Thursday, 6 March 2008

A Tacoma Man's Quest to Lead Cambodia

3/5/2008
Ruby de Luna
Liste on: RealAudio MP3: High

Nearly three years ago, KUOW introduced you to a Cambodian musician who lived through the horrors under the Khmer Rouge regime. Daran Kravanh survived the killing fields by playing accordion. His story and music were featured in the documentary, "Crossing East." These days, Kravanh is busy organizing from his home in Tacoma, to be the next prime minister of Cambodia. KUOW's Ruby de Luna has this update.

DARAN KRAVANH NEVER PLANNED ON RUNNING FOR OFFICE. HE'S A MUSICIAN. BY DAY HE WORKS AS A STATE SOCIAL WORKER. BUT THE THOUGHT OF JUMPING INTO POLITICS CHANGED WHEN KRAVANH RETURNED TO CAMBODIA IN 1997. HE HAD BEEN AWAY FOR NEARLY A DECADE. IT WAS A BITTERSWEET TRIP. HE SAW A LOT OF OLD FRIENDS, FELLOW SURVIVORS...

KRAVANH: "This picture I went to the place where the Khmer Rouge killed me. This person, he survived too. I said, wow! you survived—me too!"

KRAVANH SAYS WHAT HE SAW IN CAMBODIA MADE HIM SAD. THERE WERE NO JOBS. EVERYWHERE HE WENT HE SAW POVERTY. IN HIS HOMETOWN OF PURSAT, THE RICH WILDLIFE THAT HE REMEMBERED FROM HIS YOUTH WAS GONE.

KRAVANH: "I didn't see even one monkey, one bird, one deer, everything like empty. That surprised me; I feel disappointed and start angry. I said this country not supposed to be like that."

MEMORIES OF THAT TRIP STAYED WITH HIM. LAST FALL KRAVANH LAUNCHED HIS CAMPAIGN. HE FORMED THE KHMER ANTI-POVERTY PARTY. KRAVANH SAYS ELECTION LAWS THERE DON'T ALLOW CAMPAIGNING UNTIL ONE MONTH BEFORE ELECTION DAY. UNTIL THEN, KRAVANH SAYS HE DOES ALL HIS CAMPAIGN–RELATED BUSINESS BY PHONE—JUST ASK HIM ABOUT HIS PHONE BILL.

KRAVANH: (Laughs) "I have two cell phones, include home. They're really high, yeah."

AND IT'S NOT JUST HIS PHONE BILL. HE'S RACKED UP MORE THAN 40 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CREDIT CARD DEBT. OBSERVERS SAY KRAVANH, OR ANY CANDIDATE OUTSIDE OF THE RULING CAMBODIAN PEOPLE'S PARTY, HAS A LONG SHOT OF WINNING.

STEINEMANN: "I think there are real concerns about the dominance of the ruling party, CPP."

NAMJI STEINEMANN IS WITH THE EAST WEST CENTER IN HAWAII. SHE SAYS AFTER DECADES OF CIVIL UNREST, CAMBODIA HAS REACHED SOME STABILITY. THE CURRENT PRIME MINISTER, HUN SEN, HAS BEEN IN POWER SINCE 1985. BUT THE COUNTRY IS STILL TRYING TO FIND ITS POLITICAL FOOTING.

STENEMANN: "The concerns range from unequal access to the media by all political parties since the CPP the ruling party, really controls the airwaves. I think there's also non–transparency of campaign finance issues…the ruling party controls much of the resources."

ANOTHER CHALLENGE IS VOTER APATHY. STEINEMANN SAYS THERE'S A SENSE OF RESIGNATION THAT THE SYSTEM ISN'T GOING TO CHANGE. AND CAMBODIANS GENERALLY ARE RELUCTANT TO TALK ABOUT THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS OPENLY—A LEGACY OF THE KHMER ROUGE PERIOD. THAT DOESN'T DISCOURAGE DARAN KRAVANH. HE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE'S SHOOTING FOR THE MOON, BUT HE SAYS THE SKEPTICISM ONLY FUELS HIS DETERMINATION.

KRAVANH: "You not just sit and want to change. No way. You have to take action and motivate yourself and go for it and do it. If you don't do it, you have nothing."

THESE DAYS KRAVANH SPENDS HIS TIME TRYING TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT HIS PARTY, AND RAISING MONEY. BEING NEW TO POLITICS, HE'S CALLED ON CONGRESSMAN NORM DICKS' OFFICE FOR ADVICE. KRAVANH'S WIFE BREE, SAYS THEIR LIFE TOGETHER HASN'T BEEN THE SAME SINCE HE DECIDED TO RUN FOR OFFICE. HIS TIME HAS BEEN SO CONSUMED.

BREE KRAVANH: "It feels a little bit like sacrifice in that my own needs have become secondary. And to see my husband not even be able to eat dinner without talking on the phone at the same time, I don't even remember the last time we sat down for dinner without him spending time on the phone, but to see the joy that he has when he's with people, encouraging people, it's really worth that sacrifice."

THE KRAVANHS PLAN TO RETURN TO CAMBODIA IN APRIL FOR THE NATIONAL CONVENTION LEADING UP TO THE ELECTION IN JULY. I'M RUBY DE LUNA, KUOW NEWS.

No comments: