Liberate Cambodia by the RULE OF LAWS with ECCC

Dear Lok Papillon Mon and fellow Khmers,

Having lived through the Khmer Republic, Khmer Rouge and the early part of the Vietnamese occupation, I fully understand and share your sentiment (or anxiety) about the future of our nation. However, there is a well-known Khmer proverb that I learned from school in 1981, and I would like to quote it here: “Don’t fear the past, and don’t be afraid of the future.” [Kom Klach Anakot, Kom Ranthot Ateytacal].

As a nation, we have gone through a terrible downfall. We have been wounded and humiliated, but we have licked our wounds and learned to survive through the difficult times. Despite of all the agony, suffering and humiliation, Khmer spirit always lives on and refuses to surrender. For any one of us to give up hope is to consciously disrespect and betray those who fought or/and die to keep this nation alive.

Our history shows us that whenever the nation was in great danger, Khmer spirit always raised up to face the threat. Such spirit continues to vividly present in our people heart everywhere now and in the future. I can feel it, and I implore you all to be part of that spirit and to never lose hope for the nation.

That brings us to the next question – how can each and everyone of us contribute to the nation, given the current favourable international climate, our human capital abroad and widely accessible/available technology? This should be a center point of our debate in order to exchange productive ideas, and define the appropriate and practical framework for our people.

As you rightly point out: “the young generation people are careless about "next life" but instead "success" in this country, their daily lifestyle.” . We can not blame them for being less interested in the nation affairs. Most of these people (including myself) are professional and are working in a very competitive environment. We can not unreasonably expect them to sacrifice their career and fully devote their times to the nation. What we should realize is that these people have diverse skills and enormous potentials, and they can (or are eager to) contribute a few hours per week to nation. The challenge is for us to collectively adjust the expectation, redefine the overall workable objective and divide it into small segments so that it can be passed on to them to accomplish.

I wish you all well, and again implore you to never give up hope for the nation.

Best Regards,

Davan Long

Montreal, Canada
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From Mr. Popillon Mon:

Lok Kulen Monorom & All,

According to your thinking we still have some hope, but how much hope we'll have, we won't be sure.

For me, when we talk about politics, many Khmer right now turn away from us. Most old generation people focuses only on their future, "next life". And the young generation people are careless about "next life" but instead "success" in this country, their daily lifestyle.

At the area I live, I have opportunity to observe, talk and discuss about ECCC situation in Cambodia with some Khmer who come and have the interview with a graduate student at my agency. It seems that among them they pay less attention to ECCC. I can't blame them because they don't know much about ECCC. They don't trust much on the RULE of LAW in Cambodia. It seems there is a little pessimistic idea to talk about "UNITED IDEA" at this moment among khmer people.

My community I live in, is a small Khmer community. There is around two or three thousand people only. But we have already three buddhist temples, including Wat Khmer-Thai (from Surin). It seems that we will go to Heaven faster than other Khmer community. The so-called Khmer community leader is a scare-crow (Ting-Maung) who knows nothing about the Khmer situation in Cambodia. Talking about Khmer culture, philosophy, linguistics, religion he shows only garbage and nonsense to visitors.

How much hope we will have right now ?

Popillon Mon