Finding face: Tat Marina moves on
Chim
Finding face: Tat Marina moves on
Written by Cat Barton and Sam Rith
Friday, 27 March 2009
After surviving a brutal acid attack, former karaoke star now fights
impunity.
"In today's Cambodia, the God of Impunity reigns side by side with the
King of Corruption," said then-King Norodom Sihanouk in 1999. A decade
later, Cat Barton and Sam Rith see if Sihanouk's assessment still
holds.
TAT Marina was beaten unconscious by the bodyguards before the well-
heeled, middle-aged woman poured five litres of nitric acid onto her
face. Brought to by the pain, the teenage girl flailed around in agony
on the market floor, in full view of dozens of horrified onlookers, as
the caustic liquid melted her skin, liquefied her flesh, burned off
her ears, blinded her eyes and washed away her young, beautiful face.
"When those people did that to me, they took my life away, made me
live in hell, I survived but something died [that day]... that's how I
feel - I am alive but something of me died," Tat Marina said Tuesday
by phone from the United States, where she now lives as a political
refugee.
Ten years after the brutal, broad-daylight attack, Tat Marina's story
remains still another of Cambodia's examples of impunity. The alleged
perpetrator, Khoun Sophal, wife of Marina's then-lover, the high-
ranking minister Svay Sitha, has never even been questioned by police,
despite having an outstanding arrest warrant against her. Svay Sitha
himself has been promoted to secretary of state at the Council of
Ministers.
"I just want them to pay for what they've done. It would be a warning
to other people: Do not hurt other people. They took my life away,
took my future away.... I know how it feels and I don't want anyone
else to feel like me now," Tat Marina said.
Like many other victims of crimes by high-ranking officials, Tat
Marina has never been able to seek justice in the Cambodian courts.
But a new film titled Finding Face, by filmmakers Skye Fitzgerald and
Patti Duncan, seeks to give Tat Marina a voice within the court of
public opinion.
"This family has been living under the spectre of injustice and
threats for nearly a decade now. It's time they had a chance to
exercise their fundamental right to free speech," Fitzgerald said via
email, explaining why he decided to make the film.
"Marina's case continues to be (and should be) an embarrassment to the
government of Cambodia," he wrote. "Although Cambodia is in theory a
democratically elected government, the reality is that it is a
functioning dictatorship run by Hun Sen and a fairly small circle of
well-placed government officials. Svay Sitha happens to be one of
these - and it is this corruption at the highest level that allows
cases like Marina's to be slipped under the rug."
Overseas interest, local amnesia
The release of Finding Face, which was launched at the International
Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva in March, follows
the December 2008 release of a graphic novel, Shake Girl, produced by
the Stanford University Graphic Novel Project and inspired by Tat
Marina's story.
The book follows Tat Marina's rise from poverty-stricken student to
fruit-shake vendor (hence the name of the book) to karaoke star - and
describes how, as a 15-year-old singer, she caught the eye of then-
undersecretary of state Svay Sitha, who initially told her he was an
unmarried American businessman. When she discovered the truth, Tat
Marina says she tried to leave him but he responded with violence.
"I fell for him because he used sweet words," Tat Marina said Tuesday.
"Now, I never speak to him. It's over between him and me."
A criminal investigation was launched after the attack, but progress
was stymied by police fears of probing too deeply into the
machinations of the rich and powerful.
Svay Sitha paid the costs of Tat Marina's medical treatment after the
attack - on the explicit condition that she would not press charges
against him or his wife. Eventually, Tat Marina's brother, Tat
Sequando - who was then studying medicine in the United States - got
her to America, where she received reconstructive surgery at the
Shriners Burns Institute in Boston. They managed to rebuild the basic
elements of her face, but the extensive damage from the attack is
still clear.
"I feel awful when I walk on the street and people stare at me," she
said. "I scare the kids - they freak out because of the way I look."
In the face of continuing local and international outcry over Tat
Marina's case, the government argues the incident has been taken out
of context and used by activists to unfairly lambaste their management
of the country.
"It is an injustice for Svay Sitha that the case of his wife has been
politicised and used to [advocate for] a law or regulations relating
to women's rights protection," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay
Siphan told the Post last Friday.
"The case of Svay Sitha's wife has been used to denigrate the
government because Svay Sitha is a member of the government," he said,
adding that the couple had divorced in 1999 soon after the attack, and
while Khoun Sophal should face the legal repercussions for her
actions, these were not applicable to Svay Sitha.
But according to opposition parliamentarian and former Minister of
Women's Affairs Mu Sochua, this is a typical response from a
government immune to criticism.
"It is so shameful. Kick [Svay Sitha] out of government. That he is at
the Cabinet level, that he has been promoted despite this attack [on
Tat Marina] is an insult to justice," she said.
Svay Sitha did not answer repeated calls to his mobile phone, and when
tracked down by reporters after a Council of Minister's meeting
Friday, he declined comment.
"I do not talk to journalists. I have nothing to say to you," he told
the Post before slamming the door of his black four-by-four and
driving away.
A convenient amnesia afflicts government and police officials over Tat
Marina's case.
"I have never seen the arrest warrant [against Khoun Sophal]. The case
occurred before I became the Phnom Penh police chief," Touch Naruth
said March 16.
Sy Define, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs,
said she had "no idea" about Tat Marina's case or why there had not
been any prosecution.
Yet the case has never been closed and the warrant against Khoun
Sophal is still outstanding - it was issued in December 1999 and is,
under Cambodian law, valid for 10 years.
"Law enforcement officials cannot simply wash their hands of Tat
Marina's case by saying that they don't remember it," said Naly
Pilorge, director of Cambodian rights group Licadho. "They have an
obligation to investigate crimes and bring perpetrators to justice,
and in this case it is clear that they have deliberately refused to do
their duty."
Copycat attacks?
The impact of the impunity extended to Svay Sitha and Khoun Sophal is
far-reaching. Although accurate statistical data is scarce, there was
a sharp increase in reported acid attacks in the months and years
after Tat Marina's attack, and the subsequent lack of a prosecution
made headlines.
According to Licadho statistics, in the six months from December 1999
(when Tat Marina's attack occurred) until May 2000, there were 14
other reported attacks - the highest number of acid attacks in any six-
month period in the past 10 years.
"I am sure there are more attacks. It is like the traffic in
Cambodia. Who dares touch a [government] car? So now, all the people
say ‘If you don't chase the big man, why should I have to follow the
law?' and it becomes part of culture," said Mu Sochua.
The idea that her case could have motivated similar attacks, in part,
inspired Tat Marina to make Finding Face. Despite her fear of
unlocking memories from the attack, Tat Marina, who now works in a
store managing customer returns, felt compelled to tell her story.
"It was so hard to make that film ... I was so confused and so lost, I
didn't know what to do with [my emotions]," she said. "But I had heard
there were a lot of copycats out there.... I don't agree with it [and]
I felt I had to fight back, had to get justice."
Now, Tat Marina's life revolves around her 4-year-old son.
"It is so hard to leave my past behind. I am trying, but I am happy
now I have my son and I love him more than anything," she said.
"He makes me strong and helps me hold on to everything, and makes me
more mature, not like a little kid like before."
For Licadho's Naly Pilorge, if acid attacks are to be eliminated in
Cambodia, then they must be prosecuted regardless of who the
perpetrator is. As long as some attacks are not prosecuted because the
perpetrators have powerful connections, it sends a message that this
is not a serious crime that demands punishment, she said.
Until that happens, Tat Marina hopes her story will serve as a
cautionary tale.
"I just want to tell [all young girls] to be careful, whatever they
do, because what happened to me - I just don't want something like
that to happen to anybody, to any young girl," she said.