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A murder remembered
Photo: Abby Seiff
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Five years ago last Saturday, Kem Ley was gunned down in broad daylight at a Phnom Penh gas station.
Who killed Kem Ley? Five years on, there is no easy answer to that question. His wife Bou Rachana, who fled to Australia with their five sons, and his friends and colleagues in Cambodia are still calling for a thorough investigation.
‘The murder of Kem Ley five years ago constitutes the most emblematic case of impunity in Cambodia,’ Chak Sopheap, executive director of Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), wrote in a recent blog post. It ‘is a constant reminder of the rampant impunity that plagues Cambodian society, especially for crimes committed against critical voices’.
Kem Ley, who was an activist, commentator and analyst, had the ear of millions of Cambodians. His criticism of the government was unstinting. Just days before his 10 July 2016 assassination, Kem Ley spoke with Radio Free Asia’s Khmer-language programme about a major investigation by the international NGO Global Witness into the nepotism and financial holdings of the family of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In clear, concise language he detailed the findings to those far from the world of INGOs: this is what he excelled at.
His murder, then, was a public event. Moments after the shots rang out, Cambodians began thronging to the scene of the crime. When the police and ambulances arrived, they blocked them from taking the body. When the man arrested, tried and sentenced to life in prison as Kem Ley’s killer gave an unlikely story and an unlikelier name (Choub Samlab, or Meet Kill), few were surprised by the lack of a thorough inquiry.
Nothing as violent as this murder has come to pass in the intervening years, but repression has continued throughout Cambodia. Activists and journalists report a growing climate of fear.
‘For the activists, initially, I have seen a lot of fear and uncertainties,’ Ou Virak, president of the think tank Future Forum, told Mekong Review. ‘Many have chosen to either stop their advocacy completely, went into exile, or become more “strategic”. More strategic here means self censorship and changing focus away from sensitive topics to those deemed neutral.’
Even the mildest forms of criticism are now met at times with shockingly harsh reactions. Three young environmental activists arrested last month face as much as 10 years in prison. Their alleged crime? Filming evidence that sewage had been discharged into the river near the Royal Palace.
And, still, many refuse to be cowed.
From the archives
My sister’s story
Pim Wangtechawat
My older sister and I are not related by blood. We didn’t even grow up together. But I call her “sister” all the same. Perhaps it’s a Thai thing: in Thailand we call those who are older than and close to us “big brother” or “big sister”. But despite our being “siblings” and having known each other since I was a teenager, I knew very little of her story. I knew that she was an orphan, born to a Thai woman and an American GI who had been posted in Udon Thani during the Vietnam War. I knew she looked different from most Thais, with her curly hair and dark skin that she inherited from her Black father. I knew that she attended the Bloody May protests in Bangkok in 1992, only weeks after I was born. But that’s all I knew.
For my sister, her Thailand has always been different from mine.
Read more here
Listen:
Created by writer Agas Ramirez, the podcast HERstory Southeast Asia dives deep into lesser known histories, myths and leaders across the region. The episodes are rigorous and compelling, exploring stories as disparate as the Cham matriarchy to the legend of Lady Trieu—a third century Vietnamese warrior who successfully fought off a Chinese incursion. Episodes are available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube and most other major podcast platforms.
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