A Few Days in Phnom Phen

10 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by janisanddavid in South East Asia 2012

We took a few days here to get a better understanding of the recent history of Cambodia. It too has been a bit of a pond in the cold war.

Over the last couple of centuries it has been as large as 20,000,000 people and included Siam (Thailand), parts of Laos and parts of Vietnam. There is military action currently happening at the Cambodia border.

Their recent past has been bloodied.

They were a French colony for about 100 years (it is said that the French were invited in the 1850′s to regain the Seam Reap area from Thailand. Cambodia gained full independance from the French by 1953.

By 1960 Prince Sihanouk lead the county until a 1970 right wing coupe.

In April 1975 the Khmer Rouge took over till 1979. This was a very dark time for Cambodia. Let by the mad man Pol Pot (initially backed by another mad man Mao Zedong in china ) about 1 in 4 Cambodians were killed by the Rouge. (http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/khmer-rouge-history#overview).

First he emptied the cities (it took a few days). He told the residents that USA was planning to bomb the city. (the USA secretly bombed Cambodia for 10 years during Vietnam war). It started under Johnson and kept going (500,000 tons of bombs)).

Next Pol Pot told all the police and military to return to the capital to help bing back the king. They gathered in the stadium and were mass murdered. All city people had to farm. It did not work and famine set in.

They killed all intellects (teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, people who knew more than 1 language, and people with glasses).

Part of Khmer Rouge’s initiatives were to attack and kill in Vietnam. This led the Vietnamese to attack and overthrow Khmer Rouge in 1979. So great was the fear of the Communist domino effect lead the UN and USA to not recognize Vietnam established Cambodian Leader. Instead they supported the genocide driven Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. What a sick thought.

In 1989 the Vietnamese led government was dissolved and the country has since been run by the CPP ( Cambodian People’s Party). They are basically the old Khmer Rouge regime.

We visited the S21 Prison used by the Khmer Rouge. (http://www.tuolsleng.com/history.php).

We also visited a killing field with upwards of 20,000 skulls. It was horrifying. We chose not to take photos.

We spoke to several Cambodians who lost all of their extended family.

Speechless
Janis and David