យុត្តិធម៌សង្គម – “Social Justice” in
Khmer (Phonetic: youttethmr sangkom)
“Social Justice” has had many definitions. The term’s
meaning is unknown until the specific meaning is elucidated by the speaker. This
post demonstrates why this requirement for clear definition of the term’s use
in context is important.
***
~ Khieu Samphan – Head of State ~
"What I want to say today and what I want my countrymen
to hear is that as an intellectual I have never wanted anything other than
social justice for my country," Khieu Samphan told the court's seven
judges on the final day of the appeal hearing.” [“Top Khmer Rouge leader tells
court he fought for 'social justice',” AFP, Feb. 18, 2016]
Khieu Samphan (Khmer: ខៀវ
សំផន; born 28 July
1931) is a Cambodian former communist politician and economist who was the
chairman of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976
until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the
most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, although Pol Pot remained
the General Secretary (highest official) in the party. Prior to joining the
Khmer Rouge, he was a member of Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum government. After
the 1967 leftist rebellion Sihanouk ordered the arrest of leftists including
Samphan, who fled into hiding until the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975.
On 7 August 2014, along with other members of the regime, he
was convicted and received a life sentence for crimes against humanity during
the Cambodian genocide, and a further trial found him guilty of genocide in
2018. He is the last surviving senior member of the Khmer Rouge following the
death of Nuon Chea in August 2019 and Kang Kek Iew in September 2020. [Wiklipedia]
***
~ Nuon Chea - chief ideologist of the
Khmer Rouge ~
EXCERPT: Nuon Chea, 92, the movement’s ideologue, was
perhaps the truest believer in its attempt to turn Cambodia into an agrarian
utopia, killing off its educated people and reorganizing the country into what
amounted to a nationwide labor camp. Known as “Brother No. 2” to the late Khmer
Rouge leader, Pol Pot, Mr. Nuon Chea had command responsibility over a wave of
murderous purges. He later assured an interviewer that “we only killed the bad
people, not the good.” [Seth Mydans, “‘We Only Killed the Bad People’: 2 Khmer Rouge Leaders, Forever Linked,” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 2018]
Nuon Chea (Khmer: នួន
ជា; born Lao Kim
Lorn; 7 July 1926 – 4 August 2019), also known as Long Bunruot (Khmer: ឡុង ប៊ុនរត្ន) or Rungloet
Laodi (រុងឡឺត ឡាវឌី Thai: รุ่งเลิศ เหล่าดี), was a
Cambodian communist politician and revolutionary who was the chief ideologist
of the Khmer Rouge. He also briefly served as acting Prime Minister of
Democratic Kampuchea. He was commonly known as "Brother Number Two" (Khmer:
បងធំទី២), as he was
second-in-command to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, General Secretary of the
Party, during the Cambodian genocide of 1975–1979. In 2014, Nuon Chea received
a life sentence for crimes against humanity, alongside another top-tier Khmer
Rouge leader, Khieu Samphan, and a further trial convicted him of genocide in
2018. He died while serving his sentences in 2019. [Wiklipedia]
***
~ The 1975-1979 Genocide ~
The Cambodian genocide (Khmer: ហាយនភាពខ្មែរ or ការប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ខ្មែរ; French: Génocide cambodgien)
was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge
under the leadership of Pol Pot, who radically pushed Cambodia towards communism.
It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly
a quarter of Cambodia's 1975 population (c. 7.8 million).
Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge had long been supported by the Communist
Party of China (CPC) and Mao Zedong; it is estimated that at least 90% of the
foreign aid to Khmer Rouge came from China, with 1975 alone seeing at least US$1
billion in interest-free economic and military aid from China. After seizing
power in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country into a socialist
agrarian republic, founded on the policies of ultra-Maoism and influenced by
the Cultural Revolution. Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge officials met with Mao
in Beijing in June 1975, receiving approval and advice, while high-ranking CPC
officials such as Zhang Chunqiao later visited Cambodia to offer help. To
fulfill its goals, the Khmer Rouge emptied the cities and forced Cambodians to
relocate to labor camps in the countryside, where mass executions, forced labor,
physical abuse, malnutrition, and disease were rampant. In 1976, the Khmer Rouge changed the name of
the country to Democratic Kampuchea.
By January 1979, 1.5 to 2 million people had died due to the
Khmer Rouge's policies, including 200,000 - 300,000 Chinese Cambodians, 90,000 Muslims,
and 20,000 Vietnamese Cambodians. 20,000 people passed through the Security
Prison 21, one of the 196 prisons the Khmer Rouge operated, and only seven
adults survived. The prisoners were taken to the Killing Fields, where they
were executed (often with pickaxes, to save bullets) and buried in mass graves.
Abduction and indoctrination of children was widespread, and many were
persuaded or forced to commit atrocities. As of 2009, the Documentation Center
of Cambodia has mapped 23,745 mass graves containing approximately 1.3 million
suspected victims of execution. Direct execution is believed to account for up
to 60% of the genocide's death toll, with other victims succumbing to
starvation, exhaustion, or disease.
The genocide triggered a second outflow of refugees, many of
whom escaped to neighboring Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, Thailand. The Vietnamese
invasion of Cambodia ended the genocide by defeating the Khmer Rouge in January
1979. On 2 January 2001, the Cambodian government established the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal to try the members of the Khmer Rouge leadership responsible for the
Cambodian genocide. Trials began on 17 February 2009. On 7 August 2014, Nuon
Chea and Khieu Samphan were convicted and received life sentences for crimes
against humanity committed during the genocide. [Wikipedia]
***
***
***
[257-11/18/21]
***
