With the Khmer Rouge’s top surviving leaders dominating the where-are-the-genocide-leaders-now pages, it’s somewhat surprising to see a lower-ranking former comrade getting the kind of publicity that can’t be labelled ‘atrocity’. Tep Khunnal, once Pol Pot’s chief aide and close confidante, has dropped his out-of-date Marxist ways – including the boring uniform – to teach management and leadership at a Cambodian university. With a past that includes time in New York, Khunnal is now a converted capitalist who has steadfastly replaced Karl with Peter – Drucker, that is: the legendary American management guru famous for a long list of slogans that shuns laziness, unoriginality and not being sincere when you greet someone at the door. Rockefeller Without Borders hopes that Khunnal’s story of capitalist bravery can inspire other ex-Khmer Rouge Marxist loyalists to turn in their membership card (but still keep the benefits including all-you-can-eat wings at Lone Pine Café) and serve the nation in productive ways.
Good teachers are, of course, always needed in the Kingdom, but what about other, equally as important professions that require experienced practitioners with wide-ranging skills? I am specifically referring to the need for men and women who can bring enthusiasm and new ideas to such neglected areas as: national airline air-sickness bag design (make the bag look more like something you’d want to be sick in); crowd-pleasing political speech-writer (three-hour speeches guaranteed to keep people awake); motivational poster photography (more back-breaking field work and less beautiful oceans, please), and Hallmark card-writing that doesn’t actually sound like Hallmark card-writing.
As a registered NGO, Rockefeller Without Borders intends to help this country by strategically filling those crucial posts. In fact, my chief aide and close confidante (gotta keep it real to relate, right?), Ricardo, is now on a bus to Pailin to do a bit of promoting and recruiting. We are setting up a booth in the lobby of the lovely tree-lined Pailin Hotel, known for a stellar happy hour that attracts a lively ex-KR crowd whose only interest in fighting these days is over control of the jukebox.
One former cadre whom we certainly cannot recruit to write heartfelt Hallmark cards (at least not at an office) is Kang Keng Iew, alias Comrade Duch, the commander of S-21. Duch is doing time for the heinous crimes he admitted committing. Prior to his incarceration, Duch converted to Christianity to (presumably) cleanse himself of his sins. Taking stock, then: Khunnal turned to the soul-numbing forces of capitalism and Duch to the soul-saving forces of Jesus. Both agree, however, that all shops should be closed on Sundays.
Experienced soldiers the world over often move onto civilian work where their training can be put to good use. Ex-military men and women deserve a career without guns – especially if they are willing to help their country. Now that he’s reformed and using his strategic thinking in better ways, I wonder if Tep Khunnal preaches the importance of this Peter Drucker slogan to keep future generations from repeating the mistakes of a dark past: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Words that are getting hallelujahs and high-fives all the way to Pailin!
THIS WEEK IN ADD
• 27-member committee to break garment-sector minimum wage deadlock with rock, paper, scissors
• Photocopy shop workers traumatised by the pressure to always copy others
• Cambodia’s 2 million Facebook users say they will like you but only if you like them first
• Barangs celebrate Water Festival with a cultural piss-up
• Men who can’t afford an expensive erection happily turning to counterfeit Viagra