I asked [our guide] if she had forgiven these brutal animals who had done this, and she said: "What can we do? Some of them are still living and working in this government, what can we do? Only the government knows." ... The people who were responsible for these atrocities are not only living among the people, but some are also highly placed members of the current Cambodian government.
Wednesday, 12 August 2009Written by Anne Mugisha
Columnists
The Observer (Uganda)
Our next stop in the tour of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia took us to a room filled with photographs of the victims who were tortured and killed there.
The Khmer Rouge executed their brutality with clinical detachment and professionalism that still sends a chill down the spines of visitors here. What happened here was methodical extermination of anyone considered a threat to the regime.
The systematic documentation of their deeds speaks of the complete belief in the legitimacy of their orders to capture, torture and kill.
The prisoners in S21 had a special chair made for them where they sat to pose for their final photograph. In a perfectly silent room I stared at the mug-shots of the victims.
Only the controlled voice of our guide interrupted the silence even though the room was crowded with tourists. They were old and young, women and men, children and babies too.
The innocence of the babies which pulled the heart strings of tourists must have been completely lost to their executioners. Their killers only knew that these babies were born to the ‘wrong’ parents and that sealed their fate.
The picture that is etched on my mind is one of a woman who sat poised and stoic, her facial features told a story of pride and resolve as she posed for her last photograph. In her arms a healthy baby, her bundle of joy.
Her eyes betrayed no emotion but for one tell-tale tear rolling down her cheek.
The instruments of torture were in a room adjacent to the room of many faces.
They had quite a choice of weapons ranging from the expected whips and blunt metal objects to some pieces that were designed for the work that was done here.
Torture had become so fashionable that artisans made specialized equipment to meet the demand. There was a piece for twisting off fingers and toes. Then there was what looked like a broad door with wrist and ankle restraints that was used for water boarding.
Once stretched and strapped to the wooden slab the victim was tilted with the head in the lower position so that water could be poured over the nose and mouth to create a drowning sensation. There was a full sized tub which would be filled with water for barbaric acts of torture.
It was all there for us to imagine how the people whose faces we had seen met their death.
Down the hallway I discovered how they disposed of the babies. Among the survivors of the horrors of S21 was a gifted artist who survived the harrowing experiences because of his talent.
His captors asked him to draw portraits of Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge; and they liked his work. After liberation he used his talent to capture memories on canvass. The story that his canvasses tell is too painful that one could be forgiven for missing the intrinsic beauty of the work itself.
One picture depicts the scene of guards dragging a child from its mother to be killed and the mother pulling against her restraints; her empty arms outstretched as she tried to embrace her baby one last time.
Another canvas, one that I had to look at for several minutes to fully grasp its full meaning completes the story. The babies were tossed in the air by one guard and used for target practice by another guard.
The idea was to shoot the baby and kill it before it hit the ground. When my mind finally grasped the meaning of the picture I turned away and looked for a wall so I could lean against it because my knees were shaking.
Finally, I turned to our guide and asked her: ‘How; why, do you do this work?’ She told me that although she had escaped to Vietnam and survived the Khmer Rouge, even though she had not been to S21, she was drawn to work there because she lost a lot of people here.
I asked her if she had forgiven these brutal animals who had done this, and she said: ‘What can we do? Some of them are still living and working in this government, what can we do? Only the government knows. I stared at her in disbelief, questioning her circuitous reasoning in my mind.
The people who were responsible for these atrocities are not only living among the people, but some are also highly placed members of the current Cambodian government. But this woman still looked to the government for a solution.
I asked her if she was not afraid to speak out and wanted to know if she was an activist. She answered that her employer told her to speak of the past and not to speak about now.
We paid her 6 dollars, and she put her hands together and bowed her head in that traditional gesture of respect that made her look both vulnerable and distinguished.
Then she left.
The author is Deputy Secretary, International and Regional Affairs, FDC.
anne@fdcuganda.org
www.fdcuganda.org
The Khmer Rouge executed their brutality with clinical detachment and professionalism that still sends a chill down the spines of visitors here. What happened here was methodical extermination of anyone considered a threat to the regime.
The systematic documentation of their deeds speaks of the complete belief in the legitimacy of their orders to capture, torture and kill.
The prisoners in S21 had a special chair made for them where they sat to pose for their final photograph. In a perfectly silent room I stared at the mug-shots of the victims.
Only the controlled voice of our guide interrupted the silence even though the room was crowded with tourists. They were old and young, women and men, children and babies too.
The innocence of the babies which pulled the heart strings of tourists must have been completely lost to their executioners. Their killers only knew that these babies were born to the ‘wrong’ parents and that sealed their fate.
The picture that is etched on my mind is one of a woman who sat poised and stoic, her facial features told a story of pride and resolve as she posed for her last photograph. In her arms a healthy baby, her bundle of joy.
Her eyes betrayed no emotion but for one tell-tale tear rolling down her cheek.
The instruments of torture were in a room adjacent to the room of many faces.
They had quite a choice of weapons ranging from the expected whips and blunt metal objects to some pieces that were designed for the work that was done here.
Torture had become so fashionable that artisans made specialized equipment to meet the demand. There was a piece for twisting off fingers and toes. Then there was what looked like a broad door with wrist and ankle restraints that was used for water boarding.
Once stretched and strapped to the wooden slab the victim was tilted with the head in the lower position so that water could be poured over the nose and mouth to create a drowning sensation. There was a full sized tub which would be filled with water for barbaric acts of torture.
It was all there for us to imagine how the people whose faces we had seen met their death.
Down the hallway I discovered how they disposed of the babies. Among the survivors of the horrors of S21 was a gifted artist who survived the harrowing experiences because of his talent.
His captors asked him to draw portraits of Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge; and they liked his work. After liberation he used his talent to capture memories on canvass. The story that his canvasses tell is too painful that one could be forgiven for missing the intrinsic beauty of the work itself.
One picture depicts the scene of guards dragging a child from its mother to be killed and the mother pulling against her restraints; her empty arms outstretched as she tried to embrace her baby one last time.
Another canvas, one that I had to look at for several minutes to fully grasp its full meaning completes the story. The babies were tossed in the air by one guard and used for target practice by another guard.
The idea was to shoot the baby and kill it before it hit the ground. When my mind finally grasped the meaning of the picture I turned away and looked for a wall so I could lean against it because my knees were shaking.
Finally, I turned to our guide and asked her: ‘How; why, do you do this work?’ She told me that although she had escaped to Vietnam and survived the Khmer Rouge, even though she had not been to S21, she was drawn to work there because she lost a lot of people here.
I asked her if she had forgiven these brutal animals who had done this, and she said: ‘What can we do? Some of them are still living and working in this government, what can we do? Only the government knows. I stared at her in disbelief, questioning her circuitous reasoning in my mind.
The people who were responsible for these atrocities are not only living among the people, but some are also highly placed members of the current Cambodian government. But this woman still looked to the government for a solution.
I asked her if she was not afraid to speak out and wanted to know if she was an activist. She answered that her employer told her to speak of the past and not to speak about now.
We paid her 6 dollars, and she put her hands together and bowed her head in that traditional gesture of respect that made her look both vulnerable and distinguished.
Then she left.
The author is Deputy Secretary, International and Regional Affairs, FDC.
anne@fdcuganda.org
www.fdcuganda.org
2 comments:
In fact, what she said was quite right. The Khmer Rouge aws brutal.
Oh poor Black lady, you just woke up and learn about the Khmer Rouge. Why can you come to Cambodia to help solve the Khmer Rouge's case?
Angkorian Krama Man
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