ECCC Reparations

This blog is designed to serve as a repository of analyses, news reports and press releases related to the issue of RERAPATIONS within the framework of the Extraordinary Chambers in Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a.k.a. the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sihanouk's Legacy


The passage of Norodom Sihanouk is not a milestone for Cambodia as nothing will change as a result of it: Sihanouk’s political life, in any form, ended a few years before the end of his physical life. It is, however, a milestone in the living memory of Cambodia’s tumultuous years since its independence from France in 1953.

Sihanouk was not only Cambodia’s longest living politician but its greatest political survivor. The young Sihanouk reigned over the Cambodia ruled by an uneasy alliance between the French and the Japanese in the 1940s. He then saw the French re-establish themselves in Cambodia after the defeat of the Japanese in World War 2 (of course, not by the French). He abdicated the throne and threw himself into politics in the 1950s. He walked a tightrope between the great powers engaged in the Vietnamese civil war. He was ousted by one of his own in 1970 but refused to give up and went around the world looking for support to get his job back. Not finding any commitment to intervene, he allied himself with the Cambodian communists who promised to put him back in office. He was played and never got his office back. The Communists (the Khmer Rouge) kept him in the country but out of the decision-making. When the second brand of communists (Vietnamese/Soviet led by Heng Samrin) overthrew the first brand of communists (the Khmer Rouge), Sihanouk was “encouraged” (by the Chinese) to side with the latter. Apprehensive and resentful of the Khmer Rouge, Sihanouk went on to form an alliance with them again for fear of being pushed out of politics and becoming irrelevant. Sihanouk stayed active and relevant throughout the 1980s and came back to Cambodia under the UN flag as a king again thus marking a full circle in 40 years. His relationship with Hun Sen was rocky but the latter’s threats of turning Cambodia into a republic and obliterating the monarchy did not have much effect on Sihanouk’s drive for political survival (by then tempered by years of political struggle). He finally stepped down in 2004 letting one of his sons be elected to the throne.

Some of the older and less educated Cambodians will remember Sihanouk as King Father. Those with more education will remember his socialist programs in the 1950s and the 1960s. Some will remember him for his amateur films and saxophone playing and lavish parties for the dignitaries he hosted. Some might blame him for what happened during Democratic Kampuchea while other will not. Some might see him as a peacemaker. The younger generation will mostly remember him as a national image, without attributing any particular deed to him.

The answer to the question of why Sihanouk resisted appearing before the ECCC died with him. Historical inquiry might give us an idea as to why he resisted but we will never find out what Sihanouk was afraid of being asked in court. His death robbed Democratic Kampuchea history of an opportunity to benefit from Sihanouk’s testimony in court. He has written on his role in Democratic Kampuchea but the truth would have been much more within reach of the fact-finder under the pressure of cross-examination in a court of law. Now this will never happen. How the fact of Sihanouk’s death in the middle of the ECCC process will influence this process remains to be seen. One non-legal reminder that Sihanouk’s death gives is that the defendants, who are about Sihanouk’s age, are very old and the possibility of death should be a real factor in how their cases are prosecuted. Re-fashioning the US Supreme Court’s statement on the death penalty, this Court will benefit from remembering that “death is different”: it might be a good idea to learn from what happened in Milosevic.         

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Cambodia former king Norodom Sihanouk Dies

Norodom Sihanouk, the former Cambodian king who was a key figure through decades of upheaval, has died.

The former king died at a hospital in the Chinese capital, Beijing, after having a heart attack. He had been in poor health for several years.

Sihanouk, who was 89, came to the throne in 1941 and led Cambodia to independence from France in 1953.

Despite long periods of exile and his abdication in 2004 due to ill health, he remained an influential figure.

Sihanouk abdicated in 2004 in favour of his son, King Norodom Sihamoni.

"His death was a great loss to Cambodia," said his assistant and relative Prince Sisowath Thomico. "King Sihanouk did not belong to his family, he belonged to Cambodia and to history."

His body is expected to be returned to Cambodia for an official funeral at the royal palace in Phnom Penh, a Cambodian government spokesman said.
Political broker
Born in 1922, Sihanouk was the eldest son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Kossamak.

The BBC's Guy Delauney looks back at the life of the former Cambodian king
Educated at French schools in Saigon and in Paris, the Nazi-controlled Vichy government in France crowned Sihanouk king of Cambodia in 1941, bypassing his father in the hope that the 18-year-old could easily be manipulated.

However, after the war Sihanouk embarked on an international campaign aimed at ensuring independence for Cambodia.

It was achieved without bloodshed in 1953 - after nearly a century of French rule. Two years later Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father and became both prime minister and foreign minister of his country.

He tried - but failed - to keep the country from the Cold War conflict that engulfed South East Asia in the 1970s.

When a US-backed coup installed Lon Nol as Cambodia's leader, Sihanouk - by then alienated by US bombing raids on Vietnamese communist guerrillas inside Cambodia - was forced into exile in Beijing.

It was from there that he struck an ill-fated deal with the emerging Maoist rebel force, the Khmer Rouge. When the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, Sihanouk returned as head of state but was subsequently detained.

He remained confined to the royal palace for most of the four years of the regime's rule, during which time an estimated 1.7 million people died.

People were killed or worked and starved to death, as the Khmer Rouge emptied cities and forced Cambodians to work on the land.

Sihanouk later condemned the Khmer Rouge for the deaths of the Cambodians, including of several of his own children.

When Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge, Sihanouk went again to Beijing. He was to remain outside the country for 13 years, as Cambodia faced civil war and the struggle to rebuild from economic devastation.

When the UN in 1991 persuaded the Vietnamese to withdraw and set Cambodia on the road to democracy, Sihanouk returned, and was again crowned king in 1993.

His role was increasingly one of broker between Cambodia's warring political factions. But as the country slowly worked its way towards political stability, Sihanouk's health steadily worsened.

In 2004, he announced he would step down in favour of one of his sons, the little-known Norodom Sihamoni. The former ballet dancer was crowned king in October 2004.

After that, Sihanouk spent much of his time overseas, in Beijing and Pyongyang.

But he remained a prominent national figure who - although criticised as autocratic and elitist, and blamed by some for his initial endorsement of the Khmer Rouge - symbolised constancy through Cambodia's years of violence.