David Friggieri | Sunday, 11 January 2009

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Dispatches from Cambodia

Victory over Genocide holiday, or a shameful date?
As Cambodia commemorates the day that Vietnamese-backed forces toppled Pol Pot’s genocidal Khmer Rouge regime 30 years ago, the Phnom Penh Post reports that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has lashed out against those who did not recognise the national Victory over Genocide holiday.
“If you ignorant persons and extremists do not dare acknowledge the truth... you are not humans, you are truly animals,” he was quoted as saying. Prime Minister Sen's outburst came amid Opposition threats to boycott the ceremonies and claims that 7 January further "split the unity of the Cambodian people" as it had not guaranteed Cambodian independence and sovereignty but merely secured a de facto Vietnamese victory.
Here we are talking about an event which wiped out one third of the population of this country. But rather than deciding to set differences aside in the name of human decency, politicians prefer to stick to their version of events. Is it so astonishing then, that everyday politics - thankfully replete as it is with far less significant matters - is destined to be a constant, unsatisfying exercise in presenting different interpretations of events as the ultimate truth?
The day that decency trumps political expediency will be a victory for us all.

Sunset over Angkor Wat
The ancient Khmer temples at Angkor are the penultimate destination on our tour of South-East Asia before we fly to chaotic Bangkok and Istanbul for two quick stopovers on our way back to freezing Europe.
As you walk through these magnificent structures and admire them with awe from a distance you can't help thinking that while religions might well be elaborate forms of superstition, they have inspired man to craft some spectacular objects in his constant quest for perfection. Religions and megalomaniac monarchs have often made very creative bedfellows.
Yesterday, as the air cooled down slightly after the sweltering morning heat, I decided to admire the sunset over the main temple of Angkor Wat perched above Phnom Bakheng. Very soon, the whole world was up there. Being alone, I could eavesdrop and observe this international crowd of travellers – a real-life United Nations in session atop this ancient Khmer temple, a crystallization of all those previously observed national stereotypes in a flourish of guidebooks, fashion sense, jokes and camera-flashes.
There go the Italians, ragionando ad alta voce, always the best dressed even in their jungle kit, rucksacks and bandanas; the men attempting to outdo each other with their battute and witticisms. Two separate pairs of British blokes, always slightly ironic, experts in the art of understatement, commenting that a flight of vertigo-inducing Khmer steps wasn't “exactly easy to navigate”. Groups of Russian couples, women in designer wear – often as naturally attractive as the Italians are well-dressed – posing for sexy photos, which their rather less eye-catching husbands gladly take. A middle-aged German couple on my left, the most discreet of this noisy throng of tourists, religiously reading their impossibly detailed guidebook to each other with slight frowns on their faces. A large, loud, gesticulating group of 15 or 20 Chinese tourists, a line of husbands sitting on one side of a column, their wives guarding the other, who provoke the Franco-French couple behind me to pass a put-down comment about the Great Wall of China.
The French, that most sophisticated of people, who never simply limit themselves to banal comments about the view, or the weather, or the gradient of the steps, but who will always look for greater meaning and complex nuances in a situation. And their diametrical opposites, the unselfconscious Australians... whose jokes, laughter and laid-back drawl exude all the uncomplicated self-confidence of people who live their lives in the big outdoors.
The sunset was fairly spectacular too, but not half as entertaining. Besides, it’s hard to write about a sunset without sliding into kitsch.

Back to Europe
In less than 48 hours ancient Hindu temples, stupas, gentle smiles and peaceful orange-clad monks will be replaced by European politics, chilly post-modern capital cities, sterner looks and Gothic cathedrals. Re-integration is going to be hard.

David Friggieri gave cold Brussels a miss over the past two weeks

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