The
Khmer Rouge regime which is considered the cruel mass killing of people, in
overall assumption, occurred because of hatred and extreme belief as well as
wrong ideology of the country’s top leaders. In fact, the Khmer Rouge's main aim
was to get rid of capitalism[2]
since they believed that anyone with money or education was superior. They
wanted to rebuild a new Cambodia focused on agricultural success by building
socialism in the fields.[3] They
wanted everyone to become communists and to be equal. This demonstrates that in
order to eliminate capitalism and bring equality to society, the Khmer Rouge’s
leaders used their own mechanisms based on their own dominant belief of
rebuilding their ideal society which is impossible to achieve. Particularly,
absorbing with the strong intention which attempted to abolish private
ownership and to strengthen the status of workers and peasants, the Khmer Rouge
evacuated people who were considered as the threat to the regime. Besides, in
order to purify the society, the Khmer Rouge cleaned both internal and external
enemies. They took all roots of threat to make sure that no one could rebel
against the regime. Notably, those classified as internal enemies were the new
people whose status was categorized as capitalist or who were not ethnically
Khmer, including officials of the Khmer Republic government, minority groups,
Cham Muslims, Vietnamese, ethnic Chinese, intellectuals, and alleged traitors.
External enemies referred to the US and its allies such as Thailand and some
socialist countries, especially Vietnam and the Soviet Union, which the Khmer
Rouge felt attempted to invade Cambodia and make it their colony.[4]
Because the Khmer Rouge held a strong communist ideology and did not follow the
good principles of Buddhism which requires people to respect other people’s
lives, they systematically killed all their enemies and eliminated religious
establishments. For example, the Khmer Rouge’s revolutionary struggled to
create the first real communist society, and abolished religion as well as prohibited
religious worship. Buddhism, which had been served as the basic source of Khmer
identity[5],
was seen as a threat to the revolutionary struggle for a homogenized
population, because it was seen as civilizing and contributing to the social
evolution of the peoples. Consequently, many Cambodians had been categorized as
the Khmer Rouge’s enemies, creating a situation in which Khmer were killing
Khmer people.[6]
After
the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, we learn that individual Cambodians faced the
loss of family members and the psychological effects of living through extreme
trauma, while often living nearby former Khmer Rouge cadres.[7]
Throughout Cambodia, people are still suffering from the tragedy and many have
yet to overcome the emotional trauma of having lived under the Khmer Rouge
regime. Every family in Cambodia was affected by the genocide – as victims,
perpetrators or both in many cases. Anyone who disobeyed orders paid with their
own life. Many who became murderers thus see themselves as victims, forced to
commit crimes against their will. The consequences are feelings of guilt and
shame – and a widespread inability to talk about personal experiences. Although
much has been done to integrate former fighters into the population, there is
still a degree of distance between former Khmers Rouge and their victims, as
well as the rest of society. The Khmer Rouge identity remains embedded deep
within the psyche, combined with the fear of being discriminated against or
implicated in some way that might bring them before the tribunal. Shame,
denial, and fear are barriers that encourage former Khmers Rouge to avoid
discussions of history, particularly when such conversations turn to their
personal experiences. For the same reasons, many former Khmer Rouge discourage
their children from learning the relevant history. This has made genocide
education all the more challenging in former regime strongholds in the areas
where many former Khmers Rouge still reside.[8]
In
order to deal with the past, work must be done to bring down these barriers and
create a more meaningful interpersonal and national reconciliation. Before we
can have a culture of empathy and understanding, we must first have an
environment that permits and encourages dialogue. This should not take place
only between victims, but also with former Khmers Rouge. This open discourse
could take place either in less formal spaces, such as homes or villages, or in
more formal ones, such as schools or public forums. And for the former Khmers
Rouge to open up without fear of repercussions, more efforts need to be made to
ensure public understanding of the scope of the tribunal, which prosecutes only
the most senior and most responsible persons.[9]
Importantly, the victims should be provided with either retributive justice or
restorative justice. Regarding retributive justice, which focuses on the legal
and procedural conception of justice, the victims should get a verdict of the
perpetrators’ guilt. For instance, the ECCC plays a crucial role in finding the
truth and justice for victim survivors and healing their past. Furthermore, in
terms of restorative justice which emphasizes on the emotional components of
justice, the use of Buddhist teachings as a base for reconciliation is worth.[10]
These two categories represent the two dimensions of justice for the survivors
of the Khmer Rouge regime, demonstrating the necessity for both legal
ramifications and emotional reconciliation among the survivors.[11] By creating memorials, doing art work such as
painting or drawing the past experience, and performing other memorialization
initiatives, it gives priceless legacy in which Cambodian society gives
validation to those who survived from the Khmer Rouge period, honors those who
died during the Khmer Rouge, and helps establish a historical record for and
awareness in the international community by means of tourists’ exposure to such
memorials.[12]
However,
what we, Cambodians, can do to build a peaceful and harmonized society is to
bring the concept of peace to the mind of people and engage them in activities
that can heal their past and live without fear, anger or revenge. We educate young
people and engage them in social reconciliation. We create space for young
people to gain knowledge by interviewing during inter-generational dialogue
with their family and other survivors. Through history education, young people
can get a deeper understanding of the past and are willing to study and work
harder in order to prevent atrocities in the future. In addition, initiating dialogue between
former Khmer Rouge and victims enables victims and their direct perpetrators to
face each other, encourages former Khmer Rouge cadres to face their own history
of wrongdoing, helps strengthen community relationships in order for villagers
to move forward together towards social cohesion and to ensure that future
generations will not inherit a fragmented community life. Moreover, we can work
to reduce and eliminate the concept of stereotype, prejudice, or discrimination
against the children of the former Khmer Rouge and beyond that to get them more
closer and build good relationship with each other. What’s more, we encourage victims to tell the
truth of their experience during the Khmer Rouge regime because it helps release
their anger and pain. Initiative such social repair programs would be beneficial
to Cambodian ways of life, especially local rituals of managing, reducing and
resolving conflicts.[13]
To
sum up, the trauma of the genocide which occurred because of extreme belief in
communism of the Khmer Rouge’s top leaders is still very fresh and raw for
those who have survived, and that collective trauma was even passed down to
later generations. It creates the condition that the victim survivors and the
perpetrators are living together with full of fear, anger, hatred, and pain.
However, the gap between them must be closed by creating dialogue, the truth
must be found to acknowledge the pain of victims, and justice must be provided
in both forms, retributive justice and restorative justice. Finally, the
concept of peace must be promoted through education, and reconciliation must be
gained in society via the participation of all people. At the same time,
Cambodian people should not try to forget the past and in contrast we should
learn to prevent the atrocity and to live in peace and harmony.
[1] Khamboly, Dy.(2007). A History
of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979). Documentation Center of Cambodia. Phnom
Penh, Cambodia.
[2] Amendola, Amber. (2005). The
Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's Regime: The Cambodian Genocide.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~amamendo/KhmerRouge.html
[3] David P. Chandler (1983). A
History of Cambodia. Fourth Edition
[4] Khamboly, Dy.(2007). A History
of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979). Documentation Center of Cambodia. Phnom
Penh, Cambodia.
[5] Charles, Keyes.(1990). Buddhism
and Revolution in Cambodia. Cultural Survival.
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/cambodia/buddhism-and-revolution-cambodia
[6] Bach, Nastasia and Deane,
Meridith. (2009). Breaking the Silence: Achieving Justice and Reconciliation in
Post-Genocide Cambodia. Documentation Center of Cambodia.
[7] Veneciano, Jorge D and Aexander
Hinton.(2007). Night of the Khmer Rouge: Genocide and Justice in Cambodia.
[8] Kry, Suyheang and Chy, Terith.
(2015). Forty Years after Khmer Rouge Victory, Has Cambodia Dealt with Its
Past? IN ASIA. http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2015/04/22/forty-years-after-khmer-rouge-victory-has-cambodia-dealt-with-its-past/
[9] ECCC. (2008). Introduction to
the ECCC. http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/about-eccc/introduction
[10] The Sunday Times. (210). A
Buddhist path to reconciliation. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/101114/Plus/plus_15.html
[11] Linton, Suzannah. (2004).
Reconciliation in Cambodia. Documentation Center of Cambodia.
[12] Bach, Nastasia and Deane,
Meridith. (2009). Breaking the Silence: Achieving Justice and Reconciliation in
Post-Genocide Cambodia. Documentation Center of Cambodia.
[13] Linton, Suzannah. (2004).
Reconciliation in Cambodia. Documentation Center of Cambodia.
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