Khmer Rouge main ideologue Nuon Chea says that all policies are good but the devil is in the implementation

'Brother No. 2': Implementation the Key to Policy
Reaksmey Heng
Phnom Penh
26/03/2007


Good policy is one thing, but implementation can be another
altogether, Nuon Chea, who was once Pol Pot's chief aid, told VOA
Monday.

"Brother No. 2" wasn't discussing the policies of the Khmer Rouge.
Instead, Nuon Chea, the main ideologue for the infamous regime, was
referring to 12 political parties who are fielding candidates in
upcoming elections in a democratic Cambodia.

"The 12 parties' policies are good," he told VOA by phone from his
home in Pailin, a small town in the mountainous northwest where the
Khmer Rouge made its final stand. "I have listened to all of them. No
policies are bad. The problem lies in their implementation."

The Khmer Rouge abolished money, class, schools, religion and the idea
of family, while murdering intellectuals and bureaucrats and forcing
the populace to work toward an agricultural arcadia.

Implementation of the regime's policies from 1975 to 1979 led to the
deaths of nearly 2 million Cambodians and one of the worst genocides
of the 20th Century.

Nuon Chea, 79, who lives freely in his home far from the capital, is a
prime candidate for a Khmer Rouge tribunal-if one ever takes place.
Tribunal negotiations have broken down over the last year, and
observers warn that the regime's aging leaders might die before they
are brought to justice.

Cambodians, meanwhile, are heading into their second commune elections
since peace accords in 1991. Nearly 8 million people are expected to
vote April 1 for leaders in 1,621 communes nationwide.

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