The Wonders of Cambodia

After only being here for a week, Cambodia has already taught us an incredible amount. This country has experienced a fascinating history, from the Khmer Empire who created the spectacular Angkor Wat, to the Khmer Rouge who killed around 2 million innocent Cambodians (and much, much more in-between). Tourist attractions generally entail sights related to a country’s history and culture, but unfortunately a huge part of Cambodia’s history lays in genocide. Monte and I struggled with the idea that the Choeung Ed Killing Fields and the former Tuol Sleng torture center are among the biggest tourist attractions. Poverty also surrounds us everywhere we go. Even after all the depressing things we’ve experienced, Cambodia is a wonderful country with incredibly friendly, compassionate and generous people with a breathtaking landscape. We are truly loving our experience so far.

Coming to Cambodia has taught us how little we know about this country’s recent past. Schools in the U.S. thoroughly teach about the Holocaust that took place in WWII, yet they fail to mention a genocide that took place just 30 years ago.

In 1953, Cambodia gained complete independence from France and Prince Sihanouk was elected head of state. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Cambodia did pretty well on its own. However, many thought that Sihanouk’s government was erratic, corrupt, and repressive and that they were making the rich richer and the poor poorer. This caused many people to demanded reform, resulting in increased support for opposition groups such as the Khmer Rouge who launched an armed struggle against Sihanouk’s government.

At this time, the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia after the U.S. bombed Cambodia’s border in an attempt to destroy North Vietnam’s bases. (President Nixon said in response to the bombings, “We are helping Cambodians to help themselves.”) The bombs killed and destroyed villages which caused the outraged people to turn to the Khmer Rouge. Prince Sihanouk was overthrown by his top general, Lon Nol, in a coup in 1970. The U.S. supported Lon Nol’s conservative government because it was anti-communist but Lon Nol’s government was weak and corrupt. This allowed the Khmer Rouge to easily overthrow them, which took place in April of 1975 when Khmer Rouge soldiers march unopposed into Phnom Penh. The soldiers then told the citizens that the U.S. government planned to bomb the city and it must be evacuated. There were to be no exceptions. Hospitals, schools, temples, and homes were all emptied, reducing the city population to just a few thousand soldiers. The city would remain abandoned for almost three years.

Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, sought to eliminate outside influences, education, and money. He wanted to transform the population into a mindless peasant working class. The people were forced into hard labor producing rice that they would then export in exchange for weapons. Pol Pot and his soldiers killed all those who questioned him, those who were not ethnically Khmer, and those who were educated. About 2 million people died from 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge regime.

In 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia because of the Khmer Rouge’s cross-border raids. After the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, the survivors went in search for their missing family members, leaving the rice harvests unattended which caused a famine that killed hundreds of thousands more. Meanwhile, the Khmer Rouge (which was now financially and militarily supported by Thailand, China, and indirectly by the U.S.) relocated near the Thai border and led a guerrilla war throughout the 1980s against the Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh.

Vietnam withdrew in 1989 and the U.N. intervened in 1990. A peace accord was signed in 1991. A new constitution was written, and Prince Sihanouk once again became the king. The Khmer Rouge was completely demolished in 1998. Shockingly, “the UN allowed the Khmer Rouge to occupy the Cambodian seat at the UN General Assembly until 1991, meaning the murderers represented their victims for 12 years.”

The Khmer Rouge also laid millions of landmines throughout the country, but failed to map their locations. These landmines continue to maim and kill innocent people today. We went to a landmine museum (cambodialandminemuseum.org) that taught us a great deal about them. The museum’s founder, Aki Ra, was a former Khmer Rouge soldier who set thousand of landmines throughout Cambodia. At the time he didn’t know the consequences of the landmines. Now he goes about the country dismantling the mines.

The mines that the Khmer Rouge built are more dangerous to handle than other mines because they are filled with liquid poison gas and if the fragments of the bomb didn’t injure you when it exploded then the gas would. There are often 4-5 mines in a 1m sq area. There are 4-6 million mines still active today in Cambodia today. Tracking the mines down to dismantle them is near impossible. The mines that the Khmer Rouge produced were cheap ($1), but it costs $1,000 to destroy one mine. One in every 250 Cambodians is maimed or killed by landmines every year. Most of the victims of landmines are rural farmers and their children.

Angkor Wat: The Khmer Rouge sought to destroy anything with religious affiliation. When Monte and I had the honor of touring the temples surrounding Angkor Wat (the 7th wonder of the world), we saw that all of the statues of the Buddha had been decapitated. The Khmer Rouge also demolished much of the temples. Even after this destruction, the temples were absolutely stunning. This was the most spectacular thing that Monte and I have ever seen. The sheer size and the amount of detail that went into building these temples is fascinating.

Cambodia Today: There are 15 million people living in Cambodia today. 40% of the population is under the age of 15. Cambodia is almost half the size of Italy or Vietnam. The government is quite corrupt and is making the rich richer and the poor poorer. A major issue ensuing in Cambodia today is land-stealing. People are forced off of their land through either eviction or theft. These people are then re-located onto flooded, unusable land. Another major issue is the destruction of the rainforest. In the 1960s the rainforest covered over 75% of the land, but now it covers less than 30%.

If you would like to see my references, then just ask. I figured you didn’t want my Works Cited page… Also, if you would like to do some reading about the Khmer Rouge, "First They Killed My Father," by Loung Ung is a first-hand account of a young girl and her family who experienced the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. It’s incredibly sad but it’s well-written and gives a good account of the history.

What’s Next: Tomorrow Monte and I will head up to Mondulkiri province to begin our volunteer program. Here, we will build houses and play with elephants. The entire province has only 40,000 people and the capital of the province (also the largest city in the province) has only 8,000 people. There is no bank or post office. As a result, our ability to communicate might be limited for the next two months…