Cambodia After Khmer Rouge

Hoes, cuttlasses, and other tools were used to massacre victims 

My 25th birthday was spent in Cambodia; not in grand style, but with deep emotions.  I had been undergoing a course in peace building and conflict resolution at the Rotary Center for Peace & Conflict Studies, situated within the Chulalongkorn University based in Bangkok, Thailand. And as part of the course work, fellows were flown into Cambodia to undertake two weeks of intensive field  work. The goal was to afford fellows a chance to come face-to-face with the realities of a post-war context.

Unfortunately, my birthday happened to be the day chosen for a visit to the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge era. This was very depressing for me. It may be recalled that during the rule of the Khmer Rouge—Communist Party of Kampuchea—of Cambodia, the entire country experienced four solid years of darkness. Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, came to power in 1975 and ruled the country until 1979. During these years, millions of people in the major cities including Phnom Penh were forced to move into the countryside to undertake agricultural work. The Khmer Rouge also began to implement their radical Maoist and Marxist-Leninist transformation program at this time. 

They wanted to transform Cambodia into a rural, classless society in which there would have been no rich, no poor. To accomplish this, they abolished money, free markets, normal schooling, private property, foreign clothing styles, religion, and traditional Khmer culture. Public schools, mosques, pagodas, universities were shut or turned into prisons, stables, reeducation camps and granaries. One of those prisons was the famous S-12. At least 200,000 people–mostly the educated ones, high ranking officials– were tortured and killed here. Under the Khmer Rouge, everyone was deprived of their basic rights and turned into slaves in the countryside. Cambodians were expected to produce three tons of rice per hectare throughout the country. This meant that people had to grow and harvest rice all twelve months of the year because the Khmer Rouge needed rice in exchange of arms with China.

Skeletons discovered in thousands of mass graves across the country after the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia

In most regions, the Khmer Rouge forced people to work more than twelve hours a day without rest or adequate food. At least one million people died of starvation. By 1979, clashes broke between Khmer Rouge and Vietnam. Reports have it that the United States, China and Thailand played vital roles in helping to further escalate the conflict in Cambodia, making the country (Cambodia) a victim of international politics. The U.S., China and Thailand started to fight a proxy war against Vietnam by supporting the Khmer Rouge. The country is still recovering from 30 years of war, genocides.