The leaders of the Communist revolution originally learned of communism through their Paris education. Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Khieu Thirith and Khieu Ponnary represented a young educated class that wanted a better situation for their country. Following these friends through their adulthood, we see a slow transformation that I find difficult to explain. A wish became a goal, a driving force, and then an obsession. The Khmer Rouge leaders, then named the Kampuchea People's Revolutionary Party, fought their way into power from the Cambodian jungle. They picked up party members from the peasantry and created compounds of workers and soldiers. In part because of the folly of Cambodia's leaders - first Prince Sihanouk and then his usurper, Lon Nol - the Khmer Rouge finally took over Phnom Penh in 1975.
The Khmer Rouge immediately evacuated the city, advising the residents that the US would be bombing there and that they should leave behind all belongings. The fortunate displaced people were divided and sent to compounds in different regions of the country to join their comrades who had already become accostomed to long days of work, insufficient food, and no leisure. The less fortunate people were asked for their biographies. Most of these people were promptly executed. The first round of executions targeted officials of the previous regime and those considered too educated to be useful.
Those who survived and moved to the compounds suffered from hunger, over-exertion, but the physical hardship was not the worst. The Khmer Rouge separated children from adults, sent family members to different regions, and casually executed people who showed too much attachment to their family. The Khmer Rouge was insecure in its power, and ruled by terror. One group after another became the scapegoat for the failure of the nation to move forward according to plan. The real reason for the failure is that the people with the education to plan irrigation, dams, agriculture, etc. had all been murdered. Furthermore, the citizens were not working to their full potential because of miserable conditions. Fear of harsh punishment brought about deception, which in turn bred more deception.
In Phnom Penh, a secondary school was converted into the infamous S-21 prison, called Tuol Sleng. Prisoners at Tuol Sleng were chained to their beds and questioned at regular intervals. The questioning involved various torture methods. Once the victim had written in his or her own hand a full confession of completely fictional crimes, he or she was taken to a field and bludgeoned or shot to death. The few survivors give horrendous accounts of what happened there. The prison has been converted to a museum, which I visited while in Phnom Penh. Just hearing the stories is dehumanizing. Hearing about all the crimes and victims, I found that I feel not just sympathy for the victims, but also guilt for the perpetrators. Something of the evil seemed to seep into me and make me feel melancholy and cruel. It took several hours for my bleak mood to wear off. This photo was the only I took of Tuol Sleng. It is so strange to think such a bright sunny place could be the site of so much misery.
I can't blame the poverty and lack of education in today's Cambodia on only the Khmer Rouge. However, that particular history - one of torture, against family, education, and love between people - gives a unique perspective in understanding Cambodia's culture. I visited Tuol Sleng the day the trial of Duch, the prison's head, began. I never heard a Cambodian mention this while I was there.
The gains the country has made since the Khmer Rouge lost power to Vietnam in 1979 are impressive, but there is still much, much more to be done.
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