By Sopheng Cheang Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Ieng Thirith, a Khmer Rouge leader who was the highest-ranking woman in the genocidal regime that oversaw the death of nearly 2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s, died Aug. 22, her family and U.N. officials said. She was 83 years old. Ieng Thirith was […]
This week at SIFF
“The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor” Reviewed by Tiffany Ran In one lifetime, Dr. Haing S. Ngor went from Cambodian refugee to Academy Award winner, author, and activist only to be gunned down outside of his home in Los Angeles in 1996. Not to be confused with original film where Ngor served as […]
Remembering the Khmer Rouge Takeover and its aftermath 40 years later
By Nina Huang Northwest Asian Weeky Khmer Rouge Takeover Forty years ago on April 17, Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge into Phnom Penh and took over with the goal of creating a purely agrarian-based Communist society. Over a span of four years, the Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of […]
1st Cambodia genocide trial aims to expose crimes
By Sopheng Cheang Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)—The first trial on charges of genocide against Cambodia’s brutal 1970s Khmer Rouge regime opened Friday with a prosecutor saying it will show that Cambodians were enslaved in inhumane conditions that led to the deaths of 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, and execution.
Life terms sought for Khmer two
By Justine Drennan and Sopheng Cheang The Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Prosecutors at Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal requested life imprisonment for two of the regime’s surviving leaders, issuing an emotional appeal for justice for the millions who died or suffered through the group’s reign of terror nearly 40 years ago.
25 years after unrest, Myanmar begins to cope
By Yadana Htun and Tim Sullican The Associated Press YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Twenty-five years later, you can still see the fear in the eyes of the doctors — two young men carrying a schoolgirl, her blouse drenched in blood, through streets where soldiers were brutally crushing pro-democracy protests.
The Top 10 APA Movies of 2012
By Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly From close-set family dramas to burgeoning blockbusters, Asian films were as strong as ever this year. Here are my picks for the top ten Asian Pacific American films that played in Seattle this year. 10. “The Secret World Of Arietty,” directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, starring Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, […]
“Golden Slumbers”
Reviewed by Andrew Hamlin Northwest Asian Weekly Davy Chou’s documentary “Golden Slumbers” begins with a series of long, sweeping road shots so majestic that it takes the viewer a few minutes to realize that all the vehicles — motorcycles, mostly, and a few trucks — are going backwards. It’s a striking and strange way to […]
Ex-leader in court says Khmer Rouge not ‘bad people,’ blames Vietnam
By Sopheng Cheang The Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A former leader of Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime told a court that he and his comrades were not “bad people,” denying responsibility last Monday, Dec. 5, for the deaths of 1.7 million people during their 1970s rule and blaming Vietnam for any atrocities.
COMMENTARY: America — no place for moderates
By Susan L. Cassidy For Northwest Asian Weekly Where has my country gone? I am one of the millions of Americans who has no interest in my neighbor’s religion. I care that they obey the law and rake their leaves. I am grateful that they welcomed me into the neighborhood with brownies. I have no […]