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15 Feb 2001
Dear KI, I appreciate Mr. Sarak R. Taing's effort to explain what many of us already understand: Loung Ung's suffering. However, we must understand that Loung who is ethnic Chinese is not the only one who lost her parents and siblings. Many natives of Cambodia, the Khmers, lost not only their land, but their families and friends as well. Nevertheless, Loung diverted her pain, hatred, and suffering not only against the Cambodian communists, but the Khmer people in general. She expresses many times in the media that she is full of hatred and anger. If these words were coming from a Khmer, he/she would be labeled as the Khmer Rouge, ignorant, racist, xenophobic, etc. Moreover, the book manifests that she hates not only the communists, but the Khmer in general. For the Khmer, this is appallingly offensive. Loung claims that her book heals her, and it is obvious why it is so. Please look at it from the perspective of the Khmer and understand her racial connotation against us. She is not doing herself or the Khmer any justice by making distortions about our people, history, and culture. It is sad that she cries victim without taking in consideration that she is not the only who had suffered. Even though she noted that her story mirrors millions of Cambodians, but her book expresses otherwise. Loung may be an activist against land mines, but her book itself is a bomb against the Khmer. Yes, this is her fight back spirit that some people are respecting. Regardless if her recollections are true to her or not, they are offensive to the Khmer victims. As a result, her book should not be entitled or referenced under government-politics. What is more insulting to many Khmers is that she is still promoting her book as an educational tool for young Cambodians and foreigners alike. A woman who manipulates the Cambodian holocaust for her benefit should not be respected or revered. All of us who survived the Cambodian holocaust have survival spirit and work very hard to heal our fellow Khmer and Motherland. Just because Loung is a victim of the Cambodian communists does not mean that we have to overlook the offensiveness expressed in her book. Thank you, Angelie Oum
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