In Search of Real “Angkar”

Justin C. Sok
05/21/2011

When the Iraq war ended in 2004, the Iraqi people were confident that they had the
culprits captured or in hiding, for the heinous crimes committed against his own people, Saddam
Hussein, who was dragged out by the U.S. Army from his underground hideout, in a so-called
“spider hole” on the outskirts of the city of Tikrit. In December 30, 2006, the Iraqi people got
their justice. They hung Saddam Hussein.
September 11, 2001, the mastermind and leader of al Qaida, Osama Bin Laden had
ordered his men to fly three commercial airplanes into the World Trade Centers and Pentagon
and killed nearly three thousand of innocent Americans. After nearly 10 years of hunting and a
$50 million dollars bounty, and five months short of the 10-year anniversary of the September
11, 2001, on May 01, 2011, Navy Seals had secretly infiltrated their way into the compound of
the public enemy number one, al Qaida’s leader, Osama Bin Laden, in Pakistan, and greeted him
with a single bullet to the head. The next day, his corpse was laid to rest at sea, and even the
marine life would have been disinclined to devour this savage beast.
From 1975 to early 1979, the Democratic Kampuchea led by the infamous Pol Pot,
Ieng Sary, and Khieu Samphan’s clique had killed nearly two million innocent Cambodian
people. In April 15, 1998, Pol Pot, presumably, died in his sleep in the mountainous jungle of
Anlong Veng in Northwestern Cambodia. A few days later, his corpse was piled on with his
belongings including his broken rattan chair, clothes, wood, and car tires, and then burned on an
open fire. The people of Cambodia were shocked and demoralized, not because they had learned
that Pol Pot was dead but because (1) they had missed their chance to seek revenge on him (2)
they had suspected that there might be a political maneuver to obliterate all traces of “Angkar”.
In June 6, 2003, the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia and the United Nations signed the
agreement to create a legal binding judicial structure, Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of
Cambodia, to try the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. The agreement was endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The
ECCC’s important criteria and inter alia, is to bring the alleged “suspects” who have fallen under
the mandate of the courts, “most responsible” to trial.
After thirty years and counting and more than $200 million dollars questionably spent
by the Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts of Cambodia, only one identified offender, Kaing
Guek Eav, the mass murderer-turned-Christian, from amongst the six culprits whom had all been
under the “protection” of the Phnom Penh government, the court had rendered its decision, he
was the “most responsible” for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kaing Guek Eav was
the Killing Machine at Tuol Sleng Center, who had received an “Order” from “Angkar,” and who
in turn, had “Ordered” his subordinates to slaughter more than twelve thousand innocent
Cambodian people. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The fox is happy to see that the
sheep are continuing to wear its skin. The ECCC had fashioned a legal strategy of first indicting
the smaller fish, Kaing Guek Eav. He was only a small fish among the big ones that they had
used as a guinea pig to test the waters of the Chambers.
 The news about the conviction of the Killing Machine, Kaing Guek Eav was not
resonating well by the public, especially, with the Cambodian people, and the Cambodian
communities across the globe. A wave of despair swept over them and all of their energy,
exuberance, and the anticipation of partaking in this historic trial in the hope of getting justice for
their lost loved ones has drained away.

“They had killed my parents, brothers, sisters, and relatives. When I

learned that the UN had planned to bring these murderers to trial, I
was so happy and I was in tears. I want justice for my parents,
brothers, and sisters, and the people of Cambodia. But now, this
courts has crushed my spirit into pieces,” said a Cambodian man

The conviction of the Killing Machine, Kaing Guek Eav, is continuing to echo around
the globe, and scholars are scratching their heads and started to actually believe that the decision
rendered by the courts was deliberately delivered by a kangaroo court. The public is out crying
for justice. The people of Cambodia, the human rights groups, and as well as the Civil Society
are not only making demands to the courts to reconsider its decisions, but they are also
requesting the courts to bring more alleged “suspects” to trial, speedily. The people of Cambodia
would like to find out who the real “Angkar” was!

“The last words of my mother—My daughter, go back to sleep—

continue to haunt me, as she lulled me in her arms the night of her
violent death in Boeung Rai Security Center . . .” Theary C. Seng,
“daughter of the killing fields”

“. . . . the Khmer Rouge comrades chained my parents together, face-

to-face. The KR comrades let my parents stand under the car tire,
which they had hung on the tree branch from above. They lit a car
tire on fire, and let the burning flame of rubber dripping down onto
my parents until they died. Even though it was nearly thirty years
ago, but I could still feel the lively burning sensation, the
excruciating pain of what my parents had to go through before their
last breath. I would never forget this until the day I die.” Excerpted
from therapy session

The scales of justice of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia have
been tipped and tainted. The legal battle between the Civil Party and the Co-Investigating judges
has been challenged and the technicality of their Internal Rules and legal proceedings are,
perhaps, ambiguous in term of its legal definition of the term “most responsible,” which had set
forth by the international legislative drafters. But the greatest challenge and drawback to the
Cambodia’s UN-backed war tribunal has been facing, besides the legal loopholes, budget issues,
and personal connections, however, was that their Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia has been commandeered by the Phnom Penh government and it has been transformed
it into the Extraordinary “Controlled” of the Courts of Cambodia. It is still holding its same
mnemonic, “ECCC,” but its functions and directions have been orchestrating by the Phnom Penh
government, who has an absolute decision as to whom the alleged “suspects” may be brought to
trial.
The legal entanglement between the Civil Party and the Co-Investigating Judges could
have been foreseen and it was not something impossible that could not be reasonably resolved
and/or meted out by the United Nations legislative experts. But it raises critical questions, if
cases 003 and 004 were granted admission to go to trial, the Civil Party and the general public
would have gained their legal standings, which could be their legal vehicle to open the door to
file more cases. More importantly, the Phnom Penh government has been sweating bullets over
the submission of cases 003 and 004 and has been doing everything they could within their
authority includes making several attempts to blockade the cases from being brought to trial and/
or have already threatening to completely shut down the ECCC. The Phnom Penh government
would not want to take any risks over the possibility of exposing the skeletons in their closets!

Thank you.