Politics

While the unfolding political events in Cambodia are often a subject for conversation, political allegiance (past and present) is an issue that Cambodians do not like to discuss. An insult used to demean other Cambodians is to accuse them of being Khmer Rouge. In several Cambodian communities, it is said of certain residential areas that “mainly Khmer Rouge live there.” Most often, such remarks have come from urban-educated Cambodians, who give no factual basis for their accusation. The Khmer Rouge label is used probably as a representation of class, indicating a peasant/rural background. Some communities are attempting to overcome these divisions. In the words of one community leader from Hamilton: “Our lives in Canada should be sufficient to prove that Cambodians like making peace by forgetting the past and to let time have a chance to heal wounded memories. There are many Cambodians living here who used to serve actively in Pol Pot’s army. Now, we forget everything in the past, we socialize together, talk to each other, treat each other as long lost friends.”

Some individuals, however, have been identified as former Khmer Rouge cadres, and stories are related about their acts of torture, violence, or killing against a person or family members. The anger and rage directed at these individuals are for the most part not expressed publicly. The telling of the stories, however, reveals the corrosive effects of hatred and the wish somehow to enact revenge. Other people, said to boast about past Khmer Rouge activities and about how powerful they will become when the Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia again, are also named. Canadian authorities have never responded to allegations that certain Cambodians, now resettled in Canada, are suspected of being war criminals. To date, no efforts have been made to try to determine if these allegations are credible or if these people could be brought to court, as has been the case with individuals suspected of being former Nazis or Nazi sympathizers.

Past and present political realities in Cambodia still influence Canadian Khmer communities. The large Cambodian political parties such as FUNCIPEC (Prince Sihanouk’s royalist party) or KPNLF (led by Son Sann, a Khmer from Vietnam living in Phnom Penh) have extensive representation among Canada’s Cambodians. Since the May 1993 election in Cambodia, several middle-aged Khmer men in Ontario have returned to Cambodia seeking to resume previously held positions of military and government authority. Many Cambodians in Canada, however, are concerned about the increasing military and economic power of the Khmer Rouge throughout Cambodia, the intensification of civil war (especially in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siem Reap provinces, where many have relatives), as well as escalating corruption at all levels of Cambodian politics. Cambodians in Canada express grave fears for the future of their remaining relatives and friends in Cambodia. Every time a new Khmer Rouge atrocity or exposé of government corruption (such as forced conscription or ransom demands for kidnapped villagers) receives media attention, Cambodians in Canada are reminded of their past trauma, the continued presence of Khmer Rouge, and their fading hopes for Cambodia. Whereas Cambodian communities in Canada are slowly healing twenty-three years after the Khmer Rouge first took control, Cambodia remains on the brink of becoming another “Killing Fields,” with its people mired in poverty, violence, and ill health.

Canadian Cambodians are increasingly involved in transnational Khmer networks and associations. At a 1997 Cambodian Youth Educational Development Conference in Hamilton, Ontario, guest speakers included Khmer from Canada, the United States, and Cambodia. Each speaker emphasized the need to retain Khmer cultural and social identity in Canada and the enormous role Canadian Cambodians could play in the development of Cambodia. Their commitment to various projects and programs in Cambodia indicate that Cambodian Canadians maintain strong interest in their homeland’s political, social, and economic develpment.