Huy Vannak

The ‘Khmer Rouge’, as known to western journalists, is the Communist Party of Kampuchea that was the victor during the Cambodian civil war. The infamous Pol Pot became the supreme leader of Democratic Kampuchea on April 17, 1975. In less than four years’ time, the Khmer Rouge murdered nearly 2 million people. It’s atrocious.

This book provides a glimpse into this darkness through the lens of one survivor, Bou Meng, one of only fourteen survivors out of sixteen thousand prisoners who were tortured and murdered at the infamous ‘S1 prison’, now rededicated as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. On some days, Bou Meng is at the museum himself, smiling, signing books, and taking pictures with tourists, including myself. His story, as stated in the book, is absolutely incredible. He and other prisoners were starved, beaten, and tortured to force confessions even if false. He survived only because he was a capable artist painting life-like portraits, indistinguishable from photos. He painted Pol Pot’s portrait multiple times.

I’m stating the obvious – it’s not easy reading this book. After a brief summary of his early years, Bou Meng’s participation in the revolution and the unexplained arrest and detention turning into a nightmare unfolds. He lost his wife and two children. The ghosts of the dead haunted Bou Meng. He felt it was his responsibility to testify and seek justice against those who gave the orders to torment their own people. The Khmer Rouge leaders refused responsibility and claimed to be victims themselves of Pol Pot and confusion from the Cold War. Such nonsense made me shudder in the cowardice of these pathetic human beings.

The country is still healing today. Its people are “composed solely of victims, perpetuators, or their children”. The war tribunal only targeted the leaders. The prison guards were in their late teens and early twenty, recruited and given far too much power. “Both victims and perpetrators have tried different ways to deal with the Khmer Rough’s aftermath. Some Khmer Rouge soldiers have converted to Christianity in the hope that God will help cleanse their past and heal their bad memories, while others remain isolated from the community.” As a visitor observing, this country is much more behind compared to its neighbor, Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge had set back their growth as a society – economically, intellectually, and psychologically.… (meer)