Celebrating 70 years

Seda Douglas joined Radio Australia in 1992 as one of the founding members of the Khmer Service. Her achievements since then, both within Radio Australia and beyond, are testament to her commitment to make the most of her opportunities in Australia and help those she left behind in Cambodia.

As a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, Seda endured years of starvation, torture, forced labour and the devastating loss of her beloved father and five siblings. After risking her life crossing landmine fields to enter Thailand in 1979, she spent four years in a refugee camp before arriving in Australia in 1983.

The first years of Seda’s new life in Australia were spent making up for her lost years of education. After learning English, she went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Multicultural Studies, then became a community healthcare worker. She later completed a Graduate Diploma of Asian Studies and by 2002 had earned a Masters of Development Studies.

In 1992 as Cambodia prepared for its first democratic elections, Radio Australia launched its Khmer language shortwave service. As a founding member of the Khmer Service, Seda saw the radio broadcasts as a way to help rebuild her shattered country. ‘There are a lot of people who were left behind,’ Seda told AFP’s William West in 2006. ‘I was given a chance to restart my life. I can use this to do whatever I can to stop [Cambodia's experiences] from occurring in the world.’

During her time at Radio Australia Seda has contributed greatly to the growth and development of the Khmer Service. Since Seda became Executive Producer in 2006, the service has expanded from a 30-minute daily broadcast to one hour daily, and has gone from having one FM partner, to ten. The Khmer Service has also conducted two outside broadcasts in Phnom Penh, with wide local media coverage and great public enthusiasm.

Seda lists some other proud achievements at Radio Australia: She was a leading member of the team that won the 1995 UNAA Media Peace Award for the Khmer Service and she’s been granted rare interviews by phone and in person with the Prime Minister of Cambodia. And in 2002 after completing her Masters degree she received a grant from the United Nations to travel to Cambodia to gather material for a 20-part series on sex trafficking for Radio Australia.

Away from the office, Seda works tirelessly to improve the lives of Khmer communities both in Cambodia and abroad. Part of her drive, she admits, is a feeling of guilt for surviving the Pol Pot years, and escaping. Seda is the founder of the Save Cambodian Children Fund in Australia, which is dedicated to promoting Cambodian children’s rights and eliminating child abuse and exploitation. She was part of a team that assessed public health programs across Asia for the UN, was the first female president of the Cambodian Association of Victoria and regularly speaks at universities about Cambodia, her experiences during the Khmer Rouge’s rule and migrant issues.

Seda was awarded the Bicentenary Medal in 2002 by the Australian Prime Minister for contributing to Australian society. She was a Victorian finalist for Australian of the Year in 2007 for my humanitarian efforts and she recently received a St. Michaels’ Medal from St Michael’s Uniting Church for my services to the underprivileged children of Cambodia.

Despite all of the work she has done, Seda never feels it’s enough. ‘I’ve been given a chance to help people who are rotting in Cambodia,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t expect anyone who hasn’t been through it to understand what suffering means.’