So intends to do something about it. Last month the naturalized U.S. citizen stood before journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and vowed to overthrow the Cambodian government. It seemed an unlikely threat–but So belongs to a small Long Beach, California-based group of aging anti-communists called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF). On Nov. 24, acting on CFF orders, some 80 armed men stormed the Ministry of Defense and an Army base in the Cambodian capital. The ragtag band of soldiers–many wearing orange headbands, flip-flops and Freedom Fighters T shirts–were quickly repulsed. The government had been tipped off. The rebels were ill equipped and, by some accounts, drunk.
The Cambodian government isn’t exactly a modern-day Kremlin. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party disavowed communism in the early ’90s and has been desperately seeking foreign capital since. Elections in 1998 got an international stamp of approval, despite accusations of irregularities. But CFF members have not forgotten Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cooperation with occupying Vietnamese forces in the 1980s. They also despise him because he once served in the Khmer Rouge. “Hun Sen,” said a CFF statement, “should be arrested and brought to trial.”
Little is known about the leader of the Freedom Fighters, a 44-year-old Long Beach accountant named Chhun Yasith. According to David Sao, a CFF spokesman in Thailand, Chhun is somewhere on the Thai border, “helping people escape” from Cambodia. Many of the “rebels” who attacked the Defense Ministry are in jail. Some claim they were simply paid to cause a disturbance and had never heard of the Freedom Fighters. Samien Thong, the CFF’s secretary-general, denies knowledge of the attack. But the Long Beach travel agent admits visiting the Thai border in 1998 to meet with some 60 soldiers from various government factions and urge them to work for change. “We support democracy,” he explains.
The government has responded aggressively. Authorities have arrested more than 200 people since the attack–including one American, Richard Kiri Kim. Three other Americans, including Thong, have been charged in absentia with terrorism and forming an illegal armed group. Last week Human Rights Watch accused the government of using the incident as an excuse to round up political opponents. But the arrests have not deterred the CFF. The group lacks money and manpower, but not motivation. Sao says they are plotting another attack.
