By Kong Bunchhoeun
Translated from Khmer by Soy
In my whole life, I don’t want anything more than freedom to write
If I write as I am ordered to, it is tantamount to sewing shut my own mouth.
The value of my writing lies on the truth. I fear no jail.
If I see fire, but claim it to be smoke, then I betray not only my readers, but myself as well.
I’d rather be poor. I will not depend on money. I will not sell my writing for villas and cars.
I will not bend down and allow my head to be used as a hearth. I’d rather die without ever see Angkor Wat again.
Should I insist on living in my country with my mouth shut and my eyes closed, should I be a willing to live as talking parrot,
or should I become a drumstick for their drums, then future generations will surely spit on my grave.
KI-Media Note: Kong Bun Chhoeun (Cambodia), novelist and songwriter, has been writing prolifically since the 1950s but stopped and became a farmer while the Khmer Rouge were in power. If he had revealed his identity during their regime, it is likely he would have been killed. Cambodia is now moving toward democracy, but powerful people continue to ignore the law. The plot of his last book, The Destiny of Marina, or Acid-Laced Vengeance, published in 2000, bore many similarities to the 1999 scandal of a karaoke singer who was attacked with acid by the jealous wife of a government official. The book details the problem of official impunity in Cambodia. After publication, Kong Bun Chhoeun received death threats from the husband of the woman who had mutilated the singer. In November 2000, he fled to Thailand. Kong Bun Chhoeun is also Marina's uncle.
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