Tuol Sleng prison staff eating communally [under the watchful eyes of the innocent comrade Duch (right)?] (Picture by:Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives)Hunger During Pol Pot’s Regime
06-12-2007
By Layum
Rasmei Kampuchea
Banteay Meanchey: “Bravo to the Angkar (revolutionary organization) moving forwards through leaps and bounds! Bravo to the prosperous Communist Party of Kampuchea! Committed to produce 3 tons per hectare! 5 tons per hectare! 8 tons!” It was the scream blared though speakers trying to stuff the ears of Cambodian victims under the Khmer Rouge regime.
These are some words victims who have gone through the Democratic Kampuchea regime heard almost everyday when they “went into the fields or working site” or during the “lifestyle meeting” or revolutionary assembly. They also heard, “Having rice means having everything! In the new regime, the people are the bosses. No castes! No rice! No Poor! The Angkar makes the people and the country prosperous...”
In 2007 Aunt [Sart] is 53 years old. She is the wife of Former Cadre Seng Dieb, a mechanic of the Khmer Rouge era in Domnak Trab cooperative, Ta Loa commune, Bakan district, in Region 2 (Porsat Province). “At the time my husband was a cadre who could have enough food and led a moderately better life since he worked with machines and Chinese specialists. However, living in the cooperative, I lacked rice. My knees were as bony as my head,” she said.
She said that her cooperative had been divided into three workforces. “In the first workforce, everyone had to hoe the ground and shoulder 10 cubic metres of land per day. The first workforce received 7 cans of rice for 10 people per meal time. The second workforce had to hoe the ground and shoulder 5 cubic metres of land per day and received 3.5 cans of rice for 10 people. And the third workforce hoed the ground and shouldered 3 cubic metres per day and received 2 cans of rice for 10 people," she recalled.
"Either strong or weak people or even people who do not work need to eat. At the time I was so hungry, I imagined that if I had had enough rice and food to eat, I would have eaten to death like "Ta Chou Chok" (a name of a character in the Buddhist tale)," said Aunt Sart.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has published an article entitled "Food is the God" during Democratic Kampuchea regime. Likewise, Cambodian Red Cross's President Bun Rany Hun Sen agreed that the starving people considered food as the God. The ones who give food to the starving people have great good deed on them.
Besides four elements such as water, soil, fire, and wind which help human beings, animals, plants and other living things to survive, there are only food and water (nutrition). During the Democratic Kampuchea time, the starvation and food reduction were the most terrible but effective ways to kill people and many people. The ideology of the Khmer Rouge said, "The new regime is pure. There are neither the rich nor the poor." It was true that the people and soldiers did not have anything, but the cadres and leaders received more food and lived in a far better condition.
The Khmer Rouge Tribunal have arrested Kaing Guek Eav, former Tuol Sleng prison's chief, Nuon Chea, former president of People's Representative Assembly, Ieng Sary, [former] deputy-prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, [former] social affairs minister, and Khieu Samphan, former president of State Presidium of the Democratic Kampuchea regime, and detained them provisionally in the tribunal's compound in Kantoak village, Angk Snuol district, Kandal province. The detention facility is a building which has a tiled roof and mattress bed and is equipped with air-conditioning system. Delicious foods are given. Those accused of the genocidal crimes and crimes against humanity, receiving rights to medical care and have been treated at Calmette Hospital, the most modern hospital in Cambodia, where poor and average Cambodians cannot afford to get health care over there.
Long Thy, former Khmer Rouge soldier in Anlong Veng, said that comparing to the "3 years 8 months and 20 days" regime, in which people lived and ate miserably, although the Khmer Rouge leaders were being detained, they were still more fortunate. "They sleep in air-conditioned rooms and have enough food to eat and electricity to use," he said.
This is not a comparison to make them to receive the situation between 1975 and 1979, but at the present time 80 percents of current Cambodian population do not have comfortable shelter similar to the detention facility the surviving former Khmer Rouge leaders are being detained.
Pol Leang, Pailin municipal governor, once said that at present his people were growing rice and plants. "They grow them and get yields. It is different from before 1979 when people were trying nearly to death, but had no rights to eat," he said.
When Pol Pot was in power in 1977, he told a Yugoslavian newspaper which made a special interview with him that the Democratic Kampuchea regime did lack foods and that it was the reason for why his policy focused on agriculture, building irrigation system and growing rice, in order to yield enough rice to eat. “However, the shortages were caused by the even distribution of rice to all the people,” [he said].
So Nath, a former struggling Khmer Rouge, who is currently the chief of Trapeang Prey commune, Anlong Veng district, said that during that regime there had been enough food in some places, but that in some other places was due to not enough food, the people were starved to death.
Most of the victims who could survive the Khmer Rouge regime acknowledged that the killings of people had been almost not haunting and miserable since people could die immediately, but that the overwork and insufficient food with no nutrition had been the torture and devastation. The Khmer Rouge collapsed due to the weakening of the people (physical weakness). The Khmer Rouge often added sugar in the party or revolutionary wedding. They knew that "nutrition and calories" are very important for human beings, but they intentionally starved people in order to make them weak so that they would be easy to control. Regarding the four basic rights, the Khmer Rouge destroyed firstly the right to survive.
The “secret Angkar” regime completely closed the doors of the country. There were no Red Cross and World Food Programme (WFP) to share food to the starving people during the Khmer Rouge regime at all. After 1979 the Khmer Rouge soldiers who were struggling in order to return into power and fighting to expel Vietnamese soldiers controlled again the distributions of food, medicine and other supplies from the United Nations and various international humanitarian organizations. However, at the time they provided the foods to the people since if they still practiced the 1975-1979 policy, the people would not struggle with the Khmer Rouge movement anymore.
"The restriction of food was exactly the objective of the high-level [Angkar]," said a former Khmer Rouge cadre.
Unofficial Translation -Extracted from Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol. 15, #4454, Wednesday, December 05, 2007
These are some words victims who have gone through the Democratic Kampuchea regime heard almost everyday when they “went into the fields or working site” or during the “lifestyle meeting” or revolutionary assembly. They also heard, “Having rice means having everything! In the new regime, the people are the bosses. No castes! No rice! No Poor! The Angkar makes the people and the country prosperous...”
In 2007 Aunt [Sart] is 53 years old. She is the wife of Former Cadre Seng Dieb, a mechanic of the Khmer Rouge era in Domnak Trab cooperative, Ta Loa commune, Bakan district, in Region 2 (Porsat Province). “At the time my husband was a cadre who could have enough food and led a moderately better life since he worked with machines and Chinese specialists. However, living in the cooperative, I lacked rice. My knees were as bony as my head,” she said.
She said that her cooperative had been divided into three workforces. “In the first workforce, everyone had to hoe the ground and shoulder 10 cubic metres of land per day. The first workforce received 7 cans of rice for 10 people per meal time. The second workforce had to hoe the ground and shoulder 5 cubic metres of land per day and received 3.5 cans of rice for 10 people. And the third workforce hoed the ground and shouldered 3 cubic metres per day and received 2 cans of rice for 10 people," she recalled.
"Either strong or weak people or even people who do not work need to eat. At the time I was so hungry, I imagined that if I had had enough rice and food to eat, I would have eaten to death like "Ta Chou Chok" (a name of a character in the Buddhist tale)," said Aunt Sart.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has published an article entitled "Food is the God" during Democratic Kampuchea regime. Likewise, Cambodian Red Cross's President Bun Rany Hun Sen agreed that the starving people considered food as the God. The ones who give food to the starving people have great good deed on them.
Besides four elements such as water, soil, fire, and wind which help human beings, animals, plants and other living things to survive, there are only food and water (nutrition). During the Democratic Kampuchea time, the starvation and food reduction were the most terrible but effective ways to kill people and many people. The ideology of the Khmer Rouge said, "The new regime is pure. There are neither the rich nor the poor." It was true that the people and soldiers did not have anything, but the cadres and leaders received more food and lived in a far better condition.
The Khmer Rouge Tribunal have arrested Kaing Guek Eav, former Tuol Sleng prison's chief, Nuon Chea, former president of People's Representative Assembly, Ieng Sary, [former] deputy-prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, [former] social affairs minister, and Khieu Samphan, former president of State Presidium of the Democratic Kampuchea regime, and detained them provisionally in the tribunal's compound in Kantoak village, Angk Snuol district, Kandal province. The detention facility is a building which has a tiled roof and mattress bed and is equipped with air-conditioning system. Delicious foods are given. Those accused of the genocidal crimes and crimes against humanity, receiving rights to medical care and have been treated at Calmette Hospital, the most modern hospital in Cambodia, where poor and average Cambodians cannot afford to get health care over there.
Long Thy, former Khmer Rouge soldier in Anlong Veng, said that comparing to the "3 years 8 months and 20 days" regime, in which people lived and ate miserably, although the Khmer Rouge leaders were being detained, they were still more fortunate. "They sleep in air-conditioned rooms and have enough food to eat and electricity to use," he said.
This is not a comparison to make them to receive the situation between 1975 and 1979, but at the present time 80 percents of current Cambodian population do not have comfortable shelter similar to the detention facility the surviving former Khmer Rouge leaders are being detained.
Pol Leang, Pailin municipal governor, once said that at present his people were growing rice and plants. "They grow them and get yields. It is different from before 1979 when people were trying nearly to death, but had no rights to eat," he said.
When Pol Pot was in power in 1977, he told a Yugoslavian newspaper which made a special interview with him that the Democratic Kampuchea regime did lack foods and that it was the reason for why his policy focused on agriculture, building irrigation system and growing rice, in order to yield enough rice to eat. “However, the shortages were caused by the even distribution of rice to all the people,” [he said].
So Nath, a former struggling Khmer Rouge, who is currently the chief of Trapeang Prey commune, Anlong Veng district, said that during that regime there had been enough food in some places, but that in some other places was due to not enough food, the people were starved to death.
Most of the victims who could survive the Khmer Rouge regime acknowledged that the killings of people had been almost not haunting and miserable since people could die immediately, but that the overwork and insufficient food with no nutrition had been the torture and devastation. The Khmer Rouge collapsed due to the weakening of the people (physical weakness). The Khmer Rouge often added sugar in the party or revolutionary wedding. They knew that "nutrition and calories" are very important for human beings, but they intentionally starved people in order to make them weak so that they would be easy to control. Regarding the four basic rights, the Khmer Rouge destroyed firstly the right to survive.
The “secret Angkar” regime completely closed the doors of the country. There were no Red Cross and World Food Programme (WFP) to share food to the starving people during the Khmer Rouge regime at all. After 1979 the Khmer Rouge soldiers who were struggling in order to return into power and fighting to expel Vietnamese soldiers controlled again the distributions of food, medicine and other supplies from the United Nations and various international humanitarian organizations. However, at the time they provided the foods to the people since if they still practiced the 1975-1979 policy, the people would not struggle with the Khmer Rouge movement anymore.
"The restriction of food was exactly the objective of the high-level [Angkar]," said a former Khmer Rouge cadre.
Unofficial Translation -Extracted from Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol. 15, #4454, Wednesday, December 05, 2007
13 comments:
Current policy of maintaining people in poverty and hunger, Mee chkout (Socheata)?
Stop blaming innocent people. That is the capitalist economy policy (not ours) when the jobless condition is high.
I am shocked by your comparison between the hunger during the Khmer Rouge regime and the current regime. You never lived under the KR, you never understand. All I can say is, no single regime in this world has been as evil to its own people as the Khmer Rouge. People who did not support them during the war, were liberated, but all were given a death sentence: “TO KEEP YOU IS NO GAIN, TO DESTROY YOU IS NO LOSS”.
Well, there is no gain to keep Ah Khmer-Yuon criminals. They only like steal from our good citizens.
9:11PM is your mother a good citizen? - or a killer and stealer?
Piset Polika is waiting for her!
Of course my mum is a good citizen. She loves all leaders, including the KR regime, and that is how we survived the brutal regime.
12:16 we know. So that is what Ieng Sary, Hun Sen and others have been telling us about how your mother loved them at night.
Which one is your father, did your mother ever figured it out?
Of course, your right again, Ah Khmer Youn Criminals have no gain us for to keep them in Cambodia, they steal from good Khmer citizens. Let's all clean them up starting from their tonle sap floating villages.
Khmer rouge revolution was led by Hun-sen himself as the real killer and then he was not in court? You know why there is khmer rouge because southern vietamese troops led a bloody killing of innocent people in Cambodia after Defense Minister Lon Nol though they were here to destroy communist. He order a killing all vietamese people cause democrat vietam was bad. When vietamese southern troop from saigon came to Cambodia to robbed, kill, and rape freely. And you know what vietamese people say that they are killing khmer rough. A justice for khmer not we should seek justice from vietam and ah HUN-SEN! People who witnessthis event rally men against the democrat vietamese soldiers. Join khmer rough against Lon-Nol men. A plan well written by Ho-chi-men. Uncle HO who kill himself to steal KHMER LAND he borrowed! Vietamese from NOrth(COMMUNIST) then invite those who wanted to be khmer rough to vietam to train and learn how to kill khmer. Khmer Rough fought hard with Lon-NOl men which they though to be vietamese.Only to know that they were brothers. Hun-sen a vietamese puppet now govern a country for vietam communist party. Stealer! I say stealer!
Nope, we (real Khmer) still got all of our land. Only Ah Khmer-Yuons have lost their land over 200 years ago and became Yuon slaves forever.
As for us, we will be alright so long we don't followed Ah Khmer-Yuon's foot steps.
Here is another intellectual Comrade who tries to rewrite history to save his country:
- "Khmer rouge revolution was led by Hun-sen".
- "uncle Ho who kill himself to steal KHMER LAND he borrowed!"
- "Khmer Rough fought hard with Lon-NOl men which they though to be vietamese.Only to know that they were brothers."
Do you have any shame or responsibility to post something like this in public?
Ah 1:31 ah kone mee sompeng oss sach. Hhahah. Ah Kone mee tapoke YOUN. Hahhah. Ah Leker. Hhahah. Stop having sex with your YOUN mama's tapoke, ah Kone mee srey YOUN sompeng. Hahha. Ah YOUN kap kbarl baek khour niss veuy, niyeay mdong mdong doche kone mee sprey sompeng YOUN tae m'ong. Hahah. If they are Khmer-Youn, then you are ah Kone mee srey sompeng youn. Hahha.
Okay boss (5:58), call me whatever you like, but I ain't going to change the truth. That is Ah Khmer-Yuon had lost their land over 200 years ago and became Yuon slaves forever, and we will never followed their stupid foot-steps and lost our land too.
Ah 6:07, just shut the f*ck up, ah larn bok romoul. Why are you afraid of ah YOUNs, kone mee sompeng oss sach??? You are such a kone mee sompeng oss sach, ah truv krop. I have seen how they filet a dead person on the Internet. I thought it was immoral at first, but after reading your messages again and again, I realize that when you are dead, your corpse needs to be fillet, ah kone mee srey sompeng youn. I want to find out why are you so afraid of ah YOUNs so much. I want your body to be fillet and your brain studied because it is the brain that controls your thought and everything else. So I want your shit brain to be study. You are so fearful like this, according to Hinduism, you are the reincarnation of a lowly lifeform. I think you are a virus of ah YOUN's crock of shit. hahhah.
I am the one who post this message about hun-sen and all the blame about vietamese taking our land. A test to see that you all failed to find the truth so what! You all, has shame our ancestor who built Ankor Wat. Let Cambodia be what it is no help from me and shall not encourage any radical thoughts. The country is run by deer and rabbits where are the good king of OLD!
Post a Comment