CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Trial Will be a Painful Process
By Wendy Wilson
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 — A trial of the Khmer Rouge for genocide will be a difficult and painful process for Cambodia, one inevitably entangled in its history, key personalities and politics, experts speaking here say.
Their remarks indicated that while calls are often made, including by the United Nations, for the Khmer Rouge to be tried for its genocidal rule from 1975-1979, putting closure on the country's past is far more than a legal matter.
"Khmer Rouge was politics, and it is politics all over again," observed Prince Norodom Sirivudh, a half brother of Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk. "There are some who would presume that a quick — what I call 'fake' — trial of the Khmer Rouge would achieve justice politically."
"We are still yet far from knowing the truth," he told a seminar here organised by Japan-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation. But, considering the depth of national wounds, he wondered if "the Cambodian people (are) ready to open Pandora's box?"
Sirivudh was referring to perceptions that the Cambodian government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen is dragging its feet on the question of Khmer Rouge trial.
Those perceptions are based, among others, on critics' doubts about the independence of such a process, who among Khmer Rouge leaders would be tried, and questions about Hun Sen's commitment to a trial since his government now includes many defectors from the Khmer Rouge.
Sirivudh, a former government official, was convicted in absentia in 1996 for criminal conspiracy against Hun Sen, including plotting to kill him.
After ousting the United States-backed, corrupt government of Lon Nol in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge sought to build a classless society in Cambodia. The Maoist group emptied the cities and abolished the currency, embarking on a brand of social engineering blamed for the deaths or two million Cambodians through executions, starvation and illness.
Today, 21 years after it was booted out by Vietnam-backed rebels in January 1979, the Khmer Rouge's key leaders are dead or arrested, and many of its fighters have surrendered or been integrated into the government and military.
The death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1998 raised the possibility of a trial for genocide and crimes against humanity, but no such procedure has begun.
Kao Kim Hourn, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, says today's reality in Cambodia — that people want to put all the decades of civil strife and war behind them — are a factor in opening up the past.
For many Cambodians, "the number one priority is people's stability and security. The trial (of the Khmer Rouge leadership) is not a bread and butter issue," he added.
As it is, the slow movement toward a trial has created even more division within a country struggling to establish itself as a credible democracy.
Sirivudh notes that for the past two decades, the Khmer Rouge has been "integrated" within much of Cambodian society, including its armed forces.
While some may view this as realistic reconciliation, he raised the question of what this says of the nature of today's Cambodian government, and its implications for a trial becoming reality. He asked "to what degree the Khmer Rouge has been hidden (within political and military organisations)."
In short, he adds, there is a complex range of issues tied intrinsically to Cambodia's decision whether to go ahead with the trial — including security, stability and economy.
Hourn said that any trial would be a long process. It would also be a costly one affecting tourism, one of Cambodia's major foreign exchange earners, and investment.
But just as important is the potential impact on the Cambodian people themselves, as witnesses at an open trial relive the years of genocide, which then would be replayed repeatedly in the media.
"The cost on the emotions and economy of the Cambodian people cannot be calculated in U.S. dollars," Hourn stated. "At the same time, the trial will raise all sorts of issues that, if they are not properly managed, will further divide an already fractured society."
Still, Hourn said that a Khmer Rouge trial offers the Cambodian government an opportunity to gain the trust and confidence of its people, and the international community.
So far, a draft law on a Khmer Rouge trial in Cambodia is to go before the National Assembly, written primarily by Cambodians and rushed through U.N. approval.
The Clinton administration had played intermediary to the agreement between the United Nations and Hun Sen on the formation of a national criminal tribunal for Khmer Rouge leaders.
The law proposes that the trial be held in Cambodia, with a majority of government-appointed Cambodian judges and a Cambodian prosecutor who may be able to veto indictments brought by a foreign prosecutor.
In 1999, UN officials had suggested that an international tribunal, similar to those for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, be created and held in an Asian country.
A trial would also be embarrassing to some foreign countries. It would expose support by China for the Khmer Rouge during its four-year rule, and by South-east Asian countries and the United States for it after Pol Pot's ouster.
Noting wryly "you cannot try a dead man", Kao Kim Hourn insisted that despite the difficulty of opening old news and stepping on political sensitivities, "we (the Cambodian people) must create political will" to get a trial through.
"We must put pressure on leadership positions to come to terms with this. We cannot wait — maybe we won't have political will in 10 years. Or an independent and competent judiciary, either," he added.
One alternative that has been proposed for a Khmer Rouge trial is a "mixed trial" approach, in which experienced foreign judges teach Cambodian counterparts in on-the-job training during what is presumed will be a prolonged period of time.
Hourn added that there are also many Cambodians, trained outside the country, who are ready to step into the process as well. "Use Cambodians whose hands are tied right now because of constraints in opportunities. If we can open up that gate, nothing can stop it," he added.
At the same seminar, Frederick Brown of the South-east Asia Studies Programme at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, asked if war-weary Cambodians are ready to exchange "somewhat increasing prosperity and a modicum of security for the possibility of the destabilisation that might occur from a prolonged and divisive trial". (IPS/2000)
