Khmer Institute

28 Nov 2000

Hi Julie,
Navy forwarded your comments below to me. I am the executive director of the Khmer Institute and teach a course at UCLA and other universities that deal with this issue and the impact it has made on Cambodian lives. We sincerely appreciate your thoughtful comments and your interest. Navy asked me if I would like to respond it and I do.
Our organization decided to take a stand on this issue because the book is being touted as a source of information. Regrettably, not all readers are as informed about the Killing Fields period as you, and we're concerned Ung's book will give them a skewed picture.
Yes, Ung's book may be the only one out there told by a person who was 5 when the KR took over, the reason being simple: most children of 5 cannot remember events at this stage of their lives in such vivid detail. I have many, many relatives and friends who are Ung's age or even a few years older who tell me about one or two extraordinary events that occurred to them, but not enough to write a book of this nature. They find it incredible that Ung remembers these details so vividly...until they read the book and realize she doesn't and fills in all the gaps of her memory with not only false, but factually incorrect, details.
Our concern, and mine personally as a teacher, is that people will in fact read this as a non-fictional account of what happened. The very fact that you talk about reading this book to get "an entirely different perspective" from what happened shows that you are reading this as such. Hence, all Ung's mistatements and fabrications become, indeed, dangerous. The reason that Cambodians are so upset about this is not because we want to be devisive, but because we really feel this demeans our very real experiences and the experiences of so many lost loved ones. (The Jewish community also took this position when they recently exposed and condemned a woman for having fabricated her story about her "experience" during the Holocaust.)
You point out that many of the atrocities that she describes are consistent with those described by other people. At this point, there are so many accounts and descriptions of the atrocities that occurred that it would not be very difficult, as morbid and as shocking to the conscience this suggestion may seem, to fabricate this as well. One of the individuals in the analyses section of the reviews states: "Her accounts of the Khmer Rouge and events that took place were similar to my parents and fellow Khmers' accounts. Sadly, I wonder if she collected those events from other victims and is just playing the role." It's a horrific thought that instinctually we do not want to believe; but even more horrific if it turns out to be actually true. I am not asserting that she did in fact fabricate this, only she knows; but she has lied about and misrepresented so many other things in the book that it is difficult to tell what is true and what is not. You're right that the majority of American readers won't care whether Cambodians put mint leaves into their soup, but as Navy mentioned, this is just one of many, many details that are inaccurate and indicative of the fact that in the author's quest for fame and profit, "nothing is sacred" – meaning, regrettably, nothing can be taken as fact. (Just a side note: You are right that Vietnamese put "mint leaves" (actually, basil) in their soup, but unless Ung mentioned she was eating at a Vietnamese restaurant, she would not have been putting mint leaves in her soup. Any Cambodian can tell you that definitively. It would be like putting jelly on a hamburger – maybe some eccentric individuals do so, but it is not the norm and something I think you would point out as a personal peculiarity if you were to write an autobiography.)
On our site, we have recommended alternative autobiographic books. Included in these is one book released about the same time as Ung's but without the same media exposure: Chanrithy Him's "When Broken Glass Floats." Another book, "Beyond the Killing Fields: Voices of Nine Cambodian Survivors" I actually do use as a teaching tool. That book presents various viewpoints about what happened – one section is narrated by a woman who was a child during that period, another a Chinese-Cambodian teen, a third an elderly man, etc. When you compare the narrations in that book to Ung's, you will see how sadly distorted and self-serving her writing really is.
As you mention, there are two sides to every story. We feel OUR side of the story, the side expressed by the victims of the KR regime, has been entirely neglected by the media. We feel completely misrepresented by Ung. To you, it may seem like a waste of time (quite frankly, it feels that way to me to), but when someone is spreading false information about your history, culture, and the tragic experiences your people had to endure, our conscience does not permit us to sit silently by. If we are to learn from history, we must first make sure it is documented accurately, or at least as closely as possible. As an educator, I truly wish that this book were told in a truthful and accurate manner. It has stirred a lot of interest in the Killing Fields period that we have not seen since the movie came out. (Unlike this book, many Cambodians considered the movie quite accurate and were hence extremely supportive of it.)
I sincerely do appreciate your interest and sympathy regarding this issue. Because I believe many people feel the same way as you, would you kindly permit me to post your comments and my response in our institute's comments section. I feel it may clarify some things to others who feel the same way as you. Thank you.
Sody

Hi Julie,
I think Sody did a good job in addressing the questions you have but I wanted to add a few comments of my own. When I first read the paragraph about the mint leaves, my first reaction was we don't put mint leaves in noodle soup, we put basil. I myself was mistaken. An older Cambodian woman reminded me that Cambodian don't put basils in their noodle soup either, only Vietnamese. Then I remembered that I put basil in them when I am at a Vietnamese restaurants, not when I am at home with my family, never ever when I am at home. I have eaten in Vietnamese restaurants in Southern and Northern California and in Texas but I have never been given mint leaves to put in my noodle soup, basil yes. So, I am not sure that mint leaves are even used in Vietnamese restaurant either but basil, definitely. Mint leave was only a minor mistake that appears in the beginning of the book (p. 3).
I don't know if you have heard or read a book called "When Broken Glass Floats" by Chanrithy Him but I just finished it recently. I want to recommend it. A review for it will go up in the website soon.
The book came out at about the same time as Loung Ung’s “First they Killed my Father” but Loung was the one to receive the attention from the Media and the fame. You see the Media can manipulate and influence the public as in this case. There are people out there who accept the Media at face value but the truth can be uncovered if we used our brain and be critical of what it is trying to feed us. Read it and decide for ourselves, don't just go with the hype. This applies to Cambodian-Americans who have the knowledge and background concerning this issue and therefore a responsibility to educate the public and speak out against something like the book by Loung.
I have nothing but good things to say about the book by Chanrithy Him. And the book is also written by someone who grew up in Phnom Penh like Loung or part of her life and whose family is also wealthy but I can still relate to it even if my own family is from the countryside and didn't have the same experience as people from the city. Chanrithy's book should have been the book to receive the fame that Loung is getting. This is the book that demonstrates the real Khmer experience, what it means to survive, what it means to hope and to live.
In response to your statement "From the westerner's viewpoint, it simply appears that Cambodians have still not managed to stop fighting among themselves." I agree with that statement. But I would like to add that Americans have not stopped bombing us either. They are still trying to decide for us who we should admire, who should represent us. Isn't it time for Cambodians to speak up for themselves, to say who truly represents the Khmer experience? What is the hidden agenda in promoting Loung?
We don't want a similar experience like the 70's when Americans put the Lon Nol government in power. There are plenty of educated Cambodian-Americans who can tell you which book really represents the Khmer experience.
Navy

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