CAMBODIA: KHMER ROUGE LEADER URGES CAMBODIANS TO MAKE PEACE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2015
- (9 Sep 1996) Thai / Khmer / Nat
A dissident Khmer Rouge leader on Monday urged Cambodians to forget the deaths of two (m) million people, make peace with him and get on with rebuilding their country.
Ieng Sary, foreign minister of the Khmer Rouge regime, spoke in Phnom Malai, a stronghold of the Khmer Rouge dissident faction negotiating peace with the government.
Though Sary is widely accused of crimes against humanity, the government is edging toward pardoning him in exchange for leading hundreds of guerrillas out of battle.
Journalists made their way through the jungle in western Cambodia Monday to hear dissident Khmer Rouge leader leng Sary (YENG-sari) speak of peace.
At Phnom Malai, a stronghold of the Khmer Rouge dissident faction, Sary urged Cambodians to forget the killing fields and look instead to peace.
He blamed the barbarism and mass killings of the ultra-radical Khmer Rouge regime - which ruled from 1975-1979 - on the group's top leader, Pol Pot.
And Sary himself took no blame for the deaths of the era, estimated at some two (m) million.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"As to the question whether I have remorse, I have no regrets and I had nothing to do with the ordering of executions, or even with suggesting them."
SUPER CAPTION: Ieng Sary, Dissident Khmer Rouge leader
Being Pol Pot's brother-in-law, Sary said he tried to spare lives wherever possible.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"When I heard of the decision to execute people, I defended people and they are still alive today, you can go and look at the documents. But those I didn't know about, they were executed."
SUPER CAPTION: Ieng Sary, Dissident Khmer Rouge leader
Sary has been talking peace with the Cambodian government since a split emerged last month between his faction and Pol Pot's hard-liners.
And the government now appears to be edging toward granting him a pardon to cement that split.
About 100 reporters attended the news conference - they were flown to Phnom Malai - in government helicopters - from Phnom Penh and the Thai-Cambodian border.
Finding themselves at the centre of media attention, Cambodian army officers and Khmer Rouge soldiers struck poses of friendship.
A few weeks ago, they were implacable enemies.
SOUNDBITE: (Thai)
"I am very happy because they have stopped the war."
SUPER CAPTION: Chilarn, Khmer Rouge Soldier
SOUNDBITE: (Thai)
"I am very happy. They told me there was peace and there was no more fighting."
SUPER CAPTION: En Bunrith, First Lieutenant, Cambodian Army
Without directly asking for a pardon, Sary made his case for one in exchange for leading his breakaway faction - numbering perhaps one-thousand guerrillas - out of battle.
And it appears that a Cambodian pardon for Sary could be imminent.
Over the weekend, second Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote a letter to first Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh, requesting that efforts to grant him amnesty be stepped up.
Sary seemed sure the pardon would come through - if secured, the amnesty would give him the chance to enter the political arena.
SOUNDBITE: (Khmer)
"I believe my case will soon be resolved. The King is awaiting the answer of the assembly. I know it will be solved because everyone wants peace and the Khmer people want to live together in national reconciliation."
SUPER CAPTION: Ieng Sary, Dissident Khmer Rouge leader
As Ieng Sary and other high-ranking figures of the Khmer Rouge prepare to abandon the rebel cause, the possible end to two decades of violent conflict seems in sight.
But that possibility leaves Cambodians with a dilemma:
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i think he is telling the truth
I dunno.
I have heard a great deal about the attempts that have been made to almost rewrite history about what Khmer Rouge did.
One of the individuals highly motivated to do this is Hun Sen, himself.
Not surprising... he was a member of the Khmer Rouge after all.
And he is, essentially, a totalitarian ruler of Cambodia.
This “restructuring of history” appears to include things like what the Khmer Rouge’s intentions were, the exceptional lengths they went to to kill as many people that were even slightly educated, and ultimately moving all of the citizens on mass into rural work camps.
This group was and remains extremely unscrupulous.
Their words should always be held, at least, in suspicion.
he telling the truth
he is telling the truth he did not know anything bout Genocide
Idd defently not forget in actuality over5 million murderd peacfull persons that couldent flee .and enslaved what english longshanks was at helm anyway.
che yo pol pot go afther hunsen he don't help the poor oeople
you idiots person