The mystical Angkor Wat is proudly being restored as the national Cambodian psyche is repairing from the terrors of the Khmer Rouge. A mere 12 years ago, Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was reported to have died thus ending decades of civil war that saw genocide, attempts to erase all of Cambodia’s culture, and a generation of fear. Drawing from similar ideology as Mau Zedong during China’s cultural revolution, Pol Pot sought to destroy everything that was before and secure a permanent repressive government over a people who were frustrated with the war brought by America and Vietnam.
Many people we met were in their 30s and had grown up during the civil war. They do not have education much beyond grade school for going to high school was too dangerous. “My Mother told me to run if I ever heard gun shots near the school because it was likely that the Khmer Rouge was coming to burn the school.” Pol Pot’s disdain for education and intellectuals as well as all political opponents left among the 3 million dead (out of about 18 million people) the hope for a speedy recovery or the emergence of strong revolutionary leaders during the civil war.
Mass graves known as killing fields are uncovered with satellites all over the country. Even in this large city, off the beaten path two blocks was a killing field from which all of the unidentified bones and skulls have been placed inside a stupa that is open for all to see except for some chicken wire. I was deeply moved by this display.
(no picture was taken here out of respect)
It was a period during which children learned how to plant mines rather than go to school as the Landmine Museum that we went to showed us. There are still 60,000 unexploded landmines in the rural communities that maim thousands each year. Outside each temple there are musicians who are all missing limbs because of mines who play and sell traditional music. When I purchased a CD, the guide was genuinely happy that I chose to support the musicians. In places that were important for tourism there were badly burned people begging for money. Their presence in places where they could have been asked to leave speaks of the way that today’s Cambodians all feel the loss and pain of the last decades and want to work toward a brighter future in any way that they can.
A display of diffused landmines a the Landmine Museum.
However, government remains a significant problem that interferes with even a taxi driver’s every day struggle to improve his life. Multiple tour guides and our drivers told us: Corruption is acknowledged by everyone, and the government is widely disliked in private. For example, the wonderful free children’s hospital in the city has been widely heralded for helping the children of Cambodia. However, doctors will still demand payment of huge sums of money from parents needing anything special. A huge sum of money might be $500 when the average monthly salary for a high paying job in town is $100/month. It’s not that the doctors have too many patients either, they all have separate private practices that they are NOT fully booked in. Contracts for tourism in Angkor Wat have been taken away from the longstanding company that employed all of the many taxi drivers and tour guides in town so that a Korean company can take over the tourism services of the site with very little guarantee that any local will still have a decently paying job. Against any wishes of the locals, the deal was made between friends at the highest levels of government. Elections are tainted because, according to locals, prior to elections the current government goes to the extremely poor rural areas (80% of Cambodia is still rural) and gives free scarves and $5 to each person if they will vote for them with promises of more to come.
The unfortunate legacy of the government and corruption resulted from the original incorporation of Khmer Rouge leaders in the formation of a new government with the support of Western countries and the UN. Today, the atrocities committed during the civil war and the scars that everyone bears for a pain that only ended 12 years ago are not taught in school, they are not prosecuted in any war crimes trial, and to all but the bravest are not discussed beyond a whisper because today’s government is led by former generals of the Khmer Rouge itself. As one Cambodian suggested to me, “People are too scared to start any sort of revolution because we got the Khmer Rouge last time it happened. So we just have to wait for the old guard to die off so that the country can heal and move forward.”
Very moving and heart-rending. Sad.G.
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