billrider2013

 

Killing Fields

I am in Phnom Penh.  Today I took a Tuk Tuk out of the city to see the infamous Khmer Rouge  ‘Killing Fields’.   This is a particularly harrowing and disturbing place.   This was followed by a visit to the   Tuol Svay Pray High School which  the Khmer Rouge renamed -21 and turned  into a torture, interrogation and execution centre,

The ‘Killing Fields’  is one of the sites where the murderous Khmer Rouge regime  under the leadership of the despotic and evil Pol Pot, killed thousands of Cambodian, men, women and children.   It is estimated that that in all,  the Khmer Rouge killed 20- 25% of the country’s population – up to 1.7 million people.

There is plenty of material about the Khmer Rouge in various books and the net.   I suggest you read some of it.

I have just a few things to say:

• I was struck by the obvious respect the visitors showed at both sites.  Most were western tourists, many only in their 20’s.  There was an eerie silence.  Many of the visitors were visibly distressed at what they saw
• It is critical that places such as this are preserved and the memories of what happened are not forgotten.
• The Khmer Rouge were in control of Cambodia from April 1975 to July 1979, during which time they committed their atrocities.  No western nation sort to stop them. They were overthrown by the Vietnamese.
•  Western governments, including the USA, Australia and the UK, refused to recognise the Vietnamese backed government and  recognised the exile government that included elements of the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge continued to control large parts of the country until the mid 1990’s.

On a personal note, my cousin Kellie was killed by the Khmer Rouge in April 1994.  I can recall the day I was in my office in the Caltex building in Sydney when I received two calls from Canberra, telling me that she was missing.

Flickr Link

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjLjXERF

S21 Link

http://www.killingfieldsmuseum.com/s21-victims.html

NY Times Link

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/18/world/cambodia-captives-are-believed-slain.html

DFAT Link

http://www.dfat.gov.au/media/releases/department/d32.html

There will be some interesting reading in 2024/5