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Hem Chiev will always be a very admired Cambodian hero. This is a book about his life.
Achar (a title given to a Buddhist clergyman) Hem Chiev was born in 1898 in Kandal province to a family of a father as district chief and a mother as a simple housewife. He had other four siblings. But, Hem Chiev was a monk though he was entitled ‘Achar’. An achar is not a monk. But this was because at that time a monk professor was called ‘Achar’.
As a normal child during that time, Hem Chiev was educated in a pagoda by becoming a small monk. Till the age of 20, he became a monk at Langka pagoda and was taught by supreme monk Chuon Nat. In 1921, the Venerable Hem Chiev passed ‘ Diplome de PEcole Supérieure de pali’, the highest honored certificate of Pali, ranked number 6.
At that time, Cambodia was being colonized by France and in a dire need for a lot of schools. Most of formal education took place inside pagodas. Hem Chiev had dedicated his time in teaching other monks what he knew. Hem Chiev, besides teaching other young monks, liked preaching dharma about good and bad deeds (Buddhist teaching). He was favoured by many Buddhists who listened to him.
Hem Chiev had very creative and modern ideas. He liked keeping track of what was happening around the world. He would read French newspaper, magazines in Khmer or Thai. The first-ever only Khmer newspaper was ‘Nokor Wat’ which was established by Seung Ngoc Tanh, Pach Chheun and Sem Va. He also had foreign friends who were happy to tell him news around the world.
Hem Chiev was warned against talking ‘too much’ by his peer friend who’s also a monk. But Achar Hem Chiev replied by saying that at the present Cambodians were supposed to dare to say anything they wanted and wake each other up to see the world. “Open your ideas and see the world.”
Surprisingly, his preaching anywhere usually included patriotic words, encouraging the listeners to understand more about what was happening. He said laziness and procrastination failed many people. His preaching words encouraged the people to understand ‘slavery’ that Cambodians were in. “Being someone’s slaves makes us feel like animals; we shouldn’t bear this burden anymore.” Achar Hem Chiev also reminded everybody that being born as a human being, people had to struggle, be patient and always be hopeful. He preached to the Cambodians to give up their bad social habits like making a future-to-be groom work very hard for the prospective bride’s family. He said that it’s very unjust for the boys in general. Since each family had a son, this tradition only did more hindrance than a help. He also encouraged parents to send their children to school. During that period, Cambodian parents didn’t want their children to learn at school because they believed it was French school and if their children learned, they would soon be drafted as solders. Hem Chiev tried to clear all the doubt by saying knowledge was like the biggest and brightest light ever shining on earth; if we’re ignorant, we were like the blind walking unsteadily. Further, he told people to take care of their health. When he spotted unhealthy children, he also preached to the parents to clean or wash their children. They got sick because of lack of hygiene. Since Udong era, many Cambodians had died of cholera and serious chicken pox. Achar Hem Chiev was not happy when Cambodians had little technical knowledge, not like Vietnamese in Cambodia. At that time, mechanicals and repairmen were Vietnamese only.
Achar Hem Chiev was a very grateful child to his parents and a very good student to his teacher Chuon Nat. Besides this, he liked donating money he received from preaching to poor people or poor students. His preaching words also encouraged employers or bosses to learn to share.
At one important historical stage, Hem Chiev became a friend with Seung Ngoc Thanh, another Cambodian hero and with a few others like Bun Chanmol, Nuon Duong (his student) and Chum Muon. The French government in Cambodia started to be suspicious of his intentions because the French colony was keeping track of his friends mentioned above.
Later on, Achar Hem Chiev was arrested and defrocked. He was forced to wear simple clothes as a normal person. The French soldiers went to every family and person that knew Hem Chiev to search for ‘enough evidence’. People started to feel fear so they buried or burned pictures of Hem Chiev even though they very much respected him. Then, there was a demonstration against Hem Chiev’s arrest. All the Cambodians wanted him to go free. However, the demonstration was not successful. Hem Chiev along with other Cambodians were charged of sedative conspiracies to overthrow the colonial government. Hem Chiev, Nuon Duong, Pach Chheun, the Venerable Pang Kat and Bun Chanmol were sent to Koh Tralach, the best-known prison that belonged to the French government at the time.
Life in that prison was the most miserable thing to experience. Rice and food were usually stale and very bad and scooped into dishes that were once used as a loo/potty. Luckily, he was not tortured by the prison chief notorious for his cruelty and merciless beating. Unable to bear the very unhygienic condition, Achar Hem Chiev fell absolutely sick. He was infected with dysentery and had a big boil on his waist, which resulted from too many useless injections from unskilled doctors in the prison. His student Nuon Duong got numb in his fingers. At one point, Hem Chiev could not bear this inexplicable pain. His lips became so purple. His body was rocking because of pain. Nuon Duong could not help much but took care of his teacher, massaging his teacher’s abdomen. At Hem Cheiv’s last breath, Duong put his teacher’s head on his lap and Hem Chiev’s tears came down due to so much pain. Knowing that he would not live, Hem Chiev whispered to his student to struggle to live to see the country’s situation. “I am not afraid of death but I would regret not being at able to see Cambodia become independent.” was his last words. Nuon Duong remembered his teacher’s body carried into an oxcard and carried away from him. He closed eyes to finish his tears that rolled down on his face. He could remember his teacher’s energetic life, his talent in teaching his students, his patriotic ideas for the country and all the misery his teacher received in the prison. Later, Bun Chanmol was there to motivate Nuon Duong. Fortunately, Nuon Duong could live to see what happened later to the country.
Achar Hem Chiev passed away at the age of 45 in 1943 on a remote island called Koh Tralach. His conscience and virtue, though gone with the waves and the wind, will never fade away within every Cambodian’s heart.
In the 2003 national election, Chea Kim Lang, 23 now, was at the legal age for voting, but she did not.
As the 27 July 2008 national election is coming near, Kim Lang does not have any plan to vote at all. Looking a bit angry and disappointed, Kim Lang said, “When I became 18 years old particularly in 2003, I did not have an ID card yet.” Without an identification card, Kim Lang was afraid she could not vote, and so she decided not to give it a try.
Kim Lang blamed for her inability to vote the authority responsible for issuing her the ID card or national card. “On the 2003 Election Day, I stayed at home alone, and my parents and two sisters went and voted,” said Kim Lang.
The ID card was not the only reason why Kim Lang did not manage to vote. “I think my family wasted their time, and they’d better stay at home like me.”
According to the electoral law, every 18-year-old or over is legible to caste a vote. While voting is a right, not an obligation, then, whether or not Kim Lang does not go to vote, it does not affect her living, she said.
Three years later, Kim Lang decided to go to her local authority once again to make an ID card. This time, she was let down again twice or three times. When she went and asked for it, the authority kept telling her to wait. Her authority was based in Tuol Sangkee commune, Resey Keo district. Now that she had already moved to a new house in Chamkar Morn district, Kim Lang will somehow have to go to vote in Resey Keo district.
The electoral law also states that people who have registered somewhere before will have to vote at the same place. Even Kim Lang’s family will go and vote in Resey Keo district.
2007 was the year of the Cambodian commune election. Again, Kim Lang did not participate in voting although she was legible. “I stop caring about it; it’s not my fault,” Kim Lang commented. “I think the election is nothing special as it just happens again and again in the same way.”
After finishing her high school, Kim Lang started to work as an assistant in one Chinese garment factory since. In high school, Kim Lang said, she got very little information about what a national election really was.
As a Chinese descendent, Kim Lang believes that it is simple for Chinese descendents not to go to vote. “Other people, especially Cambodian Chinese do not usually vote because they think whoever comes next and takes up the power does not make any difference or change anything. Perhaps, the new one will line his or her own pockets more quickly than the old one,” Kim Lang recalled what other Chinese descendents told her.
“I won’t go to vote this year, but if I really voted, I wouldn’t know whom to vote for,” Kim Lang said. “Every time I hear the result, it’s always the ruling party who wins.”
To Kim Lang, a subject of discussion concerned with the election is quite sensitive among other people, even with her own family. “I have never asked whom my family voted for because I’ve been told it’s not a proper thing to ask or discuss,” she said.
Consequently, two of her cousins frequently have a row about their political interest since they voted for different political parties and tried to claim what was the best.
Matter-of-factly, people really want to vote, but they can see the result before it is really revealed, Kim Lang said. “How can they know? Of course, through CPP leaders’ use of power.”
Kim Lang thinks that the election in Cambodia ‘is just held out of someone’s want or just a show-off of democracy’. All Kim Lang knew about the election was that it was financed by some international donors. “It’s a waste of money to do it.”
In spite the fact that Kim Lang was not educated well about the election, she also listened to radio or read newspaper about what happened during and after the election.
“After the election, I later heard about complaints from other political parties that it’s unfair and there’s ballot fraud. But what I don’t understand is that people who voted didn’t complain. I never hear them complaining about fraud or anything.”
“I don’t feel any guilt; it’s not a big deal in my life. Also, I don’t see anything changed to my country, so I am so hopeless about it.”
During Khmer New Year, Kim Lang and her parents went to Vietnam for medical check-ups. She said that Vietnam was now so developed. “The situation in my country is slow in progress. Ten years before, Vietnam was like Cambodia now. But when I was there, things changed very much.”
Asked what she would expect in the upcoming election, Kim Lang said that there’s nothing she anticipated but hoped that there wouldn’t be violence, fighting, robbery or theft at all. “From one election to the other, there’s no change but I can hear and see only chaos. I don’t know how they come up.” She also hoped the political parties would have to work hard for their country. “Don’t promise, just do it.”
From the propaganda to registration process, everything is so complicated for Kim Lang to understand.
“I don’t think I can make any change to what is happening,” Kim Lang said. “It’s bullshit to say people here have rights to vote.”