CIVIL RESISTANCE


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CIVIC EDUCATION


3-day Mass Protests


Sunday, 15 Sept. 2013

KI-Media 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Go to Facebook pages for captions/narratives.

The "umbrella shading sun" (thgnai bang chhat) appeared twice yesterday morning, first at around 10:15 for at least half an hour, and then again at 11:55 a.m. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the rainbow is the sign of God's PROMISE.

 

I have seen "umbrella shading sun" but never one with a perfect rainbow encircling it.


And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  - Genesis 9

 

Cambodia Protest Clashes Leave One Dead, Several Wounded

AFP, 16 Sept. 2013


Photo: Theary Seng, Sunday evening (15 Sept. 2013)

Where I wanted to go last night but the roads were blocked, or I would have to walk for a good half a mile at night alone.

 

It sounded like there were provocateurs in the Sisowath Quay (riverside) clashes, in violation of the Code of Ethics emphasizing NON-VIOLENCE the CNRP took care to inform the demonstrators at every occasion. The fatal event last night is interesting in terms of timing, that the authority should choose the COVER OF NIGHT to injure and kill -- IMMEDIATELY BEFORE ANOTHER MEETING OF THE TOP LEADERS OF BOTH PARTIES at the National Assembly this Monday AND AT A LOCATION not part of the main demonstration site, just on the outskirts of the city center.

 

My heart and prayers goto the family of the murdered, and to the injured and their families.

 

- Theary, Phnom Penh, 16 Sept. 2013

 

Mass Protest Day 2:

KI-Media 1 | 2


BBC interview of Theary, here background filming (2nd day of mass protest, 16 Sept. 2013)

 

. . .

 

More Protests Promised

The Phnom Penh Post | 9 Sept. 2013

 


Theary Seng giving an on-camera interview on the political development in Cambodia.  Theary: "The protest tomorrow is part of the creative tension that brings about genuine change.  I really believe the CNRP won and Sam Rainsy will become the Prime Minister within this election cycle; we don't have to wait another 5 years."

Non-violent Peace Vigil


to demand Independent Joint Commission


to inquire into Election Fraud


Saturday, 7 Sept. 2013


8 - 11 a.m.


at Democracy Square (near Wat Phnom)


Theary Seng at Democracy Square for the Mass Protest / Peace Vigil on Saturday, 7 Sept. 2013 (Photo: Robert Carmichael)


With Chea Mony (president of Free Trade Union where Theary Seng is the senior advisor), his wife and another senior Free Trade Union leader


Theary Seng with CNRP youth activist Thy Sovantha (photo: Kon Khmer)


More images at KI-Media and Facebook accounts

 

Keeping the Peace

The Phnom Penh Post | 2 Sept. 2013

 

2 September 2013

Dear Nekbong Saumura and Lauk Rainsy --


I look forward to standing next to you

at the mass non-violent peace vigil

on Saturday, Sept. 7 to demand for

an independent joint commission

to inquire into election irregularities.


I will also join you for the Sept. 5 practice session. Sorry to have missed the first one; I trust that went well.


Best regards from Manila,

Theary


. . .


Board of Trustees Meeting

Ms. Theary C. Seng attending as Board President

Tagaytay, The Philippines | 2 Sept. 2013

 

A View from the Inside:

A Forum on the 2013

Cambodian National Elections


Keynote speaker Theary C. Seng is a Cambodian lawyer and noted human rights activist. She is the President of the Board of Trustees of the ANSA-EAP Foundation, Inc.


This forum is brought to you by the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP Foundation, Inc.), and the Ateneo School of Government (Manila, The Philippines).

. . .


 

Cambodia Ruling Party Criticizes Opposition Plan for Massive Protest against Election Result

Associated Press | Washington Post | 29 August 2013


Opposition Party Preps for Protests

Phnom Penh Post | 30 August 2013

 


I will join the Sept. 7  non-violent mass protest against election fraud.

- Theary, 30 Aug. 2013

 

 

. . .


Anatomy of Fraud


3rd in Series on Election Irregularities of the Cambodia Spring


1st – How to Understand and Resolve Technical Issues of Election Irregularities

2nd – NEC Must Adhere to Standard of Reasonableness, Respect Due Process


Theary C. Seng, CIVCUS Cambodia Founding President


Phnom Penh, 25 August 2013

https://app.box.com

[excerpts]

Indirect Impact of Void Ballots


Here, I want to focus on the indirect impact that void ballots can have on the election results by changing the QUOTA figure. To do so, we need to understand the seat allocation formula.


Seat allocation is not based on a fixed number of votes. Rather, it is based on a multi-step formula using the law of average particular to each province. It factors in valid and void ballots and the number of seats allocated for that particular province, (e.g. Siem Reap has 6 seats; Kandal, 11)


Let’s say hypothetically, in Siem Reap:

- 300,000 VALID ballots cast [total votes cast minus void ballots]

- CNRP = 160,000

- CPP = 120,000

Five (5) seats have been allocated of the total possible 6; one seat remains. The formula to get this remaining seat is:

However, if the CPP had received a total valid votes of 120,001 (rather than 120,000), this remaining 6th seat would have gone to the CPP based on the Step Three formula.


Effectively, in this hypothetical, the CPP would have received one N.A. seat based ONLY on one extra valid ballot!


Let’s stay with the same hypothetical, but strip the numbers of zeros to simplify the example in illustrating the importance of void ballots in influencing seat allocation.

- 30 VALID ballots cast [total votes cast minus void ballots]

- CNRP = 16 [and 6 void ballots]

- CPP = 12

- Funcinpec (FUN) = 2

- No Poverty Party (NPP) = 0

Five of the 6 seats are allocated. To get the 6th seat, we follow Step Three which results in a tie for CNRP and CPP.


Here is where one ballot theoretically can win a party one N.A. seat, and where the impetus is great to tamper with the valid ballots of CNRP and make them void. As the hypothetical shows us, it doesn’t need to be many ballots; voiding one CNRP valid ballot is enough.


After voiding valid ballots of CNRP, let’s say, there’s tampering in the counting forms by shifting some or all of CNRP 6 void ballots to smaller parties which did not receive any seat allocation as “valid” votes—say, 2 to FUN and 4 to NPP.


As the original quota is 5, this shift still does not give FUN or NPP a seat.


However, the shift impacted on the total VALID votes (from 30 to 36), thus changing the QUOTA from 5 to 6.

- 36 VALID ballots cast [total votes cast minus void ballots]

- CNRP = 16 [and 0 void ballot]

- CPP = 12

- FUN = 4

- No Poverty Party = 4

In Step Two, what seemed to be a benign shift of void ballots to be valid ballots for smaller parties with no seat allocation drastically impacted on the end result, which is the loss of a N.A. seat for CNRP.

 

. . .

 

The Failed Promise to Cambodia

The National Interest | 23 August 2013

 

. . .


PM's History of Electoral Manipulation, Intimidation, Violence

Shows He has No Desire to Cede Power to Democracy

Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch

The Bangkok Post | 20 Aug. 2013

 

Many diplomats and officials from influential governments know little about recent Cambodian history, leading some to issue meaningless statements calling on all sides to respect the legal process, when the ruling party has total control over the process.


Others have proposed policies that either have no chance at success or, consciously or unconsciously, favour the status quo, such as calling on ‘‘all parties’’ to avoid post-election violence when the CPP has singularly used violence as a tactic in past election periods, or suggesting that the opposition should use its large minority in a new National Assembly to push for electoral and other reform — something the CPP has never allowed over the past 20 years.


. . .

 

National Election Committee  Must Adhere

to Standard of Reasonableness,

Respect Due Process


2nd Commentary in a Series on Election Irregularities


CIVICUS Cambodia Theary C. Seng

 

https://app.box.com

 

. . .

 

How to Understand and Resolve

Technical Issues of Election Irregularities

 

1st Commentary in a Series on Election Irregularities

 

CIVICUS Cambodia Theary C. Seng

[ CNRP Seminar videos on Technical Issues of Irregularities ]

 

https://app.box.com


Seat allocation is not based on a fixed number of votes obtained for all 24 provinces. Rather, seat allocation is based on a multi-step formula using the law of average particular to each province. It factors in:


- Ballots cast considered VALID

- Ballots cast considered VOID

- Figure of seat allocation for that particular province

(e.g. Siem Reap has 6 seats; Kampong Cham, 18; Kandal, 11)


For example in Siem Reap, let’s say, hypothetically:

- 300,000 VALID ballots cast [total votes cast minus void ballots]

- CPP = 160,000

- CNRP = 120,000


 

Five (5) seats have been allocated of the total possible 6; one seat remains. The formula to get this remaining seat is:

 

In this case of a tie, the seat is determined by the casting of a die (lottery).


However, if the CPP had received a total valid votes of 160,001 (rather than 160,000), this remaining 6th seat would have gone to the CPP based on the Step Three formula.


Effectively, in this hypothetical, the CPP would have received one National Assembly seat based ONLY on one extra valid ballot!

 

Herein lies the heart of CNRP’s contention!

 

The devil IS really in the details!


In Kanda Province, CNRP claims it only needed 168 more votes for another N.A. seat.

 

 

. . .

 


Theary Seng with a national hero, Mrs. Srey Meas, who was imprisoned for pulling border posts illegally placed there by Vietnam one hectare into her rice fields in Svay Rieng Province

 

See more photos at KI-Media

 

. . .

 

Look for my commentary about

The Cambodia Spring

in the Editorial Page of The Phnom Penh Post

(entitled "Cambodia's Tipping Point")

on Wednesday, 14 Aug. 2013


In KI-Media

 

CIVICUS Cambodia Theary C. Seng


https://app.box.com


 

The Cambodia Spring:

Why This July 2013 Election is the Tipping Point

Ms. Theary C. Seng


__________________________

COMMENTARY

__________________________

 

[ EXCERPTS ]

 

Cambodia is undergoing a phenomenon, the beginning of “Cambodia flourishing”, if you will.


Even amidst the current high-tension of political brinkmanship, Cambodia has reached the tipping point that is slowly but surely ushering in the Cambodia Spring. However, the season of spring of flourishing must first be preceded by the season of discontent, the period we are in now.


Recently, I witnessed first-hand this season of flourishing when I rode in the back of the pick-up truck carrying Sam Rainsy from the airport to Democracy Square upon his return from exile on 19 July 2013, and again at Democracy Square the day he left for the United States for his daughter’s wedding of 6 August 2013. On both occasions, crowds in the hundreds of thousands openly, fearless convulsed onto the truck and stage demanding change. Their passion, palpably pulsating and electrifying the Cambodia air, acts to diminish the prior existing fear.


This season of discontent will be here to stay for some time, and will likely snowball into a monsoonal downpour of discontents, until there is a complete change of leadership. The people demand a surgical reformation in the formation of a government led by CNRP Sam Rainsy, and not band-aid changes the CPP will need to and has started to undergo in the inserting of a newer crop of parliamentarian sons.


Here are the factors and their admixture ushering in the Cambodia Spring.


[...]


2. Social Media + Smart-phones + Khmer Unicode + Rising English Usage

 

The previous elections did not have a public venue where Cambodians, particularly young people, could exchange information and be part of something larger than themselves.


This public venue is closely connected to the growing comfort level and increasing number of Cambodians proficient in English, not only to be on Facebook, but also to have access to a broader array of information (which are mainly in English).


Even if English is the still dominant language of social media, the comfort level and increase quality of the Khmer Unicode also facilitated the growing use of Social Media.


As recent as five years ago (the last national elections), Cambodians were mired in the pictorial typing system symbolized by the Limon font. Typing Khmer was basically inhibited to drawing a letter in order to compose each word. For anyone to access a Khmer language document on the internet meant that that document had been uploaded as a JPG or a PDF.


All to say, as recent as five years ago, Cambodians could not search the internet in the Khmer language nor write posts or comments on Facebook in the Khmer language, as the pictorial Limon typing system could not facilitate such endeavors.


A few years ago, the posts and comments on Facebook were written in broken English by the Khmer Facebook users; now the majority of posts by Khmer users are in the Khmer language.


The ease of language capability in both Khmer and English is greatly inter-linked with Smart-phones which allow for instant, engaging sharing of images along with a narrative in the Khmer Unicode with an exponential multiplying impact. We are right to worry about the vulgar, violent, crude or empty content and posts on social media, particularly on Facebook -- from soft to hard pornography, from foodstuff to graphic traffic deaths of mangled bodies and bloodied, cracked skulls -- that were initially sent en masse and continue to exist to a horrifying extent, despite social media’s attempts to curb such vulgarity, violence and lewdness.


And the fear of information overload is a real concern.


However, in a place like Cambodia during this time, social media, as everyone has acknowledged, has been a major factor in ushering the Cambodia Spring.


3. The Arab Spring and other Mass Protests around the World


Freedom is an innate aspiration, but also we are all copycats, particular us Cambodians. We witnessed the mass protests elsewhere around the world and they capture our own imagination. It was only an issue of time; the July 2013 gave us the opportunity to usher in our own Cambodia Spring.


4. Father-figure Vacuum


The massive outpouring of public grief during the passing of King Father Sihanouk Norodom took everyone by surprise, even if some of it was exaggerated high emotions. It brought to consciousness of both Cambodians and the Cambodian watchers of how much King Sihanouk’s rhetoric and treatment of Cambodians over the years as his “children” have shaped our identity as exactly that, oftentimes to our peril in stunting our social and political development and maturity.


Hun Sen tried excruciatingly hard in filling that void by giving himself grandiose, lengthy titles and naming educational institutions after himself – but basically to no avail as reflected by the humiliating rejection by the people of him during the July 2013 elections. It is rumored that he regretted allowing the national TVK during the grieving week to play daily old Sihanouk movies, as these films further endeared the people to the King Father with all his public works, giving Cambodians images of a more idyllic era of charm, of genuine regal elegance, of wooded forests and exotic jungles, of a Phnom Penh that is exotic and aesthetically beautiful. And these idyllic images greatly contrasted with Hun Sen's shortcomings: his grasping of royal titles, his naming of schools after himself minus content and quality, the vast pervasive deforestation, the gaudiness of new buildings chaotically sprouting and overshadowing the colonial charm. [All blue ink means that I forgot to add this in the original submission to The Post.]

 

I’ve stated oftentimes that Cambodia is a land of orphans – literal and emotional ones. We do have a high rate of individuals who do not have a mother, father or both. But even ones who do have a parent, the parents are not parenting as they themselves are adult infants unconsciously grieving the loss of any parenting figure in their own lives.


Then, came Sam Rainsy back from four years of self-imposed exile. Here is a father figure orphaned Cambodians could be proud of to have as their ideal father – intelligent, courageous, dignified, non-violent, nationalistic. Sam Rainsy returned on the heels of the passing of the King Father who had left a father-figure vacuum. He naturally, unconsciously filled this vacuum in the psychology of the needy Cambodians.

 

. . .

 

Grand Plans for $80-Billion Capital City Fit for a Techo

The Cambodia Daily | 9 August 2013

 

Our Megalomaniac Selves


A Reflection by Theary C. Seng

 

This story reported in The Cambodia Daily reminds me of a thought I often have, particularly when I am sitting in the window seat looking out, while ascending from or descending into Phnom Penh -- or at the other end of the spectrum, into a large cosmopolitan city like NYC or London or Paris -- and I think of all the megalomaniacs who strut around these cities with their hangers-on, their bling-bling, their women, and their big boys' toys.

 

I think of their megalomaniac language, their megalomaniac demeanor, their megalomaniac membranes' outgrowth in their megalomaniac mind. I think of how they must think they are so invincible and so unique and so special, divinely appointed, mystically anointed.

 

It is not random that this thought of megalomaniacs and their outsized egos intrudes while I have a bird's-eye view of the city where everything is miniaturized and appears like papermache cut-outs, and these out-sized egos within a blink of an eye dissipate into a speck of dust lost in the below Lego-land -- fragile, insignificant -- a breath here now, vaporized the second after.

 

And I think of all the megalomaniacs throughout history separated by decades, centuries and millennia, independently thinking and possessing the same megalomaniac mentality of special, unique divine gifting.

 

And then I think of the Megalomaniac of megalomaniacs, Satan himself, who was not content to be an arch angel over a dominion of other angels, near the Throne of God; he wants to dethrone God; he wants to be God.

 

And then I would close my thought with the mind-blogging, humbling thought of Jesus, God himself putting on human flesh for 33 years, debasing himself in order that He can relate with us (and we with Him), and show us the way out of the prison of this MEGALOMANIAC PRIDE that WE ALL possess in our dominion -- great or small, with the consequences on one or on millions -- into SHALOM, life flourishing.


- Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 9 August 2013



Theary C. Seng after the CNRP Press Conference, borrowing CNRP's wifi and room to catch up on work, while waiting for the heavy traffic into the city center to pass (Phnom Penh, 29 July 2013)

 

 

. . .

 

Sam Rainsy Returns


to a Rapturous

 

Hero's Welcome

 

Photos: Theary C. Seng, 19 July 2013


(Airport VIP Lounge, and from the back of the Pick-up Truck carrying Sam Rainsy from airport to Democracy Square in city center)


More images taken by me from the truck carrying Sam Rainsy at my Facebook accounts and in KI-Media 1 | 2 | 3 | 4


Sam Rainsy flashing CNRP no. 7 in the back of the pick up truck carrying him from airport to Democracy Square (19 July 2013)


I'm at the back of the truck where Sam Rainsy is standing on a raised platform, supported by bodyguards and his CNRP officials. The security surrounding his truck were amazing in protecting the truck from being flanked by frenzied supporters all the way from airport to Democracy Square, over 10 kilometers.


Tens of thousands waited and greeted Sam Rainsy at Democracy Square in the city center, here we are on stage after having arrived 5 hours later from the airport due to the throngs of supporters all along the way.

MORE PHOTOS and narratives

 

 

. . .


Why I believe in only CNRP Sam Rainsy

(or, his equally formidable, brilliant wife CNRP Saumura Tioulong)

as Prime Minister of Cambodia

 

A Living Essay by Theary C. Seng

 

It has been said that Cambodia's problems of the past and present can be summed up in the weaknesses of its leaders. It has been and is currently said that we Khmers deserve the leaders we have.

 

Rather than react defensively, meditate on whatever degree of truth is in these statements and do something about it.


This leads me to why I believe only in CNRP president Sam Rainsy (or, his equally formidable, brilliant wife CNRP Saumura Tioulong) as the Prime Minister of Cambodia.



 

I. EDUCATION


First, the reason is one of education. Education provides "the basic mental ingredients" to lead. Individuals who lack quality education tend to have an intellectual deficit, lacking the "mental equipment to govern".

 

What David Brooks writes of the radical political Islam is also true of many Cambodian politicians and leaders, in that "once in office, they are always going to centralize power and undermine democracy that elevated them." Oftentimes, the intellectual DNA is missing in Cambodian leaders, certainly true of the current ruling regime, the CPP.

 

Here's the basic outline in terms of names and degrees for Sam Rainsy:

[...]

 

. . .

 

Global Convening to End Mass Atrocities

Istanbul (16-21 June 2013)


Istanbul, Turkey's largest city at 15 to 17 million people, is magical, as exquisitely stunning as one can imagine it to be and more (!!). Also known as Constantinople, named after the Roman Emperor Constantine who converted to Christianity in 4th century, it has now only one percent Christian out of 55 Million population.



Theary's presentation, during exchange with participants

 

I'm presenting on 19 June 2013 "Reconciling Peace with Justice in Cambodia: the Limitations of Tribunals to Address Mass Crimes"

https://www.box.com/s/g9go7em1jyvuhvy8jbjj

 

 


Theary Seng near Taksim Square on Istiklal Blvd. in front of the graffitied French Consulate (around noon-ish after service at Union Church in the vicinity, 16 June 2013)

 

Click here to read narratives and see more photos, or go to Ms. Seng's Facebook accounts

 

. . .

 

 

Theary C. Seng and the Road Ahead in Cambodia

By Michelle Phipps-Evans

Asian Fortune News, 3 Feb. 2013


Theary C. Seng (Photo: Roland Neveu, Dec. 2009)


The name Theary Chan Seng generates a fervor approaching reverence in the Cambodian community here and abroad. She is the Cambodian-born, American-educated lawyer and civil rights activist who founded the Cambodian Center for Justice & Reconciliation. It is a major component of another organization she serves as founding president, CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education. This nonprofit group is dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles. It is actively engaged in the practice of democracy and reconciliation in Cambodia and the larger, globalized world.

So who really is Seng, the person? She is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime, and has spent almost two decades advocating for its victims, many of whom were orphaned, widowed, abused or molested—victims who were like Seng herself.


Read full article

In KI-Media

 

. . .


Obama, in Cambodia for a Meeting,

Sidesteps the Ghosts of History

 

International Herald Tribune (Peter Baker, November 20, 2012)


Theary Seng, president of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, said, “President Obama should have met with the human rights community and activists challenging the Hun Sen regime, and while then and there, offer a public apology to the Cambodian people for the illegal U.S. bombings, which took the lives of half a million Cambodians and created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide.”

 

Click here to read this complete news analysis

 

. . .

 

Kissinger in Cambodia:

Protests Greet Obama's Visit

International Herald Tribune / New York Times


PHNOM PENH — Theary Seng was taking aim with precision and anger. The 41-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer and a regular on Cambodia’s crowded protest circuit was about to throw a dart at a poster of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.


Kissinger is one of 13 politicians and senior Khmer Rouge leaders in a dart game created by Poetic Justice, a nongovernmental organization run by Theary Seng that highlights deficiencies of the special U.N.-backed tribunal judging the Khmer Rouge’s crimes. Each player gets five throws. A bull’s-eye is worth seven points. The highest score wins.


Last Sunday afternoon, Theary Seng and three members of her staff were playing on Phnom Penh’s riverfront opposite the storied Foreign Correspondents’ Club. On this occasion — the fourth time the game has been staged in public — the point was to draw attention to the narrow scope of the Khmer Rouge tribunal ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit for a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.


Click here to read full article.

 

. . .

 


Interview by Mike McRoberts of TV3, New Zealand standing on what was formerly the capital's largest natural lake, place of violent forced evictions (Phnom Penh, 20 Nov. 2012). Theary: "The international community gives muscles to this dictatorial regime to repress its own people. Before the government represses with Cambodian riels; now it's empowered and given muscles with NZ dollars, US dollars, Euros..."


Watch the TV3 New Zealand broadcast

with Mike McRoberts (aired 21 Nov. 2012)

At ASEAN summit, trade overshadows human rights



In solidarity with courageous protestors of Boeung Kak Lake, here sitting on what was formerly the capital's largest natural lake, with Council of Ministers facing it, with Bopha's mom and son (Phnom Penh, 20 Nov. 2012)

 

. . .

 


Open Letter

to U.S. President Barack Obama

Published in The Phnom Penh Post, 20 November 2012

Read letter in KI-Media

 

. . .

 


CJOReillyGlobal: #Theary Seng being questioned by Police of her possessions ahead arrival of #Obama. If only they knew her rights. http://t.co/88lyV2C3 Nov 19, 2012, 10:23 UTCMs.

Theary Seng and some 30 security (plus more embedded in Wat Phnom Penh and Sunway Hotel)


Narrative of harassment and images of

Ms. Theary C. Seng's stand-off

with at least 30 big bulky, heavily armed security

in front of US Embassy Phnom Penh

(Tuesday, 19 Nov. 2012)

 


Theary Seng (reddish-orange blouse to right) and 30+ security next to US Embassy Phnom Penh, 19 Nov. 2012


. . .

 


Emotional Violence of Past Poetic Justice Dart Games

flared into Physical Assault on Ms. Theary C. Seng

and those around her

along the Riverfront, Sunday, 18 Nov. 2012



A plain-clothes Cambodian police officer, left, pushes away Theary Seng, center, an organizer who was about to stage a protest in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. Cambodia broke up a protest organized by her Sunday that was meant to highlight the alleged oppression of Cambodia's people by political figures, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the late despot Pol Pot (AP Photo).


See more photos


See film of violence


See Opinion by Heng Soy on the vulgarity attempting to undermine Ms. Seng and the global attention on the Poetic Justice dart games



Theary Seng and Poetic Justice dart game (Photo: John Vink / Magnum Photos, 18 Nov. 2012)

 

. . .

 

. . .Spirit of Humanity Forum

 

Reykjavik, Iceland

SESSION 3: CALLING

4.15 - 5.45 pm Led by Miriam Subirana, Foundation for a Culture of Peace

The session includes:

Theary C. Seng, Founder, Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Cambodia



Theary Seng with Princess Martha Louise (only daughter of Norwegian King and Queen), a genuine "people's princess" full of warmth and personality (Reykjavik, 15 Sept. 2012)

 

. . .

 

 


"Take that, Kissinger!" Poetic Justice dart games filming for ABC News.

More at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia...

"Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Court 'Dying'

ABC News film, aired 16 Oct. 2012

 

. . .

 

Khmer Rouge defendant Ieng Thirith ruled unfit for Cambodian genocide trial due to dementia

The Washington Post, 13 Sept. 2012


Of course if she is seriously ill with Alzheimer’s, she should be released. There is no point in trying an incapacitated person,” said Theary Seng, a human rights advocate representing some victims who are allowed a role in the proceedings. “The point is the (tribunal) is so late in coming. The political foot-dragging and inertia has caused this travesty of justice.”

 

 

. . .


 

Poetic Justice

and Civil Party Withdrawal

in the News

Nov. 2011


Ex-leader: Khmer Rouge atrocities are 'fairy tale'

AP Newswire, 23 Nov. 2011


"I'm not surprised that Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary continue to deny their crimes as the charges against them of genocide, war crimes are very serious," said Theary Seng, a Cambodian lawyer and human rights activist who lost family members under their regime.


"Even if I am not surprised, I am however disgusted by their lack of remorse for the suffering they caused. They are delusional in their denial in light of the weight of evidence against them - the mounds of skulls and bones, the horrific testimonies from every survivor of cruelty, the magnitude and scope of evil unleashed by them across the whole of Cambodia."

 

. . .

 

"Khmer Rouge trial is failing Cambodian

victims of Pol Pot's regime"

Human Rights Watch Brad Adams' editorial

The Guardian, 26 Nov. 2011


. . .


"Justice Denied"

Douglas Gillison, Foreign Policy Magazine, 23 Nov. 2011


. . .


Deputy President of Victims Association, a Civil Party of the Orphans Class, Mr. CHEY Theara, Withdraws Civil Party Status, Denounces ECCC as Political Farce

_______________________

PRESS RELEASE

_______________________

 

Full statement in both Khmer and English in KI-Media.

Here, if ISP censors in Cambodia.

 

. . . . .

 

Khmer Rouge Trial Missing a Marquee Defendant

Wall Street Journal, 21 Nov. 2011

“The release of Ieng Thirith is only one reflection of how incredibly late these trials are coming into place,” said Theary Seng, founder of the Cambodian Center for Justice and Reconciliation and herself, too, a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime, having lost her parents and spent five months in prison. She has withdrawn from the tribunal process, and instead put her energy into organizing public games of darts featuring the faces of the Khmer Rouge leaders along Phnom Penh’s riverfront – a “way of release” following victims’ frustrations with the trial process, mixed with “dark humor,” she said.

 

Theary Seng BBC News filming, Nov. 2011

Watch the BBC News coverage

But the trial - a joint enterprise between the UN and Cambodia - has been heavily criticised. Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, said putting three people on trial for the deaths of 1.7 million simply wasn't enough. (BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011)


Poetic Justice German Filming, 18 Nov. 2011
Filming for German DW-Global with Bastian and Sarin, 18 Nov. 2011. More photos...


Filming by BBC with Guy DeLauney, 17 Nov. 2011. More photos...

Khmer Rouge Trial: Cambodia Awaits Answers

BBC News, 21 Nov. 2011

 

. . .


Crying for Justice

AFP, 21 Nov. 2011

Khmer Rouge survivor Theary Seng told AFP she was "frustrated beyond words" that only Khieu Samphan looked likely to shed light on what happened. "The people want to know who is behind the Khmer Rouge, we want to see and understand the larger picture and we're not going to get that," she said.


From Tragedy to Sham in Cambodia

Asia Times Online, 19 Nov. 2011

In KI-Media

Others have gone further, arguing that the time might be ripe for the UN to pull the plug on the controversy-plagued court altogether. Last week, Theary Seng, a Cambodian-American survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime and a prominent advocate for victims' rights, withdrew her status as a civil party to the court, describing the proceedings as a "complete sham".

She said the UN should threaten to withdraw after setting some clear conditions for its continued participation. By pressing ahead, Seng said, the world body runs the risk of rubber-stamping a flawed process and further embedding cynicism in the Cambodian population.

"I understand the unwieldiness of any large bureaucracy, but at the end of the day it comes down to personalities, and there have been extremely weak personalities," she said. "In this regard, the UN is complicit."

 

 

In the End, Loss of Faith in Tribunal: Former Complainant

Hello VOA Special with Theary Seng, 16 Nov. 2011


Khmer Rouge Victim Quits Tribunal Saying UN-backed Court is a Sham

DPA, 15 Nov. 2011

 

Prominent Victims' Advocate Quits Khmer Rouge Tribunal

VOA International/English, 15 Nov. 2011


KRT Critic Offers 'Poetic Justice'

The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011


Theary Seng Denounces Tribunal; Introduces Dartboard Scheme

The Cambodia Daily, 16 Nov. 2011

 


Theary Seng's Press Conference, 15 Nov. 2011
More photos from Poetic Justice/ECCC Withdrawal Press Conference, 15 Nov. 2011



Poetic Justice
Front pages of The Cambodia Daily and The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Nov. 2011

 

. . .



Click here to read the full press release...


 

More information at "ECCC Civil Party"

More information at Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia

In KI-Media



Theary Seng Criticizes KRT

as "Political Farce"

The Phnom Penh Post, 10 Nov. 2011

 


Radio Free Asia (both AM and PM broadcasts on 10 Nov. 2011)

 


Cambodian-American Lawyer Withdraws her Civil Party Status

Voice of America Khmer Service, 10 Nov. 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vietnamization: Military Occupation - Present
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Francois Ponchaud, a French Jesuit who had diligently chronicled the destructiveness of the Khmer Rouge in his book "Cambodia: Year Zero," maintained that the Vietnamese were conducting a [ ... ]


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