Somaly Mam exposed by terrific Cambodia Daily investigative piece

Congratulations to the Cambodia Daily for exposing Somaly Mam as a liar and a fraudster!

The problem with lies, even small and seemingly insignificant lies, is collateral damage. People are hurt in ways never intended by the person who told the lie. And small lies, when discovered, require bigger lies to provide cover for the smaller one and so it goes until a whole edifice is based on the accumulation of lies.  

On 4^th Oct I wrote in one of my blogs about Somaly Mam – a world famous campaigner against sex slavery and friend to the rich and famous as a result of her humanitarian work.

TIME magazine regularly carries ads for Somaly Mam’s Foundation. These are full page ads dominated by a heavily photoshopped photo of Somaly Mam looking as much like a movie star as possible. Such ads are not cheap. Would TIME magazine dare publish an investigative piece about Somaly and her NGO? I doubt it. If TIME did, if an investigative journalist from the magazine started to ask a few questions s/he would very quickly find out that Somaly’s announcement that a police raid of her AFESIP centre in Phnom Penh in 2004 resulted in 8 girls being murdered was a lie. Such a whopping lie should, you would think, destroy Somaly Mam’s credibility entirely or, at the very least, raise questions about how much of the story she tells about her own life is true and how much has been made up in order to help her raise money for a good cause?

The full blog entry can be found here:

http://jamesricketson.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/failure-of-forth-estate-in-cambodia.html

That Somaly Mam has played fast and loose with the truth this past 15 years, has been ‘economical with the truth’, has been common knowledge within the Cambodian NGO community for years. Everyone knew but no-one spoke of it in public. After all, Somaly’s NGO was doing good work rescuing sex slaves, wasn’t she? If she tells a few fibs to raise money does it really matter?

On 12^th Oct. the Cambodia Daily published a story about Somaly Mam Mam entitled SEX SLAVE STORY REVEALED TO BE FABRICATED – written by Simon Marks and Phorn Bopha. In reference to Somaly Mam’s documentary, upon which her  rise to international stardom is based they write:

The documentary opens with the camera focused on Ms. Ratha, who was then a chubby teenager of about 14-years-old from Takeo province. Ms. (Somaly) Mam is seated at the young girl’s side as she tells a dismal tale of sexual slavery in an unnamed brothel somewhere in Phnom Penh.

“My name is Meas Ratha and I am 14 years old. I was born in the province of Takeo and I have seven brothers and sisters. My family is very poor. My father has disappeared. One year ago my mother fell seriously ill. I was completely distraught. I was very young and I didn’t know what to do,” the young Ms. Ratha says to the camera. She then cries and receives a comforting squeeze of support from Ms. Mam.

For readers who may have made a financial contribution to the Somaly Mam Foundation on the basis of what they have read, this article should be read:

http://www.cambodiadaily.com/featured-stories/secrets-and-lies-44964/

Meas Ratha, aged 14, with Somaly Mam at her side, continues with her testimony:

 “They locked me up in a room and at that time I knew I had been deceived,” she continues.

The documentary goes on to explain how the young girl had been promised a job as a waitress in Phnom Penh, but wound up a captive in a brothel. Later, she is filmed playing musical chairs, skipping rope, singing alongside other girls being cared for inside the Afesip center and helping Ms. Mam treat an AIDS patient called Tom Dy.

Sixteen years since the documentary was televised, Ms. Ratha—now 32 years old and married—said her testimony for the France 2 channel was fabricated and scripted for her by Ms. Mam as a means of drumming up support for the organization.

Both Somaly and her Foundation have cruised financially on this documentary ever since and Somaly now counts as her friends Susan Sarandon  and has been named, in 2009, as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. Somaly Mam is a jet-setting ambassador for her cause. She is also a liar.

Meas Ratha is the collateral damage, living for the past 16 years with the reputation of having been a prostitute when she was not – all in support of the lies upon which Somaly Mam’s reputation and capacity to raise money is based. 

Citipointe church does precisely the same in its presentation of Rosa and Chita as ‘victims of human trafficking’.

On 4^th Oct I wrote in my blog:

Now, if Somaly Mam is essentially a liar whose lies are an essential part of her money raising modus operandi and if her Foundation is doing good work with victims of sex slavery, an argument could be made, I suppose (though I would not do so) that her lies are harmless if they result in her Foundation being able to help girls what are genuinely in need of help. But if Somaly can tell whatever story she likes in order to raise money, why can’t other NGOs do the same? If Somaly can lie about the police raid in 2004, why can’t Citipointe church lie about rescuing ‘victims of human trafficking’? Why can’t all NGOs tell whatever lie they like in order to keep the sponsor and donor dollars flowing in – without which dollars they cannot do the good work they outline on their websites?

For those new Citipointe churchgoers who now log into my blog who may be tempted to believe everything they read that emanates from the publicity departments of NGOs in the business of rescuing children from poverty and the sex trade, (Citipointe church and the Somaly Mam Foundation being but two examples) this article will open your eyes and make you cautious and, hopefully, inclined to ask questions of any NGO you wish to support.

Yes, of course there are plenty of good NGOs working in the field but there are also plenty that are either incompetent or are outright scams – including some that receive AusAID funds.

Lies such as Somaly Mam’s can go undetected (remain secret, hidden from public view) for years. Many lies are never revealed  for what they are. Some lies become accepted as the truth after a period of time if no-one contests them in a public forum.

Hopefully this article about Somaly Mam will be the first in a series of such investigative articles. The aim need not be to expose fraudulent NGOs (though this is desirable for all genuine and competent NGOs and their clients) but to see to it that all NGOs are held accountable and are required to be transparent.

My visit to Citipointe church last weekend and my handing out of fliers has yielded a few interesting responses. Firstly there is the hate mail from churchgoers who refuse to believe that their beloved church would even dream of doing any of the things I have accused the church of doing. Then there are those who express no hate at all but point out the good work that Citipointe does. “Why would Citipointe,” asked one, “be helping to build a house for a woman who is in jail but tefuse to help Chanti and her family?” I good question, M****. I donpt know the answer. Please ask your church. Ask Pastors Ramsay and Mulheran lots of questions. Don’t necessarily believe anything I write but, likewise, take all that your church tells you with a huger grain of salt. Don’t find yourself in six months, or two years, discovering that you have been lied to in the same way that Somaly Mam has been lying to her sponsors and donors all these years.

Again, congratulations to Simon Marks, Phorn Bopha and the Cambodia Daily for publishing this important piece of investigative journalism

More please!