Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Khmer Rouge Revolution
Upon taking Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most radical and bru-
tal restructurings of a society ever attempted; its goal was a pure revolution, untainted by
those that had gone before, to transform Cambodia into a peasant-dominated agrarian co-
operative. Within days of the Khmer Rouge coming to power, the entire population of Ph-
nom Penh and provincial towns, including the sick, elderly and infirm, was forced to march
into the countryside and work as slaves for 12 to 15 hours a day. Disobedience of any sort
often brought immediate execution. The advent of Khmer Rouge rule was proclaimed Year
Zero. Currency was abolished and postal services ground to a halt. The country cut itself
off from the outside world.
In the eyes of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge was not a unified movement, but a series of fac-
tions that needed to be cleansed. This process had already begun with attacks on
Vietnamese-trained Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk's supporters, but Pol Pot's initial fury
upon seizing power was directed against the former regime. All of the senior government
and military figures who had been associated with Lon Nol were executed within days of
the takeover. Then the centre shifted its attention to the outer regions, which had been sep-
arated into geographic zones. The loyalist Southwestern Zone forces, under the control of
one-legged general Ta Mok, were sent into region after region to 'purify' the population, a
process that saw thousands perish.
The cleansing reached grotesque heights in the final and bloodiest purge against the
powerful and independent Eastern Zone. Generally considered more moderate than other
Khmer Rouge factions, the Eastern Zone was ideologically, as well as geographically,
closer to Vietnam. The Pol Pot faction consolidated the rest of the country before moving
against the east from 1977 onwards. Hundreds of leaders were executed before open rebel-
lion broke out, sparking a civil war in the east. Many Eastern Zone leaders fled to Vietnam,
forming the nucleus of the government installed by the Vietnamese in January 1979. The
people were defenceless and distrusted - 'Cambodian bodies with Vietnamese minds' or
'duck's arses with chicken's heads' - and were deported to the northwest with new, blue
kramas (scarves). Had it not been for the Vietnamese invasion, all would have perished, as
the blue krama was a secret party sign indicating an eastern enemy of the revolution.
It is still not known exactly how many Cambodians died at the hands of the Khmer
Rouge during the three years, eight months and 20 days of its rule. The Vietnamese
claimed three million deaths, while foreign experts long considered the number closer to
Search WWH ::




Custom Search