This interview with Shui Meng was held at the KontraS (The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) office in Jakarta on 12 September 2013.
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The Wealth of Nations
The definition of poverty used in Laos by international agencies and institutions is very much based on a measurement of cash income or gross national product (GNP) that is based on products and cash. It does not emphasise social and environmental capital. International agencies and institutions talk about cash capital and material capital, which is basically what comes from industry not from natural products. So in using that criteria yes, Laos is a “least developed” country and based on this criteria Laos is considered “poor”.
But the poverty here and in other countries is quite different. Poverty here is basically cash poor; social services are poor – education and health care services do not reach many people – that is “poor”. But the natural social capital and the indigenous social capital is quite high. For example, people really care about one another, they help one another and in this sense, I think we are quite wealthy. In terms of the environment, we are lucky that we are not very populated and nature can provide a lot of things that makes us kind of easy-going. This should be seen as a capital, it is our national wealth.
But in the World Bank and the mainstream economic system of measuring poverty, these factors are not considered and Laos is seen as “poor”. From the Western point of view, it is seen as a disadvantage if you are not competing against each other.
Sombath Somphone, in Watershed Vol. 7 No. 2 November 2001 – February 2002
Dear Sombath…from Truong buu Lam
Dear Sombath,
You were no rabble rouser nor were you a fierce revolutionary bent on bringing radical changes to the world or to your own small country.
I remember, during the Vietnam War, people in Hawaii were demonstrating, some ferociously for a complete withdrawal of American troops, some as vehemently for the Republic of Vietnam survival, you, alone, quietly and efficiently, raised fund to buy seeds not for the Royal Government of Laos, nor for the Pathet Lao, but for the peasants of Laos.
After your training at the University of Hawaii was over, you simply and as quietly packed up, said good bye to your friends and returned to your country. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Truong buu Lam”
Dear Sombath…from Somchit
Dear uncle,
One year you are not home… Auntie couldn’t sleep for many months. She spend most of her time working and meeting people asking for help and ways to search for you and to bring you back. She’s so worry about you, especially in cold weather like this. How will you live? Will have blanket and warm clothes?
I still remember that, after you came back from you mediation trip during last year, a nun told you have to pray for aunty 400 times. For what reason you don’t know, but you said you did start doing it from that time.. I do hope that you are still doing that, even it’s already 400 times praying, please keep praying… She feels it.
Grandmother, went sick because of her old age. Auntie really want to visit her but it’s too tough for her and she afraid that grandma will be worst. Till now, she has no idea what happened to you. This time of last year she waited for you because you said you will visit her. She asked for you but we all have to lied that you are working abroad and couldn’t come to visit her, no matter what happened to her. We told her that you called and said that you miss her.
Now a day, grandma has loss much of her memory, she couldn’t sit or walk, she never mention about you, but she cries and yell with pain when she sees me. She said she has no pain for her body, nothing. I think she’s still waiting for you.. please pray for her too.
Yesterday, it’s one year anniversary that you are away. Friends from around the world are thinking about you and doing as much as they can to ask for your safety return. You are in their heart, always.
PADETC did amazing work, that they organise a fair to inspire people about the work you have done to your own people and country, and the people you’ve touched. More than 200 people joined. We did a big pray for you. Many people wrote to you, on the inspiration tree, hope you could come back and read it. I did wrote on the tree, as well as Koung and Mui.
I know you miss all of us, wherever you are. We miss you too. Please be strong, as you always be. I do believe that one day you will come back home again. I will do my best as what you and auntie taught me.
Somchit
Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (0)
My dearest Sombath,
A year ago on Saturday, December 15, it began as a normal day for us. Who would have thought that before the end of that day, it would be the beginning of a nightmare for both of us – a nightmare that even today, after 365 days, I still wish I could wake up from. I do not even dare think what those 365 days were like for you. I can only hope that you are still safe, and that those who have taken you will not harm you, and treat you with kindness and compassion. I can only hope that your gentle and humble “Buddha nature” will touch the hearts of the people around you, and they will in their hearts know the injustice done to you.
Dearest Sombath, I just want you to know that your plight has not been forgotten. You are in the minds and hearts of all your friends and family, as well as among the colleagues from the civil society networks across the region and beyond.
In particular, the youth groups in the region have been most active since your disappearance. They have carried out many activities to demonstrate their concern for your safety and urged for your return. This activity carried out today and organized by people who respect and love you, is once more to tell the world that you are not forgotten, and they will continue to do everything they can until you are surfaced.
Sombath, you may be somewhat comforted to know that apart from the development networks and partners, many international Human Rights groups, like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Forum Asia, AFAD, FIDH and so on, have also mounted a campaign against this violation of your rights. In addition, many governments around the world and a number of prominent leaders, including Catherine Ashton of the EU, Hilary Clinton and John Kerry of the US, and also Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, have taken up your case with the Lao leaders. They have urged the Lao Government to quickly find you and bring you home. Your leaders, including President Choumaly Sayasone, have promised to conduct serious investigation and find the perpetrators who took you. I can only hope that their promise is true, even though it has now been a year, and there is still no information whatsoever on your whereabouts or your situation.
Sombath, your absence has left such a big void in my life, and the ache does not go away. The only thing that keeps me going is to hang on to the hope that you are still safe, and that you will come home. Sombath, wherever you are, you too must stay strong and have courage and faith that not too long in the near future, you will be reunited with us.
I can solemnly promise you, Sombath, that I will not rest, no matter how hard and how long it would take, I will leave no stone unturned until I get you back.
Stay strong, my love. Shui Meng
Letters to Sombath…
Dear Friends,
While some have chosen to silence Sombath for the time being, others are striving to sustain his voice and vision for his people and country. To facilitate these efforts, we would like to invite friends and colleagues to write letters to Sombath.
These letters can be about Sombath, about his work, or about his approach, ideas and ideals. Letters can be in any language, but preference will be given to Lao and English. While there are no strict limits on length, three to five hundred words is suggested.
Letters should reflect Sombath’s way of working: positive and caring messages will be given preference over those that are negative or accusatory. While suggestions are welcome, they should be constructive and feasible.
Please also include your name. If you write anonymously, your letter may not be used. Selected letters will be posted on this website, and/or on the Sombath Initiative Facebook page.
Most importantly, please direct your message to Sombath. The purpose is to sustain his voice, not to promote our own or provoke arguments.
Messages can be sent to [email protected]. Thank you very much, and we look forward to your letters.
Ng Shui Meng
UN จี้ลาวเร่งสืบคดีอุ้ม'สมบัด สมพอน'
ไทยโพสต์: 18 ธันวาคม 2013
คณะผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านสิทธิมนุษยชนขององค์การสหประชาชาติ (ยูเอ็น) เร่งเร้ารัฐบาลลาวคลี่คลายคดี “สมบัด สมพอน” นักเคลื่อนไหวคนดังที่หายตัวไปเมื่อ 1 ปีก่อน เตือนคดีอุ้มหายสร้างความหวาดหวั่นแก่นักปกป้องสิทธิมนุษยชนในลาว
ข่าวเอเอฟพีรายงานเมื่อวันอังคารว่า นักเคลื่อนไหวชาวลาววัย 62 ปี หายตัวไปเมื่อวันที่ 15 ธ.ค.2555 โดยเขาถูกพบเห็นครั้งสุดท้ายที่ด่านตรวจของตำรวจในกรุงเวียงจันทน์ และภาพซีซีทีวีเผยให้เห็นว่าเขาถูกชาย 2 คนพาตัวไป
“เราห่วงกังวลอย่างยิ่งต่อความปลอดภัยและสวัสดิภาพของเขา” คณะทำงานด้านการหายตัวไปโดนถูกบังคับหรือไม่สมัครใจของยูเอ็นกล่าวใน แถลงการณ์ พร้อมกับเรียกร้องรัฐบาลลาว “พยายามถึงที่สุดเพื่อหาตัวนายสมบัด เพื่อเปิดเผยชะตากรรมและที่อยู่ของเขา และนำตัวผู้กระทำผิดมาดำเนินคดี”
คณะผู้เชี่ยวชาญกล่าวด้วยว่า พวกตนต้องให้รัฐบาลลาวอนุญาตให้องค์กรอิสระวิเคราะห์ภาพจากกล้องวงจรปิด เพื่อวินิจฉัยว่าเกิดอะไรขึ้นกับนักเคลื่อนไหวผู้นี้ โดยข้อมูลล่าสุดชี้ด้วยว่า มีคนเห็นเขาอยู่ในศูนย์คุมขังของตำรวจราว 2 วันหลังการหายตัว แล้วสองวันต่อมามีรายงานว่าเขาถูกย้ายไปค่ายทหารนอกกรุงเวียงจันทน์ จากนั้นก็ถูกย้ายไปยังสถานที่ลับอีกแห่ง
มาร์กาเร็ต เซคักเกีย ผู้เชี่ยวชาญของยูเอ็น เตือนว่าการหายตัวไปของสมบัดอาจสร้างความหวาดหวั่นแก่นักเคลื่อนไหวในลาว ทำให้ไม่กล้าทำงานปกป้องสิทธิมนุษยชนซึ่งมีความสำคัญมากนี้.
One year on, still no trace of prominent Lao
The Straights Times: 17 December 2103
By Nirmal Ghosh, Indochina Bureau Chief In Bangkok
It has been a year, but Ms Ng Shui Meng still momentarily tenses whenever the phone rings. Twelve months have passed, yet there is still no trace of or information on her husband Sombath Somphone, who disappeared in Laos on Dec 15 last year. The incident was recorded on a CCTV camera but to date remains unsolved.
Given that Mr Sombath, internationally recognised for his work with farming communities, was pulled over by police that evening, Laos is under pressure from foreign governments to give an explanation. On the first anniversary of the disappearance last Sunday, the civil society organisation Mr Sombath founded held its annual fair in Vientiane. If the practice continues, it will be an annual reminder of that fateful evening.
Hours later, a US State Department statement said Washington remained “deeply concerned over the fate of Sombath Somphone, one of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s most respected civil society figures, on the one-year anniversary of his abduction”.
“Sombath was abducted on the evening of Dec 15, 2012, from a Lao police checkpoint in Vientiane. This deplorable event was recorded on Lao government surveillance cameras,” the statement said. Continue reading “One year on, still no trace of prominent Lao”
UN rights experts urge Laos to step up missing activist probe
Business Standard: 17 December 2013
(AFP) UN human rights experts demanded today that Laos do more to reveal the fate a prominent activist who went missing a year ago, warning his disappearance could have a “chilling effect”.
Sombath Somphone, 62, went missing on December 15, 2012, when he was seen being led away by police in Vientiane after his car was stopped at a checkpoint.
CCTV images later emerged appearing to show him being driven away with two unidentified people.
“We are deeply concerned about his safety and security,” the UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances said in a statement.
It urged the Laos government to “do its utmost to locate Mr Somphone, to establish his fate and whereabouts, and to hold the perpetrators accountable.”
The experts said they wanted the Laos government to allow an independent body analyse the CCTV footage to help determine what had happened to the activist. Continue reading “UN rights experts urge Laos to step up missing activist probe”
Missing Sombath Still Dogging Laos
The Diplomat: 17 December 2013
Scrutiny from human rights groups and charges from the ICC likely if officials don’t come clean.
Just over a year ago, community development worker Sombath Somphone was plucked from the streets of Vientiane by police. He has not been heard of since, despite overwhelming evidence linking his disappearance to the government and its dictatorial internal security apparatus.
But even the Laos government has its friends. One spin doctor went so far as to describe Sombath’s disappearance as a “piffling affair,” which somehow seemed like not so much of a big deal when compared with the extraordinary renditions of the United States.
And in rebuffing Human Rights Watch (HRW) the scribe of sorts described the Sombath issue as “like those poor Guantanamo-bound wretches.”
Comparing Sombath’s plight to people like Hambali – the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings which left more than 200 people dead and who apparently still resides in Gitmo – beggars belief. Continue reading “Missing Sombath Still Dogging Laos”