Indochina Chronicle (6):
Cambodian album
Doom strikes
On June 19, 1975, Pol Pot, the leader of the "Khmer Rouge", visited China. In August, he sent Khieu Samphan and Insali to Beijing to welcome Sihanouk back to his homeland. Before leaving China, Sihanouk went to Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to say goodbye. Seeing Mao Zedong's old demeanor and Zhou Enlai's skinny and morbid demeanor, he realized that this farewell may be the last meeting between him and these two benefactors and old friends. Little did he know that a few years later he would return to Beijing to begin his second exile. Although Sihanouk did feel a hint of bad luck before returning home, what he did not expect was that from the day he set foot on his homeland, his doom began to become.......
Xi Hatsu (September 9, 1975)
After returning to China, although Sihanouk was still the head of state of Cambodia, he had actually become an "ornament". He spent his days under house arrest in the palace like a "caged bird". There was nothing to do except go to the pre-designated places for "inspection" according to the needs of the "Khmer Rouge." The only people at his side were his sixth wife, Princess Monique, and two princes, Sihamoni and Norindarana. And then there are the few attendants who are close to them. He had no idea that the remaining members of the royal family had been exiled, let alone that his five sons and 14 grandsons had been tortured and killed by the "Khmer Rouge". It is reported that Pol Pot also had a "murderous intent" against Sihanouk, and if it were not for the Chinese government's pressure on the "Khmer Rouge," perhaps he would have died long ago.
The sons and grandsons of Sihanouk
Wishing to live freely, he once offered to go abroad for medical treatment, but was flatly rejected by Pol Pot. Perhaps out of desperation, or perhaps because of the "persuasion" of the "Khmer Rouge", Sihanouk resigned as head of state in April 1976 and has not been heard from since..... Recalling those unbearable years, Sihanouk had mixed feelings. Especially on September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong passed away, and the grief-stricken Sihanouk suddenly found that he couldn't even send a message of condolence. Whenever he talked about this, Sihanouk's guilt overflowed.
Compared with Sihanouk's situation, for ordinary Cambodians, the advent of the "Khmer Rouge" rule can be described as a catastrophe. On the day of the "liberation" of Phnom Penh, citizens who had not had time to celebrate the victory received an emergency evacuation order. The reason for the "Khmer Rouge" was that American planes were about to bomb the country, and later that the American soldiers were only 10 kilometers away from Phnom Penh, and that there were a large number of "class enemies" hidden in the city...... However, the people who are accustomed to the chaos of "changing the king's banner at the head of the city" over the years do not think so. In the face of the people's "immobility", the army opened a "killing ring", and those who did not obey were "killed". The trick worked, and the residents had to abandon their possessions and be driven to the countryside. Just three days later, Phnom Penh, with 2 million people, instantly became an empty city with "less than 30,000 residents, only one shop", "no cars, everyone on foot". However, this scene is not only played out in Phnom Penh, but the same scene is also staged in other large, medium and small cities such as Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampot, Svay, Svatar, Kampong Chhnang, Takeo, Kampong Thom, Kampong Son and so on.
The "Khmer Rouge" forcibly drove Phnom Penh residents to the countryside
Because the "Khmer Rouge" government did not plan in advance and did not provide corresponding logistical support during the migration of people from urban areas to rural areas, a large number of people died of hunger and disease on the way. It is reported that as many as 20,000 or 30,000 people have died among the population who have migrated from Phnom Penh alone. The people of Cambodia do not understand what the new government wants to do. Why such a nationwide migration?
Evacuation of Cambodian residents in Phnom Penh
Cambodians migrating from cities to rural areas
On May 20, 1975, the Khmer Rouge convened a meeting of all senior cadres, and for the first time, Pol Pot "confessed" to the senior cadres and announced what he wanted to do in Cambodia.
First of all, the goal is to modernize the country in 10-15 years. However, this modernization is not the modernization of industry, agriculture, national defense, and science and technology, but the "modernization" of Cambodia into an agrarian society.
Second, the means to achieve this goal is to implement the cooperative system that was previously practiced in the liberated areas, which is embodied in the abolition of money and the market, the implementation of the system of distribution according to demand and the supply of the whole people, the prohibition of private ownership of property, the collective labor of men, women, and children, and the collective eating in public canteens.
Thirdly, in order to ensure the achievement of the above objectives, the following prohibitions will also be implemented:
1. Religious activities are prohibited and monks are ordered to return to the laity.
2. Books and printed materials are prohibited, and no formal schools are established.
3. Ban traditional songs, dances and dramas, strictly prohibit the spread of Western culture, and can only sing revolutionary songs and dances, and receive prescribed educational and entertainment activities.
4. Cancel the family, marriage and offspring reproduction also need to be organized and arranged, and the children of married couples live separately.
All children live separately from their parents
Pol Pot made it clear that he wanted to build a thoroughly communist state, surpassing the Soviet Union and China. However, Pol Pot did not realize that his "half-" communism would put the "Khmer Rouge" in a catastrophe and Cambodia in the abyss of misery.
It is undeniable that Pol Pot was a fanatical communist who studied Marxism with great immersion. In order to gain experience in revolutionary practice, he also went to Vietnam and China to "learn from experience". In Vietnam, he visited Ho Chi Minh and spent three months learning about the Vietnamese revolution. However, when he discovered that almost all of Vietnam's military successes had been achieved under the guidance of the Chinese, and he saw that Vietnam coveted Cambodia, he went to China to study and seek advice despite Vietnam's opposition. In China, he visited Chen Boda, a theoretical authority of the Chinese Communist Party, and learned from the practical experience of the Chinese revolution. Indeed, the "Khmer Rouge" seized power in Cambodia and succeeded precisely by relying on this "true scripture." It is a pity that his paranoid and radical personality led him to only learn the surface of Marxism-Leninism, and one-sidedly regarded those "few words" as the "true scriptures", and stubbornly applied them to the practice of the Cambodian revolution, and even to the point of "demonic fear".
CCP theorist Chen Boda in the Cultural Revolution
On August 26, 1975, when Sihanouk said goodbye to Zhou Enlai in his hospital room before leaving Beijing and returning to China, Zhou Enlai, who knew that his time was short, said earnestly to the "Khmer Rouge" leaders Khieu Samphan and Ingsali who came with Sihanouk: "We Chinese Communists have made mistakes, and we must be responsible for the consequences caused by this." I take the liberty of reminding you not to expect a Great Leap Forward to step into the final stage of communism. You must be cautious, act wisely, and take the communist road step by step. Your goal now should not be an immediate transition to communism, but a slow transition to socialism. If you abandon this prudence and communist common sense, it will only bring disaster to your people. This will-sounding entrustment speaks to the CCP's advice to the "Khmer Rouge."
Perhaps Zhou Enlai felt that his words did not carry enough weight, and he said in a warning tone: "Communism should mean the happiness, prosperity, dignity and freedom of the people." If someone ignores the ideological standards of the people and the national reality and wants to completely communize it in one step, it will undoubtedly take the risk of plunging the country and the people into misery. I remind you not to make the same mistakes as China again. It was expected that Kyossenpan and Insali would not dare not convey Zhou Enlai's advice to Pol Pot. Why, then, did Pol Pot put this "true scripture" at hand?
Khmer Rouge leader
From left: Insaly, Pol Pot, Jyo Sampan and Nongchea
In order to maintain the so-called "purity", Pol Pot carried out a total of nine purges during his three years and eight months in power. The first to bear the brunt were the killings of the officials and military members of the old regime, who were considered hidden class enemies. The next step was to target merchants, monks, and intellectuals, who were not easily reformed and were harmful to the new society. Finally, it is necessary to physically eliminate the "dissidents" and "rebels" within the party and the military, because they are considered to be the root cause of the "sickness" of the party's body.
Cambodians about to be executed by the "Khmer Rouge".
In order to forcefully implement his absurd "communist" policy, Pol Pot not only put the Cambodian people at risk, but also "those who go along with me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish," and anyone who disobeys or resists will be "killed." A senior high school in central Phnom Penh has been converted into a prison for "dissidents" and "rebels," and a killing centre has been set up on the outskirts of the city, 12 kilometres away. This is known as the S21 Prison and Bell House Killing Field, which has now become one of Phnom Penh's tourist attractions. In 1980, 8,589 bodies were exhumed at the killing site, and in 1988, a memorial tower was erected here, with more than 8,000 heads lined up behind transparent glass. According to incomplete statistics, 14,000 Khmer Rouge cadres and their families were executed here.
Bones excavated from the Bell House Killing Field
Bell House Memorial Tower
During the more than three years that Pol Pot was in power, the number of unnatural deaths in Cambodia could no longer be accurately counted. Numbers range from a conservative 400,000 to an exaggerated 3 million. The number at the time of Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia was 700,000, Pol Pot admitted to 800,000 in an interview with American reporters before his death, and the results of the Yale University Holocaust Research Project showed 1.7 million, and the current number is generally accepted to be 1 million. Even with this figure, in Cambodia, which had a population of only 7 million at the time, such an unnatural death rate shocked the world. In the killing of the "Khmer Rouge", the fate of Cambodia's ethnic minorities was even worse. Among them, only more than 20,000 people of Yue descent were killed. 215,000 of the 430,000 Chinese died, 4,000 of the 10,000 Laotians, 8,000 of the 20,000 Thais, and 90,000 of the 250,000 Muslims died. The international community defines such killings as "genocide".
In 1984, a film directed by Roland Joffe, The Killing Fields, was released worldwide. The film is based on a long reportage by New York Times reporter Sidney Shanberg, "The Life and Death of Dieter Plan", which tells the story of friendship and blood and tears between Sinni, a war correspondent for the New York Times in Cambodia, and Pandey, a local translator. It also truly reproduces the dark and bloody time of Cambodia during the Pol Pot period.
Click the play button to watch the video
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Synopsis of the movie "Killing Field".
Reporter Zinney (played by Sam Watson), translator Pandey (played by Wu Hanrun)
As a result of the practice of Pol Pot's absurd and brilliant theory of "communism", the whole of Cambodia was turned into a "hell on earth". The "Great Purge" that affected the party and the army also put the middle and senior generals of the Cambodian People's Revolutionary Army in danger. Since 1977, there have been a number of exodus of military officers, most of whom have fled, in Vietnam. Among them, Hun Sen and Han Samlin, who fled in June 1977 and June 1978, are the most eye-catching. Before "defecting", the two served as regiment commanders and division commanders of the People's Revolutionary Army respectively. At that time, Pol Pot never expected that the two would later become the gravediggers of the "Khmer Rouge".
Hun Sen (then Commander of the Cambodian People's Revolutionary Corps)
With the support of Vietnam, Han Samlin and Hun Sen established the "Cambodian National Unity and Salvation Front", which recruited Cambodians persecuted by the "Khmer Rouge" and began its struggle to overthrow the Pol Pot regime. Soon, the opportunity for Han Sanglin and Hun Sen to publicly argue with their old club "Khmer Rouge" came. On Christmas Day 1978, the Vietnamese army concentrated on 18 army divisions, 15 regiments (brigades), and 1 aviation division, totaling more than 200,000 people, to launch an all-out attack on Cambodia. It took only 13 days to occupy Phnom Penh and most of Cambodia. Wherever the Vietnamese army went, the Cambodian People's Revolutionary Army either collapsed at the slightest touch or mutinied. Only Pol Pot's Central Guard Division did not retreat, buying precious time for the evacuation of the party, government and military leaders and organs of the "Khmer Rouge" from Phnom Penh.
The Vietnamese army launched a full-scale attack on Cambodia (December 25, 1978)
At that time, all flights in and out of Phnom Penh airport had been suspended, and all roads leaving Phnom Penh had been cut off. At this moment of crisis, a special plane sent by China landed at Bo Cheng Dong Airport and took Sihanouk from war-torn Cambodia to Beijing. After more than three years, Sihanouk returned to his second homeland of China, and this day was also the day when he broke free from the control of the "Khmer Rouge".
China sent a special plane to Phnom Penh to pick up Prince Sihanoukville
On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese troops occupied Phnom Penh. On January 25, the victory celebration held at the National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh announced that the country would be renamed the People's Republic of Cambodia. The next day, the Revolutionary Council of the Cambodian People's Republic was announced, with Han Samlin as its chairman and Hun Sen, then 27, as its vice chairman and foreign minister.
Han Samlin (then Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Cambodian People's Republic)
At this time, the "Khmer Rouge" and its military and political personnel had fled to the jungles on the Cambodian-Thai border in the northwest, and became "rogues" who were surrounded and suppressed by the Vietnamese army and the troops under Han Samlin and Hun Sen.
A "Khmer Rouge" stronghold occupied by Vietnamese troops during the encirclement and suppression
At this time, the "People's Republic of Cambodia" established by Han and Hong was not recognized by the international community except for the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union. The regime has been labelled a "Vietnamese puppet" and Vietnam's aggression has been recognized by the international community, although Pol Pot's plight has not been sympathetic.
At this time, the Cambodian people cheered, as if the Vietnamese had become the savior who saved them from fire and water. To this day, January 7, the day when Vietnam occupied Phnom Penh and overthrew the Pol Pot regime, is still regarded as the anniversary of the victory of the Cambodian nation.
Victory Day 40th Anniversary Celebration (7 January 2019 at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh)
At this time, Sihanouk seemed to have returned to the "original point" where he was deposed by a coup d'état, and it also became the hope of the international community to solve the Cambodian issue. The difference is that his supporters are no longer the "three countries and four parties" of that time. What remains unchanged is that China remains the only reliable backing he can rely on.
Deng Xiaoping personally welcomes Sihanouk back to Beijing (January 7, 1979)
Does Pol Pot still have a chance to "make a comeback"? Can Han Samlin, the "Vietnamese puppet" regime, survive? Is it still possible for Sihanouk to "start from scratch and clean up the old mountains and rivers"?
*The picture is from the Internet, if there is an infringement dispute, it will be deleted