12/20/15
Politics, defined as the practice and theory of influencing people, is something we seem to experience everyday. From office to school (ah, the student government) to sports, politics is everywhere. After all, we all need to convince people to do what we want them to do to achieve our goals. Most of us use a mixture of persuasion and threats, within our capability and power. Well, as they say, with power comes corruption, and i went to visit 2 sites that showcase some of the worst of humanity. (I’d like to reference the Stanford prison experiment, but I am not quite sure if that applies here.)
Cambodia has a terrible recent history. I think most would recognize the words “Pol Pot” and “Khmer Rouge”. Also known as the Community Party of Kampuchea, Khmer Rouge was formed in 1968 and ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979. It is said that almost 3 million (out of 8 million) people died under the regime. Taking a page out of Mao’s social engineering, Pol Pot sure nationally tortured and killed intellectuals and moved citizens to country side. Families were separated, thousands were murdered at various killing fields. It is a chapter of Cambodia history that is both scary and almost unfathomable. The most notorious places were Choeung Ek killing field and Tuol Seung (S21 Prison) genocide museum. Being in Phnom Penh, there is almost no reason not to visit these places. They are a reminder on how cruel we all can be, under different circumstances.
We arrived at the Tuol Seung Prison first. This former school is divided into 4 buildings, with building A deemed the “VIP” area. It is rumored that 17,000 prisoner passed through this facility. Of those, only 7 were ever rescued on the way to killing field. The classrooms were divided into small cells using bricks. Excrements were to be deposited into a small box, with part thrown away and part used for drowning torture. In order to prevent suicide, the front of the balconies were covered with barbed wires. Most were beaten to death, or have the stomach or throat slit- to preserve bullets. When the Vietnamese came to liberate the school, the guards murdered everyone inside except 2 kids who hid under a pile of clothing, and 2 babies. The rest of the survivor were rescued from a truck going to the killing field. With these information, we wandered around the former prison camp, looking at skulls of victims, photographs, drawings and many other exhibits. The mood was somber, and we even met two of the only loving survivors (who were selling their books). One thing that set this apart: there is a surprising lack of videos and interactive exhibits. Having been to the holocaust museum in DC and Warsaw (which have a lot of recordings, videos and interactive displays), the level violence still shocked me.
We drove another 40 mins to the Choeung Ek killing field, where mass graves were discovered. A former Chinese burial ground, it was a site of mass murder. The soldiers would play loud music over the PA system, and this, coupled with the sound of Diesel engine running, would be the last sounds victims hear. There ate mass graves of bodies without head, women, men, children and babies (who were smashed repeatedly against trees). As we walked around, bits o clothing a can still be seen on the ground, along with bone fragments. The government only collect the skulls (they said there are just too many bones to be collected efficiently), which are displayed in a huge tower in the center of the site. We were told this is not because the government did not want to return the bodies to the families; instead, it is because there are no names or identification associated with these bones. This I actually found to be sad: with the technology these days, I think there are ways to let the stillsurviving families members undergo DNA testing for identification. Of course, with so many killed, there may simply not be any living relatives. A whole bloodline could have been simply wiped from this earth.
Returning from the trip, I read a little more on the circumstances and history. These all happened in the period of Cold War, and Cambodia was being used as a pawn in the game. USA lost the Vietnam war, and so decided to use another country to try to block communist influence. Along with the Chinese government, most of the western world actually supported the Khmer Rouge regime (because he was suspicious and fighting the Vietnamese). Pol Pot eventually died of natural causes in his own home, never stood trial or faced any punishment. It is a great reminder that politics matters: not only to our own country, but also to the world. As human beings, we have to help our fellow people, and stop genocides from happening. People who think the isolation policy works are delusional, especially in this date and age. The world is more connected than ever. Hiding on an island hoping for the best is not a way of survival- it is a cowardly way of avoiding responsibility.
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