Summary:
A discussion on the impact of Pol Pot's regime on Cambodia.
Pol Pot¡¦s regime has had a lasting impact on Cambodia. The after-effects of the ¡¥Killing Fields¡¦ of 1975-1978 will most likely last well into the 21st Century, and Cambodia may well never fully recover from the wounds they sustained during this time.
Pol Pot was born Saloth Sar on May the 19th, 1925fxfx to a wealthy peasant family. He had a privileged upbringing, attending private schools. In 1948, he received a scholarship to study electrical engineering in Paris, where he set up his own Communist cell with his fellow Cambodian students. He then failed his exams, lost his Government scholarship and returned to Cambodia. He took up a job as a teacher in a private school, and helped set up a Communist Party in Cambodia. He became Party Secretary (leader) of the Cambodian Communists in 1966. The neutral Prince Sihanouk savagely repressed his leftist opposition, labelling them the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians), and forcing them flee into the Cambodian jungle.
Prince Sihanouk allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases on Cambodia¡¦s eastern border in the hope that Cambodia¡¦s borders would be respected. This resulted in American bombing of the area from 1969 to 1973. Then, on the 18th of March, 1970, the US backed, right-wing, General Lon Nol staged a coup and took control of Cambodia from Sihanouk. Embittered, Sihanouk formed an alliance with the Khmer Rouge and the North Vietnamese. When they overthrew Lon Nol, however, Saloth Sar, now Pol Pot, (Brother Number One), turned on his allies, eliminating the Vietnamese and supporters of Sihanouk from the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot was made Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) in 1975. His vision was a classless, agrarian society. There would be no towns, money or ownership, only work and death.
He began by evacuating Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, of its three million people. Those unable to make the journey were abandoned. They were taken to rural villages and worked extremely hard. He also exterminated undesirables- anyone able to read (doctors, lawyers, teachers etc), anyone who had sex, anyone who stole food, anyone whom a Khmer Rouge soldier or official did not like, and all ethnic minorities. Many people died from starvation, diseases relating to malnutrition, and overwork.fx He ruled until 1979, when the Vietnamese invaded as ¡¥liberators.¡¦ Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge withdrew to hideouts on the Vietnamese border.
There were many short-term impacts after the Pol Pot years. The Khmer Rouge waged a decade of guerrilla warfare against the Vietnamese-backed. Furthermore, the warfare of 1978-1979 severely disrupted the harvesting and planting of rice, resulting in widespread famine. However, the most obvious impact of Pol Pot¡¦s regime is genocide. This had an alarming effect on the population of Cambodia. The population of Cambodia was approximately 7.1 million in 1970, and its estimated population for 1979 at that time was roughly 9 million. However, due to Pol Pot¡¦s violent rule, Cambodia¡¦s population at the end of his regime was between 4.7 and 5.5 million people. This is the nearly 4 million less than it would have been had the Khmer Rouge not taken power.
The remainder of the population- that is, those not killed during the Pol Pot years- are very unhealthy by comparison to the rest of the world. Less than a third of the Cambodian population have access to clean drinking water. As a result of these factors, average life expectancy is just over 50 years; the infant mortality rate is 110 in every 1,000 births; and the fertility rate is low, due to unhealthy potential parents. Due to a thriving sex industry, Cambodia has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in Southeast Asia. Also, there are approximately 5 million land mines in Cambodia as a result of war over last few decades. Because of this, Cambodia has highest disability rate in the world. The general unhealthiness of the people is exacerbated by a lack of doctors- a large number were murdered during Pol Pot¡¦s regime. In 1993 Cambodia only had around 5,640 doctors, or 1 for every 1,650 people. Because of Pol Pot¡¦s regime, there is a scarcity of adults- Pol Pot destroyed the leadership class. Teenagers, too concerned with survival, are not able to fill these roles. There is a shortage of the elements required for civil society- artists, accountants, engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. The lack of lawyers and judges has resulted in a lawless society. Judges are few and poorly paid, which makes them easy to bribe. This has resulted in a superiority of anyone with money or guns. Also, the eradication of people who can read lowered literacy rate, which is perpetuated when few people can teach children to read. The literacy rate is a low 65%.
The Pol Pot regime had a disastrous impact on the environment of Cambodia. Extensive logging has cleared away rainforest that acted as a sponge for monsoonal rain, resulting in extensive flooding and failed crops. As Cambodia relies largely on agriculture, this has had a great impact on Cambodia¡¦s economy. As a result of the Pol Pot years, Cambodia is now one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking in the UN development index of 1998 as 140th out of 174 nations surveyed. It has a per capita income of only US$250. Over 90% of arable land in Cambodia is used in rice production- however, the destruction of infrastructure during the Pol Pot years and the fact that 35% of this land is rendered useless by land mines means that rice yields remain extremely low. This failing agriculture has a great impact on the Cambodian people, as 77% of them are employed in subsistence farming. Because of the fanatic emphasis on agriculture during Pol Pot¡¦s regime, attempts to diversify Cambodia¡¦s economy have failed. This leaves it very open to a catastrophe if something were to affect Cambodia¡¦s agriculture.
The Pol Pot years have also had a great impact on the mental wellbeing of the Cambodian people. There is a high rate of depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Cambodian refugees in America have, on average, experienced 14 or 15 major "trauma events" in their lives, ranging from beatings to starvation to witnesses the execution or rape of a family member. Because of their war experiences, Cambodians tend to age prematurely, and often develop ailments like diabetes ten years younger than most people. There is division over whether the best way into the future is to confront their past, or to ¡¥dig a hole and bury the past¡K¡¦ as Prime Minister Hun Sen has suggested. There is also widespread fear at the possible return of the Khmer Rouge.
There has been much conjecture over why Pol Pot was never really tried. There reason is that, because of self-interest, not enough important countries wanted him tried. Other reasons are, he spent a large amount of time hiding in the Cambodian jungle (so well hidden that few Westerners saw him in the 20 or so years after the Vietnamese invasion ousted him from power); he faked his death several times; and the Thai Government gave him sanctuary on a number of occasions.
Pol Pot even had the support of the UN. After the Vietnamese invaded, he claimed to lead a Kampuchean Government in exile, a claim which was recognised by the UN, who refused to recognise the Vietnamese-backed Hun Sen Government. He also had the support of China. According to Ranachith Yimsut, China must share a large amount of the blame. He says that ¡¥Ever since the United Nations and the world started to look into the possibility of a tribunal of the surviving Khmer Rouge leadership, China has been on the defensive, staunchly opposing finding justice for the victims of genocide and prosecuting the perpetrators for crimes against humanity. The KR [Khmer Rouge] issue is a Cambodian internal affair," China repeatedly claimed¡K.. China has shamelessly been using "Cambodian national sovereignty" as a shield for its policy against the wish of the Khmer people.....and the wish of the rest of the world.¡¦ He also states that this is hypocritical, as it was Chinese support that allowed the Khmer Rouge to exist and commit the crimes that Pol Pot was never tried for.
The Cambodian Government after Pol Pot¡¦s regime is also to blame. As part of it, including Hun Sen, is made up of former Khmer Rouge members, it has not even attempted to try Pol Pot in a court, and has frequently rejected calls for an international tribunal. He has publicly urged Cambodia to ¡¥dig a hole and bury the past.¡¦ Some of the Cambodian public also shrunk away from a trial, preferring not to look too closely at the horrors of their past.
One of the biggest reasons Pol Pot was never really tried was the support given by America. They did not want Pol pot to testify; otherwise their actions concerning Cambodia would be revealed and shifted into clearer focus. It was America who first allowed the Vietnam War to spill over into Cambodia; they did not want their secret bombing of Cambodia to be explored again; and America actually supported the Khmer Rouge, as they were enemies of the Communist North Vietnam. They never actually publicly or tangibly supported Pol Pot, but they ¡¥winked publicly¡¦ at China to help the Khmer Rouge. If their actions were called into question, it would generate a wave of hostility against America that they did their best to avoid.
The only time Pol Pot was ever tried was a ¡¥show trial¡¦ by his own Khmer Rouge, who were angry at his constant executions of those he suspected were working against him. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. This, however, has been likened to the SS trying Hitler during World War II. It has been suggested that the Khmer Rouge simply ejected Pol Pot away from them in an attempt to cleanse their image, as Pol Pot is synonymous with genocide and cruelty. The Pol Pot show trial was simply a desperate effort from the Khmer Rouge to survive.
The current government is doing its best to forge a new Cambodia. It is making slow, but steady progress in the areas affected by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The only thing not healing, however, is the Cambodian psyche. Genocide is not an act easily forgotten. Only by confronting its past can Cambodia succeed in the future.
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