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Sokrith: “Khmer
Rouge Is Bad and Good”
Ser, Sayana
From my youngest
years, any stories about the Khmer Rouge that I heard from my
parents, neighbors and even at school sounded like fiction to me. I
thought that the Pol Pot, Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan clique were
only names people called supposed or alleged national traitors. I
think that I did not believe because it was too much to believe. All
I heard about was starvation, killing, suffering, forced labor,
cursing, scolding and blaming. I saw no proof or evidence, but only
words and drawings in primary school textbooks. Later, in early
1990s, my home in the Russey Keo district of Phnom Penh came under
Khmer Rouge guerrilla gunfire. I still thought it was a rebel group
against the government called Khmer Rouge soldiers. In 1999, I came
to realize the truth after reading more than two hundred notebooks
written and used during the Khmer Rouge period and collecting
interrogation and prisoner lists from Tuol Sleng.
Since 2005, there
have been efforts by NGOs and educational institutions to inform the
public, victims, survivors, religious groups, and youths about KR
history. The Student Outreach project is a program created in 2005
by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) to educate youths
about the Democratic Kampuchea period and the Extraordinary Chambers
in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). It has designed and implemented a
variety of activities to raise public awareness about and
understanding of the Khmer Rouge history as well as the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal process.
The Student
Outreach team has been working with high school and university
students, both public and private, on activities including voluntary
work, introductory sessions on KR history and the ECCC law and
agreement, interview techniques, report writing, and study tours.
To reach out to
students using another approach, we plan to visit schools in
different provinces once every one or two months to meet with
recruited students, arrange local tours and bring students from
different schools together in Phnom Penh to participate in trial
hearings and/or study trips of significant historical sites in the
city. The first province we chose to visit is Kampot. We did that in
mid-March 2010. Parts of Kampot province were still dangerous to
travel even more than 25 years after the KR collapsed in January
1979. In June 1996, KR guerrillas frequently destroyed villagers’
properties and belongings and kidnapped hundreds of villagers to
Taten forest in Koh Sla district. Four foreigners were arrested by
the KR guerrillas in the area of Voar mountain.
We traveled to
Chhouk district in Kampot province with another colleague, Piseth
Phat, to work with a group of students who had been selected by
their English teacher, Matthew Rullo, a U.S Peace Corps volunteer in
Cambodia. We arrived at Hun Sen Chhouk high school the afternoon of
March 17 and met with the school’s vice director, Mrs. Yoek Nhaun. I
had planned with Matthew to have one or two survivors speak to the
students about their experiences during the Khmer Rouge and what
they most remember from that time. It turned out that two additional
female teachers at the school who survived the Khmer Rouge regime
were also interested in speaking to the class about their personal
experiences.
About 40 students
from grades 10 to 12 joined the class. I first introduced ourselves,
where we are from, and the purpose of the trip, then spoke about KR
history and the ECCC’s second case (Case 002). I asked the class if
they believed that the KR period did occur and if they had
previously learned in class about that period. Some students replied
that they believed the KR did exist from 1975 to 1979. They heard
about it from their parents, relatives, teachers at school, TV and
radio. From their answers, I noticed that they knew more than I did
when I was their age. It seemed that they were very intelligent.
A few questions
were raised by the students. How did the KR regime happen in
Cambodia? Why did they want to kill? How did people survive? Why did
they kill men more than women? I had four survivor teachers take
turns telling their personal stories to the class. The four teachers
were Mr. Net Kab, 67, a history teacher at the school; Mrs. Yoek
Nhaun, 58; Mrs. Sok Lang Sat, 59; and Mrs. Kum Sakrun, 57. After
hearing their stories and holding a discussion with the four
teachers, each participant received a new DC-Cam booklet called
“Genocide: The Importance of Case 002,” and an ECCC booklet called
“Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.”
The next morning,
on March 18, we brought the students and three teachers to Phnom La-ang
mountain. We wanted to show the students one of the Khmer Rouge’s
security offices located next to their village. La-ang mountain is a
beautiful site located in La-ang village, La-ang commune, Dang Tung
district (formerly Chhouk district), about 15 km from Hun Sen Chhouk
high school. The caves in La-ang Mountain were used from 1975 to
1979 for detaining “new” or “April 17” people, and soldiers and
police officers from Lon Nol regime. The area around the mountain is
littered with more than one hundred mass graves, which are now
covered by water and rice fields. About 325 human skulls along with
their remains have been excavated from the graves. They are now
placed in Wat Stung memorial in Chhouk district.
The students could
not go into the caves because the whole area has become a private
site for cement production by the Thai Boon Roong Cement Company.
For security reason, we were not allowed to go near the mountain or
walk around it. We could only view the mountain from the gate and
take pictures.
After a short
break, we continued from La-ang mountain to Rumlich dam located in
Chum Kiri district, about 30-minute drive from La-ang mountain. The
original size of the dam was about 10 meters in width. It was
expanded during the Khmer Rouge time by forced labor. According to
two teachers who used to work there during the Khmer Rouge period,
the site was filthy and full of dark flies. Hundreds of people died
at the site due to forced dam construction, starvation and disease.
Viewed from
outside, La-ang mountain and Rumlich dam are two beautiful sites.
Very few visitors would know the mysteries and tragic stories that
lie beneath their beautiful scenery.
When we arrived at
Rumlich, we were pleased with the strong and cool wind blowing from
the west, even though it was the hot and dry season. The wind kept
blowing very hard making us feel like it was autumn as we stood on
the dam looking out on a wide open lake surrounded by mountains.
Rumlich has become a tourist destination, attracting many local
visitors during national holidays and festivals who paddle on small
boats on the calm surface of the lake. However, we saw no
information provided for tourists that might help reveal any history
of this beautiful place.
At the dam, the
students were divided into small groups. Some walked with their
teachers. I talked to a student named Sokrith, a 10th
grader, at the side of the dam. At one point, I asked him what he
thinks about the Khmer Rouge. He replied, “I think the Khmer Rouge
was bad and also good.” I was intrigued. So I asked him what was bad
and good about the Khmer Rouge. He said, “They were bad because they
forced people to work to death, and good because they had the idea
to build this dam that now is an attraction, their legacy.”
Before joining the
trip, Matthew taught the students who participated in his English
class about Haiku. He let them write about Khmer Rouge. Sokrith
wrote:
Khmer Rouge is
stupid
They killed many
poor people
So, they are
crazy.
The Student
Outreach team has organized genocide education and justice tours at
least once a year, bringing more than 300 students to see the ECCC
and visit significant sites in Phnom Penh. The participants are two
different groups separated accordingly: university students, and
high school students in Phnom Penh and from the provinces. We
receive a variety of feedback and reflections from the students
afterward, including tour reports, short stories, slogans, poems,
letters of thank, and requests from other school teachers and
students to join study tours.
The objectives of
this program are to provide the opportunity for students to learn
more about the development of the ECCC process and the Khmer Rouge
history by visiting and seeing genocide sites and not only hearing
about it from their parents, relatives, neighbors, and teachers. The
goal is for the future generation to continue preserving and
honoring the memory and humanity of those who suffered under the
Khmer Rouge regime. The tour provided an opportunity for these
students from different schools to meet and get to know each other,
to be friends and together to find broader understanding of their
shared history.
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