Like in the case of the Khmer Rouge (KR) top leader Pol Pot's death in 1998, the death on July 21 of his military commander and successor, Ta Mok, deprived the world once again a sense of justice. The event came as a UN-backed process to put the remaining living KR leaders on trial was finally gathering pace, something that had it happened earlier would have partially healed Cambodians' deep wounds and disclosed secrets and mysteries about the group's years in power.
Mok, also known as "The Butcher" for his extreme brutality, was arrested in 1999 along the Thai border. Since then he was in custody, awaiting prosecution over one of 20th century's most appalling episodes. Up to two million Cambodians were executed or died of starvation and overwork under the KR's brutal rule between 1975 and 1979, during which millions of people were forced into the countryside in an attempt to create an agrarian utopia.
There is significant evidence that Mok alone was responsible for the killing of nearly 100,000 people during his leadership of purging squads in the southwest of the country. He probably killed many other innocents after the KR was toppled and its soldiers waged a decade-long guerrilla war against the government from the remote region of Pailin.
The formation of a tribunal to try Mok and his colleagues for mass genocide and crimes against humanity has been an issue of negotiation since 1999. It was greatly affected by Cambodia's domestic politics and fragile peace, as well as division among regional and super powers. Phnom Penh's long unwillingness to cooperate with the UN and insistence on a tribunal fully controlled by Cambodian judges were among the factors that have delayed the trial for so long. It has been said that Prime Minister Hun Sen and his allies, by such tactics, wanted to escape any possible inquiry about their role during the KR rule. Many figures in the present ruling regime had been members of the KR before they fled Cambodia for Vietnam in 1977 and 1978 in fear of Pol Pot's paranoid purges of his own apparatus.
Surprised observers
Another factor was Washington's insistence in recent years on a comprehensive trial of the KR era and an international court convened in Cambodia under UN auspices, something that Beijing seemed to oppose. Such a position by the Americans, mainly on the grounds of Cambodian judicial system's incapability to hold a fair and impartial trial, surprised many observers, simply because it would lead to inquiries into Washington's role in Cambodia.
The prevailing opinion among Cambodians and other southeast Asians is that had not the US-backed military coup against the neutral regime of Prince Norodom Sihanouk taken place in 1970, the KR would not have came to power. Besides, had not Washington provided Pol Pot with military aid through the Thais in the 1980s to fight the Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh, the KR would not have been able to continue its jungle war.
In response to this argument, US department of state issued a statement in 1999 saying that US had nothing to hide and its interference in Cambodia in those years should be seen within Cold War politics and struggle with the Soviets. This, however, did not stop some analysts from saying that Washington's formula was aimed at embarrassing the Chinese, whose role in Cambodia had been much dirtier.
Eventually a complex compromise formula was agreed upon last year. According to it, the KR tribunal is made up of 3 local and 2 international judges cases are decided by majority, the vote of at least one foreign judge is required for decisions and the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
Serious loss
Mok's death is certainly a serious loss for the tribunal, but it is yet another reason to ensure that the tribunal moves quickly to complete its mandate. It should also remind other nations currently seeking the trial of their former tyrants to speed up the work.
Two things came as a surprise to many. First, despite Mok's brutality and crimes, several hundreds of Cambodians attended his funeral and many were in tears. Most of these came from Pailin, where Mok had sought his final refuge with a shrinking band of followers in the late 1990s, and where he began to shift from the Marxist to capitalist lifestyle. It was reported that he grew wealthy from mining operation in Pailin and business deals with Thai merchants.
Second, Mok was buried according to Buddhist traditions and teachings that he had never believed in. While peace and non-violence is a Buddhist central concept, Mok had spent most of his life embracing violence, targeting the Japanese and colonial French in the 1940s and 1950s and later his own people and the Vietnamese invaders.
His loss of a leg to a landmine in the 1980s only added to his rugged image and made him more violent, not only towards ordinary Cambodians but also towards his colleagues. The best example was his exultation over the remains of his chief Pol Pot, declaring him to be "nothing more than cow dung", and adding "cow dung is actually more useful because it can be used as fertiliser".
Dr Abdullah Al Madani is an academic researcher and lecturer on Asian affairs.
