Today proved to be another intense day. If yesterday was about the dead, today was about the living. Sunday's site visits focused on Khmer Rouge (KR) atrocities resulting in the slaughter of thousands. Today's focused on the plight of the survivors to reconcile the past and create a positive environment to move forward.
The day began at the Document Center of Cambodia (DC Cam), an institute whose mission is "Memory and Justice." Through meticulous research of KR documentation, conducting interviews of perpetrators and their victims, and collecting and preserving photographs of this era, DC Cam seeks to hold accountable surviving KR leaders to war crimes committed, provide witness to what happened, and to serve as evidence in the prosecution of the KR.
I asked Kok Thay, DC Cam's Deputy Research Director, why there were not more reprisal attacks against KR members who continue to live among family members of their victims. Kok explained that the Buddhist world view believes justice is waiting for the perpetrators in the form of a lower station in the next life. Also, the survivors did not want to engage in a cycle of revenge violence that may endanger the well-being of their families, or even of the innocent dependents of the killer.
Yet when asked, Youk Chang, DC Cam's charismatic leader, what motivated him in his efforts to document the KR's atrocities, he responded, "Revenge." I imagined that to Mr. Chang's reprisal was to publicly acknowledge and preserve the memory of what happened and to remind the world (and the perpetrators), now and forever, how awful the acts of the KR were.
Later in the day, several of us went to watch Theary Seng, a prominent advocate for KR justice, lead a demonstration where the crowd had the opportunity to throw darts at large posters of KR leaders (some of whom are currently on trial for war crimes). Many in the crowd joined in.
I'm amazed that whether through their religion, or through meaningful acts that acknowledge their suffering, Cambodians who have endured so much have been able to peacefully carry on without the reconciliation or justice they deserve.
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