The
Khmer Rouge Regime
Under
Sihanouk and Pol
Pot, the Khmer Rouge set up a collectively organized economy dominated
by terror. This involved evacuating people from cities to huge agrarian
farms, abolishing the finance sector, eliminating private property,
sealing borders and outlawing all religions. Besides that they
introduced a catastrophic system of social "purification" of the Khmer
race. This genocid required the extermination of all educated classes
and political opposition. Human life had
no value under the Khmer Rouge regime and their motto was: "To
kill you is no loss, to keep you is no gain." As a
result, an estimated 1.7 million people,
possibly a lot more, were murdered or died of starvation, disease, or
torture between 1975 and 1979.
After
painful years
for
the Cambodian society, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, ended the
Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea, and replaced it with the new
People's Republic of Kampuchea under Heng Samrin. The Vietnamese
withdrew in 1989, leaving the State of Cambodia. In 1991 the factions
of Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge and their supporters China and Thailand
agreed to an UN freedom program. But also with the influence of the UN
the instable situation between the Khmer Rouge, members of Shinouk and
the government continued. Pol Pot died in April 1998 which marked the
end of the Khmer Rouge's power. |
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Now,
after decades of
trauma, the country is beginning a long healing process and the country
can look forward to a promising and stable future. But for thousands of
people the traumatic pain of the terror years remains because they miss
the lost family members and friends. Two generations of Cambodians have
lived through this thirty years of terror. While it is difficult for
the old people to remember the history it is impossible for the young
generation. They have to refresh the destroyed cambodian society. A way
to do this is to confrontate them with the roots of their culture. An
unseparable and important symbol of Cambodian culture, history and
identity is the Ankor Wat. Built under Surayavarman during the
beginning of 12th century the temple was dedicated to God Vishnu and
the God king Jayavarman ll. Angkor means something like capital or King
city and stands for the prime of the Khmer- culture beetween 800 and
the mid of the 15th century. The ruins of the beautiful sacral temple
of Angkor are after the horrible time a site for the re-remember and
re-consciousness. The monuments stands for continuity, perpentuance and
for the silence which surrounded the document during all times. The
silence of Angkor Wat remains unbroken.
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But also the silence
about the tormentors of the cambodian people is unbroken. For almost
three decades the Cambodian people have lived side by side with their
tormentors who remained free. So "many victims have, in fact, expressed
a desire to forgive their tormentors and move on with their lives."
(Khavan Sok)
This
evil situation of
silence over the cruel history should not continue. What remains is the
hope that the Cambodians are able to digest their latest history.
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