2009 will be remembered in Cambodia as the year of the first Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Duch (born Kang Kek Lew), head of the torture center S-21 during the Khmer Rouge was put on trial, causing considerable consternation for some, and some small measure of consolation for many who lived through that era (1975-79). This soul-searching, however, seems to have had little effect on the Cambodian government, as was recently shown by Cambodia’s expulsion of Uighur asylum seekers in exchange for foreign investment from China. (More background here.) Twenty Uighurs had sought asylum in Cambodia following China’s crackdown following the unrest in western China this past July. For those of you who don’t know, the Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim minority in China, and have in the past few years resisted aspects of Beijing’s development strategy of the Xinjiang Uighur Autnomous Region (which, of course, is not really autonomous), involving encouraging Han Chinese from the East to “go west.” Incidently, Xiinjiang’s Governor, the architect of the repression of protests this summer, had a similar job before this one: head of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Why did the Uighurs go to Cambodia? If you look on a map of Asia, it’d be hard from them to go farther and remain on the mainland. Well, Cambodia is one of only a very few countries in the region to have signed UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The others in East Asia are Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and… China. (Central Asia has a few signatories, though I might think twice before applying for asylum in Kazakhstan; South Asia, surprisingly to me, has none.) During the Khmer Rouge millions fled Cambodia to neighboring states as refugees (neighboring states that were not particularly welcoming), and many sought asylum around the world. So it makes sense that if any country in the Asia were going to be sensitive to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers it would be Cambodia. And there are, therefore, asylum seekers from around the world who have successfully sought asylum in Cambodia.

But China is the biggest investor in Cambodia, and therefore has a voice in Cambodian affairs. The Chinese are calling the twenty Uighurs criminals (of course, in a country that doesn’t allow protest, protestors are criminals), so Cambodia calls them “illegal aliens,” and expels them. Two days after the expulsion, Cambodia signed a deal with China for $850 million.

   From 1975 till 1998 the elite of the Khmer Rouge built their homes perched on the Dongriek mountains looking over Cambodia.  From the cliff face it is a 400 meter drop down to where the people live.  This mountain border forms the border to Thailand and Cambodia.  For centuries this cliff face has been the site of wars and bloodshed.  From this perch, the Khmer Rouge also planned their conquest of Cambodia and ruled over the murder and starvation of some 40% of its population. 

   It is on these mountains, a chain of nearly constant cliff faces which stretches more than 500 kilometers, that Cambodia and Thailand have recently been fighting over the Preah Vihear temple complex.  The temple complex was conquered by the Thai people in the 1700’s, but the world court gave it back to Cambodia in 1962.  In order to expel the Thai Special Forces, the Cambodian military has stationed troops and built a network of foxholes and trenches along the entire border.  Once again, this border cliff is a place of bloodshed and violence. 

The cliff side perch from where Ta Mok pondered his violence

   The most atrocious bloodbath was when the first batch of Cambodian’s escaped the Khmer Rouge and sought refuge in Thailand in the late seventies and early eighties.  The initial response of the Thai’s was to round up the Cambodians in their tens of thousands and take them to that cliff face and dump them back into Cambodian territory.  More than 100,000 Cambodians died either from the fall from the cliff, or the landmines that waited for them at the bottom.  Finally the UN intervened and the refugee camps were started along the border area.  The cliff region remained an area of constant killing and war.

   Last week, down a narrow jungle path, I knew of a historical landmark.  Few know it is there.  It is a few kilometers through the jungle, passed the unmarked grave of Pol Pot.  There is only the remains of a destroyed concrete bunker which is overgrown with trees.  As you make your way through the deep grass and trees you come to the cliff edge.  This bunker and cliff section had a previous occupant who made this his perch.   His name was Ta Mok, nicknamed “The Butcher.”  If you ask any Cambodian who is the worst killer in the world they will give you one answer: Ta Mok, “The butcher”.  If he came to your village, it would be your last day alive.  He made it his personal mission to kill every resident of Prey Veng and Svie Rieng provinces and nearly completed his task.  He was famous to killing anyone who looked at his watch or even looked him in the eyes.  He would not kill them immediately, but he would take them at the night to create more fear among the people by using night ambushes. 

   From this perch he would scheme how to conquer every corner of Cambodia.  He would sit high above the comrades of his cause, pawns in his strategy for domination of the people.  Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, were killed by him.  He died without being tried.  He was held for nearly 10 years in prison.  He was buried by his family and with full Buddhist rite, even though it was this “Butcher” who killed more than 50,000 Buddhist monks and oversaw the decimation of every temple in the land.

   On this day, this place of death stood for a different purpose.  From this perch, my friends and I stood and asked God to bless this land and to bring true peace to all the people.  From this spot of terror and death, we asked God to redeem it for his purposes.  God bless Cambodia!

   If you met David Chai along the road, you would never suspect what he does.  David is a pastor.  He is not your ordinary pastor through; he has his own farm that he operates.  He works hard and his calloused hands and soiled clothes prove it.  I know what you are thinking. . . this is Cambodia, that is pretty common.  Yes and no.  David is from Cambodia, but he lived more than 30 years in the United States and is an American citizen.  So, an American, living, pastoring and farming in Cambodia, by choice is not common at all.   David has a 31 hectare farm (more than 70 acres).  He raises cows, grows some rice, raises massive hogs and has hundreds of ducks and chickens.   He also runs and operates his own rice mill and buys other farmers rice to mill it. David supports a few orphans and gives young people jobs so they can learn to work and one day run their own farms too.  This is how he supports himself, his family, his friends and his ministry. 

   David survived the Khmer Rouge back in the late 70’s.  It is an amazing story of God’s preservation.  David was a Buddhist, just like most Cambodians, and when the Khmer Rouge came to power they killed anyone who was of no value to them.  Especially toward the end of the Khmer Rouge reign they just started executing people.  One day, two Khmer Rouge soldiers took David to be killed along with a large group of people.  The soldiers made the people dig a hole and then when the temperature got very hot, they rested in the shade.  While they rested, a group of monkeys came out of the jungle.  The Khmer Rouge started shooting them out of the trees.  They killed 8 monkeys.  They proceeded to untie the individuals and kill them with a blow to the head.  Their bodies collapsed one by one into the open pit.  The last one to be killed was David, still tied to a tree.  His death was certain.

  Then the soldiers looked at their monkeys.  They talked to each other and then went to untie David.  They said to him, “you carry our monkeys, there are too many for us to carry.”  David was numb with shock.  The soldiers were going to let him live, so he could carry their monkeys back to the village.  Though he was not a Christian at the time, he knows that God preserved him for a purpose. 

  After the Khmer Rouge were invaded by the Vietnamese David and a group of 15 other young people decided to escape to Thailand.  Only 7 survived the journey through the jungle.  The whole jungle was mined and booby-trapped.  David, when walking, even stepped on hidden bamboo spikes which pierced both his feet.  He still has the scars on his feet to this day.  Somehow, by the grace and mercy of God, he survived and made it to Thailand.  After many years there he was sponsored to go live in America by a Mennonite pastor named Darrell Caldwell, who later came as a missionary to Cambodia as well.  For thirty years David worked hard and eventually sponsored his entire family to come to America.  In California he worked on many farms and learned how to efficiently grow crops and market them. 

   Two years ago David moved back to Cambodia after more than thirty years in America.  He wants to help his country.  He bought a bunch of land to make his farm.  He built all the buildings and started working hard; just like he has always done.  Even though he has severe asthma, he runs the farm and keeps in inhaler with him at all times. Within two years he had a model farm for the community.  People started bringing orphans for him to care for, and since he knew what it was like to live like an orphan, he just worked harder to support them and care for them.  Then he had an idea.  He wanted to go find the place where his life was saved; where he was tied to a tree in preparation to be executed.  So he went.  It was a long drive on his old motorcycle and it broke down, but he just kept going. 

   Once he got there. He found the spot.  He met the local villagers and he told them his story.  It is likely that some of those he was talking too were actually Khmer Rouge soldiers.  Then he proceeded to tell them about Jesus.  After spending a few days with them, a group of about 20 people had become Christians.  David promised them he would return once a month to disciple them in their new church and he has done so. 

   David is a guy who has every excuse in the world to just take it easy.  Few of us have had the difficulties in life that David has.  Few of us can barely imagine how hard life has been for David.  Yet David knows who he is in Christ and he is grateful for the life that Jesus has given him.  He devotes all of his effort and work for the purposes of the Kingdom of God.  In only 6 months he has already started 3 new churches and that is his part-time job! His full time job is running a 70 acre farm, a rice mill, raising dozens of cows, feeding gigantic hogs and finding markets for all he produces.   David is an excellent example for all of us.

The other day we were mooching about Phnom Penh’s renowned Russian Market, which used to sell such delights as guns, ammunition, and drugs. Now it sells nothing quite so exciting, or useful – just scarves, table runners, and DVDs. Whilst looking through the DVDs at one stand we were demi-witnesses to a ruthless, and frankly disgusting crime where a young Aussie guy stole around 15 DVDs from under the vendor’s nose. They would have cost him about US $20, a fairly nominal amount to an Aussie who can afford to travel to Cambodia, but a significant amount to your average Cambodian who survives on US $350 income per year. The woman who owned the stall managed to track down the suspect, and Will and I had to confirm that it was the right guy. Slightly awkward as we had not actually seen him take the goods. However, we knew he was lying because he said he didn’t have a bag with him so protested his innocence on the grounds that he had nowhere to stash the items. But Will saw that he definitely did have a bag. Anyway, shortly after we had helped the local Cambodians pull his fingernails out with pliers, the guy gave the woman $10 as a token gesture and walked away. We saw him again the next day looking around S21, with his bag firmly back on his back.

Some Of The Victims Of S21

Formerly the Toul Svay Prey Secondary School, S21 (Security Prison 21 – the 1 referring to the one leader, Pol Pot) is the site of the mass imprisonment of around 20,000 victims of the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. It is a harrowing place. Left almost exactly as it was found, with blood stains still smearing the floors, chains still shackled to the sides of cells, and instruments of torture still lying around on the ground or on hard iron beds, you get the sense cruel death still lingers here. The fact that these terrible events happened in such recent history, between 1975 and 1979, compounds the horror and the reality.

The leader in charge of S21, Kang Keck Iev (known as Duch) is currently on trial. He has asked to be acquitted of all charges.

Choeung Ek, or The Killing Fields 15km outside Phnom Penh city are the site of mass execution of thousands of men, women and children. In 1980 86 mass graves were uncovered, and 8,985 bodies were exhumed. A further 43 graves have been left untouched. People were beaten to death, shot, beheaded or tied up and buried alive here. Babies were beaten to death against The Killing Tree. A memorial stupa has been built here which houses thousands of victims’ skulls and piles of clothing. Like S21, here death feels very close. If you wanted to you could reach out and touch a skull or feel the clothing (although of course you shouldn’t, and probably wouldn’t want to), as the items are not completely encased away from visitors.

Words cannot describe the horrors. And yet somehow the place retains a certain calmness and beauty. It is almost serene.

A really sobering day.

And then that night we went to the wonderful and delicious Romdeng restaurant which is a training restaurant for street kids a la Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. For some reason, Will and I ended up ordering tarantula as a snack to start off. I’m not even sure why. We hadn’t even been drinking. I think we were thinking tarantula would be a bit like peanuts. Or cashews. Or pork scratchings. And that they’d turn up all prepared, cut into little non-tarantula looking pieces, fried in breadcrumbs and looking edible. But sadly that was not the case. We were confronted by what can only be described as three tarantulas. Three huge furry black huge furry black huge furry black tarantulas. Did I mention that they were huge and furry? Somehow, (where did I lose my mind?) we ate them. Half a leg here, half a leg there, and then whoops I’ve just eaten a tarantula’s bottom. At least it did taste better than goat’s brain. But only just.

Yes, this is a spider on a plate

As predicted, and hot on the heels of this embarrassing letter in the New York Times, my wrap up on Duch’s trial was posted a few days ago. Here’s a snippet:

Cambodia this week saw closing arguments in the trial against Kaing Guek Eav, alias Comrade Duch, the 67-year-old former commandant of the infamous Khmer Rouge torture prison known as S-21. Although not a top leader in the Khmer Rouge’s Democratic Kampuchea (DK), Duch’s role as head of the secret police force that operated out of the former schoolhouse also called Tuol Sleng is seen as central to the regime’s operation. More than 12,000 people were killed at S-21. Twelve, total, survived.

Read the rest here. See also the latest on Hun Sen’s comments about the trial—”I hope it fails”—here.

I had gone a couple of years back on a client assignment to Cambodia. There I got a chance to visit the famous Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a memorial to the horrific tortures and the persecutions that Camodian populace was subjected to during the Kymer Rouge rule which finally fell when the Vietnamese invaded the country.

History of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

View of the prison

Rules of Security Prison -21 later called Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

23- year prisoner with her baby

Sometimes, if I could cry, this would be one of those memories. Then my mind kept floating around our own Independence struggle and millions of people who have lost their lives in South Africa, India, America and I realized that the problem with our generation is that we’ve been lucky. Two generations after Independence, we are more worried about the next iPod or buying a new house and all that. And we sometimes wonder why we are actually quite miserable (Atleast I am sometimes). I think the main problem is that we really have no goal in life types. I’m not talking about the next promotion or the CEO in the corner office types. But a question that were rhetorical for our freedom fighter ancestors: “What is there today that you want and would really give your life up for?”. Not necessarily die though. More specifically:”What would you be doing that even during the most difficult times of doing that would still keep a smile on your face?”. Where the failure of not successfully completing the activity is better than not having intiated at all?”
If you don’t have an answer, that means your aimless. Which is cool. But if you do have an answer but isn’t what you spend atleast 75% of your day on, you have a problem. And yes, I do have a problem

W latach reżimu Pol Pota w Kambodży (1975-1979), Tuol Sleng było jednym z wielu “Więzień Bezpieczeństwa”. Pełniły rolę “bufora”: podejrzani o szpiegostwo i zdradę rewolucji byli więzieni, bestialsko torturowani a następnie zabijani na tzw. Polach Śmerci. Szacuje się, że więzionych w Tuol Sleng było ok. 17000 osób.
During the Pol Pot Regime in Cambodia (1975-79), Toul Sleng was one of the many “Security Prisons”. They served as a “buffer”: people accused of spying and betrayal were imprisoned, brutally tortured and finally exterminated at the Killing Fields. It is estimated that 1700 people were imprisoned in Toul Sleng.

Tuol Sleng znane było również jako S-21 (Więzienie Bezpieczeństwa Nr 21)/Tuol Sleng known also as S-21 (Security Prison no. 21)

Budynek został otoczony siatką z drutu kolczastego, by uniemożliwić więźniom ucieczkę/The building has been surrounded with the net of the barbed wire, to prevent commiting suicides by the prisoners

Więźniowie przed osadzeniem byli dokładnie ewidencjonowani/ The prisoners before having been imprisoned were precisely listed

Tablica na ścianie wciąż przypomina, że S-21 kiedyś była zwykłą szkołą/The board on the wall still reminds, S-21 used to be the ordinary school

Jedna sala lekcyjna podzielona była na 12-15 cel wielkości 1×2 m/One classroom has been divided to 12-15 cells, 1×2 meters each one

Dziś sale pełne są niekończących się tablic ze zdjęciami skazańców/Today the rooms are full of “neverending” boards with the photos of the victims

Najmniej ważni skazańcy nie mieli cel; tygodniami leżeli w rzędach na gołych posadzkach/The less important prisoners didn’t have their own cells; they were kept in the rows on the bare floor for weeks

Ważni dla reżimu skazańcy przetrzymywani byli w dużych celach z łóźkiem, ponieważ zwykle potrzeba było więcej czasu, żeby zebrać zeznania/The VIP’s were kept in the large cells with the bed — usually it took more time to collect the full testimony

Przez 4 lata działania więzienia nikomu nie udało się uciec/During the 4 years of the prison operation, nobody managed to flee

Ocalało jedynie 12 osób, kiedy wietnamskie wojsko oswobodziło więzienie w 1979 r. (7 z nich na zdjęciu, na zdjęciu obok Pol Pot)/Only 12 people survived, when the Vietnamese troops entered the prison (7 of them at the photograph, at the other one — Pol Pot)

By KIEREN BURKE
The Epoch Times

September 8, 2008

Cambodians say the souls of those who die with out a proper burial continue to wander the earth. Cambodia is a place that is haunted the presence of these lost souls. One out of every four Cambodian’s between 1975-79 died under the Khmer Rouge.

One needs only to spend half an hour at the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh for it to induce feelings of both disgust and astonishment that a blind eye was turned and the world was too slow to react to Pol Pot’s totalitarian rule of Cambodia. I had been suffering food poisoning for the last few days in the stuffy and overwhelming capital city of one of the poorest countries in South East Asia. Thinking I was fit and well enough to roam the tourist traps, the sight of hundreds of terrified faces, mug shots of those murdered under the Khmer Rouge rule in Tuol Sleng S-21 prison were enough to bring back the feelings of nausea.

Tourists can see photos of victims of the Khmer Rouge at the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum in Phnom Penh. [Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images

The blood-stained floors of torture rooms have been harshly scrubbed with chemicals but the outlines of suffering are still visible and stop many in their tracks to reflect. Used by the Khmer Rouge as an interrogation and torture tool for those opposed to the “revolution,” the “gulagesque” structure of Tuol Sleng literally translates to a poisonous hill or place to keep those who bear or supply guilt.

It is estimated that some 10,500 adults and 2,000 children were killed by the Khmer Rouge at S-21 and almost all that entered the corrugated and electrified wired walls were never to see the outside world again. In a city of constant bombarding noise this area appeared to command an air of calm, a concerted effort of passing by commuters and pedestrians out of respect for the victims of a despotic regime. There is no escape from the beast that is Phnom Penh.

Pollution levels from both emissions and noise are intoxicating and can raise feelings of exhaustion and claustrophobia. Nine miles out of the sprawling “so called” CBD set among mangroves and makeshift rice paddies are vast fields, contrasting tranquility of greenery and graves of mass genocide at Choeung Ek. An ornately constructed shrine to the affected of the Khmer Rouge houses hundreds of human skulls excavated from the surroundings sights of misery and systematic killing. Combined with pieces of clothing, children’s T-shirts and shoes, found during the excavation process makes for one of the most sobering and depressing sights nobody should have to bear witness to. Human bones lay beside the stumps of trees, candles are alight and Buddhist monks stand silent in their orange robes chanting and holding burning incense.

There is death in the ground but hoping these sights ensure this will never happen again and like the concentration camps of continental Europe, perhaps we need to see these atrocities first hand to always remember what humanity is capable of. On a suggested half-hour tour of this site, 10 minutes were enough to again reduce me to a questioning mess, feeling emotions that were foreign to me. As I leave a young boy who can see I am shaken offers a smile and comes to hold my hand saying simply “Pol Pot, bad man, OK now.” No older than 7, the understanding of his country’s draconian past surely has diluted his innocence but made him aware of how cruel man can be.

Why do certain Western countries forge voyages to foreign nations in attempts to spread democracies when so many injustices in the world have not only been ignored in the past but are happening right under the noses of the most informed generation ever? Surely we must have learned from Nazi Germany?

Is it that “so-called” elite and performing democracies turn a blind eye or is that they have a vested interest in a nation’s dispute? As the result of brutal social reform some 2 million people perished by execution, famine, and disease in Cambodia. Grotesque purges of ethnic cleansing happening in our own region. The lack of intervention was insidious and the result is the most disturbing man made disaster Southeast Asia has seen in modern times. Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan, Guatemala, Nicaragua. – Have we learned at all?

Interrogation room at S21 Security Prison.

One of the most emotional sights to visit while in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Musuem.  This venue was formerly a high school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 to Security Prison “S21″ to house the mainly  middle-class and educated segment of society for interrogation and torture.  The Khmer Rouge believed that educated city-dwellers were exploiters of society and of the working, mainly agrarian, classes.  There was a forced exodus from the cities and larger towns to the countryside.

Those rounded up for interrogation and torture included whole families.  One of the difficult sights at the museum is the photographs of those rounded up and imprisoned.  Not only do you see the frightened faces of men and women, you also see the faces of children.  Beside the photographs, you can view the cells where the victims were imprisoned, torture instruments and human bones including skulls.  Although grotesque in some ways,  the museum is invaluable in making sure we don’t forget what happened thirty years ago.  In depicting gruesome inhumanity, it reminds visitors that we should not be complacent in the face of such crimes against humanity.

Photos taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens.

Interrogation room at S21 Security Prison.

Photos of inmates, tortured and murdered.

Reflection of whom.

Photo exhibition.

Makeshift prison cell in classroom.

Well this is a strategy for a defendant that you rarely hear of.  After a 9 month trial, where the defendant admitted to killing thousands of people, the defendant known as Duch has asked to be let go as the case against him in court was completed.

From AFP:

by Patrick Falby

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch stunned Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes court Friday by unexpectedly asking judges to acquit and release him on the final day of his trial.

Prosecutors said the 67-year-old’s sudden demand raised doubts about his admissions of responsibility and his pleas for forgiveness for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people at a notorious torture centre.

“I would ask the chambers to release me. Thank you very much,” Duch said at the end of his closing statement to the court after a harrowing nine-month trial.

Shocked judges asked Duch’s Cambodian lawyer Kar Savuth to confirm the request, and Kar Savuth said that Duch wanted to be acquitted on the grounds that he was not a senior member of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy.

Link to story

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Oh, well since he was not a senior member of the hierarchy, then obviously they should just let him go.  Admittedly, I have not exactly been following this case closely (or at all) but when someone admits to killing over 10,000 people, for some odd reason leniency seems like the wrong choice to make.  While Duch obviously didn’t kill all of these people by himself, he did run the prison that executed men, women and children. 

The prosecution was seeking a 40 year sentence for the 67-year-old defendant, and even this sentence was seen as far too lenient by those that had lost family and friends.