Last updated 05/08/2011
Waikato Times, NZ
A Canadian author who wrote about the ill-fated 1978 voyage by three sailors into Cambodian waters has disputed the claim he is a "scallywag" for promoting the book alongside a film about a Kiwi brother's fight for justice.
Investigative journalist and author David Kattenburg said, via email, he suspected New Zealand rower Rob Hamill felt "uncomfortable" discussing his older brother Kerry in relation to his known drug-smuggler friend Canadian Stuart Glass.
Hamill and Glass co-owned the yacht Foxy Lady. They, together with Englishman John Dewhirst, were on their way to Bangkok in August 1978 when they were seized by the Democratic Kampuchean navy.
Glass was shot and killed on board Foxy Lady, and Hamill and Dewhirst were captured, tortured and slain under Pol Pot's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.
Kattenburg said he had the utmost sympathy for what the Hamill family had been through, and understood their desire to guard Kerry's memory, but the three sailors deserved to be "remembered and honoured by as wide an audience as possible".
Kattenburg said he had evidence to support the drug-smuggling hypothesis including details from a mutual friend of Hamill and Glass whom he referred to as "Peter" in his book, Foxy Lady – Truth, Memory and the Death of Western Yachtsmen in Democratic Kampuchea.
"When Rob accuses me of being a "scallywag", he's suggesting that the story of these three young men should not be told in all its dimensions; that certain facts should be airbrushed out; that Kerry and Stuart should not be examined side by side, because Kerry was unimpeachably righteous and Stuart was a drug smuggler," he said.
Mr Hamill made the "scallywag" comment two weeks ago ahead of the Auckland premier of Brother Number One, the documentary film that followed Mr Hamill's tireless campaign on behalf of his brother, including attending the successful trial for crimes against humanity of the commandant of the camp where Kerry was held.
Kattenburg said the drug smuggling scenario in no way sullied Kerry's memory, nor did it diminish the weight of the crime committed by the Khmer Rouge, although he suspected that was the view held by Mr Hamill.
"I could not disagree more, and go into this at length in my book," Kattenburg said. "This was the seventies. Young adventurers did this sort of thing.
"Why should we honour Kerry's memory, recall his last fateful voyage, while airbrushing his good friend Stuart from the story?
"I believe a full, unvarnished account does better service to the boys' memories. It's certainly more interesting."
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Kattenburg's book is available from www.fishpond.co.nz. Find Brother Number One screening dates at www.brothernumberone.co.nz.
- Waikato Times
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