An Encounter with Modernity

Theary, 10 June 2018

A moving question.

A man on a motorbike laden with luggage (plastic bags and other nap sacks) asked me as I was waiting for the light to turn at the corner of Bokor stop (where Kem Ley was murdered) how to get to Chhbar Ampoev bridge. Turn left here, I told him, as I pointed south along Monivong Blvd. You can’t miss it.

Another man on another motorbike more reflexive and intuitive than I am heard the question for he scooted close by and told him that he needs to be on the left side of the 2 lanes (rather than staying there hugging the curb near the sidewalk where I was standing).

Being at the front of the traffic, he crossed but didn’t stop at the left-turn lane but went all the way to the other sidewalk curb. Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to turn easily, I told him as nonchalantly as possible to deflect his sheepishness to go back and wait in front of the white Lexus waiting to turn left, and pointed to the red arrow, that he should go when it turns green.

My guess is that he’s a migrant worker from either Svay Rieng or Prey Veng, going home with his belongings.

A dignified older man briefly touched and overwhelmed by modernity.

A few years ago when in Svay Rieng conducting a Speak Truth To Power seminar, we gave a man a ride in our car. He didn’t know how to get in, to open the door, how the car door works, what/where is the handle.

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Excerpt from Slate:

Bourdain had the following to say about Kissinger in his 2001 book, A Cook’s Tour:

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.”

He stood by the passage in a tweet earlier this year, writing, “Frequently, I’ve come to regret things I’ve said. This, from 2001, is not one of those times.”

Then there were his comments to the New Yorker’s Patrick Radden Keefe in a profile last year:

He then launched into a tirade about how it sickens him, having travelled in Southeast Asia, to see Kissinger embraced by the power-lunch crowd.“Any journalist who has ever been polite to Henry Kissinger, you know, fuck that person,” he said, his indignation rising. “I’m a big believer in moral gray areas, but, when it comes to that guy, in my view he should not be able to eat at a restaurant in New York.”

I pointed out that Bourdain had made similarly categorical denunciations of many people, only to bury the hatchet and join them for dinner.

“Emeril didn’t bomb Cambodia!” he said.

True!

...

I remember well my first visit to Koh Kong in 1997 (yes, over 21 years ago!) as part of my visits to all prisons of the 20+ provinces to assess the condition of juveniles detained or living with their inmate mothers inside. I traveled with a petite retired Cambodian-American social worker from Oregon, just him and me. We took a boat from Sihanoukville there and then traveled by car back to Phnom Penh, in a sedan taxi we hired. On the road trip back, we rode through a thick canopy of jungle where no sunlight could pass through the elongated hundred year old trees.

A few months ago, I went to this Chinese resort in Koh Kong mentioned in the article; we rode on an empty 6-lane highway newly built across once thick, impenetrable jungles, now shrubs on hilly grassland, for miles before we reached the empty white sand beaches. The article states:

"...45,000 hectares in Koh Kong... China’s UDG was granted a 99-year lease to around 20% of the kingdom’s total coastline at the modest price of US$30 per hectare."

Now think of how many hundred-year-old trees of luxury timber can fit on a hectare of land. Multiply that figure by 45,000 hectares of land. Then multiply that by market price for each luxury timber. Now you know how this Chinese company fund not only the building of the resort, golf course but also the multi-billion-dollar airport, with a few leftover change to buy the rest of Cambodia not yet owned by Vietnam.

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លោក​ សឺន​ សាន​ និងលោក​ សម​ សារី​ (​ឪពុកលោក​ សម​ រង្ស៊ី​)​ ពេលទៅទាមទារ ឯករាជ្យ ពីបារាំង ឲ្យមកខ្មែរ​ ឆ្នាំ១៩៥០

Sam Sary (lauk Rainsy's father) and Son Sann (lauk pou Soubert's father), 1950

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See Published Articles about Vietnamese Occupation

Should we be worried about manipulation/alternation of online text of past articles?

Facebook, 6 May 2018

Click to read on Facebook with examples

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***

Visit of Japanese Senator Yukihisa Fujita

to Cambodia

5 May 2018

Click on image to listen to this lovely man sing with the children, on Facebook.

What a lovely man! The senator just arrived from meetings in Washington, DC; earlier met with Hun Manet and raised the issues of Kem Sokha and other prisoners of conscience; and now a day with us: an emotional morning at the stupa, festive luncheon, listening to Madam Kem Sokha pleading her cause, and singing with the children.

Remembering Japanese Senator Fujita’s son who died at the age of 15. His ashes are here at Sre Ampil at the large stupa with Lauk Yeay and Lauk Ta Son Sann.  Senator Fujita, a longtime friend of Cambodia since the early 1980s when he was heading the Moral Rearmament—now renamed Initiatives of Change, headquartered in Caux, Switzerland—branch in Japan.

Click on image to listen on Facebook to the melodious sound of this traditional Japanese harp called "koto".

Koto player who is performing outside Japan for the first time and it’s for us at Sre Ampil on the occasion of Senator Fujita’s visit. They are from the same prefecture in Japan. I am enjoying the CD she gave me as a souvenir.

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"Neang Wadhana Devi" or "Metamorphosis", the new show of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, created by Her Royal Highness Princess Samdech Reach Botrey Preah Ream Norodom Buppha Devi, was presented in "Prima Mondiale" to His Majesty the King for his 66th birthday and to Her Majesty the Queen Mother on 2nd May 2018. Inspired by the myth of Psyché and the encounter of French sculptor Rodin with the Royal Dancers of Cambodia in 1906, the show will be performed in Switzerland and France during the whole month of May 2018. Click on image to watch my videos on Facebook.

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Pornography and Children

Theary, 7 March 2018

In recent days, I've been so greatly blessed and encouraged by conversations with godly women, faithful followers of Jesus who are at the frontline confronting social issues that we only read about -- personally weaving their lives into the broken lives of those -- I want to say "marginalized" but the "marginalized" are the norm and the majority, either rural or urban -- in the vast slums seen or hidden, where children -- toddlers! -- are exposed to hardcore pornography and acting out sex acts as a matter of habit, masturbating openly while at school, while at home — as an addiction, even years later away from the poisonous environment; one recounts a story of a young girl barely out of toddlerhood directing the unsuspecting adult, her guardian, to pant when she (the guardian) is being fondled (by the child)—the guardian initially thinking the child is missing her mother—because that is what the child saw women do in these films, knowing nothing else but these acts as a normal matter. Where the living quarters are so tightly knitted together, where men walk around with only a towel wrapped around their waist, where these children and toddlers are many times not only victims to their next door (literally!) neighbors, but their male relatives, including their fathers and brothers and uncles, encouraged at times by these children masturbating in front of them. These are 3 and 4 year olds thinking that sexual violence is the norm. And this is not an isolated incidence but the new normal in everyday Cambodia in the Age of Decho. This is the new reality, the social environment of the vast majority.

I remember 8 or 9 years ago when I first encountered hardcore pornography, the revulsion and the physical revolt that I literally wanted to throw up, that not even curiosity could stomach more than 2 minutes of the filth and the violence: once when I turned on the regular TV in the hotel room at 8 or 9 PM, no later than 9, in Strasbourg, and another time when again I turned the regular TV in a hotel room at 9 or 10 PM, no later than 10 when in Berlin, in nice upscale hotels provided by the conference organizers.

How are these lovely women able to keep up their spirit when daily working in such dark, dire conditions? "The JOY of the Lord is our STRENGTH", one answers and all live out.

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High Rate of Traffic Deaths

Theary C. Seng, 25 March 2018

The high rate of fatal traffic accidents is beyond imagination here. Half an hour ago, we saw a person on a motorbike died in the middle of the road, on the Takhmau bridge with her (?) head cracked and in a pool of blood. Less than two weeks ago, we saw another person on a motorbike crashing into an oncoming truck as he veered into the other lane trying to pass on his left. His helmet was flung across the wide National Road 1, his body in the middle road close by the bike and the dented large truck.

The high death rate doesn't factor into it the deaths that follow those who were injured but never recovered. These deaths result in a double whammy for the families involved: in addition to the prolonged emotional toll, the costs of medical bills for shoddy or Dark Age era medical treatment and eventual death and associated funeral costs. When I was living at the Kirirom orchard and would make the periodic forays into and from Phnom Penh on National Road 4 (Cambodia’s deadliest), it was not uncommon for me to witness or hear about almost daily serious or fatal car accidents.

People here drive under the influence of alcohol as a state of normal—ALL kinds of people! (I’m still traumatized, having been in a catatonic state for months afterward, from an incident--a sure massacre prevented by the grace of God--where I was in the passenger seat helping to steer and a visiting junior official from the diplomatic corps was in the back seat of the massive black SUV.)

And then there are those who don’t know how to drive, the INSANE traffic, and chaotic way of driving where stoplights and solid lines are not even suggestions but completely ignored because they don’t mean anything to most drivers. A taxi driver once told me that the trucks, large or small, sometimes have really poor brakes that don't work well, so to slow down the driver would swerve back and forth. This was in answer to my exclamation at the "drunken driver of that truck!" as we were descending on a slope, my taxi driver explaining to me that it’s probably more his way of braking rather than a state of drunkenness.

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Tuol Sleng and the Rewriting, Remaking of History

Theary, 19 March 2018

Recently, I met up with friends (from NY) of a friend (of India) at a "happy" eatery along the riverfront of Sisowath Quay (maybe I will detail this adventure/episode in another post!). As with most first time visitors to Cambodia, they were compelled to visit Tuol Sleng Museum.

It is a place I used to visit at least once or twice a week for months years ago either for interviews/films (as journalists like this place as a backdrop), or for the regular tours my staff used to give for provincial villagers prior to their joining our public fora on Justice and Reconciliation in their respective provinces, or for commemorative ceremonies, or with visiting friends / family or dignitaries / celebrities. At one point, the Tuol Sleng management restricted my filming/interviews there and shadowed me on other visits.

As it has been years since I last set foot onto this "history museum" premise and since I have tuned out completely the shenanigans of the KRT/ECCC* and anything related/associated with it (save the one comment I gave to VOA on Im Chaem's "conversion" to Christianity), I was interested in hearing their impression of the place.

I was very careful not to ask leading questions for fear of giving away my misgivings as I really wanted to know their genuine impressions without my clouding their thinking.

Each individually echoed the sentiment of the other; they came out of the place independently believing that Duch is the chief culprit, holding the main, if not sole, responsibility for the Khmer Rouge reign of terror.

This is a deep concern -- Duch as the sole scapegoat for the KR atrocities -- I have had for years now since the inception of the KRT/ECCC, particularly the start and preeminence given to Case 001** which involves Duch and Tuol Sleng/Choeung Ek.

This concern is framed by my larger concern for historical memory and its production from selective truths, half-truths, carefully spun and seasoned/salted with bits of lies here and there, stamped with approval by the UN / international community (the governments involved in funding and staffing the KRT/ECCC, e.g. Japan, US, France, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, etc.).

However, we must keep in mind:

1. Tuol Sleng is only one among 200 Khmer Rouge prisons. Choeung Ek is only one among thousands, if not tens of thousands, "killing fields" strewn across Cambodia. ទួលស្លែង គឺ គ្រាន់តែ ក្នុងចំណោម ពន្ធនាគារខ្មែរក្រហម 200 ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។ ជើងឯក គឺ គ្រាន់តែ វាលពិឃាដ តែមួយគត់ ក្នុងចំណោម មនុស្ស រាប់ពាន់នាក់ (បើ មិនរាប់សែន នាក់ទេ), «វាលពិឃាដ» ដែលមាន ទូទាំង ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា។

2. Duch is only "most responsible" for the crimes committed at Tuol Sleng / Choeung Ek where he was the director. ឌុច គ្រាន់តែ ជាអ្នក ទទួលខុសត្រូវ បំផុត ចំពោះ ឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្ម ដែលប្រព្រឹត្តនៅ ទួលស្លែង / ជើងឯក ដែលគាត់ ជានាយក។

The ECCC limited its authority over 2 categories of Khmer Rouge individuals, what in law is known as "personal jurisdiction": (i) "senior leaders". e.g. Khieu Samphan, who had power over all of Cambodia during the KR regime by virtue of their position, or (ii) "those most responsible" who oversaw the deaths of many (a more arbitrary determination with emphasis on number and kind of deaths), even if their authority is contained to a location, like Tuol Sleng, and not cover the whole of Cambodia.

3. It is believed that Tuol Sleng/Choeung Ek claimed 16,000-20,000 lives for which Duch as the director of these sites is "most responsible".

Out of the 200 KR prisons, about 10 had a death tally of 30,000 each. Boeung Rai Prison where I was detained as a child and where my mom was killed was one of these 10 KR prisons. These prisons are not under investigation and part of the KRT/ECCC, even if I did get the KRT/ECCC to mention Boeung Rai in passing in one of its documents.

4. Tuol Sleng is famous and an easy tool for political propaganda because it (i) is located in the capital center, at a school, to boot!; (ii) has foreign victims with easy buy-in from the respective victims' governments; (iii) related, these victims were persons of renown, e.g. brother of my friend Rob Hamill who happens to a world class Olympian from New Zealand with an award-winning film made about his life; (iv) well-preserved evidences--mainly, documentary (written confessions, photographs, shackles) and human survivors (with compelling stories, e.g. Vann Nath).

5. Tuol Sleng as a "history museum" had a very insidious beginning as a political tool of propaganda***.

Immediately upon invasion and occupation of Cambodia, the Vietnamese military had all the bones and Tartarus relics of the defeated KR regime gathered and preserved, with a particularly focused attention on Tuol Sleng prison and its associated Choeuk Ek killing field.

The Western world governments, China, and ASEAN (Thailand and Singapore in particular; not yet include Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) were firmly against Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia (thus, the UN seat to KR), so Vietnam used Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek to try to sway international opinion to justify its invasion and subsequent occupation of Cambodia. Initially, the Vietnamese occupiers only allowed journalists to tour Tuol Sleng.

6. Related to point 5 above, the message (via written text, signs or listening tours) is laced with political propaganda. For example: As of my last visit to Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek, the number of deaths still being used is 3 million, when it is now widely accepted among scholars non-partisan on this point, that it is 1.7 million.

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* The Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) is officially called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

** I continue to chuckle (more accurately, snicker!) at the positive outlook, the confidence, the faith of the inventors of the KRT/ECCC, that envisioned the ECCC could, would try at least 100 cases, thus Case 001, Case 002; rather than numbering them Case 1, Case 2; or Case 01, Case 02.

Case 001: Duch "most responsible" for crimes committed atTuol Sleng Prison and Choeung Ek Killing Fields;

Case 002: Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith -- who were "senior leaders" with authority over all of Cambodia during the KR regime.

As much as I tried to jumpstart Cases 003 and 004 for them to go to trial, politics dictate NO!

***A non-Cambodian friend had suggested to me that Kem Sokha is a racist for his statements about Tuol Sleng or S-21 (Vietnamese conspiracy) and the Koh Pich Stampede (orchestrated by Vietnam). I don't think so. I think he is stunningly ignorant which makes him dangerous. When one is ignorant, one uses crude language and crude instruments, either to the harm of the other party (Vietnamese) or to the harm of the nation (Cambodian sovereignty), in excessive use of force or in excessive retreat/concession.

Excerpts from The Cambodia Daily, 27 May 2013:

In the recording, Mr. Sokha appears to accuse Vietnam of setting up the former school building to look like a Khmer Rouge prison and torture center.

“The Vietnamese created this place with pictures [of the victims]. If this place is truly Khmer Rouge they would have knocked it down before they left,” Mr. Sokha said in the recording.

“You should know that if the Khmer Rouge killed people, would they keep it to show to everyone? If they knew they killed many people, why would they keep this place?”

Click to watch slideshow

The next day (Monday), Mia and I (and her two Dream for Darfur colleagues--Jill Savitt, now acting director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Allison Johnson) took the local flight to Siem Reap. Whispering among the other passengers, a Western tour group, fuming for having been denied access to Tuol Sleng that Sunday due to its closure because the govt wanted to block our access to lay flowers at the front gate), directed at us for the benefit of our hearing, how they the tourists had planned for months their trip to Cambodia with Tuol Sleng at the top of their itinerary. No sympathy that we could’ve been badly beaten up, that the closure was not our fault, etc. Dark Tourism.

The media attention of the Dream for Darfur in Cambodia, of which my organization was the Cambodia partner, had been escalating one month earlier. Cambodia was the last location among the other genocide locations around the world that been highlighted by Mia during a period of one year, the year prior to the Olympics in Beijing, to highlight China's sponsorship of leadership in Sudan responsible for the genocide there. So the Chinese had one year to learn progressively about Mia's Dream for Darfur campaign which culminated in Cambodia. All to say, they had a lot of time to think about Cambodia, particularly as the Olympics were nearing and the media grew in interest between the relationship of China and sponsorship of genocide. The Chinese embassy sent a couple to pose as factory owners to pay many visits to my office. (More later.) The Chinese embassy intervened in blocking our audience with the King.

The weeks prior to the Tuol Sleng encounter, I didn't sleep; my staff worked hard and late. And I was without my most senior and trusted staff then, as he was studying in the UK fo the Chevening Scholarship. A Ministry of Interior official came to the office once or twice a day for days in a row. The media kept asking me whether Mia was still planning to come in spite of the heated rhetoric and clampdown by the govt. I wrote a letter to EVERY SENIOR government officials imaginable, including PM Hun Sen himself, about 15-20 letters, inviting them to join us in this ceremony rather than oppose us. I even spelled out for them the public relations consequences of their opposition to this campaign: that we are not backing down, that Mia is definitely coming, and here, look at who she is. I attached each letter with a zillion pages listing Mia's status and film credentials. I stated categorically that I am not trying to trick them in inviting them to join us in this remembrance ceremony, spelling out clearly what we intended to do at the ceremony and their potential role in it.

Mia could not have asked for more attention for her cause; the Cambodia event was a media coup. The government tried to claim the spotlight afterward while we were in Siem Reap. We saw a DPA article in the Bangkok Post (written by a DPA woman whose boyfriend was a Cambodian official in the Ministry of Interior) that Mia and I had tried to scale the Tuol Sleng wall to sneak in the genocide museum in the dark of night! We were in the middle of having breakfast at the FCCC Hotel and were planning our morning to the silk farm.

When I returned to the office and received news that my godmom passed away, I quickly booked a flight to Michigan. Everyone thought I was fleeing for security reasons.

Initially, we had planned to hold wicker-made symbolic torch (to raise awareness of the Darfur genocide ahead of the Beijing Olympics) that Mia had brought with her (which I still have to this day), but decided at the last minute to replace the torch with lotus flowers. The idea came to me as we were riding in our rented van on our way to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, conspicuously followed by 2-3 pick up trucks with the side benches full of soldiers in military uniform sitting facing each other in each truck. (If you didn’t know better, you’d would have thought they were part of a high-profile delegation protecting the van carrying a visiting head of state!) By that time, we knew the govt had infiltrated and bought off the driver of the rented van. We huddled in our van, with my back toward the driver, I mouthed quietly of the new revelation: replacing torch with lotus flowers, LOTS of lotus flowers to draw the contrast of security against petite women holding bouquets of lotus flowers, including the staff who wanted to join, with extra flowers to pass around to the police/military. I passed on my plan to one staff there, Sotheary, to pass on to other staff: for her and the others to buy SEPARATELY as many lotus flowers as they could find at the different markets. In case they’re being followed, they should spread out to the different markets, so as not to raise suspicion of the new plan, by the large quantity of flowers we were buying.

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International Christian Fellowship, Phnom Penh, 18 March 2018

This 18 March 2018 Sunday’s message is from Mark 12:44 about the widow’s offering.

The message on screen is misleading even if unintentional on the part of the man giving the message today, a missionary who has been here since the early 1990s: "At the end of Cambodia’s war..." meant to him, I think, the years of the Khmer Rouge, April 1975-January 1979.

The deaths caused by the KR were generally gender-neutral.

The noticeable widow population was caused by the at least TEN VERY, VERY DARK YEARS immediately after the KR—Vietnamese MILITARY OCCUPATION (January 1979-1989 officially, but effectively till 1993 when the UN came, and arguably to this day in more insidious, deeply embedded dangers)—when the country was completely sealed off and when the Vietnamese military occupiers systematically targeted Cambodian men who just barely survived the KR only to be invisible victims to an unnamed, now forgotten GENOCIDE (intention + act) that took cover under the mass crimes of the KR and darkness of occupation and fatigue of American engagement, when Khmer men between the ages of 16-55 years were hunted down in the hundreds of thousands and trucked to the mine-infested, malaria-ridden border with Thailand to build the "bamboo wall" the whole length of the two countries’ shared border.

The missionaries came and witnessed the men-less villages after the 10 years of the military occupation of a Cambodia completely sealed off of K5 Genocide, ethnocide, and demographic Vietnamization.

The very gentle man who spoke this morning—whom I observed from afar on the sporadic occasions I see him seemed to be in constant deep emotions over Cambodia, I am assuming broken-hearted over the social ills he is witnessing regularly—he is not the only one to make this mistake.

Secular foreign journalists whose job it is to be critical and ask questions have done worse in WRITING CAMBODIA’s HISTORY by absorbing the occupier’s narrative uncritically, unquestionably. And this history has congealed into hard history that gets passed down, a "history" that is really a first draft without the rigorous process that the West associates with the writing of "history".

Moreover, it is a history that is usually one account of that particular reporting and perspective that gets repeated. And it is by a non-Cambodian, through translation, and the quality and accuracy of that translation is often in question, particularly on a sensitive issue when fear, economic or social considerations, and political correctness dictate.

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ដោយសារតែ ប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា ខ្វះសៀវភៅ ឬប្រាក់ ដើម្បី ទិញវា, យើង អាចទាញយក សៀវភៅ ដ៏ល្បីល្បាញ ជាទីស្រឡាញ់ និងត្រូវ បានគេ ស្គាល់ ទូទាំង ពិភពលោក ពីអ៊ីនធឺណិត ដោយឥតគិតថ្លៃ។

Because Cambodians lack books or money to buy them, we can download many great books universally known and loved from the Internet for free.

ទូរស័ព្ទ (smartphone + WiFi) របស់អ្នក អាចជាមិត្ត ឬសត្រូវ របស់អ្នក; ថ្នាំព្យាបាល ឬថ្នាំពុល; បណ្ណាល័យ (សម្ភារៈអប់រំ តាម YouTube ឬសៀវភៅ) ឬម៉ាស៊ីន (លេងហ្គេម វីដេអូ, មើល រូបអាសគ្រាម ឬស្តាប់ ខារ៉ាអូខេ) របស់អ្នក។

វា ​ជា​ជម្រើស​ របស់​អ្នក។

អ្នក មិនអាច ធុញទ្រាន់ បានទេ នៅពេល ដែលការអាន ក្លាយជាទម្លាប់ និងសៀវភៅ ជាមិត្ត របស់អ្នក។

«ភ្នែក ​ប្រៀប​បាន​ នឹង​ចង្កៀង ​របស់ ​រូប​កាយ។ បើ ​ភ្នែក​អ្នក​ នៅ​ភ្លឺ​ល្អ, រូប​កាយ​អ្នក​ ទាំង​មូល​ ក៏​ភ្លឺ​ ដែរ។ តែ​ បើ ​ភ្នែក​អ្នក ​ងងឹត​វិញ, រូប​កាយ​អ្នក​ ទាំង​មូល​ ក៏​ងងឹត​ ដែរ។ ប្រសិន​បើ​ ពន្លឺ​ នៅ​ក្នុង​អ្នក​ ត្រឡប់​ទៅ​ ជា​ងងឹត ​ប៉ុណ្ណឹង ​ទៅ​ហើយ, នោះ​ មិន​ដឹង​ ជា​សេចក្ដី​ ងងឹត នឹង​ទៅ​ ជា​សូន្យសុង ដល់​កំរិត​ណា​ ទៀត​ទេ។» - យេស៊ូ​គ្រី​ស្ត

Your smartphone can either be your friend or your enemy; your vitamins or your poison; your library (via the educational YouTube videos and free classic books) or your wasting machine (to play video games, pollute your mind with pornography or idle time away with karaoke songs).

It’s your choice.

Once you’ve developed a habit of reading and books become your friends, you can never get bored.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" - Jesus Christ

មាន មោទនភាព ជាខ្មែរ? អាន។ Proud to be Khmer? READ. សៀវភៅ និងរឿង ល្បីៗ ដែលអ្នក គួរ អាន និងដឹង។ CLASSIC BOOKS and stories you should read and know. ជាភាសាខ្មែរ ឬអង់គ្លេស។ In Khmer or English.

យុវជន​ ដាវីឌ ​ប្រយុទ្ធ​ នឹង​កូលីយ៉ាត ជំពូក ទី១៧ | DAVID AND GOLIATH

TED talk by Malcolm Gladwell: The Unheard Story of David and Goliath

បងប្អូន, ក្មួយៗ, ជនរួមជាតិ — សូម ស្តាប់! ការដាក់ វណ្ណយុត្តិ—ជាពិសេស ការប្រើ សញ្ញាក្បៀស—ជាគន្លឹះ ក្នុងការអភិវឌ្ឍ។ Cambodians, listen up! Punctuation—especially the use of commas—is THE KEY to development.

«ប្រសិនបើ មនុស្ស មិនអាច សរសេរ បានល្អ, ពួកគេ មិនអាចគិត បានល្អ, ហើយ ប្រសិនបើ ពួកគេ មិនអាចគិត បានល្អ, អ្នកដទៃ នឹងធ្វើការគិត សម្រាប់ ពួកគេ។»

"If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, other people will do their thinking for them." - George Orwell

ហើយ ខ្ញុំ គួរតែ បន្ថែមថា, ដើម្បី សរសេរ បានល្អ, អ្នក គួរតែ អានច្រើន។

And I should add that to write well, one must read a lot.

“The unfed mind devours itself.” - Gore Vidal «ខួរក្បាល ឃ្លាន មិនមានការចិញ្ចឹម រមែង ត្របាក់លេប ខ្លួនវា។» - ហ្គរ វីឌែល

www.khanacademy.org It’s an excellent, free tutorial site! ការបង្រៀន ល្អវិសេសនេះ ឥតគិតថ្លៃ! គ្រប់មុខវិជ្ជា និងប្រធានបទ—ពីគណិតវិទ្យា រហូតដល់ វិទ្យាសាស្ត្រ កុំព្យូទ័រ, ភាសាអង់គ្លេស, ទស្សនវិជ្ជា, ជាដើម។

...

The graph would be off the chart if it includes the Bible’s translation into every language and dialect imaginable.

ព្រះគម្ពីរ បរិសុទ្ធ គឺ ជាសៀវភៅ ដែលបានអាន ច្រើនបំផុត នៅលើពិភពលោក។ វា ត្រូវ បានបកប្រែ ស្ទើរតែ គ្រប់ភាសា។

កុំ ភ័យខ្លាច។ កុំ ភ័យខ្លាច ការប៉ះពាល់ នឹងគំនិត ថ្មីៗ។ នៅពេល ដែលអ្នក អានសៀវភៅ ព្រះគម្ពីរ បរិសុទ្ធ, ចូរ ចូលរួម សៀវភៅ នីមួយៗ ដោយមានទំងន់ នៃដួងចិត្ត និងគំនិត របស់អ្នក, សួរសំណួរវា និងវិភាគវា។

ព្រះគម្ពីរ បរិសុទ្ធ—ដូចជាបណ្ណាល័យ—មានសៀវភៅ ចំនួន ៦៦ ក្បាល។ ខ្ញុំ បានកែសម្រួល សៀវភៅ ចំនួន ៥៩ (ក្នុងចំណោម សៀវភៅ ទាំង៦៦) ជាមួយ សញ្ញាវណ្ណយុត្តិ និង គម្លាត បន្ថែមទៀត។ សម្រាប់ ការយល់ដឹង កាន់តែច្បាស់, ភាពច្បាស់លាស់, និងភាពងាយស្រួល ក្នុងការអាន។

យើង កាន់តែ ឆ្លាតវៃ នៅពេល យើង ជួបគំនិត ថ្មីៗ។ យើង មិនឆ្លាត ពេលយើង បិទគំនិត របស់យើង។ កុំ រារាំង ការលូតលាស់ ខួរក្បាល របស់អ្នក។

DO NOT FEAR. Do not fear exposure to new ideas. Do not be close-minded. As you read the books of the Holy Bible, engage each book with the full weight of your heart and mind, question and dissect it as you would any other materials that CHALLENGE you and expand your thinking and worldview. BE CHALLENGED, for you’re building brain cells.

Two thoughts to keep in mind always:

1. CRITICAL THINKING is vital to a person’s development and education. It is the ability to DISCRIMINATE between IDEAS, to parse through a lot of information that cloud or numb the mind and order or categorize them.

2. Thus, READ critically. Read WITH YOUR THINKING CAP ON.

ខាងក្រោមនេះ គឺ ជារឿង ល្បីៗ ពីសៀវភៅ ល្បីៗ នៃព្រះគម្ពីរបរិសុទ្ធ ជាភាសាខ្មែរ៖

១. លោកុប្បត្តិ (Genesis) សៀវភៅ នៃការចាប់ផ្តើម—ស្ថានសួគ៌ និងផែនដី, ពន្លឺ និងភាពងងឹត, សមុទ្រ និងដី, សត្វ និងបន្លែ, មនុស្សជាតិ ដែលជាកំពូល នៃសកម្មភាព នៃការច្នៃប្រឌិត របស់ព្រះ «នៅក្នុងរូបភាព របស់ទ្រង់»; សៀវភៅ នៃទំនាក់ទំនង រវាង ព្រះ និងមនុស្សជាតិ

២. និក្ខមនំ (Exodus) ដំណើរ ឆ្ពោះទៅ កាន់សេរីភាព

៣. នាងរស់ (Ruth)

៤. សាំយូអែល (ទី១, ទី២) (1 Samuel, 2 Samuel)

៥. អេសធើរ (Esther)

៦. លោក​ យ៉ូប (Job) អំពី ការឈឺចាប់ របស់ មនុស្ស, ហើយ មូលហេតុ ដែលព្រះ អនុញ្ញាត ឱ្យមាន

៧. សៀវភៅ សុភាសិត (Proverbs)

៨. សាស្ដា (Ecclesiastes) អំពី ការស្វែងរក សុភមង្គល របស់ បុរសម្នាក់ ដែលមានប្រាជ្ញា និងការរកឃើញ របស់គាត់

៩. បទ​ចំរៀង ​របស់ ​ព្រះបាទ​ សាឡូម៉ូន (Song of Solomon)

១០. ព្រះ‌បន្ទូល ​បង្រៀន នៅលើ​​ភ្នំ, ម៉ាថាយ, ជំពូក ៥-៧ (Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7)

១១. ដំណឹងល្អ​ រៀប​រៀង​ដោយ លោក​ លូកា (Gospel of Luke)

១២. កិច្ចការ (Acts) សកម្មភាព នៃពួកសិស្ស ក្នុងការផ្សព្វផ្សាយ គ្រីស្ទសាសនា នៅក្នុងសតវត្ស ទីមួយ, រៀប​រៀង​ដោយ លោក​ លូកា

១៣. សំបុត្រ ដែលប៉ុល បានសរសេរ ទៅពួក គ្រិស្ដបរិស័ទ (គ្រីស្ទាន) នៅទីក្រុងរ៉ូម (Romans)

១៤. សំបុត្រ ទីមួយ ដែលប៉ុល បានសរសេរ ទៅពួក គ្រិស្ដបរិស័ទ (គ្រីស្ទាន) ទីក្រុង កូរិនថូស; ជំពូក ទី១៣ គឺ អំពី សេចក្ដីស្រឡាញ់ (1 Corinthians 13)

១៥. សំបុត្រ ដែលយ៉ាកុប សរសេរ ឱ្យគ្រិស្ដបរិស័ទ នៅសតវត្ស ទីមួយ (James)

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RUMOR!

Virgil’s Aeneid, translation by Robert Fagles. One of the best characterizations of rumor!

Rumor, everyone’s companion and everyone’s pastime, full time, halftime in The Penh as in all The Kingdom.

The Christian community, the diplomatic community, the backpacker community, the journalist community, the business community, the NGO community, the Phnom Penh elite, the opposition enclave, the Cambodians at the different social strata...

Mona (Kem Sokha’s daughter, when we were friends) used to keep me abreast of the more juicier rumors surrounding me, one of the reasons I missed after I called out on her father’s treacherous betrayal of democracy.

Facebook, 4 May 2018

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