Peacebuilding in Cambodia:
The Role of Religion
Catherine Morris
Working Paper, 2000
Executive Summary
Introduction
This project considers the role of religion in peacebuilding in Cambodia. From May 13-June 13, 2000, thirty-eight interviews were conducted in Cambodia (in English or through interpreters) with Buddhist and Christian clergy and lay leaders as well as human rights, legal development, conflict resolution and peacebuilding scholars and practitioners within civil society and government. All unattributed quotes in this paper are based on notes of confidential interviews with key informants and are not footnoted separately. Research also included literature review and documentary and literature research in Cambodia. A draft chapter for a forthcoming book on Religion and Peacebuilding, edited by Harold Coward and Gordon Smith of the University of Victoria, is to be released in November, 2003.(1) The Centre for Religion and Studies and the Institute for Dispute Resolution at UVic committed partial funding for expenses related to the Cambodia research. Funding and in-kind resources were also provided by members of Emmanuel Baptist Church and the Victoria law firm of Clay & Company.
Project purposes
The purposes of this project have been largely shaped by the book project of the University of Victoria's Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. However, the purposes of Peacemakers Trust in this project extend toward consideration of peacebuilding more broadly, and in this project toward better understanding of important factors affecting human rights, peacebuilding and development issues in Cambodia. It is hoped that working papers and writing emerging from this project will provide opportunities for Canadians to build understanding of how Cambodian culture and religious perspectives play out in current politics, orientations to human rights, and conflict resolution. Another purpose for this research is to build practical knowledge of useful - and unhelpful - strategies for development missions, including Christian initiatives. The project examined religious perspectives and approaches that people in Cambodia perceive have helped or hindered peacebuilding in Cambodia.
A caution is in order for those who considering whether this research may have applications to cultures that share the Theravada Buddhist religion, particularly Thailand, Burma and Laos. While some of the references and concepts discussed in this report may provide useful points of reference of comparison, it is important to emphasize that the different colonial and political histories and current situations of other countries means the applications from this research are quite limited. While Theravada Buddhism is the common religion of these countries, religious expression in each of these countries has developed uniquely over time within their specific and differing geographical, cultural and political contexts. Generalizations cannot be made across Theravada Buddhist countries. Also, while all Buddhist theory shares some things in common, such as its ethical precepts and some fundamental understandings of the cosmic order and the self, Theravada Buddhism is significantly different from other forms of Buddhism such as Mahayana Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism or Zen Buddhism, none of which are addressed in this report.
Over ninety percent of Cambodia's population is Theravada Buddhist; therefore, the primary focus of this research was on the role of Buddhism in the conflict and peacebuilding in that country. To a limited extent, the role of Christianity in Cambodian conflicts and peacebuilding was considered. Resources and time-frame for the project were such that extensive research on Christian churches or foreign missions in Cambodia was not possible. This report reiterates some aspects of the case study prepared for UVic, and also, within the limitations noted, discusses the role of Christianity in Cambodia. It was not possible to consider the other minority religions in Cambodia. Folk religions are practised by indigenous peoples. Animism and spirit worship are commonplace among Khmer-Buddhists. Mahayana Buddhism is practice among the Vietnamese minority. Islam is practice by the Cham people. While the Islamic Cham minority has received support for rebuilding mosques from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, roles of Muslims in Cambodian peacebuilding have not been documented at this time, although Muslims have been involved in collaborative peacebuilding initiatives.
An introductory caution is in order. Cambodia's war, violence and suffering have largely been due to the involvement, complicity, silence or apathy of many people in many other countries. Speaking about Cambodians, one Cambodian Buddhist monk urges that ". . . we must be responsible politically and personally. Everyone was implicated in some way, intentionally or unintentionally." His message, I suggest, applies equally to the international community. When asked what message needs to be conveyed to the primarily non-Cambodian audience of this research, a Catholic priest who has worked with Cambodians for decades replied: "Tell them to be humble. . . We must be very humble."
What is "peacebuilding?"
The term "peacebuilding" came into widespread use after 1992 when Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then UN Secretary-General, announced his Agenda for Peace.(2) Since then, "peacebuilding" has become a broadly used but often ill-defined term that includes not only crisis intervention and military peacekeeping, but also longer-term development, building of governance structures and institutions, and restoration and building of peaceful relationships. The focus of many international "peacebuilding" initiatives has been on structural transformation and development of liberal democratic institutions.(3) Sustainable peacebuilding includes building capacity of governments for just and competent governance, and building accessible and fair legal systems for effective and enduring resolution of disputes. Peacebuilding also includes developing the capacity of civil society, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs)(4), the media and religious institutions, for non-violent approaches to conflict, peaceful public participation in governance, and methods of peacefully and effectively influencing public policy and government practices.
Peacebuilding involves a full range of approaches, processes, and stages needed for short, medium, and long-term transformation toward more sustainable, peaceful relationships and governance modes and structures. This includes development of human rights, the legal system, good governance, equitable development and effective conflict resolution. To be effective, peacebuilding initiatives require careful and participatory planning, coordination among efforts and sustained commitments by local and donor partners. Mennonite author, John Paul Lederach, uses a building construction metaphor to describe peacebuilding as a long-term process involving investment, gathering of resources and materials, design and planning, coordination of resources and labor, laying of solid foundations, construction of walls and roofs, finish work and ongoing maintenance.(5) Thus, the process is not just a series of unconnected activities, but a process that requires coordination and long term commitment. Lederach also points out that peacebuilding centrally involves the transformation of relationships. Thus, "sustainable reconciliation" requires structural and relational transformations.(6)
It is also increasingly being recognized that peacebuilding efforts must not neglect peoples' spiritual heritages. With the increased number of conflicts centred on religious differences, the past several years has seen increased scholarly attention focussed on the potential of religiously based peacebuilding and peacemaking efforts.(7) To be effective in any society, peacebuilders must pay attention to the politics and grass-roots power of religion and religious leaders.
The relevance of religion to peacebuilding also springs from religiously-based and spiritual commitments to peace, social ethics and justice and the relief of poverty and other suffering. Much of the world's population lives in poverty, hunger or oppression. A great deal of suffering in the world today is linked to violent conflicts, political instability, or to unjust policies and practices.
Many people in foreign development work or missions around the world are now working with people who are trying to rebuild their lives and communities after the devastation of armed conflicts. International relief and development agencies, including Christian and other religiously-based agencies, are aware that short-term relief and crisis intervention, while important, are not enough in torn and traumatized societies.
Development organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for their involvement in helping people with post-conflict reconciliation, development of capacity for conflict resolution, and the building of sustainable peace. Unfortunately, they often do so with little background or training in practical concepts of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. This is not surprising, since it is only recently that the connections between development, conflict resolution and peacebuilding have been emphasized internationally. The increased numbers of conflicts that do not fit nation-to-nation theories of war and conflict have forced an increased attention on understanding sources of borderless conflicts, and on how to prevent them or their reoccurrence.
Cambodian conflicts: A brief history
Over the past decade, Cambodia has been the focus of some of the world's most concentrated peacebuilding activities in history. More than $1.8 billion was spent on the work of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). The world associates Cambodia's conflicts with the period during the Khmer Rouge regime, but its troubles have not been isolated to the past three decades. Historically, Cambodia has been caught between expansionist neighbours, European colonial interests, and the agendas of Cold War superpowers.(8)
Vietnamese and Thai expansionism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was curbed by the French protectorate installed in 1864. The colonial regime exported Cambodian resources, imposed its own administration and civil law, undermined Buddhist education, neglected secular education, and exacerbated anti-Vietnamese feeling by favouring Vietnamese government officials. The French also fostered Cambodian nationalism in "discovering" the ancient ruins of the Angkor kingdom of the ninth to fifteenth centuries, emphasising Cambodia's historical power and grandeur in contrast with its dependence on foreign protection. The French legacy included an anti-colonial nationalist movement. By the time the French withdrew in 1954, there was a functioning Cambodian communist party which had its origins in the quest for independence as well as complex internal factors. Cambodia's pre-colonial and colonial history together with the dynamics of the Vietnam war, were important factors in the ultimate rise of the radical communist Pol Pot regime which appears to have taken inspiration from China's Cultural Revolution.(9)
Cambodia suffered almost complete destruction of its societal, institutional and physical infrastructures during the so-called Khmer Rouge period between 1975 and 1979. The Pol Pot regime's policies of radical collectivism, nationalist isolation and continuous internal purges of perceived enemies(10) led to deaths of up to two million men, women and children.(11) Up to a quarter of Cambodia's population died of privation, illness, torture or execution. Most scholars and professionals, including teachers, doctors and lawyers, were killed, died, fled abroad or disappeared. Historical and religious archives were destroyed. Ethnic minorities, including Cham Muslims and Vietnamese, were persecuted. Buddhist wats were destroyed or used for storage or prisons. The Buddhist clergy (sangha) was decimated, including monks and nuns. Fewer than 5,000 of Cambodia's 65,000 monks survived the1970s. Most endured hard labor, starvation or torture. An estimated 25,000 monks were executed.(12)
Following Vietnam's ouster of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, there was a decade of international isolation.(13) A number of foreign governments including the US and the UK supported continued armed insurgency against the communist Vietnamese-sponsored regime by the royalist Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique et Coopératif (FUNCINPEC) and the republican Khmer Peoples National Liberation Front (KPNLF) and the Khmer Rouge. The breakdown of the Soviet Union, of which Vietnam was a client country, created conditions for several years of regional and, later, United Nations (UN) efforts to resolve the continuing conflict among the Cambodian factions. The eventual result was the Paris Peace Accords of 1991 and the UNTAC presence in Cambodia.
The UNTAC-organized 1993 election resulted in a fragile coalition which finally exploded in a violent military conflict in July 1997 between Cambodia's two prime ministers, Hun Sen (CPP) and Prince Norodom Ranariddh (FUNCINPEC). Ranariddh went into exile and was replaced with a FUNCINPEC leader more amenable to CPP defacto control. Under internationally monitored guarantees of safety, Ranariddh returned to Cambodia to contest another internationally monitored election in July1998. The outcome of the 1998 election was another coalition more clearly controlled by Hun Sen's CPP. Both 1993 and 1998 elections saw committed peacebuilding efforts led by Buddhist clergy and laity. The remnants of Khmer Rouge military forces were given amnesties and integrated into the Cambodian armed forces in December 1998.
Current conflicts
Since 1998 political stability has increased substantially. The lives day to day lives of many Cambodians have improved, but the country remains characterized by economic and social inequality, corruption, violence, ethnic prejudice and factionalism. Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The majority of Cambodia's population suffer from poverty to the point of wide-spread hunger, disease and high infant mortality. Dependence on foreign aid means the government juggles with development agendas of international financial institutions and donor agencies. The shift from a socialist centrally-planned economy to free market practices has been implicated in the growing gap between rich and poor. There have been increasing public conflicts and demonstrations about land, housing, labor and political issues.
Another source of Cambodian conflicts is its vertical and oppressive power structures. Centralization of personalized power and influence continues to pervade Cambodian political culture and institutions.(14) Political discourse is intensely polarized along factional lines. Factions may be based as much on personal loyalties as on political values. Kate Frieson says that throughout the monarchical, republican, communist and socialist regime types over the past half-century, there has remained
"a strong impulse toward a hierarchical system of social and political relationships with a big man manipulating various khsai roo-yia' or networks... Political parties can be viewed as being constructed from a serious or related khsae or strings emanating from the top leadership and working down to the lowest rank at the village level. 'If one does not belong to a khsae," the saying goes, 'it is impossible to do anything.'"(15)
Some Cambodian scholars and civil society leaders see this personalist approach, by which people secure jobs and favors, as interfering with development of democratic institutions that might better mediate social conflict, such as parliamentary institutions, independent judiciary and a strong civil society. Some believe patronage is breaking down in favor of the people's development of increased numbers of interconnected personal networks. Patronage relationships are also less stable than in the past; people may now seek multiple patrons and may shift patrons as patrons' influence shifts or benefits them less. Nevertheless, personal patronage relationships are still acknowledged as pervasively influential in Cambodian life. This phenomenon is connected to polarized factionalism.
Loyalties and obligations to (or fear of) current patrons, family or friends militate against taking differing views or even impartial stances. Practices of non-partisanship, neutrality and impartiality are undeveloped. Impartial complaint and decision making processes are being strongly urged for Cambodia, including an independent judiciary and human rights bodies, but there is frustration about how to implement neutrality in a political culture where the very idea of independent bodies is at odds with the goals of power-holders who benefit from the status quo. It is difficult to identify people at the national level who are seen as impartial in the sense of being trusted or respected by all sides.
Human rights abuses and lack of consistent law enforcement have led the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to characterize Cambodia's political culture as a "culture of impunity." Human rights issues include violence and bullying by authorities; sexual exploitation of children and women; widespread land rights disputes; and considerable labor injustice. Corrupt military, police and government officials often turn a blind eye or are actively involved. Laws have not been passed in some areas and are not enforced in others. Judges lack independence, training and resources. Many courts have no books, and sometimes do not even have copies of relevant laws. Corruption is widespread among the judiciary. Public frustration with impunity of offenders has led to violent mob "justice."(16) There are no trusted government human rights complaint mechanisms.
Generations of war and conflict have meant the breakdown of community structures, relationships and trust at the grass roots. The Khmer Rouge destroyed wat-centred community life, replacing it with a centralized focus on the state. The regime's continual purges fostered intense fear and mistrust which residue lingers today. There is no more armed insurgency in Cambodia, but deep divisions, violence, mistrust and trauma maintain their grip on people's morale.
There is increasing public discussion about how to come to terms with the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime, which have deeply traumatized and demoralized the population, and which children born after the regime ended find difficult to understand, or in some cases even to believe. After over two years of negotiation with the UN, legislation was passed in January 2001 to create a UN-approved tribunal to try selected high-ranking leaders of the Pol Pot regime. A number of very senior leaders in the Khmer Rouge regime are now free in Cambodia, including Ieng Sary, who was second in command in the Pol Pot regime but who was given amnesty by the government in 1996. Several other leaders in the regime are in custody. Little consultation has been done with Cambodians concerning what kinds of processes they need in order to come to terms with the past in ways that are meaningful, restorative and accessible to the Cambodian populace as a whole.(17)
International peacebuilding activities
UNTAC has been the most visible and expensive peace effort. In addition to organizing the 1993 election and repatriating many refugees, UNTAC created safety and support for development of longer-term peacebuilding efforts including human rights, legal development and civil society NGOs which have become notable for their competence and strong contributions in many areas. However, despite huge investment of resources, UNTAC was unable to fulfill other aspects of its mandate. UNTAC was unable to disarm the factions, and left in place structures that fostered continued factional power struggle.(18) UNTAC failed to prevent the CPP from using civil servants to recruit CPP members and to intimidate the population prior to the 1993 election. Lack of UNTAC success is largely attributed to lack of cooperation of the Cambodian factions, particularly the Khmer Rouge who would not even allow the UN into their controlled territories. Criticisms of UNTAC include poor UN coordination, poor discipline of UN personnel, and lack of UN political will to implement the Peace Accords. Of particular relevance to this discussion are critiques that the design of UNTAC efforts, based on the Western inspired Paris Peace Agreements, failed to consider Cambodian patterns of thinking about peace, violence and power relationships.(19) UNTAC placed little emphasis on learning about Cambodian history, culture or designing culturally-appropriate peacebuilding models. Instead, UNTAC used a top-down, technology-transfer approach, and was accused of relegating Cambodians to the status of recipients, failing to involve Cambodians in full participatory partnerships, and marginalizing local knowledge and skills.(20) UNTAC largely ignored the importance of religion of Cambodia, except in the overall context of freedom of religion as part of the panoply of international human rights the UN sought to introduce in Cambodia.
Dominant foreign efforts for continued peacebuilding still tend to give lip service to understanding Cambodian political, social and religious culture. Few resources have been put into sustained research to elicit Cambodian approaches to conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Cambodian preference for conciliatory approaches to conflict resolution has been frequently noted, and Cambodians repeatedly express interest in learning more about mediation and conciliation in community conflicts, legal disputes and human rights conflicts.(21) Recent initiatives for conciliation of Cambodia's many land disputes illustrate the need for better understanding about what kinds of mediation and conciliation processes will be effective.(22) However, few foreign resources have been put into sustained research or educational activities for conflict resolution. Most foreign legal and human rights consultants have a Western-based adversarial and advocacy based approach to legal development, and this is reflected in the lack of attention to and marginalization of conflict resolution research and training, and a lack of inquiry about current conciliation-based conflict resolution processes in villages and in the courts.(23) Whatever models are adopted, whether traditional, Western-inspired or a combination, the process of development needs to be informed and driven by Cambodians.
Buddhism in Cambodian society
Cambodia's state motto is "Nation, Religion, King." Cambodia's current constitution makes Buddhism the state religion. Cambodians are said to have a distinct sense of identity based on the glories of the Angkor empire, a Buddhist heritage and the Khmer language. The grandeur of the Angkor period between the ninth and fifteenth centuries has been used to engender a sense of Cambodian nationalism and to advance the ambitions of the diverse colonial, independent monarchist, non-monarchist republican, communist and post-communist regimes that have dominated the country over the past century.(24)
Over ninety percent of Cambodia's 11.4 million people are adherents of Theravada Buddhism, the dominant religion of the Khmer people since the thirteenth century.(25) It is often repeated that "to be Khmer is to be Buddhist."(26) Traditionally, wats (pagoda-monasteries) have been central in schooling, moral education, community decision making, political advice, spiritual counsel, and conflict resolution.
For the Khmer-Buddhist majority, Buddhism is the only institution that cuts across all political and social divisions in Cambodia. The Buddhist clergy evokes widespread popular deference, and has exceptional power to sway people at the grassroots level. Thus, Buddhism is deeply connected to Khmer national identity. Abandonment of Buddhism is often seen as abandonment of Khmer identity. Popular Khmer-Buddhism is inextricably interwoven with Indic Brahmanism and animism that predate Buddhism.
Cambodian Buddhism has not played a particularly influential role in peacebuilding. During the past decade, however, a small, Buddhist-inspired Cambodian peace movement has drawn international attention.
Traditional Buddhist ideas of governance, power
In traditional Khmer-Buddhist thinking, the nation is held together by the clergy (sangha) and the righteous ruler (dhammaraja), the two reciprocally supportive "wheels" of Buddhist law and ethical teaching (dhamma).(27) A dhammaraja is a person of merit who has risen to rule through right actions in previous lives (kamma).(28) The Buddhist monkhood maintained royal support by subordinating itself to the king. The ruler maintained the support of the Buddhist religious establishment by observing the dhamma. In particular, righteous rulers (and by extrapolation, public officials) observe Ten Royal Virtues: liberality or generosity concerning the people's welfare; morality including non-corruption; duty including self-sacrifice for the people; integrity including truthful sincerity; kindness including concern about people's hardships; austerity including simple living, spiritual discipline and self-control; non-anger; nonviolence; forbearance; and "non-opposition" to the people. The concept of non-opposition has been seen by Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as a "Buddhist endorsement of democracy."(29) Most foreign scholars and peacebuilders have paid little attention to Buddhist governance principles when considering Cambodia.(30) This is not surprising given that for centuries Cambodian politics have shown little evidence of the benign and reciprocal Buddhist governance model with ruler, sangha and people all following the dhamma with compassionate loving-kindness to one another, and dedication by all to the common good. Historically, powerful religious rhetoric and the sangha itself have been directly involved in partisan politics. Religion and religious leaders frequently have been exploited or manipulated for political purposes.(31)
In Khmer tradition, the presence of the king has cosmic significance in keeping the society from falling apart. "When the king is absent, the country is shattered."(32) Ponchaud comments that Sihanouk's deposition in the 1970 republican coup was seen as a cosmic upheaval by many people:
"... The day after [the coup], some farmers, asked by the author of this book [Ponchaud himself], showed their anxiety by answering, 'How can we cultivate the paddy-fields this year, because we do not have the King to bring the rain down any more?' In April 1980, a farmer to whom I pointed out that the rain was delayed that year, reacted immediately: 'Since the day they overthrew the King, the sky has been upside down.' Some others, reckoning the number of bad years from the year Sihanouk was overthrown in1970, expressed the hope that 'when the king comes, the soil will start again giving its fruits.' In February 1990, some unusually heavy rain fell in the north of Cambodia. Several refugees, having been asked, young and old, gave the same explanation: Sihanouk is back in his country!"(33)
Thus, the king's absence from Cambodia for two decades had a profound effect on Cambodian morale. The presence of the king may mean less to younger Cambodians born during the decades of Sihanouk's absence.(34) However, as late as 1997 after handing out small gifts to villagers, King Sihanouk is quoted as saying: "They continue to believe that I am a god-king, like the kings of Angkor... Unfortunately I am not a god. I am a human being."(35)
King Sihanouk's modest disclaimer is not entirely consistent with his actions over the past decades, in which he fashioned his public persona on the idea of the dhammaraja during the 1960s, even though he was criticized for not following by the dhamma. He used his royal position to inspire the Cambodian population to follow into the jungle during the 1970s when he was collaborating with the Khmer Rouge to the end of regaining political power. He also used his monarchical persona to inspire continued insurgency against the Vietnamese sponsored government of the 1980s. The king's popularity is said to have been a very significant factor in the popularity of FUNCINPEC in the 1993 election.
Cambodian power structures and Buddhist thought
In Buddhist teaching, differences would be worked out non-violently and without greed or attachment to wealth or power. In sharp contrast to this Buddhist ideal, a feature of Cambodia that has pervaded its culture and institutions is the centralization of personalized power.(36) There is no tradition of real power sharing. There is no room for "loyal opposition." Dissent is seen as disruptive, disloyal or even tantamount to treason.(37) Patronage in Cambodia facilitates both personalist and vertical power structures. Cooperation within patronage relationships is not viewed as an egalitarian dialogue to work together or work through differences, but rather as remaining in harmony with the patron's authority or power.(38) Practically speaking, egalitarian compromise is restricted to peers at the village level.
Critics of what some have referred to as "opium" versions of Buddhism say that its harmony ideology contributes to the sustaining of vertical power structures, and thus interferes with sustainable peace, ethical governance, social justice and efficacious resolution of social conflict. Buddhist teaching and sangha have been seen as a conservative influence, upholding the status quo, and "even serving as a spiritual tranquillizer for the oppressed by promising happiness in the world to come."(39) Communists who sought to eradicate religion saw this Buddhist doctrine as "opium of the people"(40) that contributed to passivity, fatalism, acceptance of social inequalities and oppression.
Social inequalities historically have been accepted in Khmer-Buddhist thinking as the consequences of kamma. The rich and powerful are privileged because of merit in past lives. People are poor, disabled, or in bad circumstances because of bad actions in former lives. If the rich and powerful commit bad actions in this life, they will surely "receive their sins" in the next life as a matter of karmic law.(41) Thus, Buddhism is blamed for public apathy about social injustices in the here and now.
The Buddhist concept of forbearance (khanti) is also implicated in preserving unjust power structures at the expense of sustainable peace at personal, community and national levels. One Cambodian civil society leader says that popular understandings about forbearance contribute to passivity and fatalism. Khanti can lead to sweeping issues under the carpet, and eventually to running away, suicide or explosion:
"The Cambodian peasants (I was born in such a family) had exercised their khanti and were forbearing and forgiving abuses by their rulers for so long that at the end many of them turned [to the] Khmer Rouge and joined in the massacre of their better-off countrymen (town folks, government officials). It is better now, when there are democratic channels (demonstrations, strikes, letters of complaints, other forms of protests, protests by the opposition, NGOs or newspapers on their behalf) whereby they could vent their anger and express themselves. Khanti cannot solve our problems and conflicts. "(42)
Bit Seanglim uses a social psychological approach to explain this prevalent Cambodian approach to conflict which he also connects to Cambodian power structures. He says that authorities fear losing their power, and the people fear domination. This means a tendency to avoid personal risk - and an avoidance of conflict.(43) He uses a volcano metaphor to describe the Cambodian pattern of conflict avoidance and suppression of emotion, with sudden eruptions after long repression.(44) Some have tried to explain the murderousness of the Khmer Rouge period as an explosion of popular rage against elites.(45) Some add that the abolition of religion meant no countervailing Buddhist teaching to keep widespread brutality and violence from erupting.(46)
Buddhism today
Buddhist revival over the past decade means there are now about 50,000 monks in Cambodia. An estimated 4,000 pagodas have been restored using lay offerings.
Cambodia now has an estimated 20,000(47) nuns (donchees) who have lower status and prominence than monks. This is partly because nuns are unordained "lay devotees." Theravada Buddhist traditions have not ordained nuns for many centuries. Nuns are usually mature women without family responsibilities. Usually uneducated, nuns traditionally work in pagodas as housekeepers, although over the past several years the Association of Nuns and Lay Women of Cambodia (ANLWC) has been training nuns in Buddhist concepts of human rights, and skills for conflict resolution, leadership, trauma counseling and social work for street children. Nuns and lay Buddhist women have been driving, organizing and coordinating forces for much of Cambodia's peacework, and have been visibly present in public peace activities.
Internal divisions in the sangha mean increased ability of political players to manipulate Khmer-Buddhism. Currently the sangha is divided into two denominations. The Mohanikay denomination is headed by Venerable Tep Vong and identified with the CPP. The tiny Thommayut denomination is associated with the royal family, and thus with the royalist FUNCINPEC party.
Most educated clergy were lost during the Khmer Rouge period. Consequently, most current clergy lack education and experience. Novice monks tend to have only primary education. Teenagers often become monks temporarily for education or as part of traditional expectations that males serve a time in the monkhood. Shortage of educated and experienced senior monks means lack of discipline for young monks. There are anecdotes about monks publically leering at women, and even standing by giggling while mobs beat alleged thieves.(48) Monk education is improving. In 1992 the Buddhist Institute was reopened and began distributing scriptures to libraries and pagodas. Japan's donation of a million copies of Khmer language Buddhist scriptures means young monks can read them. Divisions among monks are appearing as young monks challenge elders on points of discipline and tradition.(49)
In spite of poor education, lack of consistent discipline and political divisions, even the very presence of monks in public activities has a legitimizing effect. All current Cambodian political parties seek sangha support by inviting monks to bless events and by visiting and donating to wats. Religious concepts of peace, forgiveness and justice are manipulated by government and opposition political players in controversies concerning amnesties and accountability of Khmer Rouge leaders(50) as well as concerns about impunity.(51) CPP authorities are still seen as controlling religion.(52) High ranking monks are widely perceived by civil society leaders as partisan supporters of the CPP. CPP authorities recently coerced and used force on monks when some young monks became involved in opposition political demonstrations after the 1998 elections.(53)
Peace, forgiveness and justice
Cambodian conceptions of "peace"
Authorities in Cambodia have proclaimed the country to be at "peace" since the last Khmer Rouge soldiers were amnestied into the Cambodian armed forces in 1998. Non-violence and peace (santipheap) are hall-marks of Buddhist theory. While santipheap certainly means the absence of armed conflict and increased political stability, most Khmer-Buddhist understandings in Cambodia go well beyond this minimalist definition.
Traditionally, Buddhist understandings of santipheap begin with inner peace, borne of compassion and loving-kindness in the individual mind. Through example and teaching, peace within the individual radiates outward to the family, to the community, to the nation and to the world. Peace is also tied to individual practice of the five Buddhist precepts against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, wrong speech (including lying), and intoxicants. Breaking the precepts causes conflict.(54) In this perspective, a peacebuilder's role might be to conduct education toward the goal of a critical mass of peaceful individuals within society.(55)
Cambodian culture is viewed as individualistic compared to some other Asian countries. The nuclear family is emphasized more than the extended family. There is less collectivist emphasis than often expected in Asian countries. Cambodian individualism is frequently attributed to Buddhist ideas of individual responsibility for sin and salvation.(56) However, Buddhism also repudiates selfishness. Current high levels of self-interest in Cambodia are popularly lamented.
The Buddhist doctrine of anatta (no self) teaches that really there is "no self to be self-centred about."(57) In the doctrine of anatta, a person
"is 'a becoming' rather than a 'being,' a sequence of events rather than a conscious, permanent self - a mind, body and selfhood ('I-ness') which consists of passing moments. Man is without atta (soul) - not that he has no self, no continuity of self-reference, no individuality... [but] there is no permanence about that which he perceives to be self, there is no unchanging essence underlying his becoming. The phenomenon which is individual man is a constantly changing conglomerate of moments of materiality, sensations, perceptions, mental reformations, and consciousness.... [T]he makeup (form, etc.) and experience of the individual at any particular moment is the result of past action by that individual, and what one will be at any future moment is being conditioned by action ongoing at present."(58)
In Buddhist teaching, self-interest (beyond need) flows from greed, hatred and delusion. In practice, collectivist and cooperative tendencies traditionally have been strong, particularly at the village level. Several Cambodian scholars and civil society leaders interviewed for this project recall past times when villagers shared labor and produce, particularly at planting and harvest seasons.
Many religious and civil society leaders in Cambodia attribute violence, breakdown in peaceful governance and lack of community to the breakdown of Buddhist ethics and practice in political and community life. Current Buddhist practice is said by many to be a ceremonial gloss at best, apparently affecting the ethics and behavior of people - and particularly rulers - little or not at all. One Cambodian scholar and civil society leader who grew up in a village comments on the lack of community today in comparison to what he remembers from before the war:
"When I was young, it was much more open - people could take a lemon from my tree and use water from my well. But now times have changed. Now people's things are their own. No one shares money even for a common pump - the NGOs build them for free. If it needs repair, a conflict emerges between some who pay and others who do not."
Another concept of "peace" emphasizes social order and the absence of open conflicts and disputes. The Buddhist concept of forbearance (khanti) has been associated with prevention of conflict (hingsa) or violence.(59) In this conception, "peace" is seen not as the absence or resolution of conflict, but as the absence of manifest disharmony.(60) The role of khanti in exacerbating conflict has been mentioned earlier.
Buddhist peace workers and conflict resolution educators trained in both Buddhism and peacemaking tend to hold broader concepts of peace that go beyond individual peace and harmony ideology. Their efforts include intentional community peacebuilding through teaching and facilitation of village projects that build understanding, trust and community relationships. In this relational approach to peace, "peace" does not emerge from just silently putting up with injustice. Rather, in the words of one peace worker, a "culture of peace" will only come about "through communication and dialogue."
One example of this approach is a project of the Local Capacities for Non-Violence (LCN) program of the American Friends Service Committee. The LCN project supports and encourages the interests and ideas of villagers for peacebuilding and violence reduction in two districts in Koh Kong province. Some of the villages they work with are far from the nearest wat, and three villages expressed their wish to build an open air structure, called a salabon, for hosting visiting monks on holy days, during traditional celebrations, and for community meetings to discuss village concerns. The project has assisted these villages with building salabons, and with the process of choosing village elders to maintain the structures. In Pre Veng province, the project has worked with the Mennonite Central Committee to address villagers' concerns about security from banditry. The project facilitated discussions of local ideas such as locked gates across the roads to stop motorcycles (often used by bandits) from entering the villages at night, a bamboo clapper code to warn of danger, and community-wide agreements amongst village women that they will be bold enough to start conversations with strangers to learn why they are in the village. One of the goals of the LCN project is to facilitate grass roots peace by helping villages develop their own responses to rebuilding social structures, relationships and trust.
Another example of a dialogical approach is the work of the Cambodia Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP). While not overtly Buddhist in approach, the CICP has been working on development of dialogue, respect and trust among people of the varying parties and factions through holding resolution-based discussion round tables on issues of public controversy.
Another conception of peace is associated with mutuality within society. Some Cambodian proverbs commend social complementarity; for example, "The rich people must keep the poor people because the poor people keep the rich people in clothes." Such proverbs do not challenge social inequalities, but rather suggest that social harmony depends on addressing the needs of the poor.
Some peace workers go farther, saying peace does not exist "until people can trust each other, and until [there is] no gap between rich and poor..." referring to
"material gap, social gap and relationship gap... If the gap is too big, violence might happen. For example, the rich need to provide money for schools. The poor can use their manpower. But if the rich don't pay attention to the poor, the poor may become angry and use violence."
These peaceworkers attribute land disputes, the biggest source of conflict in Cambodia, to the rich taking and occupying the land at the expense of the poor. Using this conception of "peace," peacebuilders work toward closing gaps between rich and poor. Some Buddhist groups do this by fostering development. An example is Buddhism for Development in Battambang province, founded by Venerable Heng Monychenda, who served as a monk for thirteen years but left the monkhood in 1997. He continues in his development work.
Finally, some see "peace" not primarily as an outcome or a product. Rather, as one peace worker says, "peace is a process that must go without stopping. It is like breathing." These words recall Maha Ghosananda's(61) comments:
"... retaliation, hatred and revenge only continue the cycle [of violence] and never stop it... Reconciliation does not mean that we surrender rights and conditions, but rather that we use love. Our wisdom and our compassion must walk together. Having one without the other is like walking on one foot; you will fall. Balancing the two you will walk very well, step by step."(62)
Forgiveness
Government and religious leaders have invoked Buddhist concepts of forgiveness in controversies connected with proposed trials of Khmer Rouge leaders. Buddhism teaches that victims should not take revenge, but leave justice up to kamma. Hun Sen and other government supporters amnestied some Khmer Rouge leaders in 1998 in order to end the civil war. They appeared to justify this (at least implicitly) with Buddhist notions of non-revenge: "Bury the past," said Hun Sen in 1998.(63) "Forgive and forget" says one monk in 2000. Demands for justice through trials of Khmer Rouge leaders are linked by the government with revenge and proposed to be in opposition to a forgiveness that emphasizes karmic justice.
Buddhist human rights advocate, Kassie Neou, the director of Cambodian Institute of Human Rights and a member of the National Election Commission, acknowledges the importance of the government's 1996 amnesty to Ieng Sary and so ending the armed conflict. He suggests that forgiveness is important in the interests of the people of Cambodia.(64) His article seems to advocate the desirability of a unilateral kind of spiritual or emotional forgiveness of perpetrators by their victims.
Others point out that Buddhism connects forgiveness to the acknowledgment of sin (bap) by the wrongdoer and an intention to change his or her behaviour.(65) The story of Angulimala has been used in Cambodia to illustrate this principle. A man named Ahimsaka (later changed to Angulimala or "necklace of fingers") was a murderer who cut off the thumbs of his victims to complete a necklace of 1000 thumbs of his victims. Angulimala now had 999 fingers and needed just one more. Angulimala was running after his final victim who happened to be his mother, when he saw the Buddha. "Why kill my mother?" thought Angulimala, "I will get this ascetic instead." He began to run after the Buddha, but was unable to out-run him. When he became tired and discouraged, he shouted to the Buddha to stop. The Buddha replied, "I have stopped. It is you who should stop." Curious and perplexed, Angulimala stopped and questioned the Buddha. The Buddha then explained that he had stopped all evil and that Angulimala too should do the same. After listening to the Dhamma of the compassionate Buddha, Angulimala threw down his sword and asked to be ordained as a disciple. After that, he followed the teachings, meditated, and reached the supreme bliss of enlightenment. Thus, Angulimala changed from a fearsome murderer into a compassionate and caring monk. The lesson is that forgiveness should be practised with wrongdoers who repent.(66)
In this Buddhist teaching, forgiveness is linked to the wrongdoer's acknowledgment of sin as well as a change of direction (similar to the Christian concept of repentance.)(67) This is not a unilateral forgiveness achieved by the victim without the accountability of the wrongdoer. This more balanced Buddhist teaching links forgiveness with acknowledgement, accountability and justice (juttethor).(68)
Concepts of justice
The Khmer concept of justice (juttethor) is tied to the dhamma and linked with the concept of kamma. Justice is different from revenge in that revenge is sought by the wronged individual whereas justice is left to karmic consequences. As one civil society leaders stated: "Forgiveness is mine. Revenge is mine. Kamma is beyond myself." It is also important to note that juttethor is also connected to ideas of fairness, honesty and impartiality in conflict resolution, traditionally conducted by monks or lay administrations (achaar) within the local wat or pagoda.
Two key informants, a monk and a lawyer, illustrated concepts of justice with the parable of Angulimala, the repentant murderer. The monk informant contrasted the story of Angulimala with that of a monk who was continually violating the Buddhist rule. Even though everyone advised him to stop opposing the Buddhist rule, he did not. One day, he and his followers were swallowed up in an earthquake. My informant advised: "Compare the two stories and you will see justice." The Supreme Patriarch of the Mohanikay denomination, Venerable Tep Vong is said to have likened Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary to Angulimala.(69)
The story of Angulimala is also referred to by Alan Channer in a brief article about the work of monk peace activist Maha Ghosananda.(70) Channer points out Ghosananda's choice of a painting of Angulimala (or "Finger-garland") to hand out booklets on wise leadership. Channer's article also records Channer's perceptions of the attitude of Cambodians to the Khmer Rouge:
"There is a surprising amount of unanimity amongst ordinary people one aspect of this question. They will tell you that lower-ranking Khmer Rouge solders and their families should be pardoned and re-integrated into normal society. However, there is significant disagreement on what fate should befall Pol Pot's close associates and commanders."
Channer points out that "...the path of Buddhism beckons Cambodians ...towards compassion and equanimity." He notes that Finger-garland repented, and
"went through the villages he had terrorized spreading a message of harmlessness. Villagers pelted him with sticks and pots, but the Buddha advised him 'Bear it, bear it. You are experiencing here and how the results of deeds for which you might have been tortured in hell for thousands of years.' Finger-garland himself exclaimed: 'There are some who tame with beatings, some with goads and some with whips; but I was tamed by such alone who has no weapon.'"(71)
Controversy about the appropriate interpretation and practice of forgiveness and justice (and their connection with one another) is intense, politicized, and far from over. After more than two years of negotiations with the United Nations concerning a trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, the agreement was finally passed by Cambodia's National Assembly and Senate in January, 2001. Nevertheless, there is still controversy about the legislation including whether and when it be implemented. At the time of writing, the UN was considering the language of the legislation to see whether it conforms to their agreement with the Cambodian government. Several civil society leaders have suggested their leaders do not want a trial(72) because of allegiances and promises to senior Khmer Rouge leaders, such as Ieng Sary, and because of alliances with donor countries such as China which was deeply implicated with the Khmer Rouge in an advisory capacity. There are also continuing doubts about whether trials - by themselves - will bring to Cambodians the kind of healing from the past that is needed by the population.
Human rights leaders in Cambodia do distinguish between Khmer-Buddhist versions of forgiveness and juttethor (both of which operate within the religious framework of kamma), and Western concepts and processes of international human rights which call for temporal justice. International human rights are based primarily on Western theories of natural law. But civil society leaders in Cambodia see harmonies between international human rights and Buddhist theory. Cambodia is a signatory to major international human rights instruments. Its constitution and its civil society leaders uphold international principles. Civil society and human rights leaders see the need for social institutions, structures and attitudes that support deterrence, accountability and justice in this life-time without waiting for karmic forces to take care of things. Thus, they distinguish justice from vengeance.
Many Buddhist monks have enthusiastically learned and taught about human rights. Senior Cambodian monk, Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro, reconciles Western ideas of public participation, democracy and human rights with compatible ideas found in dhamma. He maintains that "Buddha himself advocated democracy within the community of monks, citizen participation in government and opposition to tyranny."(73)
There is a chasm between the "forgive and forget" stance of the dominant government leadership and the needs of ordinary Cambodians to understand and address the extreme human rights violations of the past. Current government leaders and their supporters have been the main proponents of "forgiveness" (harmony) ideology in connection with the past actions of the Khmer Rouge. Research in 2000 indicated most Cambodian people do want to see international trials of at least senior Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for policies and decisions that allowed the killing, dying and suffering during 1975-79.(74) But Cambodians want and need much more than this. They need to understand the past, and to achieve some kind of broad based healing and reconciliation, as well as relief from physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual traumas.
Above all, Cambodians want an end to current fear and impunity. Cambodians want sustainable peace that goes beyond the mere cessation of armed insurgency. Sustainable peace will be achieved only with sustained peacebuilding.
The Cambodian peace movement
The work inspired by Maha Ghosananda(75) is the most frequently cited example of religiously-based peacebuilding in Cambodia. Maha Ghosananda led annual peace walks in Cambodia between 1992 and 1998. The peacework he inspire resulted in his nomination for the Nobel Prize four times between 1994 and 1997. During the 1980s, he worked with other monks including Venerable Yos Hut to encourage the factions to negotiate Peace Accords. It is important not to overstate the effectiveness of their efforts, since the Accords were brought about only after the UN stepped in. But the monks' presence was noticed, and their moral authority with the factions should not be dismissed.
Maha Ghosananda is the founder and remains the spiritual leader of the Dhammayietra movement in Cambodia. Connected to the Dhammayietra movement is the work of the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR)(76) which has sponsored grass-roots training in conflict resolution and nonviolence for many Buddhist monks, nuns and others. Considerably inspired by Gandhi, the Dhammayietra movement has aimed at teaching and exemplifying active nonviolence as a way to peace and reconciliation. The Dhammayietra movement conducted annual peace walks from 1992, including walks through armed conflict zones. This increasingly prominent movement has been marked by thorough planning and preparation. Training has included theory and practical disciplines of nonviolence and conflict resolution. Preparation for the 1996 walk included twelve training workshops in eight provinces for about 600 people. In previous years about half this many were trained. The peace campaign prior to the 1998 elections involved workshops, training and practice sessions, poster and media campaigns, and a great deal of logistical preparation coordinated largely by Cambodian NGOs.(77)
Experience during the peace walks led to development of policies to help maintain non-partisanship in highly polarized conflict. The Dhammayietra movement has had to guard peace walks from the presence of government soldiers "protecting" the walks, which they found attracted shots that killed some walkers in 1994. In subsequent years, leaders have insisted that soldiers not escort the walks. Walkers are asked not to wear anything that could be taken to be military clothing, political insignia or political slogans.(78) Thus, the Dhammayietra movement has focused on a practical and determined non-partisanship.(79)
Buddhism at the grassroots
Monks and monk administrators (achars) have traditionally played central roles in moral education and conflict resolution in rural Cambodia where 80 percent of the population lives. One product of the Dhammayietra movement has been the training of a number of monks and nuns in community conflict resolution.(80) Limited research has been done on local wat-based styles of participatory governance,(81) and village conflict resolution methods.(82) More research is needed to understand Cambodian conflict styles and to enhance methods of conflict resolution suited to the Cambodian context.
Neither village monks nor local decision makers are exempt from political pressures.(83) CPP strength continues to penetrate the country at all levels. It seems unlikely that commune elections currently planned for 2002 will shift this power base.(84) Also, not all villages have wats nearby. Buddhists in Cambodia see a need to increase the influence of Buddhist principles of good governance and village-level social transformation through more education in Buddhist theories of ethical governance, and development of practical skills in neutrality and conflict resolution (the Middle Path.)
It is important to note that animistic practices and ways of thinking are combined in popular expressions of Khmer-Buddhism. Cambodians believe that spirits govern rivers, forests, houses and villages. The spirits of the land (neak ta) are venerated and worshipped in order to assure people's protection, health, crops, and rains. There are also ghosts (khmaoch) which are spirits of people who have died through accident, drowning, suicide, who roam about and must be pacified.(85) These beliefs and practices remain widespread in rural and urban Cambodia, and are intertwined with Buddhist belief and practice.
At the grass roots, Cambodians have deeply religious conceptions of the world, and Buddhism comprises only a part of their cosmic viewpoint. Those involved in development work in Cambodia need to be aware of the deep and intertwined religious views that include animism, Indic ideas and Buddhism. Cambodian religious ideas, particularly Buddhism, have been profoundly shaken by the events of the past several decades. There is much doubt and questioning, but the religious traditions have not been uprooted.
Christians in Cambodia
Catholics have had a small presence in Cambodia since the 1550s and Protestants since the 1920s. Cambodian Christians themselves now form a tiny minority of about 40,000 people including about 15,000 Catholics. Currently, Cambodian churches are concerned about conflicts, but the churches are small and have few resources to address peacebuilding or conflict resolution. Cambodian Christians also feel politically and social vulnerable in a majority Buddhist society. Roman Catholic congregations are often significantly Vietnamese, which means their challenges include ethnically divided congregations. Efforts have included encouraging Vietnamese church members to learn the Khmer language so as to become better integrated into the dominant society. Resources and time for this project did not permit in depth research concerning the interests and roles of local churches concerning conflict and peacebuilding. Therefore, this section focuses on the work of foreign Christian organizations in Cambodia.
History of Christians in Cambodia
Historically, dominant Western expressions of Christianity have played an important part in Cambodia's conflicts. French priest François Ponchaud(86) argues that from the very beginning of its presence in Cambodia in the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church was coopted and manipulated over and over again by European rulers seeking economic opportunities, and by Cambodian rulers seeking European protection against aggressive neighbours. For example, the French protectorate in Cambodia was brokered with the assistance of Catholic clergy. Historically, Church involvements did not generally result in peacebuilding, but rather in political entanglements with one side or the other in a succession of Cambodia's political conflicts. In the twentieth century, American leaders manipulated Christians' intense fear of godless communism to gain popular support for anticommunist incursions into Southeast Asia. The same anticommunist sentiment was involved in Cold War attitudes which led to isolation of the Vietnamese-sponsored government during the 1980s. Writing about Christian roles in development work in the 1980s and 1990s, Anglican priest Don Cormack comments that "Christian humanitarian organizations who receive considerable state funding from their home countries . . . may directly or indirectly serve their strategic interests."(87) Thus, the Christian church has a history of being manipulated or coopted to the detriment of the Cambodian people and at the expense of sustainable peace.
Historically, the Christian Church has not strongly attracted the Khmer people. Few Cambodians were converted over the centuries by the Roman Catholic missions, with similarly few conversions from Protestant missions in the early part of the twentieth century. Between 1970 and 1975, however, there were thousands of conversions to Christianity as war intensified and refugees from the country-side poured into Phnom Penh.(88) Most foreign missionaries left just before the fall of Phnom Penh in April, 1975. Few Cambodian Christians of any denomination survived the Khmer Rouge regime. Missions returned, mainly to refugee camps, around 1979.
Christian organizations such as Quakers, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Church World Service, the Lutheran World Service, World Vision and other church-based organizations were among those who first went back into Cambodia in1979 and the early 1980s with humanitarian aid to start to address huge needs of refugees and internally displaced people.(89)
Christians in foreign development work
Foreign Christian efforts have been most prominent in social services, health care and rural development. Their efforts are praised and criticized. One Christian leader remarked that virtually his entire expatriate congregation in Phnom Penh is involved in development efforts of one kind or other; some of them work in very demanding and self-sacrificial roles. Also noted has been competition among Christians of differing philosophies in foreign missions and development work. Some emphasize development and others evangelization. They do not necessarily work together.(90) One civil society leader also suggested that foreign Christian humanitarian agencies do not necessarily work with local public officials to try to strengthen local institutions; instead they build parallel social services which strengthen their own presence. In interpreting this criticism, one must recall that working with government authorities is very challenging given the political polarization, the endemic corruption, and until recently the considerable political instability. Some foreign Christian organizations make considerable efforts to hire Cambodians.
Christian peacebuilders
Christian presence in peacebuilding activities is small, but respected and appreciated at grassroots and national levels. Christian peaceworkers have laboured alongside Cambodian monks and others for the past two decades, including work with monks who were encouraging peace talks during the 1980s. Christians have been involved in the Dhammayietra movement of the 1990s, grass roots conflict resolution work and the 1998 election Campaign to Reduce Violence for Peace.
Quakers, Mennonites and Catholics have been the most prominent in peacework although other Christian denominations are also involved. These groups tend to work with local communities and organizations, including Buddhist organizations, to facilitate development of local knowledge and strategies for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The previously discussed work of the Mennonite Central Committee and the Local Capacities for Non-Violence (LCN) project of the American Friends Service Committee are examples.
Christians have also been active in weapons reduction work and the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Land Mines. Denise Coghlan, a Mercy Sister, is well known in Cambodia for her leadership in this work through Jesuit Services. The Cambodia Campaign was part of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines that resulted in the award of the 1997 Nobel Prize to a group that included Cambodian landmine accident survivor, Tun Channareth and others. More importantly, the Cambodia campaign, as part of the International Campaign, is credited with providing moral pressure that contributed to signing of the 1997 Treaty to Ban Land Mines by 122 countries including Cambodia.
Jesuit Bob Maat, who has been active in the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation in Battambang, is also frequently mentioned in the context of peacework in Cambodia. He has been involved in teaching about peace using examples of the lives of great peacemakers from various religious traditions, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, and Maha Ghosananda.
Cambodians, including Buddhist leaders and local NGOs have seen the work of Christian peaceworkers. Their work has been seen as cooperative, complementary, and facilitative of their own local initiatives.
Christians and conflict
Not all church presence has been seen as conducive to peacebuilding. Some initiatives have created conflict. Assertive evangelistic proselytization has offended many.(91) Nevertheless, Christianity, particularly evangelical Christianity, is attracting many Cambodians who have suffered a crisis of faith because of their experiences of the war, the Khmer Rouge period, and the subsequent slowness of recovery. Some consider that evangelical Christians have been strategic in targeting traumatized people and groups, criticizing their Buddhist religion as ineffective and offering Christianity as an alternative.(92)
Many deeply-shaken Cambodian Buddhists struggle with meaning. They cannot accept karmic explanations of the atrocities and hardships of the past several decades. They wonder how the whole population could have been so wicked in past lives as to have deserved what they experienced. Some Cambodians are attracted to Christ's forgiveness of sin, with former Tuol Sleng prison chief, Duch, cited as an example.(93)
Even though Christians are a tiny minority, church growth and the high-profile presence of evangelical Christian missionaries, has created concern among a few (Buddhist) civil society leaders about religious conflict in the future. If there is large-scale "defection" to Christianity, there is fear of Buddhist backlash to protect Khmer-Buddhist identity.(94) Currently there is prejudice against Cambodians who turn to Jesus - they are seen as giving up their Khmer identity along with Buddhism.(95) Also, Khmer-Buddhists may be suspicious of those who convert to Christianity. According to Smith-Hefner's research, many Khmer-Buddhists are familiar with the Christian ideas of salvation and cleansing from sin:
"There is, in fact, a widespread suspicion among Buddhists that those Khmer who convert to Christianity do so because they are seeking respite from some unbearable burden of sin, the result of unspeakable acts. Khmer Buddhists speak disdainfully, for example, of the way in which 'many former Khmer Rouge' have converted to Christianity in the hope that a quick change of faith can spare them from the spiritual repayments they must make in future lives for the suffering they have caused. These Buddhists commented that while the law of karma would condemn such people to repeated horrible rebirths for hundreds of years, Christianity offers immediate, total, and unjustifiably easy forgiveness. Viewed from their perspective of karmic justice, the Christian concept of forgiveness is profoundly unjust."(96)
There has been persecution of Cambodian Christians in Cambodia's history.(97) But it is important not to overstate this concern. Current religious tolerance appears high. Most civil society leaders and government leaders report no religious conflict in Cambodia. The considerable contributions of foreign Christian development missions are appreciated. Both Christians and Buddhists see increased inter-faith dialogue as one way to prevent seeds of religiously-based conflict from growing in Cambodia. Also urged is the facilitation of local church growth in keeping with Cambodian culture, rather than imposition of foreign strategies and creating the image that "Cambodian Christians are just self-seeking Western clones..."(98)
Conclusions
While there has been a revival of Buddhism since the end of the Khmer Rouge period in 1979, the future of Khmer-Buddhism is by no means certain. The clergy is weak, and the among the population Buddhism is largely a ceremonial veneer. Popular teaching of Buddhism is currently quite minimal. Some Cambodians fear that Buddhism will give way to Christianity. Also, the historic animistic folk religions and spirit worship are entrenched and widespread, and possibly form the deepest day-to-day spirituality of Cambodians.(99) However, there are strong historic, cultural and emotional bonds to Khmer-Buddhism. Some Buddhist doctrines such as kamma are pervasive and deeply rooted in Cambodia.
This study shows how interfaith Buddhist-Christian collaboration can be effective in areas of common concern for peacebuilding and conflict resolution. There has been a significant positive impact by locally-initiated work led by a non-partisan and multi-faith religious community, such as anti-landmines work and the Dhammayietra movement. This work has inspired people in Cambodia and elsewhere to see that non-partisan nonviolence can be an effective third way between violent revolution and docile acquiescence to injustice. While the Buddhist clergy is not a strong partner for interfaith dialogue at the present time, Buddhist education is growing stronger, and attention to dialogue may prevent any future religiously-based conflict. Working together can build relationships with sufficient trust to enhance future interfaith dialogue.
From an international development perspective, the religiously-based peacework in Cambodia shows the good fruits of facilitative foreign approaches to peacebuilding and development, compared to advisory, top-down, "we-know-best" approaches. Increased foreign efforts would be well spent on action research to facilitate expansion of local knowledge and strategies.
This study points out some risks in foreign evangelistic stances. Evangelistic efforts that fail to understand or respect local culture and religion may result in misunderstanding of Christian doctrine and messages, particularly the central Christian doctrines of forgiveness and repentance. Also, evangelistic efforts based in attitudes of Western cultural and political superiority could result in a Westernized right-wing Christianity that affiliates with the endeavours of dominant agendas of globalization and right-wing liberalization more than it does with the economic and social needs of Cambodians. Cambodia Christians may be well be better strengthened by foreign efforts that focus on developing capacity within local churches, and the fostering of local church leadership than on traditional foreign-centred missionary endeavours. Further, a top-down "charity"-oriented and advisory attitude of foreign missionaries may work only to foster continued dependence. Short-term foreign Christian missions may well be discouraged at the present time unless there are competent and well-experienced local host partners to ensure that foreigners are very carefully selected, briefed, trained, and placed in appropriately supervised positions.
Needs noted by key informants or emerging from this research
Some key informants noted some needs in the area of conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Cambodia:
- Creation, coordination and strengthening of networks within the field of conflict resolution in Cambodia;
- Identification of all peacebuilding activities of various government and non-governmental organizations in Cambodia (for example, through creation of a "peace map") for purposes of information-sharing and coordination;
- More conflict resolution education for government officials at all levels, including the grassroots levels;
- More conflict resolution education for civil society workers including NGO workers and both lay and ordained people, and for men, women and youth;
- Increased attention to ethical training in schools and for government officials, military and police; this is mentioned in the context of issues involving human rights and corruption;
- More attention to identification and development of Cambodian concepts of impartiality and non-partisanship.
Annotated reading list
Historian David Chandler noted that in the UNTAC peacebuilding effort, expertise on Cambodia was rare:
"Very few people associated with UNTAC had any prior experience in Cambodia, linguistic expertise, or an abiding interest in the country.... Throughout 1991... many UNTAC officials paid a price for this shortcoming. They spend several months on a learning curve that could have been smoothed out by asking a few questions, hiring some knowledgeable people, and reading a few books."(100)
The following short annotated bibliography represents some useful reading for those preparing for assignments in Cambodia. Those who unfortunately have only enough time for reading on the plane (not uncommon) could down-load the on-line materials noted below, or look up the two asterisked journals which contain short and readable articles by leading authors, and also scan the on-line edition of the Phnom Penh Post, http://www.phnompenhpost.com. To get a cursory overview of Cambodian issues in the international news, checking a couple of years of back-issues of The Economist is useful, but not enough. It is also recommended to sign on to the free Cambodia news list CamNews, which sends out several postings of news of Cambodia each day. To subscribe, send e-mail to camnews-request@cambodia.org with a single line: "subscribe." For useful reports and documents on current issues including human rights and economic development issues, see the website of the NGO Forum on Cambodia. It is also useful to visit the websites of relevant Cambodian organizations.
Historical overviews
David Chandler, A History of Cambodia, Second edition (Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 1996). Chandler is considered one of the leading historians on Cambodia. This highly readable book covers Cambodian history for the past two thousand years, with emphasis on the period from 1800 onward including the growth of nationalism, the growth of the left, civil war, the Khmer Rouge and post-Khmer Rouge periods. Readily accessible in university libraries or by interlibrary loan. ISBN 974-7100-65-7.
Ian Harris, "Buddhism in Extremis: The Case of Cambodia," in Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth-Century Asia, edited by Ian Harris, 54-78 (London, New York: Pinter, 1999) . This article is a good overview of the historical involvement of Khmer-Buddism in Cambodian politics. ISBN 1855675986.
Robert C. Lester, Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1973). Lester's book is a useful primer on the basic concepts of Theravada Buddhism.
François Ponchaud, The Cathedral of the Rice Paddy: 450 Years of History of the Church in Cambodia. Translated from the French into English by Nancy Pignarre and the Bishop Salas Cambodian Catholic Center (Paris: Le Sarment, Fayard, 1990) . This is a valuable and readable history of the Roman Catholic church in Cambodia since 1550. While writing from a Christian perspective, Ponchaud takes a detached and critical view of the role of the Christian church over the centuries, including Catholic and Protestant churches. This book is important reading for those concerned with the current role of the Christian church, and should also be considered by those wishing a better understanding of Cambodian culture and religion. It is also valuable for its insight into the ways the Church has been manipulated over the centuries by European and Cambodian politics in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. The English language version may be less readily available. ISBN 2-8667-9069-3.
The Pol Pot Regime 1975-1979 and its aftermath
Elizabeth Becker, When the War Was Over: The Voices of Cambodia's Revolution and Its People (New York: Public Affairs, 1996). Originally published New York: Simon Schuster, 1986, this book covers the period of the 1980s prior to the Paris Peace Accords. Balance the liberal point of view in this book by reading works by Ben Kiernan and Michael Vickery. This book is readily accessible in university libraries. ISBN 1-891620-00-2.
Bit Seanglim, The Warrior Heritage: A Psychological Perspective of Cambodian Trauma (5210 Gordon Avenue, Le Cerrito, CA: Seanglim Bit, 1991). This book, written by a Cambodian social psychologist provides a useful profile of the author's understanding of Cambodian culture. This book is of some use if you can get hold of it, primarily because it is written by a Cambodian who provides ample reasons for his plea for development efforts that are Cambodian-led rather than top-down. The book is not readily accessible, but may be obtained by University interlibrary loan. It is in the collection of the University of California at Berkely, Irvine and San Diego. It can also be seen at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) library in Phnom Penh.
David P. Chandler, Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot, Revised edition (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999). This is more than a biography of Pol Pot. It traces the Cambodian communist movement throughout the 1950s and 1960s up until the end of Pol Pot's life in 1998. ISBN 0-8133-3510-8.
David Chandler, Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison, Second Edition (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1999). This remarkable book provides important insights into the purges during the Khmer Rouge period. It takes a historian's approach to exploration of the questions many Cambodians struggle with: "how and why did all the killing and suffering happen?" ISBN 0-520-22247-4.
Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields: An Unfinished Portrait of the Cambodian Church(Crowborough, UK: OMF International, 1997). This book records the views of an Anglican priest who spent considerable time in Cambodia before and after the Khmer Rouge period. There is a good deal of very moving biographical detail about lives of individuals before, during and after the Pol Pot regime up to the mid-1990s. There is also a good deal about the refugee camps. The book is a must-read for anyone concerned with the work of the Christian church in Cambodia. This book provides a great deal of very readable chronology of 20th century Cambodia. The author takes a strongly evangelical orientation that is both anti-communist and dubious about motivations of Western development initiatives, non-evangelical Christian development initiatives, and culturally insensitive, Western-biased evangelical missionary endeavours. Readers should balance Cormack's perspective with The Cathedral of the Rice Paddy by Ponchaud. ISBN 1 85424 372 1
Steve Heder, "Racism, Marxism, Labelling, and Genocide in Ben Kiernan's The Pol Pot Regime," South East Asia Research 5(2) (July, 1997): 101-153. This article by a leading scholar on Cambodia is an in depth critical review of Ben Kiernan's The Pol Pot Regime, listed below.
Karl D. Jackson, Cambodia 1975-1978: Rendezvous with Death (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989). An interdisciplinary collection of articles about the Khmer Rouge period. ISBN 0-691-07807-6.
Ben Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power: A History of Communism in Kampuchea, 1930-1975 (London: UK: Thetford Press, Limited, 1985). This challenging and detailed history is well-worth reading. It details the origins and rise of the nationalist communist movement in Cambodia up until the beginning of the Pol Pot regime. Often cited. ISBN 0 86091 805 X Pbk.
Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Politics, Race and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996). Australian author Ben Kiernan is one of the leading scholars on Cambodia and one of the leaders of Yale's genocide information project. Often cited. ISBN 0-300-07052-7
François Ponchaud, Cambodia Year Zero, translated from the French by Nancy Amphoux (London: Allen Lane, 1978). Father Ponchaud has worked in Cambodia or with Cambodians since 1965. He wrote this book in French in 1976 after hearing many accounts of Cambodian refugees about what had happened to them during the first part of the Pol Pot regime. It includes his own first-person account of the first weeks of the regime. When the book came out, Ponchaud's findings were heavily criticized by leftist writer Noam Chomsky. This work is often cited. ISBN 0 7139 1124 7.
Serge Thion, Watching Cambodia (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1993). Journalist Serge Thion has collected many of his writings between 1972 and 1992 in this often-cited collection. ISBN 974-8495-91-6 Pbk.
Michael Vickery, Cambodia: 1975-1982 (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1983). In addition to covering the Khmer Rouge period of 1975-1979, he covers the early years of the Peoples' Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) regime (1979-1989) with emphasis on correcting exaggerations or inaccuracies about the PRK regime that were fuelled by foreign governments during the period of anti-Vietnamese international isolation. There is a chapter on his analysis of the nature of the Cambodian revolution with discussion of several possible threads of its ideological origins. Balance the leftist slant with Becker's liberal point of view. ISBN 0-89608-189-3.
PRK and SOC Regimes 1979 to 1991
Eva Mysliwiec, Punishing the Poor: The International Isolation of Kampuchea (Oxford, UK: Oxfam, 1988). Mysliwiec, who has been in Cambodia since 1979, discusses the reasons for and effects of the international isolation on Cambodia after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. It is now out of print, but may be obtained on inter-library loan. Often cited. ISBN 0-85598-090-7 or ISBN 0-85598-089-3 Pbk.
Michael Vickery, Kampuchea: Politics Economics and Society (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1986). This book is describes in some detail the social structure, political system, and policies of the PRK government up until 1986. Often cited.
* Toby Alice Volkmann, Cambodia 1990. Special edition. Cultural Survival Quarterly 14(3) (19900. This issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly is out of print, but would be accessible in university libraries. It is a series of short articles by widely cited (mostly Western) scholars on Cambodia emphasizing the immediate ten-year aftermath of the Khmer Rouge period.
UNTAC and after the 1993 election (1992 to present)
Frederick Z. Brown and David G. Timberman, eds., Cambodia and the International Community: The Quest for Peace, Development, and Democracy (Singapore: Asia Society, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998). This collection of essays looks at the progress toward peace primarily since the Paris Peace Accords, with emphasis on the period since the 1993 election. ISBN 0-87848-532-5 (Asia Society, USA) or ISBN 981-230-030-9 (ISEAS, Singapore).
May Ebihara, Carol A. Mortland, and Judy Ledgerwood, eds. Cambodian Culture since 1975: Homeland and Exile (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 1994). This fascinating multi-disciplinary collection of readable essays provides many useful insights about Cambodian culture from a variety of perspectives. The editors are leading scholars on Cambodia. Readily accessible in university libraries.
Maha Ghosananda, Step by Step: Meditations on Wisdom and Compassion, edited by Jane Sharada Mahoney and Philip Edmonds (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1992). This is a collection of short homilies by Venerable Maha Ghosananda, the spiritual leader of Cambodia's Buddhist peace movement. It also contains a useful introduction by the editors about the history of the Cambodian peace movement.
John A. Hall, "Human Rights and the Garment Industry in Contemporary Cambodia," Stanford Journal of International Law 36(1)(2000): 119-74. Using the example of the garment industry until approximately the end of 1998, Hall's well-researched article is an excellent introduction to the legal, human rights and political issues regarding labour and trade unions in Cambodia. It discusses the situation of garment factory workers, employers and relevant government officials. The 1997 Labour Law is discussed, including its application in practice. As with any writings about contemporary issues in Cambodia, readers should be prepared to update their information. For example, Article 51 of the Civil Service Act (referred to in Hall's article) which provided for civil service immunity from prosecution has now been repealed.
Steve Heder, and Judy Ledgerwood, eds., Propaganda, Politics, and Violence in Cambodia: Democratic Transition under United Nations Peace-keeping (Armonk, NY and London, UK: M.E. Sharpe, 1996). This is a valuable collection of essays about the UNTAC period by authors who were involved in the work of UNTAC. ISBN 1-56324-665-1 Pbk.
Dylan Hendrickson, Safeguarding Peace: Cambodia's Constitutional Challenge. Accord 5 (November, 1998.) http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/cambodia/. This is an excellent place to begin reading about Cambodia. It is a series of readable articles that covers the history of Cambodia up to the post-1998 election period. If you have time to read only a small amount, this on-line resource is invaluable. Many of the articles are written by Cambodian authors.
Koy Neam, Introduction to the Cambodian Judicial Process (Phnom Penh: The Asia Foundation, 1998). Written in Khmer and English, this book provides a 1998 overview of the structures and processes of the judicial system in Cambodia, including criminal and civil procedure, and appellate procedure. For information about this publication, contact The Asia Foundation Law Program, GPO Box 536, House 59, Street 242, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, tafcb@forum.org.kh; or The Asia Foundation/Cambodia, c/o The Asia Foundation, PO Box 193223, 365 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94101, USA. Note that as of 2000, the Cambodian government is currently in the process of drafting new civil and criminal codes, and codes of civil and criminal procedure, as well as legislation in many other areas.
Judy L. Ledgerwood, "Rural Development in Cambodia: The View from the Village," in Cambodia and the International Community: The Quest for Peace, Development, and Democracy, edited by Frederick Z. Brown and David G. Timberman, 127-47 (Singapore: Asia Society, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998). Important reading to understand the rural nature of most Cambodians' lives. ISBN 0-87848-532-5 (Asia Society, USA) or ISBN 981-230-030-9 (ISEAS, Singapore)
Secretariat of State for Women's Affairs, Cambodia's Country Report, Women: Key to National Reconstruction (Phnom Penh: Secretariat of State for Women's Affairs, 1995). This excellent report is written by Chantou Boua, a leading scholar on Cambodia. The report is a must-read, not just to understand issues concerning women, but also for concise overview of development and justice issues in Cambodia. While the statistics are now somewhat dated, the issues facing women in Cambodia remain much the same. This book may be found at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) library in Phnom Penh.
Shaun Williams, Where Has All the Land Gone? Land Rights and Access in Cambodia, Volume 1 (Phnom Penh: Oxfam, 1999). www.ngoforum.org.kh/Land/Docs/draftlandlaw/. This is an important work that contains detail about land issues and land disputes in Cambodia, the largest current source of disputes in Cambodia. It provides many insights about Cambodian land and land-use issues. Important reading for anyone concerned with conflict resolution, the legal system, the court system or human rights in Cambodia. Also look up the on-line case studies associated with this report.
About the author
Catherine Morris is a founding director of Peacemakers Trust, a Canadian non-profit organization for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. She holds degrees in literature and law and is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, Canada. Since 1983, she has been involved in leadership roles with numerous local, provincial, national and international conflict resolution organizations including several initiatives in Thailand and Cambodia since 1994. She has practised and taught arbitration, mediation and facilitation in a range of civil society, public and academic settings. She is a former Executive Director of the Institute for Dispute Resolution at the University of Victoria. Her publications include works on mediator ethics and qualifications, conflict and culture, community conflict resolution and dispute resolution education, and the role of religion in peacebuilding.
Endnotes
1. Catherine Morris, "Case Studies in Religion and Peacebuilding: Cambodia," Religion and Peacebuilding, ed. Harold Coward and Gordon Smith (New York: SUNY Press), forthcoming 2002. ↑ up
2. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace: Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peace-keeping, Document A/47/277 - S/241111, 17 June 1992 (New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1992); Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Supplement to An Agenda for Peace: Position Paper of the Secretary-General on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, Document A/50/60 - S/1995/1, 3 January 1995 (New York: Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1995). ↑ up
3. International organizations and international financial institutions include economic restructuring toward a liberal free-market economics, and governance restructuring to support liberal political and economic values. Given the implication of free market restructuring in widening gaps between rich and poor in many developing countries, it may fairly be questioned whether neo-liberal reforms are conducive to sustainable peace. In this working paper, the term "liberal" is used to mean classical liberal ideas including of individual rights; a separation of "public" and "private" interests, a separation of state from "civil society" taken to include non-government organizations (including religious institutions) and business; and limitation of state power through separation of legislature, executive and independent judiciary. ↑ up
4. NGOs are now often referred to as civil society organizations (CSOs). ↑ up
5. John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997), p.20. ↑ up
6. John Paul Lederach, Building Peace, p.82 ↑ up
7. Douglas Johnston, and Cynthia Sampson, eds., Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); Harold Coward, and Gordon Smith, eds., Religion and Peacebuilding (New York: SUNY Press, forthcoming 2002). ↑ up
8. David Chandler, A History of Cambodia (Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 1996). ↑ up
9. This abbreviated history is oversimplified. See Ben Kiernan, How Pol Pot Came to Power: A History of Communism in Kampuchea, 1930-1975 (London: UK: Thetford Press, Limited, 1985); Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 (New Haven, Conn and London: Yale University Press, 1996). ↑ up
10. David Chandler, Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1999). ↑ up
11. Documentation Center of Cambodia, "Searching for the Truth," retrieved January 2001 from the World Wide Web: www.dccam.org. Numbers of dead have been estimated between 1.5 million or more (David Chandler, Voices from S-21, p.vii) and three million by the PRK regime (Craig Etcheson, "3.3 Million KR Dead and Still Counting - Researcher," Phnom Penh Post 9(8) (April 14 - 27, 2000). ↑ up
12. Peter Gyallay-Pap, "From Conflict to Reconciliation in Cambodia?" (Battambang, Cambodia: unpublished paper, 1993). ↑ up
13. Eva Mysliwiec, Punishing the Poor: The International Isolation of Kampuchea (Oxford: OXFAM, 1988). ↑ up
14. See the description of patronage in Kate G. Frieson, "The Cambodian Elections of 1993: A Case of Power to the People?" The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia, ed. R.H. Taylor (Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1996), pp. 224-51, at p.231. ↑ up
15. Kate G. Frieson, "The Cambodian Elections of 1993: A Case of Power to the People?" The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia, edited by R.H. Taylor (Cambridge UK and New York: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1996), pp.224-51, at p.231. ↑ up
16. Vong Sokheng, and Anette Marcher, "University Mob Beats Thief to Death," Phnom Penh Post 9(14) (July 7 - 20, 2000); Seth Mydans, "Mob justice rules over Cambodia's ailing courts," World News Asia Pacific (April 14, 2000), retrieived January 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000414/A2711-2000Apr13.html. ↑ up
17. Exceptions include research reported in Laura McGrew, Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Peace in Cambodia: 20 Years After the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh, unpublished paper funded by the Canadian Embassy, March, 2000), p.5. Also, the Center for Social Development organized a number of public discussion forums which included polling recorded in Center for Social Development, "The Result of the Polling on 'The Khmer Rouge and National Reconciliation'," Press Release (Phnom Penh: Center for Social Development, July 20, 2000). ↑ up
18. Pierre P. Lizée, Peace, Power and Resistance in Cambodia: Global Governance and the Failure of International Conflict Resolution (Chippenham, UK: MacMillan Press Ltd and New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000); Sorpong Peou, "The Cambodian Elections of 1998 and Beyond: Democracy in the Making?" Contemporary Southeast Asia 20(3) (1998): pp.279-297, pp.293-96. ↑ up
19. Pierre P. Lizée, Peace, Power and Resistance in Cambodia. ↑ up
20. Alexandra Tennant, "UNTAC's 'Top-Down' Approach: Insensitivity or Pragmatism?" Safeguarding Peace: Cambodia's Constitutional Challenge. Special Issue. Accord 5 (1998): p.53. ↑ up
21. For example, see William Collins, Evaluation of the Impact of CIHR Training, p.94. ↑ up
22. Shaun Williams, Land Ownership Disputes in Cambodia: A Study of the Capacity of Five Provinces to Resolve Conflicts over Land (Phnom Penh: OXFAM (GB), February, 2000). This study documents coerced, unstable settlements and low public confidence in the processes of the newly formed National Land Dispute Settlement Commission (NLDSC) during 1999. ↑ up
23. Exceptions include the training work of the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation, which work is largely unrecorded in detail in English. For examples of the few research initiatives, see William Collins, Dynamics of Dispute Resolution and Administration of Justice for Cambodian Villagers (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, 1997); William Collins, Grassroots Civil Society in Cambodia: A Discussion Paper Prepared for a Workshop Organized by Forum Syd and Diakonia in September 1998 (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, November 1998); and a brief descriptive report by Carmen Maria Lopez Vasquez, Pre-Trial Dispute Resolution Processes (Phnom Penh: Cambodian Court Training Program, International Human Rights Law Group, 1996). See also a brief discussion of Khmer-Buddhist conflict resolution concepts in Heng Monychenda, "Non-Violence and Conflict Resolution: Buddhism and Conflict Resolution in the Community," in Dispute Resolution in Cambodia: A Road to Peace and Reconciliation, Proceedings of a Conference Held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 28-30, 1995, edited by Eva Mysliwiec and Catherine Morris (Victoria, Canada: Institute for Dispute Resolution, University of Victoria and Cambodia Development Resource Institute, 1997). ↑ up
24. David Chandler, "Cambodia's Historical Legacy," Safeguarding Peace: Cambodia's Constitutional Challenge, Special Issue, Accord 5 (November, 1998): pp.12-19, Retrieved January 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/cambodia/historical-legacy.php. ↑ up
25. Charles Keyes, The Golden Peninsula: Culture and Adaptation in Mainland Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1977), pp.65-112; Charles F. Keyes, "Communist Revolution and the Buddhist Past in Cambodia," Asian Visions of Authority, ed. Charles F. Keyes, Laurel Kendall, and Helen Hardacre (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), pp.43-73; Ian Harris, "Buddhism in Extremis: The Case of Cambodia," Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth-Century Asia, ed. Ian Harris (London, New York: Pinter, 1999) , pp.54-78. ↑ up
26. Nancy Smith-Hefner, "To Be Khmer is to be Buddhist," Khmer American: Identity and Moral Education in a Diasporic Community (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999), pp.34-47. ↑ up
27. Peter Gyallay-Pap, "From Conflict to Reconciliation in Cambodia? Toward an Indigenous Approach;" Charles F. Keyes, "Communist Revolution and the Buddhist Past in Cambodia," p.53; Somboon Suksamran, Buddhism and Political Legitimacy (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 1993), p.30; Somboon Suksamran, "Buddhism, Political Authority, and Legitimacy in Thailand and Cambodia," Buddhist Trends in Southeast Asia, ed. Trevor Ling (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies) 1993; Somboon Suksamran, "The Buddhist Concept of Political Authority and Society as Basis to Rebuild the Khmer Society and Nation," Buddhism and the Future of Cambodia, ed. Khmer Buddhist Research Center (Rithisen: Khmer Buddhist Research Center, 1986), pp.106-29. ↑ up
28. Somboon Suksamran, Buddhism and Political Legitimacy, p.26. ↑ up
29. Aung San Suu Kyi, "In Quest of Democracy," p.173; see also Peter Gyallay-Pap, "From Conflict to Reconciliation in Cambodia? Towards an Indigenous Approach." ↑ up
30. Exceptions include Peter Gyallay-Pap, "From Conflict to Reconciliation in Cambodia? Toward an Indigenous Approach;" William Collins, Dynamics of Dispute Resolution and Administration of Justice for Cambodian Villagers (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, 1997); William Collins, Grassroots Civil Society in Cambodia: A Discussion Paper Prepared for a Workshop Organized by Forum Syd and Diakonia in September 1998 (Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study, November 1998). ↑ up
31. Yang Sam, Khmer Buddhism and Politics from 1954 to 1984 (Newington, CT: Khmer Studies Institute, 1987), p. 8-16; 82-88; Charles F. Keyes, "Communist Revolution and the Buddhist Past in Cambodia." ↑ up
32. See François Ponchaud, Cathedral of the Rice Paddy: 450 Years of History of the Church in Cambodia, trans. Nancy Pignarre, and Bishop Salas Cambodian Catholic Center (Paris: Le Sarment, Fayard, 1990), pp.197-98. ↑ up
33. François Ponchaud, 1990, p.98. ↑ up
34. Interview with Cambodian scholar, May 24, 2000. ↑ up
35. Seth Mydans, "Adored Imp: Who Dares to Fill His Royal Shoes?" New York Times, Thursday, July 6, 2000. ↑ up
36. Ing-Britt Trankell and Jan Ovesen, "Introduction," Facets of Power and Its Limitations: Political Culture in Southeast Asia, edited by Ing-Britt Trankell and Laura Summers (Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University, 1998), 9-18. ↑ up
37. Bit Seanglim, The Warrior Heritage, p.56. ↑ up
38. David Chandler, "Might Makes Right"; Ing-Britt Trankell and Jan Ovesen, "Introduction," Facets of Power and Its Limitations: Political Culture in Southeast Asia, ed. Ing-Britt Trankell and Laura Summers (Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University, 1998), 9-18. ↑ up
39. Kiyota, 1974, at 131, quoting Joseph M. Kitagawa, "Buddhism and Asian Politics," Asian Survey, 2.5(4): (July 1962). ↑ up
40. François Ponchaud, 1990 at 213. ↑ up
41. See François Ponchaud, 1990 at 202. ↑ up
42. Correspondence from Cambodian civil society leader, July 9, 2000. On file with the author. ↑ up
43. Bit, 1991, The Warrior Heritage, see note 37, at 33. ↑ up
44. Bit, 1991, The Warrior Heritage, see note 37 at 33. ↑ up
45. David Vickery has said the violence of the Pol Pot regime were less attributable to communist ideology taken to extreme than to traditional rural animosity toward urban elites, and to patterns of violence and torture that have been documented from much earlier times than the 1970s. "The creations of Pol Pot-ism were all there in embryo," he says. David Vickery, Cambodia 1975-1982 (Boston: South End Press, 1986), p. 17. See also David Chandler, Voices from S-21, pp.143-55. ↑ up
46. Discussions with civil society leaders, May-June, 2000. ↑ up
47. Naurin Ahmad-Zaki, "Association of Nuns and Lay Women (ANLWC): Women, Morality and Reconciliation" (Phnom Penh: Heinrich-Böll Foundation, n.d.), retrieved January 14, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.hbfasia.org/cambodia/adlwc.html. ↑ up
48. Seth Mydans, "Mob justice rules over Cambodia's ailing courts." ↑ up
49. Discussions with key informants in Phnom Penh, May-June, 2000. ↑ up
50. See Laura McGrew, Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Peace in Cambodia: 20 Years After the Khmer Rouge (Phnom Penh, unpublished paper funded by the Canadian Embassy, March, 2000). ↑ up
51. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Grenade Attack in Phnom Penh 30 March 1997 and Extrajudicial Executions 2-7 1997: An Assessment of the Investigations (Geneva: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 13, 1998); Kevin Doyle and Saing Soenthrith, "Standoff Builds as More Stupas Destroyed," Cambodia Daily (May 18, 2000). ↑ up
52. Chea Sotheacheath, and James Eckardt, "Activist monks dare to defy authorities," (1998) 7(20) Phnom Penh Post, Special Edition, 7(20) (Sept. 12-17, 1998); Pok Sokundara and Beth Moorthy, "Monks walk a tightrope between peace and politics," Phnom Penh Post, 7(22)(October 2 - 15, 1998). ↑ up
53. For more detail about the challenges faced by the Cambodian monkhood in social conflict and activism, see Catherine Morris, "Case Studies in Religion and Peacebuilding: Cambodia." In Religion and Peacebuilding, edited by Harold Coward and Gordon Smith (New York: SUNY Press, forthcoming 2002). ↑ up
54. Interviews with civil society leaders, government officials and religious leaders (Phnom Penh, May-June, 2000). ↑ up
55. For a Thai perspective on this approach, see Soraj Hongladarom, "Buddhism and Human Rights in the Thoughts of Sulak Sivaraksa And Phra Dhammapidok (Prayudh Prayutto)," Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Conference on Buddhism and Human Rights, 1-14 October 1995 (paper dated September 18, 1995), available HTTP: http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/1995conf/honglada.txt, accessed July 25, 2000. ↑ up
56. See, for example, Bit Seanglim, The Warrior Heritage: A Psychological Perspective of Cambodian Trauma (5210 Gordon Avenue, Le Cerrito, CA: Bit Seanglim, 1991), pp.21-24. ↑ up
57. John A. McConnell, Mindful Mediation A Handbook for Buddhist Peacemakers (Bangkok: Buddhist Research Institute and others, 1995), p.371. Khmer language translation published by Cambodia Development Resource Institute, 1999. For a description of anatta, see Robert C. Lester, Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1973), pp.26-32. ↑ up
58. Robert C. Lester, Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, pp.26-32. ↑ up
59. Peter Swift, Violence in Cambodian Villages, Unpublished report (Phnom Penh: American Friends Service Committee, Local Capacities for Non-Violence Project, May, 1999), p.13. ↑ up
60. "Harmony ideology" within the Western conflict resolution movement has been criticized as denying the importance of manifesting and maintaining social conflict to create pressure for change. Laura Nader, "Harmony Models and the Construction of Law," Conflict Resolution: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Peter Avruch, Peter Black and Joseph Scimecca, (Westport, CONN: Greenwood Press, 1991), pp. 41-59. ↑ up
61. The work inspired by Buddhist monk, Venerable Maha Ghosananda, is the most frequently cited example of religiously-based peacebuilding in Cambodia. Maha Ghosananda is the founder and remains the spiritual leader of the Dhammayietra (peace walk) movement in Cambodia, which work has been highly respected and has been widely seen as effective in calming the public and encouraging them to vote in 1993 and 1998 elections. ↑ up
62. Venerable Maha Ghosananda, quoted in Yeshua Moser. "One Million Kilometres for Peace: Five Years of Peace Action Walks in Cambodia" from Report to Funders on the Dhammayietra 5, June 1996, available HTTP: http://www.igc.apc.org/nonviolence/niseasia/dymwalk/dy1.htm, accessed January 13, 2000. ↑ up
63. Chhay Sophal, "Khmer Rouge Sorry For Terror But Trial Demanded," (Phnom Penh: Reuters, Dec. 30, 1998). ↑ up
64. Kassie Neou, "Should Cambodians Forgive," in (1997 (February/March) For a Change, available HTTP: http://www.mra.org.ui/fac/feb97/kassie.html, accessed January 2001 ↑ up
65. Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace, at "The Contribution by Religions to the Culture of Peace,"organized by UNESCO and the Centre UNESCO de Catalunya, Barcelona from 12 to 18 December, 1994, which states: "6. Religions have contributed to the peace of the world, but they have also led to division, hatred, and war. Religious people have too often betrayed the high ideals they themselves have preached. We feel obliged to call for sincere acts of repentance and mutual forgiveness, both personally and collectively, to one another, to humanity in general, and to Earth and all living beings." ↑ up
66. See the Angulimala Sutta on the website of Nibbana.com, available HTTP: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/myburma/p1anguli.htm, accessed January 20, 2001 ↑ up
67. Conversations with a monk (Phnom Penh, May 27, 2000) and a lawyer (Phnom Penh, May 30, 2000). Both these informants referred to the story of Angulimala to illustrate this principle. ↑ up
68. For discussion about experiences and perspectives on forgiveness, truth and justice after mass violence, see Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998). ↑ up
69. Phnom Penh Post 6(6), March 21 to April 3, 1997, p.17 cited in Ian Harris."Buddhism in Extremis, p.66. See the Angulimala Sutta, Available HTTP, Nibbana.com, http://web.ukonline.co.uk/myburma/p1anguli.htm. ↑ up
70. Alan Channer, "Twilight of the Khmer Rouge?" in For A Change magazine (June/July, 1997), Available HTTP: http://www.forachange.co.uk/index.php?stoid=32, accessed January, 2000. ↑ up
71. Alan Channer, "Twilight of the Khmer Rouge?" ↑ up
72. For example, see the comments of Dr. Lao Mong Hay in "Cambodia Inaction Delays Khmer Rouge Trial, Reuters (Thursday, July 27, 2000). ↑ up
73. Yos Hut Khemacaro, "Steering the Middle Path: Buddhism, Non-Violence and Political Change in Cambodia," Safeguarding Peace: Cambodia's Constitutional Challenge. Accord: International Review of Peace Initiatives 5 (1998): p.73 (London: Conciliation Resources, November, 1998), available HTTP: http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/cambodia/middle-path.php, Accessed January 2001. ↑ up
74. Laura McGrew, Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Peace in Cambodia: 20 Years After the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh, unpublished paper funded by the Canadian Embassy, March, 2000), p.5; Center for Social Development, "The Result of the Polling on 'The Khmer Rouge and National Reconciliation'," Press Release (Phnom Penh: Center for Social Development, July 20, 2000.) ↑ up
75. For biography, see Maha Ghosananda, Step by Step: Meditations on Wisdom and Compassion, ed. Jane Sharada Mahoney and Philip Edmonds (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1992). ↑ up
76. Yeshua Moser. "One Million Kilometres for Peace"; Liz Bernstein, "Buddhism and Conflict Resolution Seminar for Cambodians," (Phnom Penh: Unpublished paper, n.d. circa 1992). ↑ up
77. Thida Khus and Ouk Chettra, eds., The Campaign to Reduce Violence for Peace during the 1998 Election Campaign: Summary Report (Phnom Penh: Forum for Peace Through Love and Compassion and SILAKA, 1998). ↑ up
78. Yeshua Moser. "One Million Kilometres for Peace." ↑ up
79. For more detail see Catherine Morris, "Case Studies in Religion and Peacebuilding: Cambodia." In Religion and Peacebuilding, edited by Harold Coward and Gordon Smith (New York: SUNY Press) forthcoming 2002. ↑ up
80. Yeshua Moser. "One Million Kilometres for Peace." ↑ up
81. William Collins, Grassroots Civil Society in Cambodia. ↑ up
82. William Collins, Dynamics of Dispute Resolution. ↑ up
83. Bou Saroeun, "Activist monk run out of town by civic leaders." ↑ up
84. Kay Johnson, "Wave of Killings Sparks Fears for Local Elections," South China Morning Post (August 26, 2000); Stephen O'Connell and Vong Sokheng, "Unfair Elections Feared from CPP Bias," Phnom Penh Post 9(19) (September 15 - 28, 2000). ↑ up
85. François Ponchaud, "Insights into the Religious Background of the Khmers," Appendix I in Cathedral of the Rice Paddy, pp.191-208 . ↑ up
86. François Ponchaud, Cathedral of the Rice Paddy. ↑ up
87. Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields: An Unfinished Portrait of the Cambodian Church - the Church that Would not Die (Crowborough, UK: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1997), p.438. ↑ up
88. Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields: An Unfinished Portrait of the Cambodian Church - the Church that Would not Die (Crowborough, UK: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1997) ↑ up
89. Eva Mysliwiec, Punishing the Poor. ↑ up
90. See Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields: An Unfinished Portrait of the Cambodian Church - the Church that Would not Die (Crowborough, UK: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1997), p.439. ↑ up
91. Phelim Kyne and Bou Saroeun, "Cambodians who turn from Buddha to Jesus," Phnom Penh Post 9(14) (July 7 - 20, 2000). See also Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields, p.439-40 who reports a 1994 incident in which an American evangelist healer, Mike Evans, held a crusade in Phnom Penh, attracting thousands of rural Cambodians, many of whom sold everything to see "this powerful Christian shaman." Panic broke out as people "mobbed the platform, frantically thrusting their sick ones towards the healer." He fled and was advised to leave the country. Angry mobs said "Christians are liars" and vandalized a number of churches. This incident caused Christianity to have a poor reputation for about a year after this incident. While this type of incident is uncommon, it is vividly remembered in Phnom Penh with considerable dismay. Christianity Today, December 8, 1997, retrieved January 20, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/7te/7te054.html, and Christianity Today, January 9, 1995, p. 57. ↑ up
92. Nancy Smith-Hefner, "Ethnicity and the Force of Faith: Christian Conversion among Khmer Refugees" Anthropological Quarterly 67(1) (1994): pp.24-38; Carol A. Mortland, "Khmer Buddhists in the United States: Ultimate Questions," Cambodian Culture since 1975: Homeland and Exile, edited by May Ebihara, Carol A. Mortland, and Judy Ledgerwood (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press) 1994, pp.72-90. ↑ up
93. Duch has confessed to his direct involvement in the mass killing and torture of an estimated 14,000 men, women and children in Phnom Penh's S-21 prison during the Pol Pot regime. Nic Dunlop, "KR Torture Chief Admits to Mass Murder," Phnom Penh Post, (Apr 30 - May 13, 1999); Chris Fontaine, "Christianity Takes Hold in Cambodia," Associated Press (January 22, 2000). ↑ up
94. Civil society leaders (Phnom Penh, May-June, 2000); also see Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields, p.440. ↑ up
95. Nancy Smith-Hefner, "Ethnicity and the Force of Faith: Christian Conversion among Khmer Refugees" Anthropological Quarterly 67(1) (1994): pp.24-38; Carol A. Mortland, "Khmer Buddhists in the United States: Ultimate Questions," Cambodian Culture since 1975: Homeland and Exile, edited by May Ebihara, Carol A. Mortland, and Judy Ledgerwood (Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press) 1994, pp.72-90. ↑ up
96. Nancy Smith-Hefner, "Ethnicity and the Force of Faith, pp.24-38. ↑ up
97. See Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields; François Ponchaud, The Cathedral of the Rice Paddy. ↑ up
98. Don Cormack, Killing Fields Living Fields, p. 438-39 ↑ up
99. François Ponchaud, The Cathedral of the Rice Paddy. ↑ up
100. David Chandler, "Foreward," in Propaganda, Politics, and Violence in Cambodia: Democratic Transition under United Nations Peace-keeping, edited by Steve Heder, and Judy Ledgerwood, eds. (Armonk, NY and London, UK: M.E. Sharpe) 1996. ↑ up
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