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Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

~ Thinking outside the box about Cambodia

Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

Monthly Archives: June 2017

The Character of a Nation

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by KhmerPAC in Governance, Politics, Social

≈ 1 Comment

My dear Kacvey,

In its website, The Daily News published an Associated Press newswires reporting a warning made by the Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who said: “The character of a nation is not the character of its president. The character of a nation is the character of its people.”

Although Senator Warren’s warning is related to the current state of domestic political and institutional affairs of the US, the meaning of her statement could well be studied by people of any nation in the world. Idea and concept, like sunlight, moonshine or air, have no frontiers or walls that no man could set up against other man.

That being said, Kacvey, you may wish to share it with your students in the context of Cambodia for their reflection and obiter dictum. Let paraphrase it: “The character of the Cambodian nation is not the character of neither the ex-Khmer Rouge and sitting prime minister, nor the self-exiled ex-leader of the opposition party, nor the combination of them both. The character of the Cambodian nation is the character of its people who defined themselves at the communes elections on 4 June 2017.”

At the same time, the Cambodian nation has strongly pronounced for its desire for “change” in the political leadership of the country for its march to the future. The corollary question is: “Why the leaders of political parties cannot change themselves when they know that their behavior, personal or otherwise, are the obstacles that impede the fight for “change” and do not contribute one bit to the desired “change”? Why are their top tier of the leadership stuck with the same people without rhyme or reason?

Kacvey, let help your students building up their good attitude and character for the future of Cambodia, and to avoid what Albert Einstein, once, said: “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character” to happen.

 

Khmer Diaspora Novelists

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by KhmerPAC in Book, Culture

≈ 1 Comment

My dear Kacvey,

On both shores of the Atlantic ocean and in Australia, many young and promising authors of Khmer stock have recently emerged, and their books should now be introduced to the attention of your students.

In France:

Olivier Michael Kim has written four novels:
– Ne réveille jamais un ours qui dort: L’Ordre de Saint-Michel – Tome 1
– Les ours ne font pas des chats: L’Ordre de Saint-Michel – Tome 2
– Un pantin sur la route
– Le Mal de la Mer

Phandararasar Thouch-Fenies @Fanfan92664271 has written:
– Une famille au pays de l’Angkar

Eleonore Sok-Halkovich @EleonoreSok has written:
– LES CAMBODGIENS – LIGNES DE VIE D’UN PEUPLE

In the US:

Sambath Meas @MissSambathMeas has written two novels:
– The Governor’s Daughter – Mysteries of Colonial Cambodia
– The Immortal Seeds: Life goes on for a Khmer family

Vaddey Ratner has written two novels:
– Music of the Ghosts
– In the Shadow of the Banyan

Sotheary Ortego has written:
– SOULFUL JOURNEY: Against All Odds

Variny Yim has written:
– The Immigrant Princess

Neary Heng has written:
– From Internment to Fulfillment – How To Shift Into Peace, Purpose & Prosperity Against All Odds

Kenneth T. So has released in October 2017 his historical 2-volume masterpiece: “The Khmer Kings and the History of Cambodia” (DatAsia Press; ISBN 9781934431368 and 9781934431375)

Sokunthary Svay @SokSrai has written her poems in:
– Apsara in New York

Bunkong Tuon @BunkongTuon has published three books of poetry:
– Gruel
– And So I was blessed
– The Doctor Will Fix It

Krystal M. Chuon krystalchuon@gmail.com has published a book of poetry:
– Follow the Mekong Home

Monica Sok @monicasokwrites has published a book of poetry:
– A Nail the Evening Hangs On

In Australia, Alice Pung has written five books:
– Unpolished Gem
– Growing Up Asian in Australia
– Her Father’s Daughter
– Laurinda
– Lucy and Linh

Francis Bacon, once, said: “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man” to which Joseph Addison added: “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”

We must include Just Sierra’s poem “Every End Is a New Beginning” in this letter, because what she said is so true and wonderful:
“Every end is just a new beginning
A chapter closed, but always printing
All memories earned in pain and laughter
One book to be closed, but a quest to be after.

“If life is a cable and hope is the wheel
And love is the arrow in the Achilles’ heel
One line was cut yet the thread is still spinning
For every end, hope delivers a new beginning

“No need for words, goodbyes, or sorrow
There is never forever, but only tomorrow
When all doors close and we choke with despair
A new day brings open windows and fresh air

“At the end of the road, on the edge of the earth,
I continue with purpose for all that it’s worth
I take a leap forward, jump into the dark
There can never be an end when there’s life in my heart.”

Please encourage your students to do so during summer vacations.

“Banana Republic”

11 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by KhmerPAC in Book, Culture, Stories

≈ Comments Off on “Banana Republic”

My dear Kacvey,

This is in response to your students’query about the phrase “banana republic.”

Although google could generously address the question, the full paragraph below would provide a glimpse of the context where O.Henry coined it in Chapter 9: The Admiral of “Cabbages and Kings” [Book 5 of “The Complete Works of O.Henry”]

The paragraph goes as follows: “In the constitution of this small, maritime banana republic was a forgotten section that provided for the maintenance of a navy. This provision – with many other wiser ones – had lain inert since the establishment of the republic. Anchuria had no navy and had no use for one.  It was characteristic of Don Sabas – a man at once merry, learned, whimsical and audacious – that he should have disturbed the dust of this musty and sleeping statute to increase the humor of the world by so much as a smile from his indulgent colleagues.”

O.Henry continued his story telling to Chapter 15: Masters of Arts where how he described the new ruler of the bananarepublic of Anchuria. The narrative goes as follows: “President Losada – many called him Dictator – was a man whose genius would have made him conspicuous even among Anglo-Saxons, had not that genius been intermixed with other traits that were petty and subversive. He had some of the lofty patriotism of Washington (the man he most admired), the force of Napoleon, and much of the wisdom the sages. These characteristics might have justified him in the assumption of the title of “The Illustrious Liberator,” had they not been accompanied by a stupendous and amazing vanity that kept him in the less worthy ranks of dictators.

 Yet he did his country great service. With a mighty grasp he shook it nearly free from the shackles of ignorance and sloth and the vermin that fed upon it, and all but made it a power in the council of nations. He established schools and hospitals, built roads, bridges, railroads and palaces, and bestowed generous subsidies upon the arts and sciences. He was the absolute despot and the idol of his people. The wealth of the country poured into his hands. Other presidents had been rapacious without reason. Losada amassed enormous wealth, but his people had their share of the benefits.

The joint in his armor was his insatiate passion for monuments and tokens commemorating his glory. In every town he caused to be erected statues of himself bearing legends in praise of his greatness. In the walls of every public edifice, tablets were fixed reciting his splendor and the gratitude of his subjects. His statuettes and portraits were scattered throughout the land in every house and hut. One of the sycophants in his court painted him as St. John, with a halo and a train of attendants in full uniform. Losada saw nothing incongruous in this picture, and had it hung in a church in the capital. He ordered from a French sculptor a marble group including himself with Napoleon, Alexander the Great, and one or two others whom he deemed worthy of the honor.

He ransacked Europe for decorations, employing policy, money and intrigue to cajole the orders he coveted from kings and rulers. On state occasions his breast was covered from shoulder to shoulder with crosses, stars, golden roses, medals and ribbons. It was said that the man who could contrive for him a new decoration, or invent some new method of extolling his greatness, might plunge a hand deep into the treasury.”

In Chapter 17: Rouge et Noir,O.Henry told the story about the relationship between Losada and the people of Anchuria: “It has been indicated that disaffection followed the elevation of Losada to the presidency. The feeling continued to grow. Throughout the entire republic there seemed to be a spirit of silent, sullen discontent. Even the old Liberal party to which Goodwin, Zavalla and other patriots had lent their aid was disappointed. Losada had failed to become a popular idol. Fresh taxes, fresh import duties and, more than all, his tolerance of the outrageous oppression of citizens by the military had rendered him the most obnoxious president since the despicable Alforan. The majority of his own cabinet were out of sympathy with him. The army, which he had courted by giving it license to tyrannize, had been his main, and thus far adequate support.
…
This was the sate of affairs in Anchuria when the winter season opened at Coralio at the end of the second year of Losada’s administration. So, when the government and society made its annual exodus to the seashore it was evident that the presidential advent would not be celebrated by limited rejoicing. The tenth of November was the day set for the entrance into Coralio of the gay company from the capital…
…
Although the rainy season was over, the day seemed to hark back to reeking June. A fine drizzle of rain fell all during the forenoon. The procession entered Coralio amid a strange silence…President Losada was an elderly man… His carriage headed the procession, surrounded and guarded by Captain Cruz and his famous troop of one hundred light horse “El Ciento Huilando.”
…
The president’s sharp, beady eyes glanced about him for the expected demonstration of welcome; but he faced a stolid, indifferent array of citizens. Sightseers the Anchurains are by birth and habit, and they turned out to their last able-bodied unit to witness the scene; but they maintained an accusive silence. They crowded the streets to the very wheel ruts; they covered the red tile roofs to the eaves, but there was never a “viva” from them. No wreaths of palm and lemon branches or gorgeous strings of paper roses hung from the windows and balconies as was the custom. The was an apathy, a dull, dissenting disapprobation, that was the more ominous because it puzzled. No one feared an outburst, a revolt of the discontents, for they had no leader. The president and those loyal to him, had never been whispered a name among them capable of crystallizing the dissatisfaction into opposition. No, there could be no danger. The people always procured a new idol before they destroyed an old one.”

Kacvey, so many resemblances with what’s going on in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk!

*****

Nota bene: O.Henry is the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). “Cabbages and Kings” was written in 1904.

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