Khmer and the Khmer Rouge
I've been reviewing my note book and reflecting on my recent trip to Southeast Asia. On of the less pleasant aspects of the trip was the history of the Khmer Rouge as told to me by my local Khmer guide, Both (pronounced like bot as in robot). Both was not alive when the Khmer Rouge where attempting to return Cambodia to their vision of a perfect Communist society, but he has relatives who were. I was alive and living on the opposite side of the world only vaguely aware of the atrocities
The Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot were attempting to return to an eleventh century, agrarian model. Returning to the golden era of the Khmer where nearly all of the population were farmers was the objective. Everybody would be equal, well not exactly. There would be no middle class to oppress the farmer, but there would be a ruler and an army to support his wishes. Is that Communism?
Pol Pot and his military were to lead a nation of farmers. As one might imagine, the portion of the population who were educated posed a problem. The educated bourgeois were not anxious to move from the cities to the rice fields. In the Khmer master plan, the educated and their families were an obstacle that would have to be eliminated. The Khmer military would lead the purge of the educated and their institutions. The Khmer Rouge soldiers were mainly uneducated, young men from the countryside. They had guns and they were swayed by Pol Pot's vision. They were ready to do whatever they were ordered to do, and they did.
Hospitals, libraries, and schools were no longer needed. The Phnom Phen high school was turned into a prison, S-21, and the Killing Fields of Phenom Phen were about 30 minutes from S-21. I knew about all of this, but I did not know that there were killing fields all over Cambodia. My trip did not take me to Phnom Phen, but I did see the monument to the killing field in Siem Reap.
The genocide in Siem Reap is commemorated in a glass enclosure on the grounds of a wat. It is filled with skulls, bones and clothing unearthed in a site a few hundred yards from the monument.
Many of the skulls show that bullets were not normally used to end the persons life. Many were killed with machete like knives or with some blunt instrument like a sledge hammer.
If the Khmer Rouge was unsure of your level of education, they determined if you wore eye glasses you were educated. Farmers did not have access to eye glasses.
After the person was killed, another photograph was taken and filed with the earlier photo.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by the Vietnamese in 1978. The Vietnamese were force to withdraw from Cambodia by the Chinese in 1979. The Vietnamese installed a "puppet" in the form of Hun Sen who was 26 at that time. Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) are still running the country. He recently announced that he plans to be Cambodia's leader until he is 90 years old. Both told me that there are multiple parties and that there are elections, but for some strange reason, Hun Sen always wins by a landslide. Both indicated that the elections are run "under the table". He explained that he means that Hun Sen's appointed officials run the elections and count the votes.
Hun Sen's government decided to "rent" the Angkor Wat complex (including Angkor Thom and other temple groups in the are) to a Vietnamese Cambodian company, Sokimex. The company runs the ticket concession netting 60 to 70% of the profit. 30% is earmarked to go to the Apsara Authority for maintenance, but Both says that most Cambodians feel the money is lost in the corrupt bureaucracy. Nearly all restoration is sponsored by other countries like France, Gremany, Switzerland, the US and others.
I'm happy to be living in the USA.
The Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot were attempting to return to an eleventh century, agrarian model. Returning to the golden era of the Khmer where nearly all of the population were farmers was the objective. Everybody would be equal, well not exactly. There would be no middle class to oppress the farmer, but there would be a ruler and an army to support his wishes. Is that Communism?
Pol Pot and his military were to lead a nation of farmers. As one might imagine, the portion of the population who were educated posed a problem. The educated bourgeois were not anxious to move from the cities to the rice fields. In the Khmer master plan, the educated and their families were an obstacle that would have to be eliminated. The Khmer military would lead the purge of the educated and their institutions. The Khmer Rouge soldiers were mainly uneducated, young men from the countryside. They had guns and they were swayed by Pol Pot's vision. They were ready to do whatever they were ordered to do, and they did.
Hospitals, libraries, and schools were no longer needed. The Phnom Phen high school was turned into a prison, S-21, and the Killing Fields of Phenom Phen were about 30 minutes from S-21. I knew about all of this, but I did not know that there were killing fields all over Cambodia. My trip did not take me to Phnom Phen, but I did see the monument to the killing field in Siem Reap.
The genocide in Siem Reap is commemorated in a glass enclosure on the grounds of a wat. It is filled with skulls, bones and clothing unearthed in a site a few hundred yards from the monument.
Many of the skulls show that bullets were not normally used to end the persons life. Many were killed with machete like knives or with some blunt instrument like a sledge hammer.
The bones and the clothing were found in shallow, mass graves, many of the bones pushing up to the soil's surface.
They were meticulousness record keepers when it came to chronicling those who were to be eliminated.
An initial photograph was extremely precise with the position in the chair and the head in exact positions.
After the person was killed, another photograph was taken and filed with the earlier photo.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by the Vietnamese in 1978. The Vietnamese were force to withdraw from Cambodia by the Chinese in 1979. The Vietnamese installed a "puppet" in the form of Hun Sen who was 26 at that time. Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) are still running the country. He recently announced that he plans to be Cambodia's leader until he is 90 years old. Both told me that there are multiple parties and that there are elections, but for some strange reason, Hun Sen always wins by a landslide. Both indicated that the elections are run "under the table". He explained that he means that Hun Sen's appointed officials run the elections and count the votes.
Hun Sen's government decided to "rent" the Angkor Wat complex (including Angkor Thom and other temple groups in the are) to a Vietnamese Cambodian company, Sokimex. The company runs the ticket concession netting 60 to 70% of the profit. 30% is earmarked to go to the Apsara Authority for maintenance, but Both says that most Cambodians feel the money is lost in the corrupt bureaucracy. Nearly all restoration is sponsored by other countries like France, Gremany, Switzerland, the US and others.
I'm happy to be living in the USA.
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