Envoy is now at home in S.A.
By Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, Friday, January 27, 2012, page B1
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Sichan
Siv signs copies of his book, "Golden Bones," after speaking at an
Optimist Club Luncheon. Siv is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and
is now residing in San Antonio. He arrived in the U.S. in 1976 with his
mother’s scarf, an empty rice sack and $2.
Photo: Jerry Lara © 2012 San Antonio Express-News
Even in a room full of Optimists meeting at a Luby's
Cafeteria this week, Sichan Siv's irrepressible hopefulness filled
the room. Optimists might be cheery, but Siv's optimism has been called
“relentless.”
It became evident as the former U.N.
ambassador told the story of his journey from the Khmer
Rouge's killing fields in Cambodia to an office a few doors down from
President George
H.W. Bush.
Now retired from Washington, Siv, 63, has settled in San
Antonio. He's the city's most prominent person of Asian descent, said May
Lam, founder of San Antonio's annual Asian Festival. Siv will be part
of the event — which is celebrating its 25th anniversary Saturday — talking to
festival goers about the new Cambodia. He also will sign copies of his 2008
book “Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Journey from Hell in Cambodia to a New
Life in America.” His wife, Martha
Pattillo Siv, will be there, too, promoting handicrafts made by women
in Asia.
Siv has embraced his new home, telling Optimists the
oft-told adage that he wasn't born in Texas but got here as soon as
he could. “He's such a patriot,” said his wife. “He's an American, No. 1.
But he's a Texan second.”
Besides a busy speaking schedule, he serves in the
Volunteers in Airport
Policing at San
Antonio International Airport and as a pilot in the Bexar County Senior
Squadron of the Civil
Air Patrol. Siv also is an honorary commander of the 433rd Airlift Wing at
Lackland AFB.
And he continues to travel to Cambodia to monitor its
progress, making two trips last year.
“Each time we go we see more changes for the better,” he
said. “The country has become more stable. There's still injustice and
corruption, but economic progress has been steady.”
Siv notes, with pride, his native land's vibrant culture and
resilience. “I've been to over 100 countries, and I would still say that the
Cambodian people have the most extraordinary smiles.”
His own smile, one the Optimist
Club saw over and over again, is “instilled in my cultural background and
in the Buddhist faith.” It's also part of his mother's lasting message: “No
matter what happens, never give up hope.”
“She was the pre-eminent force in his life,” his
wife said.
She was killed by the Khmer Rouge, a communist group that
eradicated millions of Cambodians, along with other members of his family,
except for a sister now living in Boston.
Being educated and tall (he stands 6 feet) put him at risk,
he said, because the Khmer Rouge equated physical stature with
the bourgeoisie.
Siv changed his identity and got rid of his glasses, which
were linked with intelligence.
“I pretended to know nothing,” he said.
Captured as he was trying to bicycle to the Thai border, Siv
was forced into labor. He watched for an opportunity and volunteered to operate
a crane, reading instructions by night, because the crew was headed to
the border.
At the opportune moment, he jumped off the back of a truck
and ran, walked and swam for three days.
He fell into a pungi pit filled with sharp bamboo sticks
that would have killed a shorter man. It injured his legs and feet instead.
“My height saved my life,” he said.
In a refugee camp, he volunteered to teach English. Siv
speaks several languages, including French, Spanish, Japanese and German.
On June 4, 1976, he arrived in the United States with his
mother's scarf, an empty rice sack and $2. He picked apples in Connecticut and
drove a cab in New York.
He got into Columbia
University and earned a master's degree.
He always had an interest in U.S. politics. He remembered
watching the Republican
and Democratic Party conventions with his host family.
Siv volunteered in the first Bush's campaign and
got noticed. On Feb. 13, 1989, 13 years after he began his escape, he went
to the White House as a deputy assistant to the president. Thirteen is a
recurring number in his life and one he regards as lucky, he said.
In 2001, President George W. Bush named him to the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights. That same year, the Senate confirmed him a U.S.
ambassador to the U.N.
In 2005, he represented the United States at the 60th
anniversary of the United Nations. “Truman spoke in 1945. Eisenhower spoke
in 1955. In 1965, it was Johnson. In 1985, it was George
Shultz; '95, Clinton, and, in 2005, it was me — little me.”
The
Sivs made San Antonio home in 2006 after ruling out Houston, Dallas
and Austin.
San Antonio's diversity and history — especially its Spanish
colonial missions, which Siv visits on his motorcycle — won them over. So did
the ease with which they can get to the airport from their home. It's 15
minutes from front door to terminal.
Siv, a Buddhist who attends a Presbyterian
church in San Antonio, does not miss a sunrise or a sunset. “I pray in
front of my mother's scarf every day,” he said. “I'm thankful for all the
blessings I have, especially to be with Martha and to be in Texas.”