Dear Sir
A fter having read Nate Thayer's reports for several years now, I
suppose I should not have been as surprised and outraged as I was on reading his
latest pieces "Army blank check undermines budget" printed as the lead story in
the Post dated March 11-24.
The notion that the fight against the Khmer
Rouge would undermine Cambodia's budget and jeopardize aid is breathtaking. May
we ask what humanitarian projects the budget and aid would be devoted to if the
Khmer Rouge were able to regain power in Cambodia?
Thayer goes on to
blame the victim for the "failure by the government to win new international
military assistance". Why not speak of the failure of the international
community to support the new government of Cambodia? Why not criticize the Thai
government for its continuing sanctuaries and trade with the KR, and China and
the Western powers for supplying the arms that are today being employed by the
KR? Thayer's own companion story shows a German anti-tank missile supplied
through Singapore in 1989 being used against government troops.
The same
accusation is put by "KR Ambassador" In Sopheap in an interview by Thayer
published on the following page: "There is no money to increase the salary of
teachers, they say themselves that 20 percent of the people have no housing, but
they spend money on fighting". This must taken some gall to report
straight-faced considering the KR's record on education and housing, leaving
aside civil servants' salaries!
- Helen Jarvis, Sydney, Australia
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