The trials of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge leaders are just one step toward reconciliation for their victims.
By Fr. Roderick O’Brien

The Khmer Rouge kept meticulous records of their captives in the Tuol Sleng S21 Prison. The prison, a former high school, is now a museum where the photographs and prisoners’ records are displayed.

The scale of killing and maltreatment was so great, that many writers have described it as genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge government against its own people. But on an individual scale, the most moving moment for me was a quiet afternoon visit to the war museum outside Siem Reap City in northern Cambodia.

My guide, a former soldier and a victim of landmines, showed me the way in which the Khmer Rouge arranged fragmentation grenades around water sources to bring destruction to those who came looking for water.

No one has been brought to trial for these atrocities. Some of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge have died, including “Brother Number 1,” Pol Pot, who died in 1998. Others live on, mostly in freedom.

In recent years, the United Nations and a number of governments have sponsored attempts to ensure that the leaders of the Khmer Rouge are at least brought to trial. Since the Cambodian justice system is deeply flawed, the method to be used is a special court within the Cambodian courts that will also have international co-prosecutors and co-judges.

In May 2003, representatives of the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia signed an agreement to set up this Extraordinary Chamber within the Cambodian courts. The agreement was approved by the UN, but not in time for a general election held in July 2003.

Since then, Cambodia’s politicians have been deadlocked over the formation of a government, and only in July 2004 were they able to agree on the new government’s distribution of ministries. When the Cambodian National Parliament finally meets, it is expected to approve the agreement.

Fr. Roderick O’Brien posed at Bayon temple, near Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Is this search for justice worthwhile? Many Cambodians think so. Even the symbol of justice meted out to a few old men will enable closure for many victims. A trial will help act against the “culture of impunity” that still operates in Cambodia. And a trial will provide an opportunity where the truth—or at least part of it—can be told, bringing Cambodia’s history into focus for the generation who has grown up since 1979.

One Cambodian, Nou Hin, says there is an immediate need for a tribunal that conforms to international standards of justice. “Do not find excuses to let time pass by uselessly,” he says.

But this kind of justice is not enough. Justice through a court of law must be supported, but it is only one step toward reconciliation, says Chhang Youk, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which gathers evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities.

Reconciliation is not easy. Many perpetrators are themselves victims. The Khmer Rouge recruited children for its Communist movement to work in prisons, and they became among the most vicious of jailors.

Late in the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge leadership began to suspect even its own members, and many Khmer Rouge members were among those who suffered. Drawing a line between perpetrators and victims is simply not possible.

Justice Within A Religious Framework
Ea Meng-try, the author of “Victims and Perpetrators? Testimony of Young Khmer Rouge Comrades,” has suggested that Cambodia needs a kind of “truth commission” that will explore the history of that era and bring perpetrator and victim together in a closer understanding of each other.

Moreover, since most of the people of Cambodia are Buddhist, the path of reconciliation and forgiveness has to be sought in a Buddhist way within a religious framework.

For the Christian and Muslim minorities (Chams and Malays) who also suffered in Cambodia, finding reconciliation is also a religious process. Justice is insufficient to free Cambodians from the injuries of the past and to enable them to live together again.

Pope John Paul II has reminded us in his messages for the World Day of Prayer for Peace that peace is not possible without justice, but that justice must also be accompanied by forgiveness. Forgiveness breaks the cycle where the response to violence is more violence. Forgiveness is not weakness; it requires great strength.

A “truth commission,” even if effective, will not necessarily bring about a change of heart. A perpetrator may be unwilling to acknowledge wrongdoing and unwilling to ask for forgiveness. The victim may be left with all the feelings of hurt and injury. A perpetrator may be already dead, leaving a victim with no opportunity for direct reconciliation.

But true forgiveness is given by the victim without the perpetrator asking for it. Forgiveness does not depend on reciprocity. Forgiveness is given, because it enables the healing of the victim and helps the victim grow into love and reject hatred.

Justice, even the expensive justice of the Extraordinary Chamber within Cambodia’s courts, may be a necessary step for Cambodia. But it is not enough. Justice must be accompanied by truth, by forgiveness and by reconciliation so the Cambodian people can move their lives into the future.

Fr. Roderick O’Brien is a Columban associate priest currently assigned to East Asia.