemporaine. Peintures, collages, photographies matérialisent de douloureux souvenirs, faisant ressurgir sur la toile la violence de ce traumatisme collectif.

Chaque œuvre illustre un commentaire de l’artiste, qui y raconte la genèse de son travail : souvenirs pour les plus âgés et réflexions pour les plus jeunes. L’artiste cambodgienne Sao Srey Mao commente : « Ce n’est pas notre passé mais notre avenir que nous regardons maintenant. » Plus loin, à coté de scènes de guerre peintes par l’artiste Chan Pisey sur trois kramas, on peut lire : « C’est tout un cheminement d’interrogations : comment les individus appartenant à une même nation peuvent-ils s’entretuer ? Que voulaient-ils ? Où sont les réponses ? Qui pourrait les connaître ? »

En collaboration avec le Centre de Ressources Audiovisuelles, une série de documentaires sont diffusés simultanément à la Méta House.

Source: Cambodge Soir

Trial Judges Prepare for Duch Atrocity Case

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh

Khmer audio aired 06 August 2008 (931 KB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 06 August 2008 (931 KB) - Listen (MP3)

International jurists for the Trial Chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal have joined their Cambodian counterparts in anticipation of the trial of Duch, whose pre-trial preparations will be completed soon, a tribunal spokesman said Wednesday.

The case of the infamous chief of the Tuol Sleng torture center, who is charged crimes against humanity, will be the first tried of five jailed former leaders of the regime. More than 16,000 Cambodians were tortured and sent to the deaths at the center.

His trial is expected to begin in September or October.

Both French and New Zealand trial judges began working with their Cambodian colleagues last week, and the trial chambers have been equipped and prepared, tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

“ The courtroom, the seats for participation of victims, are ready,” he said. “ And the trial judges have already prepared themselves. The famous judge Sylvia Cartwright, a New Zealand national, arrived this Monday.”

Co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde said the proceedings against Duch were entering the period of closure and would be filed soon to the First Trial Chamber.

A source close to the tribunal said Wednesday the co-investigation judges will likely complete the closing order early this week or late next week, and the First Trial Chamber will hold a meeting to decide the set the date for Duch, around Sept. 15.

“ We don’t see any obstacles regarding the trial of Duch,” Adhoc tribunal monitor Hisham Mousar said.

Duch was held by Cambodian military courts from May 1999 until he was handed to the tribunal last year.

Keat Bophal, head of the tribunal’s Victims Unit, said Duch is facing 66 civil complaints.

Cambodian Court Fights Time in Trying Aging Khmer Rouge Leaders

By Daniel Ten Kate

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) — Two of five Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide in the 1970s have been hospitalized in the past three months, raising questions about bringing them to justice in a United Nations-backed court before they die.

Former head of state Khieu Samphan, 77, was treated in May for a minor stroke and returned back to jail a few weeks later. Last week, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, 82, entered the hospital after doctors discovered blood in his urine during a routine checkup.

“ If one of the leaders dies before the trial takes place, the public will judge the tribunal as a complete failure,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has collected more than 650,000 papers and 6,000 photographs from 1975 to 1979, when one in five Cambodians died through starvation, disease or execution during the rule of the Khmer Rouge.

The health of the five leaders has created tension between a court aiming to uphold international standards of justice and the public’s expectation of swift guilty verdicts. The use of civil law for the first time in an international genocide tribunal may further disappoint those who expect dramatic courtroom moments because most of the testimony takes place behind closed doors.

“ There are certainly growing expectations among the Cambodian public that every single victim will have the chance to come and tell their full story, lift the weight from their shoulders,” said Peter Foster, a spokesman for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. “ If we follow the law, it will only be a very few that will actually be able to come forward and testify, and in many cases most of that won’t even be public.”

`Pretty Quickly’

The process has progressed “ pretty quickly” since the tribunal started operating in 2006, Foster said. Cambodia was mired in civil war in the 1980s, and it took almost a decade of negotiations between the government and the UN before the court was created.

During that time, two Khmer Rouge leaders died: Pol Pot, who headed the regime, and Ta Mok, the military chief.

The other defendants facing trial are Ieng Thirith, the 76- year-old wife of Ieng Sary, and Nuon Chea, 82, Pol Pot’s second in command. The youngest among the five, Kang Kek Ieu, 65, will likely be the first to go on trial later this year.

Also known as Duch, he oversaw Tuol Sleng prison, a converted elementary school where as many as 20,000 people were tortured and thousands killed.

Mixed Views

On Cambodia’s streets, views about the tribunal are mixed. Tu Pothea, whose father was killed during Khmer Rouge rule, said the trial wasn’t a “ big deal.”

“ Everyone knows they committed the crime, so why do they need to try them now?” she said from her roadside drink stand in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Those sentiments were echoed by Khieu Kanharith, the government’s spokesman.

“ People in France and the U.S. try to teach us to think that we need the trial to deal with the past,” he said. “ We are a Buddhist society. We want a blank page in our history.”

Others say that decades of entrenched fear have caused many victims to bottle up their emotions.

“ People are interested in this court but they don’t want to show it openly as they are still concerned about their safety,” said Chum Mey, one of three known living survivors of Tuol Sleng prison.

Chum Mey, 78, was tortured by electric shocks and had his toenails ripped out with scissors while in prison. He said the sight of his former tormentor on trial helped to “ satisfy my longtime dream.”

More than 10,000 people have visited the courtroom and participated in group question-and-answer sessions, Foster said. Once one audience member asks a question and tells a story, “ they all want to come forward,” he added.

“ There is no point in telling a story about such a horrible thing with all the emotion and stress that it would cause if it’s going to be for nothing,” said Foster.

Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister hospitalised in Cambodia

AFP

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary was rushed to hospital Friday after he discovered blood in his urine, said a spokesman for Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide court.

Ieng Sary, 82, is one of five top regime cadres charged in connection with the Khmer Rouge’s bloody rule over Cambodia from 1975-79, when up to two million people died from starvation, overwork or execution.

“ Doctors informed us that Mister Ieng Sary was taken to the hospital this morning because he had blood in his urine,” Khmer Rouge trial spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP.

Ieng Sary was rushed from his jail cell to Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital for treatment by doctors, said the spokesman.

He has been hospitalised several times for a heart condition since he and his wife, former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, were arrested for war crimes and crimes against humanity in November.

Last month Ieng Sary’s lawyers argued that he should be released before trial because he was so ill that jail could kill him.

The joint Cambodia-UN tribunal was established two years ago, after nearly a decade of haggling, to bring to justice those responsible for one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities.

The four other defendants at the tribunal are mostly in their 70s and 80s, and worries for their health have also cast a cloud over the proceedings as critics worry they could die before trials are completed.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998. Tribunal officials have said they expect the court’s first trial to begin in September with proceedings against Kaing Guek Eav or “ Duch,” who ran a notorious torture centre in Phnom Penh.

Tragedy of the Forced Marriage

Pol Pot completely destroyed legacy trace of Khmer tradition. Traditional, religious ceremonies, Khmer traditional arts, religious beliefs and traditional marriage were eliminated. Celebrating the ceremonies can make Khmer people calm down. It also helps relieve their sins.

Khmer Rouge also eliminated Khmer traditional funeral and cremation ceremonies. Tamil Pol Pot’s order was to bury corpse cruelly without coffins, clothes, and religious funeral. A little necessary ceremony celebration was also abused brutally by the Tamil.

Forced Marriage (Pol Pot-arranged marriage)
Pol Pot disliked romantic marriage, children, and Phnom Penh’s intelligent children. The forced marriage restricted to be carried out across the country was caused by reasons. First, they hated good-looking women; second, they opposed general Khmer tradition and civilization. That’s why they forced those beautiful young women who were difficult to court and the proudest women to marry the disabled soldiers – the amputees, and the blind.

The case occurred frequently and the forced marriage was generally not successful. The revolution over the unmerited policy was almost made by groups of young women. The forced marriage resulted in suicide and other sacrifices.

Miss. Gnuon Sopheap, then 23, who now worked at the Ministry of Information Dissemination and Culture, said her sister, named Gnuon Vuoch Ny, suffered from such a tragedy. She is a widow and her husband was sent to Phnom Penh by the powerful militias in Krala commune, Kompong Siem district, Kompong Cham. She had three children and held the bachelor degree of literature. She and other 19 widows in the village were forced to get married one-by-one to the disabled soldiers of Pol Pot. The victims who disagreed on such a forced marriage were cruelly jailed. Then, the angers of those hopeless and sorrowful women reached the peak and broke out. The unfortunate young women then reached a joint determination. They would die rather than getting married to the notorious killers.  Following her release, Gnuon Vuoch Ny became the most friendly, intelligent, beautiful and skillful in literature.

She had known she could not be able to escape from the forced marriage. She decided to kill herself, by taking many gruff grains. She was sorrowfully survived by her two lovely children, aged 10 and 12. After she died, her children did not get any supports. Luckily, they have survived until now, according to the two children.

The 19 widows were killed by the ruthless soldiers after cruelly raped. The 20 widows were the “ new people” and considered as the third class.

Before forcing those young women to get married to the disabled soldiers, they had selected young women in a mobile work brigade.  Then, there was an angry reaction of suicide. Two beautiful young women hung themselves to avoid the inhumane forced marriage. Some young women agreed on the forced marriage because they feared for their fathers’ safety. If they refused, their fathers would be killed.

Unofficial Translation
-Extracted from Rasmer Kampuchea – Vol 16, #4652 – Wednesday, 30 July 2008.

Source: Khmer Rouge Trial Portal