This Asian-American Life

Today's This American Life episode covers a white man who married an Asian woman and how they adjusted to a multicultural married life.

Coincidentally, I wrote a book on that.

Long Beach revolutionary's appeal rejected

A U.S. appeals court today rejected an appeal by Yasith Chhun, a California tax preparer and leader of a failed Cambodian coup, to overturn a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder and destroy property in a foreign country.

Chhun formed the Cambodian Freedom Fighters in 1998 to overthrow the government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The CFF's Operation Volcano culminated in an attack on government buildings in Phnom Penh on Nov. 24, 2000, that left several civilians and soldiers dead and the long-ruling Hun Sen firmly in charge.

On April 16, 2008, a U.S. jury found Chhun guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country, mounting an expedition against a friendly nation, and conspiracy to launch a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States. Two years later he was sentenced to life in prison.

His appeal, according to court documents, claimed that Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act was too vague. Chhun argued that attempting to overthrow the government of Cambodia was not terrorism, and therefore an "antiterrorism" law couldn't apply.

Three judges with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. In the ruling, judge Carlos T. Bea wrote "it is not absurd for Congress to want to prevent people within the borders of the United States from plotting to commit murder in a foreign country. That is so even though much of the impetus behind this part of AEDPA was to fight terrorism in the United States."

In his appeal, Chhun also argued that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that he knew his revolutionary activities would lead to murder. He stated his actions may have involved "recklessness," but not "malice aforethought" — because he intended to arrest Hun Sen and limit casualties during his coup.

However, the judges pointed to letters and plans introduced in the trial, including documents written or delivered by Chhun urging CFF members to "shoot to kill (surviving enemies) on the spot" and "send them to ... hell in the near future."

Another argument advanced by Chhun was that America was not "at peace" with Cambodia because of U.S. criticism of Hun Sen in the wake of the 1997 coup. The judges were unmoved.

It is true that the U.S. government didn't aggressively track down the CFF until years after the Phnom Penh attack — and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Adam Piore, in his excellent "The Accidental Terrorist," wrote that defense attorney Richard M. Callahan Jr. described Chhun as "a victim of shifting political winds, a sacrificial lamb offered up in exchange for Cambodia’s cooperation with the war on terror."

The ruling is embedded here:

Repeating the Stages of Foreign Man in Cambodia

Most of what I write rapidly fades away. I'm sure there are a few tattered copies of columns I wrote pinned to a bulletin board somewhere, but most people read, chuckle (I hope) and toss it in the recycling bin.

But occasionally some things pop back up. 

Years ago I wrote a few pieces for Bayon Pearnik, a free monthly publication that could be generously described as childishly irreverent. Not the high point of my career, but you write what you can sell. 

But now one of those "articles" is back and with a large helping of plagiarism and copyright issues! As Khmer440 writer Gavin Mac noticed, the Bayon Pearnik is now in the habit of reprinting old copy and outright lifting stories from foreign publications. And the Pearnik recently dusted off "Stages of Foreign Man in Cambodia," which I sold to the magazine in 2005. (I didn't want my name on it then as it seemed foolish to mock NGOs while I was working for various development organizations.)

As there seems to be some interest in it, I've posted it here. Be warned, Mac refers to it as a "trite" and "crap" "attempt at humor." 

Stages of Foreign Man in Cambodia

Amateur anthropologists have documented these stages in the lives of foreigners visiting Cambodia. To be sure, not all foreigners meet these sleazy stereotypes. Many conform to other, more disgusting stereotypes.

The Professional Tourist Year 1:

You are amazed at the hustle and bustle of the city of Phnom Penh, awed by the ruins of Angkor Wat. Every pub and guesthouse you visit has air-con. You see Cambodians as friendly and lovable. Motodops are an adventure and you often try to converse with them in your pidgin Khmer. The nightlife is exciting, your savings are impressive, and life is grand.

The NGO Worker Year 1:

Within hours of arriving in Cambodia you have signed a contract with a no-hostage clause and a request that “short-term volunteers not form long-term relationships.” The first night you truly understand tropical heat when the fan dies along with the power for hours. The second day you discover your stipend will cover rice, and not much else. Your social life consists of the occasional card or board game, played with other volunteers as poor as you.

The Professional Tourist Year 2:

The country loses some of its charm, and you lose most of your savings, when you threaten to kick out your rent-a-girlfriend in a drunken rage and fail to police your passport and bankbook before passing out. Air-conditioned rooms are a distant memory and the finest brew you can afford is served at BB World. You started teaching English at a school, but it failed to pay you before it went bankrupt and disappeared overnight. You eat rice every day.

The NGO Worker Year 2:

After being promoted to a project advisor, you can finally afford BB World! Unfortunately, you’ve been assigned to a project in a distant province and are only allowed to visit Phnom Penh for organizational meetings and recuperation from such tropical niceties as malaria, dengue fever, and typhoid. Your social life consists of being heckled by the village idiot in the local market and the medical staff at your favorite clinic. Much to the chagrin of your superiors, you have formed a relationship with a local.

The Professional Tourist Year 3:

After a few bad starts, you have amassed enough experience to be hired by a language institution that actually pays its teachers. You complain bitterly about Khmer and Vietnamese women to all who will listen to you between rounds at the local bar/brothel, yet are unable to refrain from “flirting.” You consider the temples to be little more than dull heaps of rubble, but you still take every chance to hire a motorcycle and ride out to the provinces as it gives you a chance to run down locals.

The NGO Worker Year 3:

After writing a winning proposal advocating that a 16-degree office is an optimal work environment, you’ve been promoted to the country management team. The five-year, $500,000 grant from USAID covers a competitive salary, a large air-conditioned office, three accountants, a driver and a late-model all-terrain vehicle that will never travel farther than the airport. Renewal is assured, so

long as never condone prostitution during working hours. You’ll need that salary, as your upcoming traditional Khmer wedding

will cost more than most Cambodians make in 15 years.

The Professional Tourist in the future:

You’ve plowed your savings from teaching into a small business that caters exclusively to tourists. A bevy of girls looking for foreign husbands actually run the business. This steady trickle of income allows you to more fully enjoy your burgeoning alcoholism and the resulting foolish antics. Most expatriates avoid you, but the freshman tourists find you a colorful and remarkable wit.

The NGO Worker in the future:

After years of hard work, or work at least, you have risen through the ranks to be country director of your respective NGO. While you rarely see the poor Cambodians (or your wife and children) you came to this country to help, you know you are doing them good with your hectic schedule of coordinating meetings, action planning and resource networking. In fact, you rarely see anyone outside your circle of NGO directors, consultants and advisors. But other people don’t have air-conditioning.

And the piece's final line, which I did not write (it was added by the editor):

Any bells of familiarity ringing?

Which makes it hilarious that they reprinted it. 

'Ultra-nationalists and xenophobic racists'

Nate Thayer writes:

Pol Pot’s Cambodia bears a stark resemblance to the Kim family dynastic rule that runs North Korea today. There is a reason they were each others closest ideological allies.

Which raises the issue of why? The dirty little secret is that Khmer Rouge weren’t communists. They were Cambodian. In the heart of far to many Cambodian’s, there lurks a Khmer Rouge in varying degrees of dormancy. ...

[T]he Khmer Rouge were more accurately characterized as ultra-nationalists and xenophobic racists (with many similarities to fascism) intent on creating their own version of organized power deeply rooted in current Khmer political culture.

Fundamentally — and sadly — little has changed in Cambodia. Even the leading opposition figure is an unabashed xenophobe.

While it is about North Korean propaganda, B.R. Myers' "The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters" sheds some light on the politics of race, isolation and population-destroying paranoia.

Follow Nate Thayer on Twitter. I'd tell you to buy his book — he deserves to be paid — but it's out of print.

This is not a sign, it's a book

"Hand-Painted Signs of Kratie" is a descriptive if not imaginative title — but it's surprisingly interesting.

Anyone who has found himself staring at a unique sign in Cambodia would find something to like about this book. If nothing else, it will stir up memories of the bizarre commerce that has long since left the main streets of the West (hog stud services, anyone?).

Many of the signs are, of course, in Khmer. That's not as much a problem if you're illiterate in the language, because many of the signs are crafted for a populace that unfortunately has limited literacy skills.

That my wife is from Kratie and I have visited the area many times is an added bonus. Perhaps someday I'll be able to go on a sign tour and match the photos in the book with the real things. Assuming any of the originals remain.

It's available on Amazon and directly from the author.

Understanding the Khmer Rouge

Journalist Elizabeth Becker is in Phnom Penh to testify at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. She sat down with AFP reporter Michelle Fitzpatrick to talk about her brief and bizarre 1978 visit to Cambodia and interview with Pol Pot, just days before the regime was toppled by invading Vietnamese forces.

That Becker was granted a visa is somewhat remarkable since she had already published several critical pieces about the Khmer Rouge, based on the horror stories that were trickling in from Cambodian refugees.

“Do not presume they were all-seeing and all-wise,” Becker said about the Khmer Rouge leadership. “The one thing people keep forgetting is how incompetent these people were. They were cruel and ruthless and incompetent.”

The interview is on Andy Brouwer's blog and is well worth the read. Becker's book on the Khmer Rouge and the aftermath of the regime is required reading.

Wonk talk: Modern Cambodia's Emergence from the Killing Fields

If you have any interest in the modern history of Cambodia, drop everything and listen to this lecture at UCLA by Michael Haas, a journalist who has been covering Cambodia for decades. It's expensive, but it sounds like his first book on Cambodia in 20 years, "Modern Cambodia's Emergence from the Killing Fields," is worth buying.

Hat tip to Khmerican.com content editor Eric Chuk. Check out his Twitterified transcript of the lecture here.