Testifying Against Pol Pot

Published on Feb 22, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Kerry Hamill. The Khmer Rouge tribunal is all but over with the final appeal in the genocide case against the regime’s former head of state Khieu Samphan dismissed and legislation passed to wind up the legalities and consign volumes of evidence to the history books.For many of Pol Pot’s victims, the time has come to move on – and that includes Rob Hamill, a New Zealander who testified against Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, who ran the S-21 extermination center and was responsible for the death of his brother Kerry.Kerry Hamill talks with Luke Hunt about justice and the Khmer Rouge.Listen here..

Tatmadaw Brutality

Published on Jan 6, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Scott Johnson, an Australia-based lawyer, journalist, and human rights advocate with more than 20 years of experience focusing on indigenous groups and geopolitical issues in Southeast Asia, in particular Myanmar, which he still calls Burma.His work began in the 1990s with human rights campaigns for The Montagnard Foundation, which included lobbying in the United Nations, Geneva, Washington, D.C. and Brussels. He also established the Tribal Action Group, which advocates on behalf of indigenous groups in Southeast Asia.Over the last decade, Johnson has been involved with Burma and its many ethnic groups, who have vowed to fight the military junta that seized power from an elected government early last year. Johnson spoke with Luke Hunt. Listen here.

Mekong Mercy

Published on Jan 6, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with British journalist and filmmaker Tom Fawthrop who has delivered his latest documentary on the plight of the Mekong River amid ongoing dam construction, climate change, and a drought that appears to have ended with this year’s heavy rains.“A River Screams for Mercy: Murdering the Mekong” follows efforts by local activists demanding a moratorium on dam construction, but their calls too often fall on deaf ears among authorities who stand to profit.Working for a range of publications – including Mongabay, The Ecologist, The Diplomat, China Dialogue, and the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter blog – Fawthrop has covered Southeast Asia since 1979, reporting on conflicts and peacemaking in Cambodia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines. He spoke with Luke Hunt. Listen here.

Leaving Cambodia

Published on Jan 6, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Margaret Bywater. A prominent figure in Cambodian civil society for more than three decades, Bywater has worked with refugees and helped to rebuild the education sector, primarily through libraries and the establishment of information services.During the 1980s she toured refugee camps in Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong before arriving in what was then known as Kampuchea in 1986. She later undertook a consultancy for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan.Working with Quaker Service Australia, Bywater lobbied for recognition of the Soviet-backed People’s Republic of Kampuchea and restoration of government aid, while backing efforts to find a peaceful solution to the long-running political impasse during the final years of the Cold War.Bywater spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke....

Three Asian Summits

Published on Jan 6, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with Brad Murg. Southeast Asia recently played host to an unprecedented group of summits that firmly put the West and its U.S.-led foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific on the front foot.Bradley Murg, distinguished senior research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, speaks with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the key takeaways and questions that arose after world leaders converged on Phnom Penh, Bali, and Bangkok.Listen here.