Award-Winning Journalist Praises Congressional Resolution Honoring
Dith Pran
By Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Washington
08 May 2008
The U.S. Congress recently passed a resolution to honor the late
Cambodian photographer Dith Pran, the Khmer Rouge survivor whose life
story was made into an award-winning movie 'The Killing Fields'. The
U.S. Senate resolution calls the photo-journalist who died at the end
of March, a 'modern-day hero'.
Sydney Schanberg, the long-time friend and colleague of the late New
York Times photographer Dith Pran, says he is pleased to hear Congress
recognize his friend's works and legacy, but wishes there was more
than just a resolution in his honor.
Speaking to VOA Khmer by phone from his home in New York, Schanberg
said he would like to see action.
"Pran would be more impressed if governments, legislators, and
presidents and so forth, did more than pass resolutions, by doing
something to prevent genocide from happening."
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution, introduced by Rhode Island
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on April 29th, to honor the human-rights
advocate whose heroism during the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer
Rouge regime was documented in the Academy Award-winning 1984 film
'The Killing Fields'.
The House of Representatives also passed a similar resolution this
week (May 6th) that says it 'honors the life and legacy of Mr. Dith
for his commitment to raising awareness about the atrocities that took
place under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia'.
Dith Pran worked as an interpreter for Sydney Schanberg who covered
the war in Cambodia for the New York Times when the Khmer Rouge took
over Cambodia on April 17, 1975. Pran was credited with saving
Schanberg's life by negotiating with the Khmer Rouge to let Schanberg
and the other foreign journalists leave.
Mr. Dith stayed behind in Cambodia. In 1979 when Vietnamese soldiers
invaded Cambodia and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime, he escaped to
Thailand. In 1980 he migrated to the United States to reunite with his
wife and children who left Cambodia just before the Khmer Rouge
takeover.
Their ordeal was made into the movie.
Mr. Dith dedicated his life to educate people about the genocide in
Cambodia by giving lectures at colleges around the United States,
while continuing to work for the New York Times as a photojournalist
until earlier this year when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
He died of the disease March 30th in New Jersey.
Senator Whitehouse's communication director and spokeswoman, Alex
Swartsel, this week explained to VOA why Pran was chosen.
"Senator Whitehouse felt that Dith Pran is an extraordinary person,
someone who has worked tirelessly throughout his life to educate the
people of the world and the people of America about what had happened
to his people in Cambodia. Someone who had endured extraordinary
personal trial and great difficulty, and was worthy of this
recognition."
Schanberg said Dith Pran did not just talk about the genocide that
took place in Cambodia, but against genocide around the world.
"His message was that we always say that 'never again'. It should
never happen again and of course it keeps happening again, so Pran's
goal was to made 'never again' a realty, not just a phrase.
Dith Pran's widow, Se Moeun Dith, told VOA Khmer in a phone interview
this week that she was very happy about the resolutions.
She says she is very touched that the U.S. Congress has chose her
husband, who tried to bring the message to the world and the United
States about the tragedies in Cambodia during that period of time.
An estimated one-point-seven-million people died of starvation,
sickness, and extrajudicial killings in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge
from April 1975 to January 1979.
The five surviving top Khmer Rouge leaders are in their 70s and in
custody of a U.N.-assisted tribunal awaiting trial. They are charged
with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
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