Cambodia Genocide: Never Again

Cambodia Genocide: Never Again?

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The Cambodia Holocaust is the largest mass genocide ever recorded in the history of Asia. An estimated number of 1.2 to three million Cambodians, Vietnamese, Laotian, Thai, Indian, Pakistani, British, United States, New Zealand, and Australian people were either executed, starved, or worked to death (Cambodian Communities out of Crisis). This “hell on earth” lasted for four years until Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978. The Communist group named the Khmer Rouge is responsible for these mass killings.

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Important Questions

When learning about Genocide there are a few questions that are important to think about. What drove the Khmer Rouge to commit these killings? What were their goals and how did they follow through with them? How and why did the Khmer Rouge get away with the worst mass genocide in Asian history? The response to the last question is a difficult one especially because the leaders of the Khmer Rouge have yet to face punishment. Cambodians would like to erase the years of 1975-1978 from their past, but the numerous mass graves and the presence of past Khmer Rouge members in the Northwestern jungles of the country, still haunt the victims and the survivors. After this holocaust the world said, “Never Again.” Sadly, since this day, the words “Never Again” have been repeated four or of past Khmer Rouge members in the Northwestern jungles of the country, still haunt the victims and the survivors.

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After this holocaust the world said, “Never Again.” Sadly, since this day, the words “Never Again” have been repeated four or five times. Why has the global community not adhered to this phrase? The U.N. has agreed to a tribunal that will hopefully bring justice to the country. The Khmer Rouge got away with murder for twenty-eight years. The factors that enabled them to do this, are now enabling the Janjaweed militiamen in Darfur, Sudan to continue with their killings. The fact that the Khmer Rouge got away with murder, sets an example that others will as well. There are lessons to be learned from this.

Background Information

Prior to the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia faced the side effects of both the Cold War and the Vietnam War. The Cold War left the world divided among communists and non-communists along with neighboring country Vietnam. The Northern Vietnamese communists took over the country in a desire to unite the Vietnamese under one communist rule. The United States sent troops into Southern Vietnam and bombed Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos trying to protect them from the communists. The United States failed and Vietnam became the Socialist republic of Vietnam (“The Vietnam War-America’s Longest War).

Sihanouk (Image 3)

In Cambodia, Sihanouk, the president stepped down and eventually joined forces with his past enemies: the Khmer Rouge. Lon Nol became the president and the Cambodian people who were 85% peasant farmers “rejoiced in great numbers at Sihanouk’s fall and seemed oblivious to its consequences.” In addition, “the vast majority of

Cambodians, either illiterate or equipped with only a smattering of education,

cheered whatever their leaders told them to cheer and hoped their lives, lived from hand to mouth, would not suffer” (Kamm pg.52). During this period of uncertainty in the Cambodian government, the communists took advantage of their weakness and started to become more organized and powerful.

Lon Nol (Image 4)

The Vietnamese communists started taking over the borders of Cambodia. From 1970-1975 the communists conquered Cambodian cities and the refugees fled to the capital city of Phnom Penh. The United States sent aid and weapons and bombed cities trying to kill as many communists as possible. On April 1, 1975, the Khmer Rouge arrived in the capital city. Although the Cambodians feared the Khmer Rouge, their presence

signified an end to the American bombings and the communists bombing against the Americans, and they welcomed peace. What Cambodians thought was going to be an end to the Five Years War, became the beginning of the largest genocide in Asian History.

Khmer Rouge Soldiers

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What drove the Khmer Rouge to commit these killings? (Goals)

The Khmer Rouge’s goal was to create a new Cambodia based on self-sufficiency through an agrarian society (Horsington). Based on this type of communism every citizen would be equal, therefore there would be no social classes. They strived for a community without books, money, schools, hospitals, or religion (Cambodian Communities out of Crisis). They wanted to transform the population into a labor workforce that would strengthen the country’s economy (Horsington). This required a strong agricultural base supported by small industries, which they thought would lead to economic and industrial development. The Khmer Rouge desired a new Cambodia and after conquering Phnom Penh, they established 1975 as the “year zero” marking the beginning of a new “Democratic Kampuchea” (Horsington). Their four-year plan intended to eradicate the economic, social, and cultural establishments of the “old” Cambodia (Horsington). Overall, the Khmer Rouge killed millions of Cambodians in an effort to establish a communist regime where all are equal and have no rights.

How did the Khmer Rouge follow through with their goals?

Once the Khmer Rouge had gained power, and stabilized their four-year plan, they set in on their prize possession: the capital city of Phnom Penh. On April 1, 1975, President Lon Nol stepped down from his presidency in fear of his life. He knew that the Khmer Rouge was about to attack, and he being the prime opposition of their cause, fled for his life. With the republican government in ruins and no military resistance, the Khmer Rouge soldiers marched into the capital on April 17, 1975, and evacuated 2.5 million people out of the city in two to three days (“Democratic Kampuchea, 1975-78”).

Current Day Phnom Penh

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All other cities were evacuated, and the people were moved into the rural areas of the country. All civil servants, police, and military officers were automatically killed along with the educated peoples of the upper classes (“The Fall of Phnom Penh”). These people were seen as a threat to the Khmer Rouge and their goals. The Khmer Rouge justified this evacuation by telling the Cambodians it was because of the threat of an American bombing (“Democratic Kampuchea, 1975-78”). Others were told that there were so many people so the people had to be brought to the food on the farmers instead of the food being brought to the people(“Democratic Kampuchea, 1975-78”). No matter what people were told, they were being lied to, and were secretly being lead into a “hell on earth.” The Khmer Rouge planned to “purify the Urban dwellers” and “turn the country into a nation of peasants in which the corruption and parasitism of city life would be completely uprooted” (“Democratic Kampuchea, 1975-78”).

Photo of excavation pits at the Killing Fields.

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After the Khmer Rouge had effectively transported all the urban people into the rural areas, the four-year plan began. They effectively transformed all Cambodians into a labor workforce that grew rice until they died. Cambodians were killed for not working hard enough, stealing food (because they were not allowed to eat the food they grew), wearing jewelry, having sexual relations, or expressing emotions or grief (“Democratic Kampuchea 1975-78”). To reduce the number of firearms used communists killed people by putting them in plastic bags or striking them with pick axes. Along with being murdered, Cambodians died of hunger, disease, exhaustion, and exposure (“Revolutionary Terror”). One million people were executed either in the “Killing Fields” or in the “Security Office.” This term originated during the filming of the movie “The Killing Fields.” It is estimated that approximately 16,000 people died in the Killing Fields (“Revolutionary Terror”). The Khmer Rouge would trick people into going into empty fields by saying that a family member was waiting for them or they were going to cultivate rice in a new area. Once the people arrived they would line them up and either shoot them or beat them with a hoe. The bodies were left there which is why there are bones strewed about the countryside even in 2006 (Cambodian Communities in Crisis).

Children Executed by the Khmer Rouge

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Another means for mass murder was the ‘Security Office 21’ (S-21) which was established in May 1976 as a place for interrogation and extermination. S-21 was the equivalent of Auschwitz during the Jewish Holocaust. People who were suspected to be a supporter of the former government were sent to S-21 and if they did not admit, they were tortured until they said they were a supporter (sometimes they had to lie to live). In 1976, 2,250 prisoners were admitted to S-21, 2,330 prisoners in 1977, and 5,765 prisoners in 1978 (Cambodian Communities out of Crisis). These numbers do not include children, which were a large percentage of ‘Security Office 21.’

Security regulations in S-21

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End of the Genocide

On December 25, 1978, the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, and the Khmer Rouge fled to the northwestern jungles of the country. Despite the fact that Cambodians were now free, famine and starvation continued to haunt the land. It was not until the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement in 1991 that other nations began to do business and invest in Cambodia.

Forced labor

Forced Labor

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Did the Khmer Rouge get away with a mass murder?

The Khmer Rouge got away with the murder of 1.2 to three million people between the years of 1975-1978. Although the director of the S-21 is in prison and six other Khmer Rouge leaders will face a trial in 2007 at the U.N. Khmer Rouge Genocide Tribunal, the Khmer Rouge can never be punished enough for their destruction of the culture, society, economy, and the corruption of the mindset of the “old Cambodia.” The leader Pol Pot got away with leading the mass killings because he died in 1998. The Khmer Rouge placed a sense of distrust and hatred in Cambodians hearts that no jail time can take away. No matter what happens at the trial, the victims of the genocide will never come back to life and true justice can never be served. Because of this, the Khmer Rouge got away with murder.

How can this be when after the Jewish Holocausts and numerous other Holocausts global leaders stated, “Never Again.” The response from the world should be, “Never Again?” How did the Khmer Rouge get away with this? The answer is, through lies and deceit. Cambodians were ignorant of the fact that the Khmer Rouge never gave public service announcements to the world or the Cambodians (Kamm pg. 134). In March 1978, Pol Pot (the leader of the Khmer Rouge) spoke with Yugoslav journalists who were in the country. He fooled the global community by feeding them lies such as we have “enough rice to feed our people” when numerous amounts of people were dying every day because of starvation, and “we have eliminated malaria.” Pol Pot even said, “Another outstanding result is the basic elimination of the illiteracy, which was a blemish in the former society” (Kamm pg. 134). Pol Pot eradicated all sources of education as well as killing all educated people and educators. What is sad is that the International community believed these lies, while millions of people were dying.

The Khmer Rouge has gotten away with murder for twenty-seven years because the global community has failed to put pressure on Cambodia to bring the murderers to a trial. Because of this it has taken many years to gain U.N., global, and national emotional and financial support for the tribunal. There are a few lessons to be learned from Cambodia. It has taken the U.N. twenty-seven years to bring the perpetrators to justice. There is a genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan at this very minute and it is not being stopped. Cambodia is an example to the entire world and the Janjaweed (the killers in Darfur) that one CAN get away with a mass murder. It is the hope of many that this tribunal in Cambodia will help bring focus to the genocide in eastern Africa.

The Tribunal

Skulls

Child looking at skulls: Tribunal is important so younger generations learn of their past.

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Even though it has been twenty-eight years since the genocide, Cambodia has to have a trial because of the “Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide” which states that countries have to prosecute committers of genocide (Horsington). There is some concern that the tribunal will not be fair because it will consist of 200 Cambodian judges and prosecutors and 100 foreigners (Mydans). A Cambodian woman names Taing Kim Sam who lived through the Genocide said, “I still worry that the government judges will take sides with the Khmer Rouge” (Nakashima). The tribunal will take three years to complete and will consist of one year of investigations, one year for the trial, and one year for appeals (Mydans). The goals of the trial are to “offer justice to the victims and survivors, to prevent similar atrocities in the future, and to give the younger generation clear picture of what happened (Osnos). The tribunal is also a chance for the world to “understand our recurring global nightmare and, perhaps, convince ourselves that it is worth doing more to stop it (Osnos).

Conclusion

Will this tribunal help the global community realize that as humans, they can no longer stand by and watch genocides occur without helping the victims? Maybe this tribunal will bring more attention to the current genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Maybe it will force people to revisit the phrase, “Never Again” and see if the global community can actually follow through with those words. In the future, it would be nice to think that genocides will never occur, but even if they do, let us hope that it will not take twenty-eight years to bring the guilty forward, and let us hope that no one will ever be able to get away with genocide just as the Khmer Rouge did in the 1970’s.

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Video describing the horror of the Holocaust

Click Below:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/thestory.html