The Seoul-Incheon Airport was a shocking place to arrive Wednesday at 6:15 a.m. local time, for several reasons. Coming from the Phnom Penh airport, Seoul-Incheon is positively space-aged. A description of the departure process at PP may help explain this shock value: you pull up in a beat-up-old car that’s been converted into a taxi-cab, pay the driver more than you know it should cost, and then push your way through at least a hundred Cambodians waiting outside for people to exit. The whole process of getting through the check-in line, customs, and security takes about 30 minutes at most. (That is, unless your name is Samantha Sondag, which the Korean Airlines representative recognizes, remarking that you’re the one who kept calling about re-routing to Los Angeles even though she told you every time the flights are full. Then they give you a little more grief.) There are 10 gates, 4 of which I’ve never seen in use.

Incheon, on the other hand, was designed to function as a self-contained city. There are designer stores everywhere, coffee shops, restaurants, lounges, educational cultural centers, spas, and even “transit hotels” for overnight travelers.








I can drink the water, not buy it?? Yay!!

















Hold up, toilet paper can go IN the toilet? It's official: I've entered heaven.





I emerged into this foreign world of stainless steel and potable water fountains completely delirious. The night before my flight I hardly slept for nerves about leaving, then, on the red-eye flight to Seoul, I was placed in a seat that refused to stay reclined, forcing my neck into odd positions not complementary with the constant turbulence.

Thus, my sleep debt grew such that I was unable to contemplate the best way to exit the gate when I arrived in Seoul. I blindly walked into the transfer area, only to realize I’d entered a clean quarantine area from which I’d never be able to find my friend who was also arriving in Seoul an hour later for a long layover he intended to spend with family. I slept-walk through the terminals to find a rabbit-hole exit until I literally smacked into a group of scary Korean security guards who did not understand who or what I was looking for and yelled at me.

At this point, I gave up on finding my friend—I’m sure he met up with his family just fine. Seeing as I was unable to avoid angering the authorities in a clean, quarantined airport, I decided my plan to go into the city for the 14 hour layover could result in some possibly negative outcomes, not excluding Korean prison. Instead I checked into one of the “transit hotels” mentioned above. I paid $54 to sleep in a very nice room with TV, AC, and shower for 6 hours. Best 54 dollars I’ve ever spent, and significantly less, I am sure, than a bail-out from Korean prison.

I emerged from the dark room realizing I hadn’t eaten for many unknown hours and was ravenous. However, I was also still hungover from the Nyquil I’d taken and had difficulty choosing anything except a Starbucks soy latte, and this after an exhausting exchange with the barista about the USD to Won exchange rate. A few hours later I was competent enough to enter one of the Korean foodcourts AND to identify a dish I’d read about in the literary masterpiece that is the Korean Airlines in-flight magazine. It’s this cold buckwheat noodle soup that’s very popular in North and South Korea during the summer, composed of a pile of noodles topped with beef, a boiled egg, and pickled fruit and vegetables. The buckwheat noodles were delicious, although the slab of gray beef made an immediate departure from my bowl, and I never became wholly comfortable with the slight sweetness of the broth, deriving from the fruits and vinegar.

















A few hours later, I was making my way through the entire airport, as I do during every long layover, repeatedly encountering my security guard friends madly waving me away from certain doors and gates. During this exploration I found a restaurant featuring a much better looking picture of the noodles, and a much better price. Fail.

Bangkok

Last weekend (July 23), myself and five other Phnom Penh-ers descended into Bangkok, Thailand for a long weekend. I wouldn't have selected Bangkok for a Thai experience, but our friend’s father works at Holiday Inn and managed to get us 2 rooms at a 5 star hotel at $60/night. So we discretely jammed more persons than allowed into the rooms and embarked on a strange weekend of luxury.

Our really nice room!

I’ve been uncomfortable for much of my stay in Phnom Penh precisely because my wealth and privilege is so apparent. I regularly eat at nice places where meals cost $4 instead of 4000 reales (less than a dollar), and turn on my air conditioning most nights to sleep while others opt for outdoor mosquito-netted hammocks rather than their homes. Bangkok, though, brings this disparity to a whole new level. Luxury isn’t the strange occurrence—it’s the strived-for rule, or at least that’s what the skyscraper buildings, $20 movie theatres, VIP clubs, and designer malls would have you believe. Of course, the fact that we were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in the most expensive area of the city didn’t downplay that reality at all.












Remember the May protests in Bangkok? Our hotel overlooked the remains of the Zen store at the foot of the Central Shopping Mall.


The first night we slept for 11 hours. Can you believe it?? I slept for 11 hours! It’s incredible how light-canceling shades and being 30 floors removed from fried-egg sellers can calm your subconscious. I don’t think I’ve had a moment of happiness in months greater than when I discovered it was 11 a.m.! That night we went to dinner/drinks on the semi-sketchy, mostly-fun tourist/backpacker road (Khaosan). Very fun, relatively inexpensive, and not opulent at all.

The final night, to celebrate a friend’s completion of her internship, we ended up at a high security club where flip-flops were banned (a 24 hour shoe rental store was conveniently next door) and my flats were VERY much looked-down-upon. This was where the young Thai elites hang out, and I felt 100% uncomfortable. It's was a strange discomfort, because I enjoy the occasional ritzy-night out in the States. I guess when you’re in a region where the poverty is so apparent, the guilt is inescapable. I could not even afford the drinks there, but a friend who is significantly looser with her money insisted on purchasing them, thereby binding me into staying. Extravagent displays of wealth are certainly lauded in the U.S., but they are also scorned (think Paris Hilton). Here, however, I feel that the tempering scorn is lacking mostly because the desire for material wealth, basic or exorbitant, is so great.

Bangkok’s traffic was crazy, the airport was cram-packed, and I was so unexpectedly happy to return to Phnom Penh, with its utter lack of skyline or 5 star anything!

On another note, the Royal Palace was AMAZING—a more bejeweled Angkor! Speaking of opulence, I’ve never seen more gold or precious stones in one place in my life.

Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

Early in July, I traveled south to the city of Siem Reap with three friends from Phnom Penh. Siem Reap is the town immediately adjacent to Angkor, Cambodia’s famous temple area/ Angkor housed Khmer royalty from the 9th-13th centuries, when the empire was very powerful. Kings built temples, or, let’s be real, they ordered slaves to build temples, to show their authority. The buildings reflected the society’s dual Hindu/Buddhist population. The tall temples are typically Hindu in nature, as their height reflects the many gods of that religion; the longer ones are typically Buddhist, representing the Buddha’s singularity and humility.
Ranch style temple

building upward style temple

At least that’s what our incredible tu-tuk driver Mr. Thom told us. We stayed at this wonderful inn about 5 km. outside the downtown of Siem Reap, owned by a highly opinionated and talkative Australian with two similarly fashioned parrots. Mr. Thom was the best of the Inn’s many perks. He picked us up from the bus station in the most beautiful tuk-tuk I’ve ever seen: a freshly polished black and white vehicle which we immediately and unquestionably recognized as the “limousine of tuk-tuks.” He’d even built a gorgeous wood cooler for keeping face towels and water bottles ice cold for riders! Mr. Thom is so fascinated by and knowledgeable about Angkor that he is known as “the temple nerd” and drove the National Geographic team around when they did a spread on Angkor a few years ago. He was able to tell us the depth of the moat around Angkor Wat during dry season and wet season.

Mr. Thom explaining some ancient myth.

The ruins are incredible. One of the temples, once colloquially known as the “jungle temple,” is now referred to as the Tomb Raider Temple by guidebooks, tourists, and locals because Angelina Jolie/Lara Croft discovered a time-changing device there in a terrible 2001 movie.

Tomb Raider temple :)
It’s incredible how preserved these temples are. They were basically abandoned when the empire fell in the 13th century (think monkeys playing in the Jungle Book) and then rediscovered by French colonialists in the 17th century who began the preservation, restoration, and credit-claiming process.

Jessica climbing a temple

The town of Siem Reap exploded when Angkor became a tourist-destination. The abject poverty was pushed to the side (nearer where I stayed) as bars and hotels took over the town’s main front. We spent our last morning on terrible one speed beach cruiser bikes exploring these poor villages en route to a remote temple, per the Aussie’s recommendation. It was so much fun (and so sweaty!) Yet there is something charming about the meticulously maintained green space and French colonial architecture, which is wholly absent in Phnom Penh.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Some background to this verdict thing

Below I've pasted a summary of the Duch case to which I referred in my last post. It gives a little background to who he is and why and how he is being tried. Hope this fills in a few missing pieces!


Case 001: KAING GUEK EAV, alias DUCH

Background

Kaing Guek Eav, alias ‘Duch,’ the former secretary of Democratic Kampuchea security center S-21, was the first Khmer Rouge figure to stand trial before the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). For his leadership of S-21, in which more than 15,000 people are estimated to have died, the defendant was charged with Crimes Against Humanity, Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and homicide and torture pursuant to the 1956 Penal Code.

Duch was discovered in March 1999 in Samlot district, and unlawfully detained by the Cambodian Military Court between 10 May 1999 until July 30 2007, when the ECCC issued its order of provisional detention. Duch was indicted in August 2008, and substantive hearings took place from February 17, 2009 through September 17, with closing submissions presented in late November. The Prosecution asked for forty years imprisonment for the Accused. Duch requested acquittal on the final day, a surprise to many considering his admission of responsibility during the trial.

Ms. Chea Lang served as National Co-Prosecutor, and Mr. Robert Petit, and later Mr. William Smith, served as International Co-Prosecutors. Mr. Kar Savuth and Mr. Francois Roux led the defense.

Personal History of the Accused

Duch was born in the village of Poevveuy in Kompong Thom province and worked as a mathematics teacher in Skoun. He had clear communist leanings and in 1967 went into hiding with the Khmer Rouge movement to avoid political persecution. He nonetheless was arrested in 1968, then set free in 1970 by the Lon Nol-led military coup that deposed King Sihanouk. From 1971 until 1975, Duch chaired M13, an early Khmer Rouge security center located in Amleang, Kompong Speu province. Here Duch stated his role was to “beat, interrogate and smash [the party’s euphemism for kill]’ the prisoners, who were presumed spies of Lon Nol.

The crimes committed at M13 occurred before the Democratic Kampuchea era officially commenced in 1975, and as such are outside the Court’s jurisdiction; however, the Trial Chamber determined that Duch’s actions at the prison prove his knowledge of and input in the development of the DK prisons in question, and informed his actions at S21.

Kaing Guek Eav and S21

When the army of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) took the capital in 1975, Duch was appointed Deputy-Secretary of Office S-21, and then served as its Chairman and Secretary until the regime fell in 1979. Set up inside a former Phnom Penh high school, the prison served as the final destination for thousands of Cambodians identified as enemies of the party. Early CPK policy targeted perceived enemies outside the CPK circle, but in March 1976 the Central Committee authorized “smashing” within ranks to guard against internal demise. S-21 became a detention center principally for DK cadre, military, and government officials suspected of subversion. The regime’s secret police, Santebal, was headquartered at S-21 in order to conduct torture and executions of these suspects.

Initially bodies were buried on site at S-21, but in fear of epidemic Duch relocated the majority of executions and burials 15 km. away to Choeung Ek, also known as the Killing Fields. Duch also oversaw S24, Prey Sâr, another major Khmer Rouge security center.
Duch established a document unit to record important regime decisions and daily events at S21, Choeng Ek, and S24. This unit left behind extensive documentation of the crimes mentioned above in the forms of photographs, confessions, prisoner lists, and execution logs. The Prosecution filed 2,900 such documents as evidence in Case 001, including a “Combined S-21 Prisoner List” compiled from the lists found at the three sites. It names 12,380 men, women, and children who were arrested and executed under Duch’s oversight. The list excludes a large number of detainees who failed to be counted before execution. The information available on the lists indicates 5,000 victims were DK government officials, and more than 4,500 came from the military. Suspects’ families were routinely executed.

Summary of Closing Arguments

The prosecution argued that Duch is criminally responsible for the crimes committed at S21. Witness testimony and documentary evidence prove that the Accused planned, instigated, ordered, aided, and abetted the crimes committed at S21, as well as personally committed acts of torture and other inhumane acts. Because an international armed conflict existed between Democratic Kampuchea and Vietnam during 1975-1979, and Vietnamese persons were imprisoned, tortured, and exterminated at S21, Duch may be dually convicted for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 as well as Crimes against Humanity and premeditated murder and torture in violation of Cambodia’s 1956 Penal Code.

The defense presented several different arguments before seeking acquittal. First, since the Accused has shown clear remorse and shame for crimes committed at S21, the Court should “allow one who has exited from humanity to return to humanity.”
Duch then concluded his trial by pleading that he had operated under superior orders in fear of violent retribution against his person and his family, and that criminal responsibility should be excluded on those grounds.

The Verdict

On July 26, 2010, the ECCC Trial Chamber found Duch guilty of crimes against humanity (persecution on political grounds subsuming extermination encompassing murder, enslavement, imprisonment, torture including one instance of rape, and other inhumane acts), as well as of Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (willful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, willfully depriving a prisoner of war or civilian of the rights of fair and regular trial, and unlawful confinement of a civilian). The Chamber did not evaluate the guilt of the Accused in violation of the 1956 Penal Code.

The Chamber sentenced Duch to 35 year of imprisonment, less five for the violation of his rights during his illegal detention from May 1999 until the judgment is finalized, with eleven years credited for time already served. This leaves the Accused with 19 years left in prison.

Concerning Civil Party participation, of the ninety applications the Chamber found sixty-six to have successfully proven victimization at S-21 or S-24, or bonds of affection or close kinship with victims. Concerning collective and moral reparations, the Chamber granted the Civil Parties’ request for Civil Party names to be included in the final judgment, and to compile and publish Duch’s trial apologies. The Chamber rejected all other collective and moral reparation requests on the grounds that the ECCC lacks the competence to enforce them, and has no jurisdiction over national authorities or international bodies.

"One million tears of my country": Case 001 verdict

11:10 a.m., July 26, 2010—

You can almost cut the tension and anticipation in this city. Or maybe that’s just the particular world I inhabit—maybe the only people who care about Duch’s verdict anymore are the internationals and elite Cambodians working at the court or the many tribunal-related NGOs.

But somewhere deep inside me, in some small, hidden place immune to the cynicism that has plagued me since I began this internship, I know it’s not true. As I watch and listen to the verdict in Case 001 stream live on a projector, I see Vann Nath, Bou Meng and Chum Mey, the three remaining survivors of Tuol Sleng prison, awaiting the fate of the director of that torture center from the public gallery. I took photographs at interviews with Bou Meng and Chum Mey, and though I couldn’t understand their answers, there is no doubt as to their investment in the trial. If you have toenails ripped out, electrical nodes attached to your body, and whips cut your back, the desire to see justice done does not fade over three decades. Images of the executions of over 12,000 other victims at your prison do not fade.

It’s not just the internationals, the NGO-ers, and the immediate survivors who care about the verdict. The survivors of other prisons, the victims of forced labor camps, the ranks of former conscripted Khmer Rouge soldiers—it matters to them, too. It matters to those who lost loved ones, as well as to the Cambodians who feel left behind by this trial, and disgusted at the cost and the inefficiency and the elitism. The people gathered around projector screens provided in the provinces despite scorching heat—they care too. This country has waited 30 years, through civil war and the death of a genocidal leader, for the international community to acknowledge what happened during 1975-1979.

My bosses did not secure enough seats in the court gallery for the interns, so I watched the judge read the verdict in a small room at the ECCC Victims Unit several miles away. There were about 15 of us there, the majority of whom work for organizations that, appropriately, represent victims. This background helps explain why there was a loud moan of disapproval when the Judge read that

a) the court only recognized 66 of over 93 Civil Party applicants as having “established their claim to be immediate victims of S-21 or S-24, or to have proved the existence of immediate victims of S-21 or S-24 and close kinship or particular bonds of affection or dependency in relation to them.”

And, as regards reparations for these recognized victims, that

b) the Chamber “rejected all Civil Party claims on the grounds of lack of specificity, for as being beyond the scope of available reparations before the ECCC. However, it ordered the compilation and publication of all statements of apology made by the Accused during the trial”…as well as a list of the Civil Parties’ names to be published on the ECCC website.

In summary, all the Court gave the victims in terms of reparation for their physical pain, for their lost spouses, parents, and children, for their psychological trauma, was a nameplace on the court website. This in a country with hardly any internet outside Phnom Penh.

No one expected fiscal reparations—the court will hardly have enough money to try Case 002, which goes after the highest ranking surviving Khmer Rouge members. But in terms of a moral reparation, this is insulting. As Chum Mey later said, villagers construct stupas everyday for almost no cost to honor memories and events. The least the court could have done was offer to construct a stupa at Toul Sleng. Or request the government to step in and build outhouses in villages. Or ask for public donations for roads through towns in the Northeast. Chum Mey offered this comparison: he lives in a hut with no stable food source and a small pan in which to defecate. Duch has lived and will continue to live in an air-conditioned cell with an unquestioned supply of food. A list of names will do nothing to repair this lack of justice.

As for the sentence: The Chamber gave Duch an initial sentence of 35 years. They avoided a life sentence and undercut the Prosecution’s request for 40 years, to honor Duch’s cooperation and “genuine remorse” and “rehabilitation.” These terms refer to Duch’s repeated confessions of guilt and regret for his crimes. To again cite Chum Mey, who challenged the truthfulness of these displays, referencing Duch's final, shocking plea for acquittal as well as his own reading of the hearings. "One tear from him does not equal one million tears of my country," he said.

From the 35 years, the court deducted five to recognize that the government violated Duch’s rights when they imprisoned him from 1996 until 2009 without a trial, exceeding the three years of pre-trial detention allowed by law. It counted those 11 years as time already served, putting the total sentence at 19 years.

At first I was fuming. 30 years for supervising over 13,000 murders? It’s not as if we can equate the two terms—mass murder and imprisonment—in the first place, but a life sentence certainly seems most appropriate of the options available. But in speaking with people far more knowledgeable than myself, including attending a panel discussion of lawyers, activists, and civil parties tonight, I came to recognize some good in the verdict. Duch’s rights WERE violated, and if we choose to ignore that because of the monstrous acts he committed and apply justice arbitrarily, we implicitly condone indefinite imprisonment without trial, the very crime so many international criminal courts like this one have and are themselves prosecuting. From a somewhat more uncomfortable, ends-justify-means perspective, rewarding cooperation might prove beneficial in Case 002, the defendants in which have all refused to admit any guilt. This court is mandated with a truth-finding mission as much as it is with a mission of distributing justice. Duch’s cooperation and acknowledgment of crimes committed at Tuol Sleng sped Case 001 to an end; if rewarding that cooperation incentives Nuon Chea, Kheu Samphan, Ieng Thireth, and Ieng Sary to do the same then perhaps that alone makes the reduced sentence acceptable. I’m not falling on either side of this one, but it is worth considering.

This incredibly long and, for most of you, somewhat boring post is now over and it’s time for bed. I promise more light hearted posts on Bangkok, Siem Reap, and egg sellers will come soon, with only a few heavy ones interspersed. 

Khmer Massage

A few weeks ago I had my first Khmer massage. I created an astonishingly accurate representation of how I found myself forty minutes in:

Some said this combination of stretching and deep tissue massage was like a Thai massage. I've never had a Thai massage, so I cannot affirm or deny. I can say that it was interesting, and absolutely wonderful when they got to my back and shoulders. But when I returned yesterday and asked only for a back/shoulder massage it was quite disappointing. I guess you go big (i.e. FULL body) or you go home.

P.S. The massage place we go to is certified abuse-free :) Although I know you can never really tell...but none of the telltale signs of brothel-in-disguise are there, at least!

SISHAAAA

So, I've been meaning to give a shout-out to the organization for which two of my friends here work. SISHA (South East Asia Investigations into Social and Humanitarian Activities) is doing great work in a field that, as most of you know, is very close to my heart. SISHA is involved in the anti-human trafficking movement every step of the way. It sends investigative teams to identify brothels filled with young, trafficked girls, raids them, places the girls in the custody of safe, well-staffed shelters, and then offers after-care and legal services. The free, quality legal services are essential to assuring victims that any testimony they give against their trafficker will be effective, and that they will be protected from vengeful action, whether from the trafficker or the state. Yay Sisha! Yay Jessica and Erin!

A few weeks ago, SISHA apprehended a "suspected pedophile" who has committed some unfathomably disgusting and reprehensible acts. Namely, this known British pedophile set up a 501K NGO to "help out" kids living in the dumps of Phnom Penh, on the outskirts of the city. He kindly offered to oversee the project.

But SISHA got him! Things can move so slooowly in the nonprofit world here, that hearing about something positive and tangible that's happened to salvage some basic rights for at least a few kids is wonderful.

more info on the apprehension:
http://www.expat-advisory.com/articles/southeast-asia/suspected-pedophile-david-fletcher-arrested-bangkok

and the creep:
http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2010/06/cops-alert-as-paedo-brit-david-fletcher.html