‘Peace Museum’ Opens in Cambodia Focused on Reconciliation

[geovalin]

The project, developed and run by the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, an NGO, includes a Peace Gallery, a decade-long project that will provide visitors the opportunity to study successful peace building strategies and how they can be applied to current conflicts in the region.

BATTAMBANG — 

A new Peace Museum has opened its doors to Cambodians who want to share their experiences of surviving conflict.

Guests observing the portraits of advocates for peace in Cambodia. (Hor Singhuo/VOA)

The Cambodian Peace Museum, which opened in Battambang this month, aims to provide a safe space for survivors to reflect on and learn from their shared experiences of Cambodia’s wars.

Emma Leslie, Executive Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, cut the ribbon before leading the crowd to one of the exhibition halls, in Battambang, on October 23, 2018. (Rithy Odom/VOA)

The project, developed and run by the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, an NGO, includes a Peace Gallery, a decade-long project that will provide visitors the opportunity to study successful peace building strategies and how they can be applied to current conflicts in the region.

At the entrance to the Cambodia Peace Museum, Emma Leslie (in blue) talk with Sharon May (In Emerald), writer and photographer who stayed at refugee camp Site II, one of the largest refugee camps in Southeast Asia between 1985 and 1993. Sharon May spent two years at the border between Cambodia and Thailand to document the life of the Cambodian refugees. (Rithy Odom/VOA)

Dr. Soth Plai Ngarm, a local peace activist and the founder of the Cambodia Peace Gallery, said the project would use photographs and other art forms to represent “positivity” in conflict.

Dr. Soth Plai Ngarm, a Battambang-born peace activist and founder of the Cambodia Peace Gallery, said the Cambodia Peace Museum will feature art forms that would represent both history and positivity. (Hor Singhuo/VOA)

“Art forms that we use are the things that represent both history and positivity. We have plenty of museums that show in-depth suffering of Cambodians, so we instead want to bring an art form that has positive character for young Cambodian leaders of the next generation.”

Guests walked through the museum’s campus to the gallery hall featuring recovery efforts including demining and advocating for victims of war, in the procession after Buddhist monks. (Rithy Odom/VOA)

Ngarm believes that there is still work to be done to heal the collective trauma suffered by the Cambodian people. Cambodia witnessed many decades of conflict since the 1970s, when the United States waged a covert war against Cambodia in the lead up to the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975.

“People from my period were radicalized. When we joined groups, not for any political reason, but rather to seek food, we were trapped. These groups created their own identity, which never really existed,” he said.

“When war ended and we lived together again, these identities make us suspect each other, even if we are friends and neighbors. Therefore, reconciliation is very important for young people. If reconciliation is not done right, the divide will infect later generations.”

Photo Gallery:

In Photos: First Cambodia Peace Gallery to Provide a Safe Space to Study Cambodia's History

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gallery is divided into three sections, the first dealing with the end of Cambodia’s civil war and the peace negotiations in the early 1990s. A second area is devoted to the ensuing period of recovery and reconstruction, as well as demining efforts. A third area is focused on reconciliation efforts.

20-year-old Pheav Phy (left), 22-year-old Chan Khimhseang (Middle), and 21-year-old Chey Sophann, majoring in Khmer Literature and General Management at the Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University in Phnom Penh, think that young Cambodian should learn about Cambodia's history thoroughly, not to repeat the same mistake as that of the Khmer Rouge. Photo is taken on October 23, 2018. (Rithy Odom/VOA)

Chey Sophann, 21, a university student, said it was important for the young to learn about the horrors of war but also the efforts that were taking place to reconcile old differences.

“As a young Cambodian, I want to see my country grow, have peace and to prevent what happened to us before from happening again.”

Journalists, civil society, monks, students and embassy delegations joining the early morning opening ceremony of the Cambodia Peace Gallary in Odambang Commune, Battambang province, on October 23, 2018. (Hor Singhuo/VOA)

For Ngarm, the establishment of the Cambodia Peace Museum marks a significant chapter in both his personal life and the lives of many Cambodians.

“When I do this work, it heals my past. I don’t have much sorrow because I use the past as motivation to produce things instead. When I can no longer do anything as I get older, at least I am happy with what I leave behind.”

Angela Corcoran, the Australian Ambassador to Cambodia, was among the foreign delegation attending the event.

She said that Australia is committed to providing continued support to the Peace Museum.

“We provide support because we agree with their idea, or the philosophy of a particular activity. It’s not support with strings attached, but we do think that continuing dialogue and having a place where people can have a dialogue about peace is very important; where people can talk about difficult things in a non-confrontational way. In a way that allows for disagreement, but also in a respectful way.”

 

source https://www.voacambodia.com/a/peace-museum-opens-in-cambodia-focused-on-reconciliation/4635413.html

 

 

-- © Copyright VOA 31/10

[generealty]

Good idea but might be better if they got rid of the existing Khmer Rouge PM still in office