Phnom Penh – Man’s Inhumanity To Man
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
This Robert Burns quote became a resounding echo in my mind on my first full day in Phnom Penh. I’d arrived the afternoon before, and got a highly bargainous (and thankfully bug-free) room at the Lakeside Inn for $3. Early the next morning, I set off with my moto driver to see more of the city – the most poignant of which were undoubtedly to be the Killing Fields and S-21 prison.
My first stop, though, was at the Royal Palace. This seems for all the world like a smaller version of its Bangkok counterpart and, as such, was slightly less impressive. That is relative, though; the palace complex itself is lovely, again adorned with so much gold that it hurts your eyes. It’s manicured and primped to within an inch of its life, and looks pretty stunning. I loved the throne room, with its tall tower inspired by the faces of Bayon, and was amazed by the Silver Pagoda, so called because of its thousands of silver tiles on the floor. This houses a beautiful collection of early Khmer artistry, just showing how desperately sad it was that so much was later destroyed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
And it was on this topic that I was dwelling as me and my moto driver sped off down a dusty road to the Killing Fields of Cheoung Ek, located outside Phnom Penh. This is the site where the Khmer Rouge, during the years of 1975 – 1979, systematically tortured and executed an immense number of their fellow Cambodians. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but are all hard to swallow, ranging from 1.5m to 3m (out of a total population of 8m). Most of the people, at least initially, who were targeted were teachers, doctors, lawyers, people who wore glasses, writers, people with any contact with the world outside of Cambodia – basically, anyone who was perceived as a threat to the intention to brain wash the population into mindlessly following Ankar (the name taken on by the KR elite). People were encouraged to confess to Ankar their pre-revolutionary lifestyles and crimes, with the assurance that Ankar would forgive them. This, though, merely became an easy way to filter out the first round of the condemned. However, as the killings progressed, it encompassed anyone at all who stood in the way of the KR rampage, and many who presumably didn’t. The judicial process began with a warning from the government. Subsequent warnings would result in being sent for ‘re-education’, a euphemism for torture and execution. Children, teenagers, adults, elderly people – no one was immune to the horrors. As a Buddhist nation, it has been hard for the families of those killed to accept their grief, knowing that the deceased haven’t even been granted the dignity of a proper Buddhist funeral, and so they cannot accept that the dead are peaceful.
Cheoung Ek definitely goes some way towards attempting to rectify the situation. It is now the site of a Buddhist memorial to the terror and the deceased, with a stupa housing some skulls and clothes recovered from the graves. Obviously, not an easy thing to witness, but how vitally important. I’m not often lost for words, but the sight of the skulls piled high took my breath away and moved me to tears. So much more ‘real’ than a number in a textbook.
The graves are situated in a field at the back of the stupa, with signs at each one telling you how many people’s bones were found there. Some have remained covered. It was particularly harrowing to see rags of clothes trampled into the mud, exactly where they were found then the graves were first discovered. Today, it’s an incongruously peaceful place – the very least that these victims deserve, I know – which just makes the terror, the inhumanity, the despicable acts that happened here within my lifetime just so much harder to take in.
Head still reeling from this visit, my moto driver and I headed to the S-21, or Tuol Sleng, Genocide Museum. S-21 was previously the largest high school in Phnom Penh. However, when the KR took power, they commandeered it for use as a prison and interrogation centre during the horror years of 1975-1979. It’s estimated that up to 20,000 people were held here during that time, most of whom had their lives ended at Cheoung Ek. Not by any means a pleasant place to visit, but what made it even worse is that, despite the barbed wire, despite the cells, what it still looks most like is a school, the purpose which it was intended to be used for. The blocks are the same as any high school I’m familiar with. In the front are lawns and gym equipment (that the KR managed to turn into instruments of torture). The sheer ordinariness of it contrasts in the most brutal way with the fact of what happened there. Downstairs were the cells where torture was carried out – so brutal that people died during the course of it – and the iron beds, and clamps to hold people down, were still there. The small brick cells are also in place – the prisoners were shackled, and could see each other but not speak to each other, as there was a KR soldier in situ at all times. The prisoners came from all over the country, and were frequently Khmer Rouge soldiers and officials themselves, accused of treason. Such is the paranoia of evil and brutality. When someone was brought in, their entire family were often brought in as well, and many of the photos on display show women holding children, all of the females having the regulation short hair. While the vast majority of prisoners were Cambodian, a number of other nationalities (including the neighbouring Vietnamese and Thai, but also Australians, Americans, French and British) also suffered here. Outside is a sign, showing the security regulations that prisoners had to follow during their incarceration:
1. You must answer accordingly to my questions. Don’t turn them away.
2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that, you are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Don’t make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your jaw of traitor.
9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many many lashes of electric wire.
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.
Upstairs, where most people were kept on a daily basis, is now used for haunting and moving photo displays, about both the victims and their jailers. As drafting into the Khmer Rouge was compulsory for many people, I was intrigued to read their accounts of what happened, although it certainly appears that they are either in denial or unwilling to face up to the horrors of S-21. Particularly galling is the fact that the trials for the Khmer Rouge leaders who are still living (Pol Pot himself died in 1998) still haven’t taken place, despite being promised as imminent for a very long time. How much catharsis can come for these trials is a matter that only the Khmer people can decide, and the very least they deserve is to see these monsters face the country in a trial.
Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. Mourn we must, and may these souls rest in peace. Perhaps the thing that we can all, every one of us, do in their honour is to ensure that we will fight against injustice wherever we see it because, you know what? Things like this are still repeated today, in every corner of the globe. Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, China… I could, sadly and obviously, go on. For the sake of our fellow humans, please, let it stop right here, right now.
Tags: Cambodia, Travel
Suzanne
Suzanne you are so right, we cannot ignore the inhumane, despicable acts that only too true are still going on today. It turns my stomach and tests my faith at times! I have been reading about trafficking and had lunch with a friend yesterday who has started a group to address some of these issues and to help people with aids etc.
I am just off to Church and hope that I get the answers that I am seeking.
Love, Lin