His moment to take final credit on his job
His swan song to Cambodians
Unsurprisingly, Prof. Surya Subedi will take credit of “the progress achieved towards making state institutions independent, with particular reference to legal and judicial reform.” He would certainly imply that without his voice, Cambodia would not have moved to reform the legal and judicial system. Will he stop right there? No, he will not. He would say that more needs to be done. Of course, reform will not come to a stop unless changes are becoming the national new order.
He will give credit to the Cambodian “Human Rights protesters,” without them he would not be able to capture his own credit. He will give credit to the Royal Government of Cambodia for heeding his advice and the plight of the Cambodian people, a mark of his achievement. A consummated diplomat will not leave acrimony behind nor stain his swan song.
It is very delicate to navigate the treacherous water preaching human rights, upholding human dignity where you have on one side a government that takes pride in its achievements, in particular the armed liberation of the Cambodian people from the claws of the Khmer Rouge Genocidal regime during which an estimated 2.2 million Cambodians were killed, starved to death under forced labor and on the other side a new generation of Cambodians who wants social justice, fairness and equality. This is not nostalgia when some Cambodians dare say that under the Khmer Rouge regime, everyone without exception is poor and is fear of death at any second, any minute, any hour and any day, but now there are classes of super riches, riches, just get-bys, poor and dirt poor, very powerful, powerful, easily-at-risks, and most vulnerable people. Why? Modern thinkers spoke about mismanagement by the leaders. Religious people spoke about destiny and divine design. Political followers spoke about opportunities and missed opportunities. One high-ranking official I knew said, had I not love and protect 181,035 square kilometers of our land, but only five thousand or twenty thousand hectares of land, I would have been a millionaire and live like a king. He added: my mistake was that I love so much and I want to protect that 181,035 square kilometers. He missed the opportunities to get rich. Actually, nowadays he barely makes a living.
Prof. Surya Subedi was aware of the predicament of being the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia as appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. His skin is thick enough to withstand the attacks from all sides. Facing untenable situation many U.N. officials (at the ECCC for example) washed their hands and walked away, right or wrong who cares? - Not Prof. Surya Subedi.
Prof. Surya Subedi has stayed in the job until the end of his 6 years mandate. We will hear his swan song on Friday January 23, 2015 at 03:00PM. We would know more what kind of person he is.
January 16, 2015
Professor Pen Ngoeun, Advisor
University of Puthisastra, Phnom Penh, Cambodia