Defensive Living in a Land of Robber-Barons... Seen and Heard on Ms. Theary C. Seng's BLOG

Defensive Living in a Land of Robber-Barons; Lose the False Sense of Security in this Kew-Kew! Kew-Kew!

(edited from Facebook postings of Tuesday, 6 Nov. 2012)

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” -- the long-suffering Job

Showing off my new frivolous Friday haircut to my FB friends (Phnom Penh, 2 Nov. 2012) -- and no gray strands to pluck this time around!

I was getting to be too unhealthily attached to my iPhone 4 and the alligator purse, anyway.  May these items either return to me or may they be transferred from the hands of the thieves into cleaner, more deserving hands.

While walking home along Trasaek Paem (Str. 63, almost nearing the busy intersection of Hotel Champs Elysee) after lunch with friends earlier this Tuesday (Nov. 6) afternoon (approx. 1:15 p.m.), I was accosted by two young men on a brand new motorbike ("zero-thirteen" to stand for 2013 brand) without a license plate, who whizzed by from behind and snatched the hand-clutched purse from my fingers. No amount of "Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!" from my strong vocal cords could stop the crime-in-action.

After almost 2 months away in carefree Iceland, France, Australia, Sweden and Switzerland, I was carried away by the false sense of security and had forgotten the brokenness and crime-ridden environment I live in.

A good early reminder that I am back home, before something worse happens.

When last year (Khmer New Year 2011) at Metro Cafe, I lost my Nokia phone, that was an intentional theft, where I was systematically followed for my advocacy of Khmer Rouge Tribunal Cases 003/4. Today, it was random, idiotic thievery, with little meaning, besides a not-so-gentle reminder to me of where home is again. 

(With these thefts, more frustrating than the physical loss of the material goods is the loss of and/or the hassle of retrieving data, the fear of their manipulation.  I've come to take it as a given that my email is bugged, my phone is bugged, and that privacy is a dream of a long-gone era.  So, when my little bit of private space I do have left (freedom to walk about, freedom to be in a tank top and shorts at my own home which is the closest thing I have to a private sanctuary) is violated, you can understand how I can be a bit not-so-happy.  As I've said, I take monitoring by the government as a given, and I've learned to be as comfortable as a person can be in these circumstances.  Transparency is key.  But what is a bit uncomfortable and completely unwelcome is monitoring by "friends".)

I am just sorry that now my Facebook "friends" will have to do without photographic updates of my new hair-do and the likes for awhile ; ) !! I hope they will survive ; ) , as I am learning to survive without what had become my 3rd hand, the iPhone 4, and my secret pleasure, my alligator purse, purchased for "such a great deal," the wholesale price at the Siem Reap alligator farm a few months ago. 

I was impressed with the crowd and its concern for my welfare this early afternoon immediately after the theft. Before even mentioning the need to report the incidence to the police, the first recommendation was "Call ABC radio". And so we did, using the phone of the chief security guard of the Hotel Champs Elysee. ABC Radio is so popular and well-regarded, the go-to when there is a traffic accident to report or theft or another loss to monitor. I first came upon this station when riding with my driver who automatically has this station on. It's a real-time play-by-play broadcasting of thefts and road accidents or other encounters which the public should know about and could assist with information and monitoring. THE effective, informal SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY tool in Cambodia at the moment. 

Yesterday, on the same street, near the same location of my theft, a similar crime occurred to a visiting non-Cambodian, who not only lost her phone and purse, but her computer and everything in that computer bag, including her passport. My heart goes out to her.  "Everyday, this happens" stressed one of the Hotel Champs Elysee security guards.  "Everyday... everyday..." he repeatedly emphasized, in case I missed the point.

I moved to Cambodia permanently in January 2004 with 2 suitcases, having given everything away -- including all my nice autumn/winter attires (think nice suede J-Crew and Banana Republic jackets! and knee length sleek boots). But when I moved apartment 3 years ago, I believe the moving truck made at least 10 trips!!!! JUNK! JUNK! Nice antique "junk" to be sure, but nonetheless, JUNK and at the end of the day, these THINGS rust and rot. I have always considered myself the MOST FREE PERSON in Cambodia, because of my independent voice and carefree mobility not burdened by perception or status, and I literally have no attachment to things -- WHAT? The Kew-Kew! Kew-Kew! is going to come and rip off my rental apartment? I don't own land, I don't own anything of value that is not on my person (my mind!, my heart!). I do not fear to lose anything. Detachment, very Buddhist of me, in one regard (but that's as far, as I believe in DESIRES! Yes, desires! We should not work to extinguish them -- impossible! not practical, from the limited almost 42 years of living on this earth have taught me -- but we need to tame these desires -- the notorious ones anyway, and fuel the passionate ones, like the fight FOR JUSTICE, FOR LOVE, FOR FLOURISHING... these desires have no "moderate", "middle way" quality to them; they're PASSIONATE desires we need to fuel and encourage, not futilely attempt to extinguish.)

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My desire for SIMPLICITY really manifested itself in college when after every semester for 4 years we had to pack up and store our JUNK somewhere for the long holiday or summer months... and another 3 years of law school of the same rigamarole. Prior, when in high school, I lived the other extreme of consuming for psychological needs rather than real ones. For one semester in my last year of my Juris Doctor, I did an externship in South Africa and while there I fell head-over-heels (is this the phrase?!) in love with a British missionary working with AIDS orphans, living in one of the most violent shantytowns of the Kwa-Zulu-Natal province, a divorce who had given up his US$1-million/year investment banking career in London to live simply in the slums among orphans. I cried through the rest of law school and some more months to get over him, regrets over my emotional immaturity. All to say, SIMPLICITY had been embedded into my DNA. And I thought I could maintain this SIMPLICITY here in Cambodia; I tried but have failed miserably, most of the times legitimate for work reasons. But I HATE CLUTTER. SIMPLICITY is BEAUTY. And BEAUTY is GOOD. How to fight for this simplicity in this global world of MATERIALISM? In this country of SUPERFICIAL status based on MATERIALISM?! Of a country that values form over substance, the synthetic over the genuine? Hhhhmmm...

Let me tell you one recent example of divine equation: I lost my purse/phone/cash, but within the same afternoon, I received a whole new wardrobe from my 2nd cousin Mara who lives in Spain (daughter of my great uncle of Paris whom I just visited a few weeks ago).

My meditation from JESUS CALLING by Sarah Young for Nov. 7 reads (excerpt): "My main work is to clear out debris and clutter, making room for my Spirit to take full possession.  Collaborate with Me in this effort by being willing to let go of anything I choose to take away.  I know what you need, and have promised to provide all of that -- abundantly! ... Your sense of security must not rest in your possessions or in things going your way.  I am training you to depend on Me alone, finding fulfillment in My presence..." 

What if she is your mother?  Your grandmother?  In many respects, she is our mother, our grandmother...

The heart-wrenching image above of the woman reflected again the lack of system, of governance, of leadership, of vision, of governing competence, of compassion among the ruling class of this Kew-Kew! Kew-Kew! ("Kingdom of Extraordinary Wonder" or KEW, oftentimes exclaimed in excited rapid succession as a consequence of the "extraordinariness"!).  "Where there is no vision, the people perish," the prophesy of the Biblical prophet echoed through the centuries and resoundingly repeated its warning here in the Kew-Kew! Kew-Kew!  Yesterday, upon visiting the police station in my neighborhood of prime real estate of Boeung Keng Kang I and seeing how the office was in complete disarray of completely torn up leather sofas, dirty shelves and floor, rolled-up mattresses, dusty documents, scratched desks and dilapidated chairs etc., it was difficult to take seriously the chief police's assurance to me that he will do all he can to find my stolen purse and items.

I was however impressed with my old landlord (whose son-in-law is the Prime Minister's nephew) who greatly did help by contacting the chief police of his neighborhood where his brother is the elected "sangkhat" councilor.

There is no “youth problem.” There is a neighborhood problem: adults who have forgone their responsibility and capacity to join their neighbors in sharing the wealth of children. It is our greatest challenge and our most hopeful possibility. - Author Philip Yancey on FB post quoting Peter Block (The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods)

Re Cambodia: It is often said that "Cambodia is a land of orphans." I want to take this thought one step further by adding that even those with parents are "orphans" as the parents have abstained from their parental roles as they themselves were never shown or do not know on how to be parents. Thus, we have a population of literal orphans (some at least have greater incentives to seek other parental figures, moi!) and emotional orphans (with parents but receiving no parenting) and psychological orphans (the adult population, themselves lost, lacking role models how to be adults, not to say parents). 

The young people are lost, in need of direction, in need of parents who will parent, or adults who are role models.  The two young thieves are examples of the larger, pervasive problems of lack of parenting.  Immediately, a few voices in the crowd trying to comfort me after the theft independently said: "These are children of the elite, of the wealthy.  They need the money for drugs, for prostitutes, for gambling and for gambling debts.  See the expensive, new motorbike they ride?  It is not poor children who rob, but the rich.  The poor, like us, work for our money, for the low salary." 

Within the same day (Nov. 6), I received a note from an acquaintance who described how the travel agency had sold him an e-ticket that had already been used.  It reminded me of when this happened to me a couple of years or so ago.  I arrived at the Singapore Airlines counter at the Phnom Penh Airport only to be told that the e-ticket number had already been used one month ago by someone.  I immediately purchased another ticket at the counter to make my meeting in Singapore where my signature as a Trustee was needed on official Jakarta-based HRRC Foundation documents, and informed the Foundation person who purchased my ticket to get the refund from the Cambodian travel where she purchased the ticket.  The Cambodian travel agency responded: "Ask Theary to deal with us upon her return."  I was adamant in pushing for the direct dealing between the Foundation and the Cambodian travel agency, knowing full well I would have no recourse to the Cambodian court in any legal dispute, and having strong suspicion that the e-ticket sale was no accidental mistake but the recurring malpractice of selling used tickets to individuals, as told to me by the airlines people, who the travel agency personnel deemed "vulnerable" in our ability to claim refunds (critical voices like mine, or foreign visitors who will not have the time or energy to fight the case in the Cambodian legal system).