AFP
PHNOM PENH: When the Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975 it declared it "Year Zero" for Cambodia - yet as the first key figure from the regime went on trial Tuesday, the country still can't escape the past.
"History, culture, geography, politics and millions of individuals have all played their part in the Cambodian nightmare, albeit in differing measures," wrote Philip Short in his biography of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
The hell of the late 1970s regime will be confronted at the first public trial of a Khmer Rouge leader when prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, faces Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court.
But while the trial focuses on the notorious "Killing Fields" years of 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge was actually a major force in the country for decades, dragging China, the United States, Vietnam and Thailand into the maelstrom.
Begun in the 1960s as a movement of Cambodian peasants and intellectuals, the Khmer Rouge was backed by Vietnamese communists who were waging war next door against US-backed South Vietnam.
As US planes dropped more than 500,000 tons of bombs aimed at Viet Cong resistance bases along the border, the wreckage encouraged tens of thousands to join Pol Pot's nascent communist movement.
The Khmer Rouge got a further boost after the corrupt anti-communist government of General Lon Nol seized power in 1970 from the country's hereditary ruler, Norodom Sihanouk, and won US backing.
Residents cheered the local guerrilla fighters when they took over the sleepy capital Phnom Penh in April 1975 but hospital patients were soon being torn from their beds as the entire population was marched from the city.
The Khmer Rouge made no compromises installing its vision of communism, and with the backing of China, enslaved its people over the next four years.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, and exiled millions to vast collective farms.
Duch has admitted to court investigators "an extremely painful history of crime," but other former Khmer Rouge leaders have denied knowledge of the regime's horrors and said they were merely defending their country.
"At each turn in this history, I felt it was my duty to side with the national forces in the hope of contributing, no matter how modestly, to ensure the country emerged from its morass," former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan once wrote in his own defence.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power in 1979 by Vietnamese troops and former regime members who defected, including Hun Sen, now Cambodia's prime minister.
Remnants of the regime, supplied with weapons and food from China as well as the United States, continued to fight the Vietnam-installed government.
The Khmer Rouge banded together with forces opposed to the Vietnam-installed government through the 1980s, often using sanctuaries in neighbouring Thailand, and occupied Cambodia's seat at the United Nations.
But its power eroded as it chose not to participate in 1992 elections run by a UN peacekeeping force.
"Brother Number One" Pol Pot died in 1998, the same year the last of the Khmer Rouge force imploded as senior leaders defected to Cambodia's government.
After the country suffered so much under the Cold War some say the current UN-backed court, which only prosecutes atrocities committed in Cambodia between April 17, 1975 and January 6, 1979, does not have enough scope.
"The scandal is that countries were supporting the Khmer Rouge until 1989," Francois Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest and author of the book "Cambodia: Year Zero", said.
"If we want a fair trial, we have to put them all at the table," Ponchaud said.
But while outside powers played supporting roles in Cambodia's disaster, those, the tribunal has deemed "most responsible" have to give their versions of history.
After Duch's trial, Khmer Rouge "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, also face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"History, culture, geography, politics and millions of individuals have all played their part in the Cambodian nightmare, albeit in differing measures," wrote Philip Short in his biography of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.
The hell of the late 1970s regime will be confronted at the first public trial of a Khmer Rouge leader when prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, faces Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court.
But while the trial focuses on the notorious "Killing Fields" years of 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge was actually a major force in the country for decades, dragging China, the United States, Vietnam and Thailand into the maelstrom.
Begun in the 1960s as a movement of Cambodian peasants and intellectuals, the Khmer Rouge was backed by Vietnamese communists who were waging war next door against US-backed South Vietnam.
As US planes dropped more than 500,000 tons of bombs aimed at Viet Cong resistance bases along the border, the wreckage encouraged tens of thousands to join Pol Pot's nascent communist movement.
The Khmer Rouge got a further boost after the corrupt anti-communist government of General Lon Nol seized power in 1970 from the country's hereditary ruler, Norodom Sihanouk, and won US backing.
Residents cheered the local guerrilla fighters when they took over the sleepy capital Phnom Penh in April 1975 but hospital patients were soon being torn from their beds as the entire population was marched from the city.
The Khmer Rouge made no compromises installing its vision of communism, and with the backing of China, enslaved its people over the next four years.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, and exiled millions to vast collective farms.
Duch has admitted to court investigators "an extremely painful history of crime," but other former Khmer Rouge leaders have denied knowledge of the regime's horrors and said they were merely defending their country.
"At each turn in this history, I felt it was my duty to side with the national forces in the hope of contributing, no matter how modestly, to ensure the country emerged from its morass," former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan once wrote in his own defence.
The Khmer Rouge was driven from power in 1979 by Vietnamese troops and former regime members who defected, including Hun Sen, now Cambodia's prime minister.
Remnants of the regime, supplied with weapons and food from China as well as the United States, continued to fight the Vietnam-installed government.
The Khmer Rouge banded together with forces opposed to the Vietnam-installed government through the 1980s, often using sanctuaries in neighbouring Thailand, and occupied Cambodia's seat at the United Nations.
But its power eroded as it chose not to participate in 1992 elections run by a UN peacekeeping force.
"Brother Number One" Pol Pot died in 1998, the same year the last of the Khmer Rouge force imploded as senior leaders defected to Cambodia's government.
After the country suffered so much under the Cold War some say the current UN-backed court, which only prosecutes atrocities committed in Cambodia between April 17, 1975 and January 6, 1979, does not have enough scope.
"The scandal is that countries were supporting the Khmer Rouge until 1989," Francois Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest and author of the book "Cambodia: Year Zero", said.
"If we want a fair trial, we have to put them all at the table," Ponchaud said.
But while outside powers played supporting roles in Cambodia's disaster, those, the tribunal has deemed "most responsible" have to give their versions of history.
After Duch's trial, Khmer Rouge "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan, ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, also face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4 comments:
And how about Norodom Sihanouk, the main actor in Khmer Killing Fields ???
Is he innocent about that crime against Humanity ???
Hanoi gave birth to Khmer Rouge, Hanoi armed the KR, Hanoi endoctrinated the KR to kill Cambodians for Viet, and joining by N.Sihanouk in this process of the Destruction and Vietnamisation of Cambodia in the near future.
This ECCC serves the Viet interests, instead of justice for Cambodian people, the victims, including my parents, brothers and sisters.
The author of Norna Chea Kheatakors Reas Khmer ?
Hin Sithan
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The one gave the power to the Khmer Rouge was the US Army (Mr. Henry Kissinger) Invasion in Cambodia, and not Hanoi.
yes, do allow lots of time for it to go on. if we rush things, we may miss some important clue or answers. patience is the key, here.thank you.
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