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Tag Archives: A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

CAMBODIA: Building leadership for young Khmers

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An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

CAMBODIA: Building leadership for young Khmers
This article combines my keynote address and two lectures on political socialization and culture at the Cambodian Leadership Conference on May 18 in Tacoma, Washington, on the theme of Building Leadership for our Young Generation, organized by Khmer women’s organizations in Washington State, spearheaded by the Cambodian Women Networking Association’s Ms. Sinuon Hem.
I valued this time to share my thoughts on building leadership, korsang reu bangkoeurn chomness nae noam, in the company of a diverse audience of Cambodians and others, including the State lieutenant governor, the mayor of Tacoma, and distinguished legislators and officials from state and local government. The discussion was lively and thought-provoking.
Building leadership is a daunting task in a society muffled by hundreds of years of traditions and social norms derived in part from having lived entirely under authoritarian, even dictatorial, governments. In such an environment, building a leadership corps that will not fall into old patterns requires changes in values, kun’sambat, attitudes, ek’riyabot, and culture,voabthor. These are daunting changes many today acknowledge as necessary. But stepping outside a series of long-held traditions and patterns of behavior is not easy. Many talk about change, but few walk the talk.

A general framework

Political scientists, such as I, describe a framework of perceptions (kar yul kar deung), influenced by opinions (yobol), interests (phol proyaowch), values (kun’smabt), and beliefs(chumneur), which mold our attitudes (ek’riyabot). These attitudes lead to a tendency toward action (sak’kampheab), or to passivity (ak’kampheab). As those factors predominate in a population, a culture emerges.

CAMBODIA: Every person can and should be Preah Batr Dhammik

Posted on by Posted in Culture, Education, Politics, Researches, Social

Another former Buddhist monk, Sophoan Seng, earned a graduate degree in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and now serves as Director of KEEN Investment Groups LTD and president of Alberta’s Khmer Youth Association. He asserts that “the highest goal of Buddhism is ‘liberty’, not the ‘four necessities’, i.e., food, shelter, clothing, medicine.” He says, Buddha teaches that humankind is sustained through a balance and an equalization of “liberty” or “Nama” (the mind or spirit) and the “four necessities” or “Rupa” (the body or physical appearance), that is economic development (food, shelter, clothing, medicine) and spiritual development (liberty/human dignity) must go hand and hand.

Monychenda agrees with Buddha’s “Nama-Rupa” or “mind-matter” teaching which means the mind affects matter and matter affects the mind.

According to Seng, it’s true that Buddha sees humans need food (Rupa, the four necessities) to survive, but Buddha sees Nama (the mind, liberty) as taking the lead. Humans are made by the mind and through balancing Rupa and Nama will attain their highest level of enlightenment – the liberty of the mind from the bondage of greed, hatred, delusion.

FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-003-2013
January 15, 2013

An article by Dr. Gaffar published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

CAMBODIA: Every person can and should be Preah Batr Dhammik

In my last article I wrote about Cambodians who longed for a Khmer Mahatma Gandhi or a Khmer Aung San Suu Kyi. Some believe the struggle against the violations of rights and justice of the Khmer people is slow because of the absence of a Khmer equivalent to such figures.

Yet, the world’s successful revolutions have rarely been led by a charismatic individual such as Gandhi or Suu Kyi. And even those remarkable individuals, it should be recalled, also are burdened with very human strengths and failings, as are we all. Would a Gandhi or a Suu Kyi do well in the Khmer environment? We like them for their abilities and skills – which can be taught and learned. Gandhi and Suu Kyi possess strengths – which we should learn and apply – and weaknesses – which we should learn and discard. Would those who long for a Gandhi or a Suu Kyi be willing and ready to learn from them to advance their causes?

A proverb says, “Nothing succeeds like success.” Another says, “Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan.”

From the same source

Gandhi was a Hindu political and spiritual leader in India, renowned for his commitment to advance causes through civil disobedience and nonviolence. His philosophical and political perspectives were derived from the teaching of Lord Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (563BC-483BC), himself a Hindu prince of the ruling Shakya clan.

Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s father of independence, Aung San, is a devout Buddhist. She returned to her homeland in 1988 after years of studying and living in England, to witness widespread killings of her people by the Ne Win regime, and broad protests against it. As her father’s daughter, she says, she could not remain silent. She spoke out against the regime and initiated a nonviolent movement for democracy and human rights. In 1989 she was arrested and spent 15 of the next 21 years in custody during which she read, wrote, and meditated. She was released in 2010.
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CAMBODIA: Cambodian activists must believe in individuals’ capacity to accomplish the impossible

Posted on by Posted in Culture, Economics, Education, Politics, Researches, Social

FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-038-2012
December 1, 2012

An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

CAMBODIA: Cambodian activists must believe in individuals’ capacity to accomplish the impossible

Initially, I planned to write about US President Barack Obama’s visit to Cambodia, during which he reportedly spoke forcefully to Cambodian premier Hun Sen regarding the administration’s abysmal record of human rights violations. But e-mails from Cambodians in the country and abroad reoriented my focus, hence, today’s article.

Don’t like to read

Last week, a young political science graduate from a foreign university vented his frustrations in an e-mail from Cambodia at many Cambodian compatriots who don’t like to read. If they don’t read, they don’t learn. And if reading articles is painful, they certainly won’t read an entire book!

He observed with frustration that there is no learning without reading, and life is not meaningful if one has no basis to compare, to understand, to improve. He dismissed suggestions that there is a dearth of reading material available in Cambodia. Cambodia, he said, lacks people who want to read. Across the oceans I can sense his irritation– vexations of a young man who has put hours of hard work into a second language, to earn a degree from a reputable university. Now, back in his homeland, he is working to sensitize his relatives, friends, and colleagues to value education as a key to personal and national development. I have never met this young man. He sought me out through the Internet when he was a student. We discussed political socialization and political culture as he considered ways to bring about change to Cambodia’s status quo and to better serve society.

Still young, must think of living longer

A few days ago, he wrote about the low price growers received for their rice harvest. This has negatively affected his parents’ livelihood. As a result he may have to forego advanced studies and continue working so that his four siblings may finish their education in Cambodia.

Nevertheless, this young man remains committed to improving governance in Cambodia. To that end, he attended a recent workshop in Phnom Penh on the topic of governance and reform. He was disheartened by this meeting of “civil servants, military, police and royal armed forces” personnel. They rejected the need for adherence to the rule of law by a politically impartial police and military, blindly citing the regime’s party line in support of that position. During the coffee break, some told him that he is an “extremist,” that he is still “too young and still has a long time to live”; they advised him to be careful and live longer!

I have been made aware of this kind of threat and intimidation before – orchestrated accidents that take lives. Some incidents like the story of an armored vehicle from a security unit deliberately hitting a driver who had exited his vehicle at a security checkpoint. The driver was hospitalized for three months as a result. Other Cambodians relate stories of food poisoning and break-ins, among other violations.

Human Rights Watch published a 68-page report, Tell Them That I Want to Kill Them: Two Decades of Impunity in Hun Sen’s Cambodia. It describes cases of unsolved killings of more than 300 political activists, journalists, opposition politicians, among others by Hun Sen’s security forces since the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements. It identifies many senior Cambodian government officials involved in serious abuses and their current positions in the administration.

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CAMBODIA: Democrats must become a credible alternative to stop Hun Sen and the CPP

Posted on by Posted in Culture, Economics, Education, Politics, Researches, Social
This culture maintains law and order and protects rulers (Sdech phaen dei, or King of the Earth) and their thrones. Despite the arrival of Buddhism, a belief system that preaches individual salvation, Khmers primary devotion was to the god kings. In such circumstances, the “good” karma of Buddhism is perverted to become not an active choice but a passive compliance with the old to avoid “bad” karma.
This culture imbued in Khmer mentality the concepts of king-subjects and lord-slaves, and built the Khmer society on class, rank, role relationships based on the superior-inferior, master-servant, patron-client, leader-follower precepts, as known today. Any regime in power — monarchical, republican, communist, authoritarian – benefits from this culture and mentality. Education is the remedy.
FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-017-2012
June 15, 2012
An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

CAMBODIA: Democrats must become a credible alternative to stop Hun Sen and the CPP
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s victories in local elections were pre-ordained.
Hun Sen rode to power under the guns of some 200,000 Vietnamese troops who crossed the border with Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1978, captured Phnom Penh in January 1979, and stayed in Cambodia as occupiers until 1989. They installed Hun Sen as premier in 1985.
A former Khmer Rouge defector to Vietnam, Hun Sen lost the 1993-United Nations organized elections, and used threats to win the post of second-premier. In 1997, he launched a coup d’etat against the first-premier. For 27 years, since 1985, premier Hun Sen has controlled Cambodia’s administrative apparatus, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. He has become a dictator.
Cambodians, like many other people, say they hate politics. Yet, politics has been practiced since human beings began living and working together. People organized and made decisions that would affect the collectivity. In the words of a professor of politics: “Between the cradle and the grave, we live our lives in the midst of politics.” It is “part and parcel of nearly all human interactions.” Politics exists everywhere.
The “pagoda boy,” as he called himself — in reference to his childhood — learned fast. Now 59, he says he wants to stay in power for life. He promises an open investment environment to the world’s thirsty investors – 99 years leases on land concessions and availability of natural resources — backed by political stability. He plays well on the world’s appetite for democracy and elections. He allows just enough free expression as he carefully controls media outlets and public demonstrations sufficient to air some grievances. He’s quick to tell potential transgressors he will “close the door and beat the dogs.” He encourages elections, but ensures his opponents don’t win. He and his party intimidate and bribe hungry citizens for votes.