---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gaffar Peang-Meth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 9:31 AM Subject: Leaders followed, even into abyss To:
* * *PACIFIC DAILY NEWS* March 2, 2011 * Leaders followed, even into abyss* By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth My article last week on the Khmer-Thai border gunfight over the Preah Vihear temple ruins was posted on the Khmer blog KI Media. Expectedly, it brought out a wave of Greek philosopher Plato's mythical Gyges ring wearers, with noisy anonymous comments that lashed out against the Thai "invaders." Unsurprisingly, some placed me on the side of the Khmers' historical enemy, the Thai "thieves," because I mentioned the 4.6 square kilometers around the temple as the disputed area. The Khmer wife of an American friend branded me in an e-mail as a "crocodile losing his way in the lake" -- I am ungrateful to the land of my birth to side with the enemy. There's no disputed area, my critics say, only Khmer land wanted by the Thais -- the party line. Premier Hun Sen should be happy; he wants the conflict on the western border to distract the people from the more significant encroachment by the Vietnamese on the eastern flank. *Predisposition * As humans, we are generally predisposed to see things or other people in a certain way, positively or negatively, as our perceptions are affected by information, values, beliefs and experiences, direct and indirect. It's a mental prejudgment. With it, we stereotype, generalize and oversimplify. A negative predisposition stigmatizes and discriminates. Speaker, author and workshop facilitator Leslie Aguilar advised in "Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts," to pay attention to our words and behavior; that this is more than being politically correct; it's about being "professionally competent," "personally conscious." She wrote: "It's about respect." The bloggers who demonize those they don't like have used profanity and racial slurs, and say this is a free country. Gone are the Buddhist precepts of compassion, harmony, and peace. "Samdei sar jiat," a Khmer saying goes -- literally, "words reflect race"-- how we use our words in our speech reflects our racial and ethnic prejudices. The Foundation of Critical Thinking, which seeks to educate and cultivate "fair-minded critical thinking," teaches: "Much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced." We all can think. In a free society we're free to think and free to express, though freedom is not absolute. The foundation says not all thinking is of the same quality, and advocates "high-quality thinking" that comprises two inseparable elements: creativity and criticality, or to assess and evaluate to understand if what was created is leading to the desired goal, with improvement as a purpose. Creativity and criticality do not conform with Khmer traditions and Khmers' learning. Since the time of the early Khmer Empire, Khmers learned to "korup, bamroer, kaowd khlach, smoh trang" -- "respect, serve, admire, fear, be faithful/loyal" -- to the god-kings and other authorities. Khmers' contemporary blind and irrational obedience to political figures and political power is the heritage of that culture. Cambodians follow their leaders, even into the abyss. Ideas and ideals are secondary; creativity and innovation are a threat; criticality is not an assessment but a denunciation. Thankfully, other bloggers encouraged that I continue to urge readers to reflect and learn. One reader asked me to write in Khmer. The writer fears Khmer readers missed my points. I don't write for Khmers but for all audiences. *A weak cause?* On Feb. 22, the Voice of America broadcasted that Cambodian analysts in Phnom Penh say the Khmer-Thai border dispute can't be resolved without International Court of Justice clarification. The VOA said a court official confirmed it won't clarify or reinterpret its verdict on Preah Vihear, made in 1962, without a request from the disputed parties. Two days later, the VOA reported, Cambodia's news agency quoted Hun Sen as saying Cambodia has sent an official request to the ICJ to clarify its verdict. I received in my e-mail a Khmer academic's letter to the Phnom Penh Post, charging its former editor, Michael Hayes, with being "a spin doctor for Thailand" because of Hayes's piece, "The view from Cambodia" -- which I thought was as anti-Thai and pro-Cambodia as a Cambodian partisan wants to see it. Ringing in my ears were the words of French playwright Victor Hugo: "Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause." *Anger ignited * Some Khmer expatriates circulated petitions denouncing the Thais; demonstrators in some cities condemned the Thai "invasion." It's impressive that Hun Sen ignited successfully Cambodians' anger against the Thais. But anti-Thai Cambodians are silent on the historically imperialistic expansionist-annexationist Vietnamese, who installed Hun Sen as premier in 1985, and with whom Hun Sen will produce a new map of Cambodia. He and his ruling party have allowed hundreds of thousands of Vietnam's immigrants to settle, work and vote in Cambodia. Complicating the matter, Hun Sen is backed by the King Father and the King Father's son, the current king, who signed the 2005 supplements to the unequal 1979 Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation with Vietnam, as his father had wanted. One day, the Vietnamese and the Thais will connect at Cambodia's western border. *A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at [email protected]. * http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201103020400/OPINION02/103020322 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. 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