The Darker Side of Cambodia
Monday, January 21st, 2008It is impossible to visit Cambodia without seeing and experiencing the sad aftermath of the 20th century civil war which culminated in the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, implemented one of the most heinous revolutions to date. The idea was to forcibly turn Cambodia into a Maoist, peasant-dominated, agrarian cooperative. During their four years in power they relocated hundreds of thousands of Cambodians to the countryside to become agricultural workers. Phnom Penh, the country’s capital, was left virtually empty. People who were educated, spoke another language, or wore glasses (thus appearing intelligent) were tourtured and killed. Food provisions were also scarce and many died of malnutrition. The Khmer Rouge soldiers were mainly children and teenagers.
We visited a high school in Phnom Penh, which was converted to a prison and torture facility by the Khmer Rouge. They had taken pictures of all the prisoners and they are now hanging in the museum. There are hundreds and hundreds of photos including many young children. The prisoners were tourtured and made to give false confessions and the vast majority were taken to the killing fields outside of Phnom Penh and executed. What is most astounding is that these atrocities were all committed for the purpose of an incredibly stupid social experiement.
Even though Cambodia is now at peace, they are not in a great position as their most educated citizens were killed and there is immense poverty and poor infrastructure and rampant corruption throughout the country. An astounding forty percent of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 15 as approximately 2 million people died during the Khmer Rouge regime. Walking around at night in Phnom Penh you see babies sleeping on the sidewalk with their mothers and young street children selling odds and ends.
Another problem that continues to plague Cambodia is the presence of landmines. As the landmines are designed to maim, not kill, thousands of people in Cambodia have lost a limb/limbs or their eye sight due to land mine accidents.
Despite all their suffering, the people of Cambodia have proven to be quite resilient and they are slowly rebuilding their country and cities. They are also extremely friendly. As we walked about children would smile and say “hello” repeatedly. I think they like the musical quality to the word.
Paula
admin