From Pol Pot to US Presidents

Published on Jul 5, 2023 by Luke Hunt

From the Killing Fields to the US Secret Service. A conversation with author Leth Oun. As a child, Leth Oun enjoyed a happy life in Battambang City in western Cambodia. His family was poor but his father, a lieutenant in the Lon Nol government, ensured he went to school and that there was food on the table. Then, in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into town.He survived Pol Pot's tyrannical rule, was rescued and eventually granted refugee status in the United States. Leth Oun now works for the Secret Service, the first Cambodian to join those ranks in its 158-year history. He guards presidents, vice presidents, and their families with a focus on the K9 unit, training and deploying....

Two British Poets

Published on Jun 18, 2023 by Luke Hunt

A podcast with James Fountain about the British poet Joseph Macleod from the 1930s and 40s. Fountain also talks about author Graham Greene and the literati of that time. With Brighton-based Waterloo Press, Fountain was commissioned with re-introducing and editing all of Mcleod's major works. He also has a novel and two of his own collections of poetry accepted for publication. Some of his poems appeared in UK literary magazines such as Acumen, The Journal and Dream Catcher. Click and listen here..

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.