3.2 Assessment – Libby Bond
The Khmer Rouge regime was a deathly genocide that swept through Cambodia between
1975-1979. It was started by an extremist Communist group, the Khmer Rouge, and began
because Cambodians were unhappy with the incompetence of those that were in power
before the regime. However, those who originally supported the group had no idea what
was about to come. Throughout the regime it is believed that around 25% of Cambodia’s
population was killed1 because of factors like starvation, overworking, and execution. The
Khmer Rouge’s goal was create what they called an agrarian utopia and they planned to do
this by killing anyone educated, foreign, or anyone who worked with the previous
government. The official beginning of the regime was the 17th of April, 1975, when the
Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia’s major cities and forced everyone out of their homes and
led them on an extremely long and dangerous walk out to the countryside. All of
Cambodia’s residents were then left in labour camps where they were split from their
families, forced to work for majority of the day with little to no food. These camps were the
reason behind the deaths of so many people and there were severe punishments for those
who did not follow orders. Cambodians were trapped. The Khmer Rouge also rejected all
Western influence such as modern medicine, meaning anyone who got sick was not able to
get the proper care that they needed. This horrifying regime finally ended in December of
1978 when Vietnamese troops invaded the country and took power from the Khmer Rouge.
Although this was the official end to the regime, Cambodia was the home to a lot of war,
violence and death in the following years; nobody was safe. Justice has been sought many
years later but by this time lots of those who had caused so much pain had already passed
with no punishment given. How can justice ever be found after the Khmer Rouge was able
to cause the entirety of Cambodia to suffer for so many years.
Communism was a key cause of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Communism is a political and economic system that many countries have tried to adopt
throughout the years. It began with a man named Karl Marx when he published ‘The
Communist Manifesto’ in 1848, and since then has become a somewhat popular ideology
for people around the world. Those who believe in communism believe that everyone
deserves equal opportunity and resources. Under communism everything is owned by the
state, such as factories and farms and private ownership is also prohibited. The overarching
idea is that everyone gets treated equally and that social classes would be destroyed.
However, throughout history we have seen that Communism tends to work a lot better on
paper then it does in the real world. Khmer Rouge regime included.
There are a few reasons why communism was a driving force of the Khmer Rouge regime,
one of them is because of some of Cambodia’s neighbours adopting communist government
systems. The first is Laos, one of Cambodia’s closest neighbours. The country had been stuck
in the Laotian Civil War from 1959 up until 1975. The war was between the Pathet Lao
which was a communist political movement and the Royal Lao Government. Eventually in
1975 the civil war ended and the Pathet Lao were victorious, meaning Laos became a
communist country. A key part of their victory was the support from the North Vietnamese
1 https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/pol-pot.htm
who were also communist and fighting in the Vietnam war. The Vietnamese had been in the
midst of a 20 yearlong civil war between the North and South up until 1975. Eventually the
North came out on top and the country became a communist led country. Being in such
close proximity to two very lethal wars, both of which ended with the communists winning,
most likely had an impact on Cambodians. They would have that it was possible for
communism to take over, those who already supported communism in Cambodia would
have been given a new wave of hope.
The Vietnam war also had a special impact on the Khmer Rouge regime as South Vietnam’s
closest ally, the United States, began dropping bombs in Cambodia because they thought
the North Vietnamese had secret bases there. According to a source from the Asia Pacific
Library2, between 1969 and 1973, a total of 500,000 tons of explosives were dropped on
Cambodia by the US military. The map below comes from the Asia Pacific Library and shows
where the bombs were dropped in Cambodia by the US, showing just how much damage
would have been done. The
estimate from Asia Pacific
Library is slightly lower than
key historian Ben Kiernan’s.
Ben is a well-known
historian and is very
knowledgeable about the
Khmer Rouge regime, he is
also the director of the
Genocide Studies
Programme at Yale
University. In an article
published by him in 19893
he calculated that 539,000
tons of explosives were
dropped in Cambodia.
Regardless of the exact
number, this would have caused severe displacement for a lot of Cambodians and would
have caused a lot of anger amongst them. It is thought that at the time Prince Sihanouk was
in power in Cambodia and he did nothing to stop these attacks that were destroying
Cambodian’s livelihoods. Therefore, Cambodians began looking for a leader who would get
the attacks to stop, they found who they were looking for in Pol Pot, the leader of the
Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).
Pol Pot, also known as Saloth Sar, first learned about communism when he was gifted a
scholarship to Paris where he was to study radio electronics. While he was there he joined a
group of like-minded young left-wing Cambodian nationalists4. Some of the men were Nuon
Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan, all of which later joined Pol Pot as leaders of
the Khmer Rouge. Pol did eventually have to return to Cambodia in 1953 after failing his
exams but this did not stop his passion for communism. Pol Pot became the general
2 https://asiapacificcurriculum.ca/learning-module/rise-and-fall-khmer-rouge-regime
3 Ben Kiernan, “The US Bombardment of Kampuchea, 1969-1973,” Vietnam Generation, 1:1, Winter 1989, pp. 4-41, Table 1, p. 6:
4 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pol-Pot
secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in 1963 and from the CPK the Khmer
Rouge was born. Pol Pot visiting Paris is a detrimental part of the Khmer Rouge regime,
without it he may have never learned about communism and may never have met the men
that joined him in leading the Khmer Rouge to victory. It also seemed inevitable that at
some point a group such as the Khmer Rouge was going to take power in Cambodia. The
country had been plagued with war and violence for years. After the coup d’état of 1970
when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was overthrown by the Lon Nol government who was
supported by the US, more fighting broke out between the Cambodian communists and Lon
Nol forces. Cambodian’s just wanted an end to the fighting and were most likely hesitant to
support Lon Nol knowing that he was supported by the US who had been bombing
Cambodia. The population were vulnerable and angry, they wanted peace throughout the
country and they thought that supporting the Khmer Rouge would give them that. At this
point in Cambodia there was such a big divide between the social classes because of the US
bombing campaign, so many lower class Cambodians who lived rurally were losing their
homes and their main sources of income. According to historian Ben Kiernan, hundreds of
thousands of peasants fled to cities in an attempt to escape the bombing5. This would have
caused a lot of disruption in the cities as well, with so many displaced people coming in.
Overall, it seems as though the whole country was in a state of chaos and the Khmer Rouge
took advantage of this and preyed on a broken society. It also seems that communism was a
favourable method of government as peasants were sick of living in poverty and wanted to
be equal with those living in the city who were seemingly unaffected. This meant they were
more inclined to support the Khmer Rouge because they thought it would mean they would
all become equals.
Historian Ben Kiernan seems to agree with the idea that communism was a key cause of the
Khmer Rouge regime. In an article written by him called ‘The Cambodian Genocide, 19751979’, Ben goes over the rise of the Khmer Rouge and what exactly lead to it. He mentions
Pol Pot joining the Communist Party of Kampuchea and fighting his way into power which is
a very direct cause of the regime that involves the idea of communism. He also talks about
the divide between Cambodians in cities and Cambodians living in rural poverty which lead
to peasants being angry and more inclined to support the idea of communism and giving Pol
Pot more support. However, he also describes some other causes of the regime that worked
alongside communism that helped bring the Khmer Rouge to power. This direct quote “Pol
Pot’s regime could not have come to power without the massive economic and military
destabilisation of Cambodia by the United States, beginning in 1966” shows that Ben
thought the US bombing was a very key factor. He follows this up by explaining that the
Khmer Rouge actually used this bombing as an opportunity to recruit peasants using
propaganda. I would assume that because at the time the government was the Lon Nol
government it meant they could pit people against Lon Nol because he was getting support
from the US.
Personally, I would say that compared to Ben Kiernan I agree with the idea that communism
was a driving force behind the Khmer Rouge slightly more than he does. This is because I
can see a lot of causes behind the regime and how if you delve deeper you can see that a lot
of them involve communism in some way. It seems that communism was very evident in a
5 Ben Kiernan “The Cambodian Genocide, 1975-1979”
lot of aspects of Cambodia and its surrounding countries, such as Laos and Vietnam. Both
countries had been experiencing a civil war for years, however, the wars were driven by
communism. The US bombing was at the fault of the US but if you delve deeper, the
bombing was driven by the US’ fear of communism spreading from Vietnam to Cambodia. I
do believe that there were other factors other than communism that led to the Khmer
Rouge regime, for instance the incompetence of previous Cambodian governments such as
Prince Sihanouk or Lon Nol. Their inability to handle the serious issues that Cambodia was
facing at the time meant that the Khmer Rouge could upstage them by promising to do
things such as stopping the US or fixing the divide between social classes. I also believe that
a regime as brutal and extreme as the Khmer Rouge regime was in some ways bound to
happen. Cambodia was in a state of disarray for so long, the people were fed up and
whether it was the Khmer Rouge or another anti-government group, I think it was inevitable
for some sort of group to take over and start a revolution. Overall, I think there is a way to
link communism to a lot of the factors behind the Khmer Rouge regimes rise to power.
Communism was lurking around Cambodia for years whether it be through Vietnam and
Laos or peasants wanting equality between social classes or the CPK gaining support
throughout the years leading up to the regime. It was on the rise and it seems as though
Cambodian communists weren’t going to stop until they managed something drastic,
something that would wipe either the monarchy or the Lon Nol government out for good;
something like the Khmer Rouge regime.
Genocide was a result of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Genocide by definition is the mass killing of a specific nation or ethnic group with the
intention of destroying that nation or group. This can definitely be said about the Khmer
Rouge regime. It is thought that Pol Pot and his fellow Khmer Rouge leaders were hoping
they could turn Cambodia into an “agrarian utopia”6. They planned to do this by wiping out
specific groups in the population. Firstly, they targeted anyone who worked in the previous
Lon Nol government, as well as anyone who was educated, bilingual, or foreign. In Ben
Kiernan’s article5 he states that prior to the regime, ethnic minorities made up 15% of
Cambodia’s population, including groups such as the Vietnamese, Chinese and Muslim
Cham’s. The Vietnamese seemed to have caught the worst of it and what originally started
out as a population of 450,000 Vietnamese in Cambodia was halved when the Lon Nol
government was in power. The Khmer Rouge regime led to about 100,000 fleeing the
country in the regime’s first year, 1975, and the rest were killed sometime throughout the
regime. Ben also goes over the fate of the Chinese under the Khmer Rouge regime. He
explains that the recorded population of Chinese in Cambodia was 425,000 in 1975 and by
the end of the regime only 200,000 survived. Targeting or wiping out an entire ethnicity of
people in one country is incredibly horrific and is a good example of how the Khmer Rouge’s
aim was to create a genocide on different groups in Cambodia, whether it be the
Vietnamese, Chinese, or even just those who have been educated.
It is also important to know not just the amount that were killed, but how so many were
killed in a period of only 4 years. There were many reasons for the amount of death that
occurred under the Khmer Rouge regime, one of them was the working and living
6 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399
conditions. Prisoners of the Khmer
Rouge were forced into labour camps
where they would spend most of their
time working, most likely working with
food production. This is because the
Khmer Rouge had a plan, they wanted
to have an average yield of three tons
of rice per hectare throughout the
country7. The level of production
required to achieve their goal was
extremely large, which meant that
Cambodians living in labour camps
were forced to overwork every day or
else they would be killed. The image to
the left is a snapshot of what life was
like in Cambodia, women, men and
children alike all spent their days
working hard as to keep themselves
from being killed. Although there was such a big amount of rice and other crops being
produced, Cambodians were still being extremely underfed. The food was being sent away
and the workers were not seeing the benefits of all their hard work. There is no exact figure
of just how many died of overworking or starvation under the regime, however it is
probably quite a large amount judging on the type of conditions Cambodians were
subjected to. One man, Craig Etcheson, made the estimate that 1.5 million died due to
starvation or overworking under the regime8. Unfortunately this estimate cannot be taken
seriously due to criticism from historian Ben Kiernan who claimed that it was exaggerated
which led to the original report being removed from the Cambodian Genocide Project.
Another factor that affected prisoners were the living conditions in the camps. After
conducting an interview with Khmer Rouge regime survivors I learned a bit more about the
living conditions that prisoners were subjected to. One survivor named Pon San Beth
explained that in her labour camp there were no beds, they would take a branch and sleep
on the ground. She also told about how for one year they were only provided with two sets
of clothes. Living conditions like these meant that people were exposed to the elements and
not taken care of. This could have led to a high chance of getting sick and then not having
the resources to get better. Overall living at a work camp during the Khmer Rouge regime
left prisoners with unrealistic expectations for work and not enough resources to keep them
alive.
Over the years the estimate of how many died under the Khmer Rouge regime has been
widely disputed. Many different historians have used their own methods to try and
calculate just how many died, whether it be from starvation, overworking, or straight up
execution. A source from Mass Atrocity Endings9 gives a good overview of the different
estimates, explaining the known historian Ben Kiernan estimates around 1,671,000 deaths
under the Khmer Rouge regime. It also shows that a historian by the name of Patrick
7 https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/case-study/violence/forced-labor-and-collectivization
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial
9 https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2019/12/30/cambodia-under-the-khmer-rouge/#_edn11
Heuveline calculated an estimate of 2,520,000 deaths under the Khmer Rouge The websites
own research leads to an estimate of between 650,000 and 1,400,000. In a source from a
historian named R. J. Rummel10, he estimates that 2,400,000 were murdered by the Khmer
Rouge. These estimates are all different and show that there really is no way of knowing the
true amount of people that fell victim to the Khmer Rouge. Nevertheless, none of the
sources are too farfetched and they all seem to have estimates that fall around similar
numbers. After researching the different estimates and without doing any calculations
myself, I would guess that the true number falls somewhere within the estimates that have
already been made. I would estimate somewhere close to Ben Kiernan’s number as his
seems to be sitting as the middle number of the rest and he is also a very trusted historian
when it comes to the Khmer Rouge. There is one part of the Khmer Rouge that can account
for a lot of the deaths in these statistics and that part is Tuol Sleng, also known as S21.
Tuol Sleng was a prison used by
the Khmer Rouge to imprison and
torture anyone they viewed as an
enemy. During the regime, at least
12,000 were killed in Tuol Sleng. It
was thought that if you were sent
there it was a death sentence,
there were very few survivors. The
people who were sent there were
thought to be enemies of the
Khmer Rouge, whether they be a
traitorous KR soldier or a member
of the Vietnamese army. They
were forced to live in cells while
they were there, to the right is an
image of what the cells looked like.
Often times prisoners would be tortured in their cells as well. During their stay at S21,
prisoners were also forced into confessing to the crime they committed, regardless of if they
actually did it or not. They were subjected to numerous amounts of torture, whether it be a
beating, electric shocks or even a mock drowning11. It was not a place that anyone wanted
to be during the Khmer Rouge regime. If they weren’t killed during their torture, prisoners
were sent to the Killing Fields. They would sometimes be forced to dig their own graves and
would then kneel down in front of it, get struck in the back of the head and their lifeless
body would roll into the grave. It truly was a horrible place and was possibly one of the
cruellest aspects of the entire regime. The Killing Fields were full of thousands of dead
bodies that were left there to rot, forgotten by the Khmer Rouge. In my opinion, although
S21 may have only been the cause of 12,000 deaths, it was the most sick and twisted way
for someone to die. It was the harshest part of the genocide.
After looking at some different historian perspectives, I can see that the genocide that took
place under the Khmer Rouge can be viewed from different angles. A historian named
10 https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP4.HTM#1
11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiflq0KX_bw&ab_channel=Geographics
Alexander Labon Hinton went to Cambodia for 15 months to do a study on Cambodian
culture and customs12. He discovered that Cambodian cultural models relate to face and
honour, as well as respecting the social order. KR soldiers wanted to follow orders and do
well because they wanted to gain praise and honour from their superiors. The Khmer Rouge
preyed on this and during the regime they favoured the poor rural population because they
were easy to manipulate. The peasants hated the “new people” who were the city people,
so they gave them positions of power where they knew they would do what they were told;
the Khmer Rouge received loyalty from the peasants. This whole perspective is very
interesting and shows a different side of the Khmer Rouge. They made their soldiers believe
that their victims were enemies, meaning the soldier doesn’t see this person as a human,
they see them as an enemy who needs to be killed. This explains why so much death and
destruction took place, Cambodian cultural models were used to the Khmer Rouge’s
advantage and people have always followed these. They found a way to make their killing
seem somewhat ethical, see it as not killing but just doing the right thing. This leads me to
have a deeper understanding of how brainwashed some of the Khmer Rouge soldiers were.
It helped me realise that genocide was justified in the eyes of some of these people.
A contrasting historical perspective is that of Alain Destexhe. She has researched a lot about
genocide and the reasons behind why it takes place13. The motivation behind genocide is
what defines it, it has such horrific intention that it cannot be justified in any way. The
Khmer Rouge regime fits the description of genocide because the intentions were to kill and
destroy entire groups of people, such as the Vietnamese living in Cambodia or all educated
people living there; as well as many more minority groups. It is also not just a war crime
because it is actually affecting more than just a person or a nation, it is affecting humanity
as a whole. Personally, after looking at both perspectives I would agree with the perspective
of Alain Destexhe. The taking place of a genocide is so horrific and intense that it cannot be
excused. As it said in the article, genocide is a crime against humanity. It is looking at a
group of people and deciding that they deserve to die for no other reason than just existing.
In the case of the Khmer Rouge, their genocide is so unjustified and intense. In my eyes, I do
however see that the Khmer Rouge used Cambodia’s cultural models to their advantage and
got those who believed in them to do their dirty work. Both are very interesting
perspectives and neither are excusing the genocide, the first was just explaining why it
happened. I think that the explanation accounts for some of what happened, but at the end
of the day it was still a genocide and regardless of which cultural models people believed in,
they should have seen that.
Justice for the people affected by the Khmer Rouge regime is limited.
Justice is the idea that people are punished for their actions, that there are consequences
behind the pain that people inflict. In the case of the Khmer Rouge, justice is about locking
up the leaders of the Khmer Rouge who split up so many families, caused so much pain and
took so many lives. The regimes official end took place on January 7th 1979 when the
Vietnamese managed to take over Phnom Penh after they’d invaded. From that point on the
country was controlled by Vietnam, they had a lot of issues that needed to be fixed.
12 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2659025?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3Ae9e17f4744623c199cfdc31a85ada9f4&seq=25#page_scan_tab_contents
13 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/reports/dsetexhe.html
Cambodians began fleeing to Thailand because they had nothing left in Cambodia, they just
wanted to get out of the country that had caused them so much suffering. Fighting also
continued throughout Cambodia between the Vietnamese and the leftover Khmer Rouge
fighters, so overall Cambodia was not a nice place to be. The Khmer Rouge regime had
finally ended, but a new Vietnamese regime was just beginning. Time was spent trying to
organise a government to rule over Cambodia and finally the coalition government was
created which included a lot of different parties, including the Khmer Rouge. This in itself is
incredibly hurtful to the Cambodians who suffered under the Khmer Rouge because they
had to see the Khmer Rouge continue to have power rather than be prosecuted for their
crimes. Regardless, the government was signed into power on June 22nd 1982 and was run
by Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Vietnam eventually left Cambodia in 1889 for the reason that
they need to look after their own country and the United Nations came into Cambodia and
took over the country in 1991. Some progress began getting made in 1993 when Cambodia
hosted its first ever general election and the coalition party won. This meant Sihanouk was
King and Head of State and there were two prime ministers, Hun Sen and Ranariddh.
While all of this was happening, no one in power seemed to be too concerned about
bringing the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice. Time was going on and they were all getting
older and their crimes were becoming forgotten. Eventually, something was done in an
attempt to hold those at fault accountable. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia (ECCC) were established in 2003 and plans were put in place to eventually host
trials for the leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, things did not exactly go to plan.
The court was established in 2003 and has only convicted three individuals for their crimes
against humanity. Along with this, there has been over $300 million dollars spent on the
court,14 with that much money spent some more results are expected. The court’s
incompetence possibly comes down to government interference and Hun Sen wanting to
slow things down as much as possible. According to Nikkei Asia15 Hun Sen’s government has
been accused of getting involved with the judges in an attempt to stop the court from
researching more into mid-ranking soldiers, most likely because he was one himself. The
courts have also been accused of being corrupt which is why the United Nations originally
wanted to the trials to happen outside of Cambodia but Hun Sen refused. Another issue is
just the fact that the trials are happening so long after the Khmer Rouge regime. The regime
finished in 1979, yet the ECCC was not even established until 2003. This is a 24 year wait
which meant that a lot of those who had done wrong spent 2 decades going about their
lives with no consequences.
There were four original cases that were to take place under the ECCC16. The first, Case 001,
was against Comrade Duch who ran the S21 prison in Phnom Penh. He was convicted on
July 26th 2010, of crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 35 years which then got
shortened to 19 years. This sentencing is extremely light regarding the fact that he was
responsible for thousands of deaths in Tuol Sleng. Case 002 was against 4 individuals who
were all involved with the Khmer Rouge. This includes Khieu Samphan who was the head of
state, Nuon Chea who was the second in command, both of whom got charged for crimes
against humanity and were sentenced to life in prison. The other two however cannot be
14 https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2173734/was-cambodias-us300m-khmer-rouge-tribunal-worth-it
15 https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hun-Sen-s-Cambodia/After-40-years-Cambodia-s-Khmer-Rouge-leaders-face-genocide-verdict2
16 https://time.com/6997/cambodias-khmer-rouge-trials-are-a-shocking-failure/
charged. First is Ieng Sary who
had an important role in the
regime but passed away in 2013
and lastly is Ieng Thirit who was
the minister of social action who
had Alzheimer’s and was
declared mentally unfit to stand
trial. There were trials 003 and
004 but no information has been
put out about them and who
they involve. In the image to the
right we can see Khieu Samphan
at one of the sentencings in
2018, it is obvious that he is very
elderly and has already lived his
life scot free. Overall, there is
little no justice being served in terms of these trials. Comrade Duch is serving life in prison
but in reality it doesn’t mean much because he has already reached an old age, he has
already lived his life. The main villain in the whole situation is Pol Pot who died in 1998,
years before the ECCC was even set up. This meant there were no consequences for his
actions and he was able to die peacefully in his sleep which is so unfair as millions suffered
horrific deaths because of him. Both Duch and Nuon Chea have passed away since their
sentencing and Khieu Samphan is already 89 so he is hardly going to be serving a life
sentence. It is obvious there is an attempt at justice being served but it seems like it is too
little too late.
It is also apparent that those involved with the regime have not faced consequences for
their actions as they are still functioning members of society. An example of this is Hun Sen
who joined the Khmer Rouge in 197017. He then climbed up the ranked and gained the
position of deputy regional commander. Being a part of a group that caused so much death
and pain didn’t even lead to any penalty for Hun Sen as he has been prime minister of
Cambodia for a whopping 36 years. In my opinion, those who were forced to suffer through
the Khmer Rouge regime did not get their justice from these sentencings.
Historian Allen Yang wrote an article about the trials, calling it ‘No Redemption: The Failing
Khmer Rouge Trial.’ The name basically says it all, his perspective is that the trials as a whole
were a massive failure. He goes over the lead up the ECCC and why it was created in the first
place, because the United Nations pushed for the Khmer Rouge leaders to be tried for their
crimes. He gives a good perspective of Hun Sen and explains a lot of instances where it
seems like Hun Sen was directly trying to stop the trials from taking place. This includes the
excessive fees put on for anyone wanting to use a non-Cambodian lawyer, forcing the trials
to take place in Cambodia as opposed to outside of the country where there would be less
bias. He says that this level of difficulty shows Cambodia’s “unwillingness to let international
forced have a strong influence in the proceedings.” It just seems as though Hun Sen and the
Cambodian government as a whole really didn’t want the trials to take place in a non-bias
17 https://www.france24.com/en/20180728-hun-sen-khmer-rouge-soldier-elections-phnom-penh-cambodia
and legitimate type of way. Seeing this perspective also gives me the impression that from
the very beginning there was going to be a lot of messiness in the proceedings. Allen Yang
also writes about how maybe the trials were just a way for Cambodia to get more money,
the tribunal was very over budget yet nothing was even being done. He also comments that
it may not be the best thing for the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, claiming that it may
“rouse bitter memories of those who are old enough to remember the Khmer Rouge
regime.” After reading through this perspective and listening to what Allen had to say I find
myself agreeing with his perspective. The information is slightly outdated as it was
published in 2008, but the perspective still stands. The whole process that has been taking
place is somewhat suspicious, Hun Sen’s actions surrounding the proceedings seems as
though he doesn’t care about justice actually happening for the Khmer Rouge victims, he
seems more adamant about making the whole process as difficult as possible.
Another historian perspective I looked over was a piece from Joel Binkley called ‘Justice
Squandered: Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Tribunal.’ Similar to the first piece I examined his
perspective says it all in the title of his writing, saying that justice is squandered in the case
of these trials. He provides information about the proceedings and explains that Hun Sen
originally agreed to the trial but basically realised that he should not have done that so he
began trying to sabotage it. He says that Hun Sen insisted on having home courts, knowing
full well that they were corrupt. Joel also goes into a bit more detail regarding the KR
members who were actually being charged, explaining that people were outraged to hear
that they were getting good treatment while awaiting sentencing, such as being provided
with three meals a day. In my opinion, this fact alone is disturbing, knowing that these
people forced millions of Cambodians to starve during the regime yet they’ve never had to
face that treatment themselves even after all the horrible things they have done. How is
that justice for the millions of lives lost at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Joel explains that
to a lot of legal professionals, “the ECCC is an embarrassment to the international legal
system.” Personally, I agree with this perspective on the Khmer Rouge trials. Looking at both
historian perspectives I can see that they are quite similar. This leads me to feeling more
confident in the perspective. it shows that there is mountains of evidence proving that the
trials are basically a failure; proving that justice was limited. Historians can see what type of
thing is happening in these trials, corruption and incompetence. There was at least some
justice, Nuon Chen, Thieu Samphan and Brother Duch have all been charged with crimes
against humanity, but in reality they are not serving life sentences. These men have already
been able to live majority of their lives in peace with no true consequences for their actions.
So I think it would be fair to say in the case of the ECCC trials, justice for the people affected
by the Khmer Rouge regime is limited.
Significance to New Zealand.
One possibly wouldn’t think that the Khmer Rouge regime would relate to a small country
like New Zealand but in reality, there are a lot of ways that this regime was significant to
New Zealand. Firstly, once the regime ended and Vietnam took over power in Cambodia,
many Cambodians had no family and no home left so they fled to other countries, including
New Zealand. There was also an unfortunate New Zealander who found themselves
imprisoned in Tuol Sleng during the regime which would have had a pretty big significance
to him, his family and his community. I also think that over time the Khmer Rouge regime
has varied in significance to New Zealand, at the time it was obviously very important
because the country was focused on getting refugees over here and resettling them, but
over time the significance may have died down. It also depends on which aspect of New
Zealand is involved, some people may have never even heard of the Khmer Rouge regime
whereas others may have been heavily involved in the refugee process or may have known
the man who died in Tuol Sleng.
Before the regime even began, there were 41 students who had come to New Zealand on
some form of scholarship, they ended up remaining in New Zealand due to the regime and
were given residency in 1976 because going back to Cambodia was just not possible18. This
would have been life altering for them as they came over here expecting to only stay for
school and most likely ended up staying a lot longer. One of these students was a woman
named Niborom Young19 who found out about the restrictions when she tried to send her
family packages and they got returned. She ended up becoming a huge help when the
refugees began coming into the country after the regime had ended. Because she had been
living in New Zealand a lot longer, she was able to make the migration process easier for a
lot of refugees. Niborom and the other 40 students who had been in New Zealand during
the regime had managed to find a new, safer home in New Zealand which was very
important to both them and our country because it meant the country had begun to
facilitate those who needed homes and there were many more on the way.
After the regime most refugees fled to Thailand just because it was the safest close country
around. Obviously, this would have put a big strain on Thailand and they would not have
been able to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of refugees looking for a safe place
to stay. This is where New Zealand comes in, evidently New Zealand is rather far away from
Cambodia so it wouldn’t be the easiest place to get to. However, we still took in a fair
amount of refugees, approximately 4661 between 1979 and 1992. Moving from a war torn
place like Cambodia to a small distant country like New Zealand would have been a big
jump, so resettling these refugees would have been a big effort. According to Te Ara 18
refugees were granted permanent residency once they got here and spent their first 4 to 6
weeks in a refugee reception centre in Auckland. After this they were resettled somewhere
around the country, lots in North Island’s biggest cities like Auckland, Hamilton and
Wellington. Some however went down south to South Island cities like Christchurch and
Dunedin but ended up eventually moving north as there were more Cambodians and many
more job opportunities. This resettling process meant that out of New Zealand, the Khmer
Rouge regime mostly impacted the people living in cities, New Zealanders in small towns
may not have come into contact with these refugees. It had the biggest significance to
Auckland as they had the most Cambodian refugees living there with statistics in 2013
showing that there were 4188 living there. Nevertheless, cities like Hamilton still seem to
have a somewhat big Cambodian presence, this is shown in the Waikato Khmer Association.
I travelled to Hamilton to meet with the Waikato Khmer Association on the 28th of March to
interview survivors of the Khmer Rouge who were part of the group of refugees who came
to New Zealand. The Waikato Khmer Association is a place for Cambodians who live in the
18 https://teara.govt.nz/en/cambodians/page-1
19 https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/27-10-2018/kiwi-legend-the-cambodian-refugee-helping-others-make-nz-home/
Waikato area to go if they want to spend
time with other Cambodians or use the
Buddhist Temple that they have on site.
This is one of many different Khmer
Associations around the country where
Cambodians can meet with other
Cambodians if they’re maybe ever feeling
like spending time with people with the
same culture. One of the members
explained the process of coming to New
Zealand from Thailand, their brother in law
was here and sponsored this person and
four of their other family members to
move to New Zealand. Vouen Sok, one of
the members also told us about how
escaping from Cambodia to Thailand was
very challenging, so coming to New
Zealand was a big help. He explained that
they got over here due to the Red Cross
foundation bringing him over. Overall I
think that the Waikato Khmer Association is very important to New Zealand as it is creating
a place where Cambodian culture can take place and be explored. This association and
others alike are making New Zealand a more culturally diverse place which is very important
in today’s society. The association is also keeping the memory of the Khmer Rouge regime
alive, the regime officially ended around 42 years ago, meaning a lot of the victims are
getting older. Having a place where survivors can talk about their experiences is helping to
keep it remembered and so all of the struggles they went through can be honoured. I think
that the significance of the event is going to continue to change over time because soon the
victims are not going to be here to talk about what happened, the event will only be told by
their children or grandchildren. I think that it is still significant but over time it has possibly
become less significant as time moves on and the victims themselves move on with their
lives. They become New Zealand citizens and embrace New Zealand culture, they are still
Cambodians at heart and definitely celebrate Cambodian culture but they hopefully find a
new home in New Zealand as well.
Another important link to the Khmer Rouge regime is Kerry Hamill, a man who was
captured, tortured and killed in S21. Kerry was from Whakatane and during the Khmer
Rouge regime he was sailing around Southeast Asia. His family believe that the boat veered
slightly off course and ended up in Cambodian waters where he was captured and sent to
Tuol Sleng. The family did not hear from him for 16 months until 1980 when they found out
from a newspaper that he was a S21 victim and had been killed. This news broke the already
distressed family and destroyed their lives as they knew it. The article says that his parents
became depressed and their once happy family of two parents and Kerry’s four siblings
were plagued with grief and pain. They knew what their son and brother had been through
and it affected them greatly. So much so that Kerry’s brother John who was just a year
younger than him ended up committing suicide 8 months after they found out. He obviously
couldn’t bare knowing what his brother had been through. Kerry’s death would have caused
both friends and family alike so much pain, knowing that he spent 8 months in S21 being
tortured until he confessed to a crime he didn’t commit. This really put it in perspective for
me and made me realise that the Khmer Rouge regime was far away but it still managed to
affect people all the way over here in New Zealand. The horrors of what went down
between 1975 and 1979 reached New Zealand and caused a death along with so much grief
and loss. Kerry’s family will never forget what happened to their boy, they will forever miss
Kerry. A life was taken from them by Brother Duch and they will never get him back. This
event definitely would have shaped their community and been very significant for everyone
who knew Terry in his home town of Whakatane. It would have caused a whole lot of New
Zealanders to become educated on the Khmer Rouge regime and the horrific things that
happened during it.
An additional reason behind the Khmer Rouge regime having significance to New Zealand is
Cambodian refugee and bestselling author Pisey Leng. Pisey was one of the 4661 refugees
who travelled to New Zealand after the regime ended. She said that New Zealand had a
special connection because she believed that a lot of the other countries took refugees for
political reasons, maybe to make themselves look good. However, she said New Zealand
took the refugees who were sick and needed medical attention so that they could provide
medical care for the sick. This was an interesting perspective and showed that New Zealand
was obviously taking refugees for the right reason. Pisey Leng is an important person and is
very significant to New Zealand as she wrote a book about her experience called ‘The
Wisdom Seeker.’ In the book she describes her experience under the Khmer Rouge regime
as well as her experience coming to New Zealand as a refugee. She shows that refugees who
come to New Zealand can really make something of themselves and live healthy and
successful lives even after all they suffered through.
Overall I have observed that the regime seems to be more significant to cities as that is
where majority of the refugees ending up living. Both Pisey Leng and the members of the
Waikato Khmer Association were originally sent there and ended up living there for most of
their lives. This led me to believe that the Khmer Rouge regime isn’t as significant in my own
community which is a small town in the Waikato. However, after further inspection I have
found a link. A student in Matamata, Sanya Bun, is Cambodian and members of her family
experienced the Khmer Rouge. Her family moved her as refugees and made lives for
themselves. They somehow ended up in small town Matamata and opened a café called the
Bake House. It may only be a café but regardless it impacted on my own community in some
way. Bigger cities like Auckland and Hamilton probably have a lot of similar types of links but
knowing that the Khmer Rouge could even have significance to such a small place is pretty
important.
Bibliography:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zv7bkqt/revision/2
https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/pol-pot.htm
https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/khmer-rouge/
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-26/17-years-300-million-3-convictions-wascambodias-genocide-tribunal-worth-it
https://www.nzhistory.govt.nz/files/documents/vietnam-fact-sheet11.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotian_Civil_War
https://gsp.yale.edu/sites/default/files/walrus_cambodiabombing_oct06.pdf
https://rabble.ca/toolkit/on-this-day/us-secret-bombing-cambodia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kampuchea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/the-khmer-rouge
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pol-Pot
https://apjjf.org/Ben-Kiernan/4313.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/pol-pot
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/reports/dsetexhe.html
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2659025?readnow=1&refreqid=excelsior%3Ae9e17f4744623c199cfdc31a85ada9f4&seq=25#page_scan_tab_conte
nts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial
https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/case-study/violence/forcedlabor-and-collectivization
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP4.HTM#1
http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/s21-victims.html
https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2019/12/30/cambodia-under-the-khmer-rouge/#_edn11
https://www.france24.com/en/20180728-hun-sen-khmer-rouge-soldier-elections-phnom-penhcambodia
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/what-i-said-then-what-i-think-now-khmer-rougetribunal
https://time.com/6997/cambodias-khmer-rouge-trials-are-a-shocking-failure/
https://thediplomat.com/2018/11/the-khmer-rouge-trials-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43555408?readnow=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A71bc1dc7f0d711fd0a276ca8dc3aabf6&seq=7#page_scan_tab_conten
ts
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42763156?readnow=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A33d5f11dc8dce247692f7d4efc2e7115&seq=2#page_scan_tab_conte
nts
https://www.dw.com/en/khmer-rouge-genocide-in-cambodia-did-justice-take-too-long/a-46325353
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2173734/was-cambodias-us300m-khmerrouge-tribunal-worth-it
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hun-Sen-s-Cambodia/After-40-years-Cambodia-s-Khmer-Rougeleaders-face-genocide-verdict2
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/27-10-2018/kiwi-legend-the-cambodian-refugee-helping-othersmake-nz-home/
https://teara.govt.nz/en/cambodians/page-1
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/khmer-rouge-torturer-asked-to-confess-his-crimes-infull/BKBQYUC6RIXPU663HXK3VLVLYE/
Leng, P. History300 Pisey Leng interview by Liberty Bond. 31st March, 2021.
Waikato Khmer Association. History300 Waikato Khmer Association interview by Liberty Bond. 28th
March, 2021.
Ben Kiernan “The Cambodian Genocide, 1975-1979”