Disco in Phnom Penh

01.00.00

Williams: From the ashes of war, a new Cambodia is emerging. It’s still a country dominated by violence and vice.

Victor shooting

FX: Gunfire

00.19

Dusk in Phnom Penh, and Victor Chau is getting ready for another night’s work.

FX: Gunfire

For Victor, and members of his newly-formed Eagle Force Company, business is booming.

Map Cambodia

FX: Gunfire

00.39

Victor patrolling Phnom Penh at night

It says a lot about Phnom Penh that this Taiwanese, hardened in LA and New York, can roam the streets as self-appointed sheriff.

00.54

Victor: Anybody can come in here, any degenerate person can come in here and nobody ever stops anybody at the airport.

And that can mean trouble. Their weapons are military issue. They have no official status or legal standing. Victor’s so-called Eagle Force is nothing more than a band of vigilantes.

01.13

This is not community policing, this is simply taking care of business. As proof of Victor’s street clout, he orders the army in to help end the stand-off.

One of Victor’s clients has been shaken down by the real authorities, government MPs.

01.48

Victor: He asked for money, but he didn’t give it to him. Okay, so after that, he didn’t give him money, what did he do? Which one is this that did this to you.

Williams: Only in today’s Phnom Penh could Victor’s vigilantes get away with standing over troops.

02:13

Victor: What is your unit? Who is your commander?

Williams: The reason is simple; he’s paying off the bosses.

Williams talks to Victor on street

Victor: On this street I am in charge of security. The soldiers are my backup. They know that very well. Because we make sure of that.

02.27

Williams: But isn’t it a risk for you that you start mixing with the soldiers. I mean the soldiers are trying to get money out of people, isn’t that dangerous for you guys.

Victor: Well no, because we take care of them in a different way.

Night patrol

Williams: Taking care of the right connections and paying off the right people in this free for all can be a license to print money.

02.44

Williams and Victor in car

Victor: I’m simply trying to create a safe haven for my entertainment kingdom. And I’m the supercop that’s going to make sure that that’s going to happen.

02.56

Williams arrives at nightclub

Williams: Quiet night, busy night?

03.08

Victor: Yeah, should be a usual night.

The jewel in Victor’s kingdom is here, Phnom Penh’s hottest nightclub.

The Manhattan is Victor’s own private Disneyland. A seven night a week dollar earner where Victor is king.

In many ways, it mirrors the new Cambodia – a haven for drugs and gangs. It’s a new meeting place for some of Asia’s most wanted, where Chinese Mafia bosses toast deals with Cambodian generals, which Vietnamese prostitutes mix ecstasy with offers of night long friendship. The only rule – no weapons. But VIPs are allowed to bring in two bodyguards each, and the sensible ones usually do.

DJ at mixing table

It’s an unashamed showcase of international gangsterism that this cash-starved country not only tolerates, it invites.

03.59

Hun Sen

But under the rule of this man, powerful second Prime Minister, Hun Sen, anything goes.

04.11

After running the country for years, and losing the last election, this Cambodian strongman last year used tanks to retake total power.

His political domination gives him enormous commercial clout. But questioning that authority is an unhealthy pursuit. Last time I saw him, he told me to get shot, in the head.

Translator: You go to a long way yourself. Shooting by Pol Pot. You can to go a long way.

Williams: Thank you, sir.

Street shooting

FX: Gun fire

04.55

Williams: In fact, under Hun Sen, violence is such a way of life that death can still come at any time.

In the heart of the city, next to a children’s playground, someone throws a grenade. Among the first to arrive, we find chaos and panic.

Screaming

05.19

This woman’s husband was innocently riding by when shrapnel cut him down. Life drains away as ambulances take minutes to arrive.

FX: Ambulance siren

Williams: Nervous police fire into the air to control anxious crowds.

FX: Gun fire

Williams on street

Super:

EVAN WILLIAMS

Williams: Yet again, evidence of the cultural violence here in Cambodia, these guys were just sitting at a roadside café, when it appears somebody drove past and threw a grenade in their midst. Four are injured, one of them very badly.

06.02

In the darkness and confusion, more victims are found. This night’s toll, one dead, seven more injured.

But so inured are Cambodians to this kind of violence, that life quickly returns to normal. Nobody knows why it happened, it was probably just an argument

Rainsy on boat

Rainsy: Onward to victory, victory.

06.39

With unbowed, perhaps even reckless optimism, leading dissident, Sam Rainsy, is again sailing into a political maelstrom.

Believe it or not in this land of tough guys, this former Paris accountant is Cambodia’s great democratic hope.

FX: Boat

The darling of the middle class and international donors, he’s riding a wave of unprecedented popularity.

Still surrounded by security, Rainsy’s bodyguards say they leave their weapons at home to avoid a clash with Hun Sen’s troops.

07.12

But Rainsy knows his international profile is more protection than any number of bodyguards or guns.

Rainsy jumps into Mekong

Ever the politician, he’s always willing to perform for the camera.

07.31

But for a few anxious moments, it looks like this picture opportunity might have gone horribly wrong. As Rainsy disappeared into the swirling waters of the Mekong, his bodyguards feared Cambodia’s beacon of democracy could have become fish feed.

Rainsy in village

But like he’s done politically so often in the past, Rainsy reemerges, this time on the other side of the river.

8.00

This Cambodian iron man, startling villagers and small children with an unexpected campaign stop.

Williams: Were they a little surprised to see you, Sam?

8.16

Rainsy: Yes, they didn’t expect me.

Williams: They didn’t expect you to swim either.

Rainsy: They said that I am crazy to cross the river.

Williams: So do your bodyguards.

Kids in village

Rainsy: But they think it is not a too bad idea. That this is a strong man who can cross the Mekong.

FX: Applause

Williams: But this is not all a political circus. Deep in the countryside, where most people live, politics can still be a deadly pursuit.

Music

Wedding

In what should have been the happiest day of their lives, So Saphan and Keo Yoen are getting married. But no one is smiling.

8.54

Grieving woman

Outside the ceremony, the bride’s mother is lost in grief. Three week’s ago, So Eth’s husband was brutally murdered for opposing Hun Sen’s ruling party.

Widow: My husband was so cruelly killed – eyes were gouged out, his legs tortured. He must have suffered a lot before he died. His head was smashed, his eyes scratched out, his calf muscles cut away, his fingers and toes cut off… Oh, he suffered… oh my God, please help me.

09.22

But far from receiving help, soon after her husband’s mutilated corpse was found in a nearby ditch, So Eth was paid a visit by the local commune chief. Instead of commiserating, he simply said her husband’s opposition Funcinpec Party membership was a betrayal of Hun Sen’s ruling party. That’s why he was killed.

09.46

Widow: He warned me not to talk to other people about this and to be very careful of my own safety. But why should he forbid me from speaking? How could I not talk when my husband so savagely killed? If his party did not kill him, then why is he angry with me? I’m only talking about the killer who scratched out my husband’s eyes.

10.08

Williams walking along street

Williams: Seeking some answers from one of Hun Sen’s top officials, this astounding cynical response –

10.35

Sitha interview

Super:

SVAY SITHA

Cambodian Government

Sitha: They have to do everything possible in 1993 and even now they have to everything possible in order to tarnish the image of the ruling party before the election.

10.42

So they might kill their own members, and project the blame on the ruling party.

Williams: Doesn’t it look strange though, that most of the people who are victims of this violence, are in fact opposition people and not from your party?

11.09

Sitha: I say that some might be true, but most are orchestrated, are mounted by the opposition in order to tarnish the image of the ruling party.

11.17

Deeming his injuries self-inflicted, the government says Thong Sophal committed suicide. And just in case there was any doubt over the policy on suicides, the government slapped a rice ration ban on those attending the wedding.

Others heeded the government’s warning, and simply stayed away.

11.52

Rainsy campaigning

FX: Applause

Across the country, it’s this kind of abuse of power that gives people like Rainsy growing grass roots support.

Rainsy interview

Rainsy: Cambodia is a terrorist state where the leaders perpetrate acts of terror against opponents.

12.12

Williams: It’s a culture of impunity Cambodians voted under the UN to end and failed to dislodge. But with Hun Sen’s officials running the country, it’s unlikely their vote will change very much this time either.

Rainsy: My main concern is social injustice which is linked to corruption. They expect me to wipe out corruption in this country in order to bring about social justice.

12.44

Williams: Is that possible even if you won government, to do that straight away?

Rainsy: Yes, we have to, and we will.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh

Also demanding justice is Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the man ousted in last year’s coup. Since then, more than 100 of his loyal party workers have been murdered.

13.07

But this is politics, and if Rainsy, or Ranariddh, are to have any influence on Cambodia’s destiny, they’ll have to do a deal with the devil, and form a new coalition with Hun Sen.

On the hustings, Prince Ranariddh assures supporters he will seek justice for those who have died in his name.

13.29

Ranariddh

Ranariddh: Absolutely, during any talks, any negotiations, in order to form a coalition government, we would put this element as one of our major priorities.

But behind the scenes, senior party workers are not so convinced that a tribunal would be a condition for Ranariddh’s return to power.

13.49

Super:

AMHED YAHYA

Funcinpec Party

Yahya: We want to have justice, but we try to do whatever we can for the sake of the Cambodian people.

13.58

Williams: Politics before justice.

Yahya: Politics first, justice later.

Conference

Also willing to defer justice, the West is again playing around the edges of the Cambodian tragedy.

Representative: I am very proud and we are very proud to have been involved in the ? training course.

In the belief something is better than nothing, Australia is spending $12 million trying to improve police and judicial practices. It’s a laudable grass roots effort, starting here with the judicial police, Cambodia’s CIB.

14.24

But these officers are in a wing of government at times used to silence political opponents. So it’s no surprise they’re deliberately kept out of any investigation into the most systematic of Cambodia’s crimes – the continuing murder of those opposing the state.

Rainsy

Rainsy: It is a waste of money, but also it will make people disappointed. It raises expectations and hope, but those expectations and hope will not be met as long as we don’t address the real issue facing this country.

14.56

Williams: Which is?

Rainsy: Which is the absence of the rule of law, and the communist system which is still in place, with the international community turning a blind eye to human rights violations, because they are afraid of Hun Sen, known at the strongman of this country, and who blackmails everybody.

15.16

Jail

Williams: So this prison is a normal one for the provinces?

15.44

Kek: Yes, it’s normal.

While political killers roam free, the main jails are full of petty criminals. Some of these kids are serving 8 years for stealing a moped.

Williams with Kek at jail

Organising unprecedented access for us, leading human rights worker, Kek Galibru, says conditions are appalling.

16.00

There’s not enough food, and medical help is rare.

Most are driven to small time robberies by extreme poverty. And whether guilty or not, all have confessed because the police use torture.

Kek

Super:

KEK GALIBRU

Kicadho Human Rights Group

Kek: So they come to the police station, they stay normally 48 hours in custody. And most of the prisoners were tortured.

16.34

Williams: Most of the prisoners here?

Kek: Not in the prison, but in the custody of the police. The police they know another method to get the confession.

Williams: Not even prison officials seek to suppress evidence of police brutality.

17.00

Interview with prisoners

Prisoner 1: The police beat me with a plastic pipe. I kept saying I didn’t do it but they wouldn’t listen.

Prisoner 2: The police kicked me with their legs and knees. I didn’t do it, but I said I did because I was afraid of the police.

Rainsy

Super:

SAM RAINSY

President, Sam Rainsy Party

Rainsy: Justice comes with democracy, and democracy can only prevail if you promote the truth. When we expose the truth, and then we can ensure justice.

17.29

Williams:Right now though, anybody who perpetrates an act of state terrorism walks free. There is no accountability there seems.

Rainsy: Cambodia has a culture of impunity. The powerful can kill whoever they want, with total impunity. So we have to take a great risk if we want to confront the power in place.

17.51

Bullets/Victor with guns

But such lofty ideals are not the concern of Cambodia’s new business leaders.

18.19

Victor: Then of course, you have your Uzi, and everybody knows what an Uzi looks like. You know, all the movies, the bad guys like Uzis.

Victor has his own ideas of how to pull Cambodia out of its years of misery. He’s diversifying into – you guessed it – a shooting range as a tourist attraction.

Williams and Victor

Williams: So what, come shooting in Cambodia?

18.42

Victor: Yeah.

Williams: Does it work? Do people want to do it?

Victor: Some people enjoy it and some people don’t.

Victor shooting

FX: Gunfire

18.54

But as Victor takes aim at a prosperous future, he also knows those in power can easily turn on their friends.

In Cambodia, there’s little loyalty, just deals to be done.

19.05

FX: Gunfire

Ends 19.15