Death of a dictator
The world community is both skeptical of and disappointed by yesterday's news that former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died Wednesday in the jungle near the Cambodian-Thai border.
Skeptical because reports of the death of Pol Pot, whose four- year reign of terror in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 left more than a million Cambodians dead, coincided with mounting international calls for him to be arrested and tried. Moreover, many previous reports of his death proved false and were fabricated only to save the ailing former dictator from being tried.
Disappointed because if Pol Pot has really died of a heart attack as was widely reported yesterday his demise comes before he could stand trial for the genocide and brutal reign -- the darkest years in Cambodia's history -- which continue to traumatize millions of Cambodians to this day.
Assuming that the reports are true, there is hardly any sane human being on earth who feels sorry. His death is by no means the closing chapter of Cambodia's reign of terror, however, as there are many other former Khmer Rouge figures who reportedly hold official posts in Phnom Penh at present.
What is more important is to see that true justice is given to the Cambodian people, particularly to those whose parents, offspring and relatives died in the bloody years of the Khmer Rouge regime. Besides, even if Pol Pot had lived long enough to be tried, the trial would not have brought the dead back to life.
"Pol Pot is one person. Many people are still there (in Cambodia) causing trouble ... We are longing for peace. We are tired of war," said Sovann Tith, the executive director of a refugee social services organization which has accommodated some 60,000 Cambodians in California.
Another comment indicating that Pol Pot's death is not an end to the Cambodian mass murder was made by Dith Pran, whose biography inspired Hollywood to make The Killing Fields, in an interview with CNN in the United States. "The Jewish people's search for justice didn't end with the death of Hitler, and the Cambodian people's search for justice won't end with the death of Pol Pot," Pran said.
No less important in the search for justice, is to bring peace, stability and prosperity to the Cambodian people.
Stability and prosperity can be achieved, in our opinion, if Second Premier Hun Sen and deposed copremier Prince Norodom Ranariddh achieve a political compromise to save the country from further disintegration.
Disruptive incidents and fist-fights between the two leaders' supporters, as happened when the latter returned to Phnom Penh from his exile hideout in Bangkok this month, must be avoided if the Cambodian government and people wish to win the sympathy of the world community.
Only when the conflicting leaders iron out their differences and the Cambodian people work shoulder-to-shoulder to implement the planned July 26 elections fairly, can Cambodia finally put its present problems behind it.