CAMBODIA: BUDDHIST NUNS CRUCIAL TO COMMUNITY

[icy]

UDONG (IDN) - “When the war ended I had lost all my family. I was alone. I came here 27 years ago and I have found happiness now,” says 71 year old Sentcheant, one of ten nuns spending their old age together in this Buddhist nunnery, only one of two such places in Cambodia.

The Cambodian Khmer people have a proud Buddhist heritage going back to the 5th century, which is epitomized by the ancient Buddhist monuments of Ankor Wat. Even here in Udong, which is a 18th century Khmer capital city (about two hours' drive from Phnom Penh), some 101 temples have been built by the kings.

“Our kings built temples to preserve our culture, save Buddhism and our Khmer language,” said Chan Sobunvy, secretary general of the Association of Nuns and Laywomen of Cambodia (ANLWC).
This rich Buddhist Khmer heritage most Cambodians are very proud of today was all but destroyed during the communist Khmer Rouge rule under Pol Pot. Thousands of Buddhist monks were killed and temples destroyed. But, since the UN supervised elections in 1993, there’s been a revival of Buddhism here.
Yet, Sobunvy laments that Buddhism needs to transform itself from being too ritualistic to applying its teachings to improve the society, especially its moral and ethical standards.

With the current state of the country, where the government is accused of land grabbing to benefit its business cronies, a revitalised opposition claiming electoral fraud and refusing to take their seats in parliament and unruly mobs attacking state property in protest, the social fabric in this Buddhist kingdom is under intense pressure.

“Yes, there is a revival of Buddhism here,” Sobunvy told IDN-InDepth News, “but, it cannot just be nationalistic, attention must be placed on the Buddhist philosophy and it needs to be practiced, especially to stem the violence in today’s society.”

The ANLWC was formed in 1995 with the financial assistance of a German Foundation to train women to be agents of social change. It initially had 7000 members in 13 provinces that were trained to become agents of social change.

Education
In an email interview with IDN from Colombo, Dr Hem Goonatileka, an UNIFEM Gender for Development Expert from Sri Lanka, who initially managed the project said that what was at stake was not a gender issue, but, an issue of education of women.

“Many nuns had no education at all (so) we started from scratch reading and writing – they picked up fast – some of them knew their dhamma (Buddhist teachings) so well to teach others” she  explained.
The government at the time was transforming from communists to Buddhists and they limited the number of monks in temples. “After the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, women returned to the community and started to help rebuild temples (because) there were very few men left in the community,” recalls Sobunvy. “The monks were not teaching the women Buddhism. They just let them come there, give them food and bless them”.

There were a lot of social problems at the time such as alcoholism, domestic violence, revenge attacks, and fast economic growth creating unsustainable expectations. The ANLWC decided to train a group of old women as nuns to act as counselors to young people, to tackle these social ills using Buddhist principles.
“Most monks don’t have life experience (as they haven’t married and raised families), but, nuns do have that. So they can become good counselors to school children, especially girls," noted Sobunvy.
In 1996, local NGO RACHA also joined the fray, with the help of a USAID grant to set up the “Wat (Temple) Grannies” program. They selected 6 to 8 nuns from each village and trained them to spread health messages, such as breast-feeding, pregnancy and controlling diarrhea. Each was allocated 40-50 homes to spread the message.

Dr Chan Ketsana, RACHA’s Health Director explained in an interview with IDN that many of the “Wat Grannies” have now given up due to old age and they have trained their daughters or grand daughters to carry on the work.
“The older women we trained originally were not very well educated, (but) the younger ones are better educated today,” she pointed out. “When they are younger they have better knowledge but not the respect.”

Young ones not always available
Dr Ketsana also noted that the older women were more committed to the work, but the young ones have their own businesses to earn a living and hence are not sometimes available to do this volunteer work. “Young ones however can read and write and remember messages,” she added.

The movement towards making use of nuns to provide guidance, health and nutrition education to other women in the community, especially in the rural areas has somewhat stalled. With Cambodia’s economy growing, young people have more opportunities today.

But, Sobunvy argues that there is much conflict in the community, not only political, but also increasing incidents of domestic violence. She says that they have been fighting for gender equality in the country for more than 10 years, citing the example of the land ownership of the nunnery here. They are not allowed to transfer ownership to ANLWC because it cannot be categorized as a temple. Monks need to live there for such categorization.

During her stay in Cambodia Dr Goonatileka observed that nuns are not supported by the community, the way monks are. Perhaps after all there is a gender issue here, she admits. “(Projects to help nuns) were getting too dependent on foreign donors. Only if the community helps the nuns (with food etc) can such schemes succeed.”

Cambodia is today believed to be 95 percent Buddhist. Sobunvy argues that there is a need to practice the essence of Buddha’s teachings. “This government does not really practice the Buddhist philosophy. They allow bars and night clubs to spread everywhere, even near temples,” she complains. “People don’t respect the teachings. If they do there should not be conflicts everywhere.”

“We need to educate Cambodians about the Buddhist philosophy. If they understand that Cambodia can be a peaceful country,” she argues, “women can play this role if the government is willing to give a helping hand.” [IDN-InDepthNews – October 15, 2013]

[Matibhadra]

“This rich Buddhist Khmer heritage most Cambodians are very proud of today was all but destroyed during the communist Khmer Rouge rule under Pol Pot. Thousands of Buddhist monks were killed and temples destroyed”.

What the article does not say is that between 1965 and 1973 US dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs in Buddhist Cambodia, one million tons more than all the bombs dropped by the same US on the also Buddhist Japan during World War II (including Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and still a lot more than the 2 million tons dropped together by US and their allies during all of the World War II (including Europe).

As a direct result, at least half million people, mostly Buddhist, died, and hundreds of thousands more died as an indirect result of the carpet bombings, which were specially focused on populated areas, and which razed the old Buddhist civilization of Cambodia to the ground.

The infamous command of the master genocide Henry Kissinger to General Alexander Haig became anthological: “He [the President Nixon] wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn’t want to hear anything. It’s an order, it’s to be done. Anything that flies, on anything that moves. You got that?” The response from Haig, barely audible on tape, sounds like laughter.

Add to this the millions of Buddhist Koreans, Buddhist Vietnamese, Buddhist Laosian and Buddhist Japanese people murdered by US attacks since World War II, including with weapons of mass destruction, chemical and nuclear, plus the most cowardly “conventional” bombs,  and it is clear that hardly any murderous regime killed more Buddhists in history than the US.

Thanks to the US under the de facto rule of Kissinger, Cambodia is known as the most heavily bombed country in the history of humankind. Thus, going beyond the official propaganda, one might wonder how much of Buddhist Cambodia was left after the US bombings for the scapegoated Khmer Rouge to destroy.

Here follows a map illustrating the areas in Cambodia carpet-bombed by US (seen in red):

[icy]

Politics is a dirty game, this is the reality.  Those who chose to enter into its inner sanctum of deceit do so at their own peril. Politicians can be selfish, corrupt, greedy, self-centred, not altruistic.  The path they walk as they set out to do wondrous things for their fellow man is analogous to a minefield strewn with hidden metaphorical death traps.  So often it is a disgusting affair when the weaker ones are involved and taken advantage for their selfish gain causing revolts and harming world peace.  May they be blessed and have Dharma.

[Blueupali]

“This rich Buddhist Khmer heritage most Cambodians are very proud of today was all but destroyed during the communist Khmer Rouge rule under Pol Pot. Thousands of Buddhist monks were killed and temples destroyed”.

What the article does not say is that between 1965 and 1973 US dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs in Buddhist Cambodia, one million tons more than all the bombs dropped by the same US on the also Buddhist Japan during World War II (including Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and still a lot more than the 2 million tons dropped together by US and their allies during all of the World War II (including Europe).

As a direct result, at least half million people, mostly Buddhist, died, and hundreds of thousands more died as an indirect result of the carpet bombings, which were specially focused on populated areas, and which razed the old Buddhist civilization of Cambodia to the ground.

The infamous command of the master genocide Henry Kissinger to General Alexander Haig became anthological: “He [the President Nixon] wants a massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. He doesn’t want to hear anything. It’s an order, it’s to be done. Anything that flies, on anything that moves. You got that?” The response from Haig, barely audible on tape, sounds like laughter.

Add to this the millions of Buddhist Koreans, Buddhist Vietnamese, Buddhist Laosian and Buddhist Japanese people murdered by US attacks since World War II, including with weapons of mass destruction, chemical and nuclear, plus the most cowardly “conventional” bombs,  and it is clear that hardly any murderous regime killed more Buddhists in history than the US.

Thanks to the US under the de facto rule of Kissinger, Cambodia is known as the most heavily bombed country in the history of humankind.

It has always seemed clear to me that the U.S. is willing to drop nuclear bombs on the nameless faceless Asians; generally growing up in the US people would say that Asian people 'all look the same.'  It always seemed to me that our inability as a society to differentiate members of a 'group' made it easier to drop nuclear bombs on them. 

[Matibhadra]

Politics is a dirty game, this is the reality.

This sounds like an attempt to put on the same level the US mass criminals (such as Kissinger and his ilk and their predecessors) and the millions of their innocent civilian victims, Cambodian, Laosian, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and so forth.

[Matibhadra]

It has always seemed clear to me that the U.S. is willing to drop nuclear bombs on the nameless faceless Asians; generally growing up in the US people would say that Asian people 'all look the same.'  It always seemed to me that our inability as a society to differentiate members of a 'group' made it easier to drop nuclear bombs on them.

Defacing and stereotyping the enemy in order to justify their extermination seems to be a very present, but also very old, strategy, seemingly rooted in the Hebrew bible, which tried to legitimize it with ideas such as the Jewish “God”.

The “Shock and Awe” terrorist doctrine, adopted by the US military, may find its roots in the tales of the Exodus, but also in previous biblical tales, such as the Flood, and the later Apocalyptical literature. Arguably,the Jewish God is the prototype of the terrorist mass murderer.

[icy]

After six years, the court trying the perpetrators of one of the worst mass-crimes in history is likely to end up with just three convictions. Was it all worth it?


The Khmer Rouge tribunal
Justice and the killing fields

THE long and often fraught proceedings of the court set up to try the leaders of Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge at last came to a head this week on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The two remaining survivors from the regime’s leadership, Nuon Chea, who is 87, and Khieu Samphan, 82, made their closing statements before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, to give the tribunal its full title. It was only the second trial, and probably the last. A public gallery of Buddhist monks, Islamic clergy, local schoolgirls and foreign journalists looked on.

Mr Nuon Chea was the Khmer Rouge’s chief ideologist and “Brother Number Two” to Pol Pot, who died (untried) in 1998. Mr Khieu Samphan was the head of state of Democratic Kampuchea, as the Khmer Rouge styled its totalitarian Cambodia. They are both accused of crimes against humanity and genocide. This part of their trial concerns the first charge, relating to the forced evacuation of the capital in 1975; no date has been set to hear the genocide charges. Both deny they had anything very much to do with the deaths of a quarter of the population, or about 2m people, from 1975 to 1979. Slave labour to forge an agrarian Utopia; the torture and extermination of ethnic Vietnamese, Cham Muslims and intellectuals (ie, anyone who wore spectacles); and the systematic murder of babies: all were apparently somebody else’s idea.

Throughout the trial, Mr Nuon Chea sported dark glasses and complained that the lights were too bright. A pitiless dogmatist, he once declined to save two nieces from his own regime. Both were doctors, but as educated people they, along with their families, were duly despatched to the dreaded Tuol Sleng or S-21 prison, of whose total of 17,000 inmates only a dozen emerged alive.

On October 31st Mr Nuon Chea expressed remorse for the suffering under the Khmer Rouge but dodged any personal responsibility. He blamed it all on “treacherous” subordinates. Yet a co-prosecutor, William Smith, an Australian, methodically summed up 212 days of hearings, testimony from 92 people, and documentary evidence that included telegrams sent to Pol Pot’s headquarters with daily accounts of the atrocities being committed. It all left little room for doubt that the regime’s leaders knew exactly what was going on.

Sentencing is expected early next year, and the prosecution is demanding life in prison for both ageing defendants. But even if it gets its way, wider questions about the court’s work and legacy will remain. The court’s investigations into the crimes began in July 2007 and to date have cost $200m. The first trial ended in July 2010 with the conviction of Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch: the head of Tuol Sleng, he is the only former Khmer Rouge leader to have admitted to crimes.

If these two also go down, the court will have only three convictions to its name (one other defendant, Ieng Sary, died in March, while another, his wife, was ruled mentally unfit to continue). Unsurprisingly, many Cambodians question whether justice has really been served, or whether the financial cost, even if underwritten by the West, was worth it.

The court has faced indifference and at times hostility from the government led by Hun Sen, the prime minister. He himself was a Khmer Rouge battalion commander until he defected to the Vietnamese in 1977. Vietnam’s subsequent invasion in 1979 ousted Pol Pot but also helped Mr Hun Sen to power. Other members of the government were also connected to the Khmer Rouge and have never wanted the court to delve too deeply into the past. All this helps explain why the court limited itself to trying only members of the Khmer Rouge’s standing committee. In 2010 Mr Hun Sen publicly declared his opposition to any more trials, in effect bringing the court’s work to an end.

The court also had to take account of diplomatic complexities. American anxieties about the tribunal were met by restricting its remit to crimes committed within Cambodian borders, and only while the Khmer Rouge was in power. This had the effect of shielding Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state, from having to explain his and America’s role in Cambodia’s descent into madness.

For all these reasons, many Cambodians have been cynical about a court shot through with expediency. Furthermore, the proceedings appear to have contributed little to reconciliation. The present political stand-off between Mr Hun Sen and the opposition, following a disputed election in July, shows just how much more of that is still needed.

Yet advocates of the court argue that despite its limitations, it has still done something to comfort the relatives of the Khmer Rouge’s victims. It has also helped Cambodians come to terms with this dreadful episode in their history. More than 100,000 Cambodians have attended the court hearings. Television channels wrap up each week at the tribunal, and programmes reuniting families separated by decades of war are popular.

School curriculums now teach the Khmer Rouge era, and as Craig Etcheson, a former chief investigator for the prosecution, points out, parents are no longer afraid to talk to their children about the horrors that took place when the Maoists came to power. And as for the much-criticised cost, Mr Etcheson says that $100 for every person who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge is “not too much to ask.”