pailin – Two former Khmer Rouge guerrillas—one a Sam Rainsy Party candidate and one a CPP candidate—are locked in a battle over ballots in this former rebel stronghold.
Former Khmer Rouge cadres Ven Dara and Y Chhien are front-runners in the race for Pailin’s single parliamentary seat. And what divides the candidates is the issue of the proposed UN-assisted genocide tribunal for surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.
“I am supporting the tribunal,” said the CPP’s Y Chhien, the governor of Pailin who also believes that only a handful of former guerrillas should be tried.
Y Chhien argues that people like former Brother No 2 Nuon Chea and the group’s nominal leader Khieu Samphan, both of whom defected to the government in the late 1990s and now live in Pailin, should be left alone. Others, like former military commander Ta Mok should be tried.
Ven Dara, who is Ta Mok’s niece, says that if a tribunal is established, all former Khmer Rouge leaders should be held accountable.
“It is not fair for Ta Mok to face trial alone, while Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea and [former foreign minister] Ieng Sary are living in luxury,” she said.
Her uncle was arrested in 1999 and is one of only two Khmer Rouge officials in prison waiting to be brought before the proposed tribunal.
“I think every one of us should forget the past and think of the future,” said Y Chhien, who was once a bodyguard for Pol Pot.
But, he said, since most of those involved in the four-year reign of terror have already died or are in jail, it would be “no problem” to hold a tribunal.
He said he expects to win next Sunday’s polls after meeting with community leaders allied with the Sam Rainsy Party and Funcinpec. If they followed through with their promise to “defect to the CPP,” Y Chhien said, victory was assured.
Ven Dara of the Sam Rainsy Party is drawing crowds of supporters. Some 40 trucks carried her backers along a bumpy road to attend a rally at a Buddhist temple just outside of Pailin last week.
Sam Rainsy visited Pailin, a town of 40,000 people with 22,394 eligible voters, in June and was greeted by hundreds of potential voters. Pailin’s seat in the National Assembly has been represented by the Sam Rainsy Party since it won an overwhelming share of the local vote in the 1998 election.
But local residents say that despite popular support, Ven Dara faces an uphill battle.
“Most people in Pailin support the Sam Rainsy Party, but those who oppose Sam Rainsy will use all means to win the seat because the power is in their hands,” said Hem Vuthichai, 27.
