Cambodia Marks 50 Years Since Khmer Rouge Terror Began

[geovalin]

KT Chor Kunthea

 

 

Cambodia today commemorated one of the darkest chapters in its history — 50 years since the Khmer Rouge began its brutal regime that led to the deaths of around 1.7 million people.

 

Thousands gathered at Choeung Ek, a former “killing field” near Phnom Penh, to honour victims of the genocide that unfolded between 1975 and 1979. Student performers staged re-enactments of atrocities once carried out on the site, now a stark memorial marked by mass graves and skull-lined shrines.

 

“It was extremely cruel and barbaric,” said Nhem Sovann, 71, who lost six family members to the regime and was herself forced into gruelling farm labour. “When I come here, it reminds me. I will never forget.”

 

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, seized power on 17 April 1975 and emptied cities, pushing millions into the countryside to work in collective farms under catastrophic conditions. What followed was a reign of starvation, torture, and mass executions — wiping out nearly a quarter of the population.

 

For younger Cambodians, the Day of Remembrance — previously known as the National Day of Hatred — serves as both a memorial and a lesson. Art student Pen Kunthea, 23, whose uncle died during the regime, said she was haunted by what she learned. “I feel scared,” she said. “I don’t want that regime to happen again.”

 

The Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 by Vietnamese forces, but it took nearly two more decades before the group was fully dismantled. Senior leaders have since been convicted of crimes against humanity, though many survivors say justice came too late.

 

Prime Minister Hun Manet, speaking on Tuesday, urged the country to safeguard the peace it now enjoys. “We must not forget this bitter past,” he said, adding that remembrance is vital to ensuring history is never repeated.

 

Half a century on, the scars of the Khmer Rouge era remain etched into Cambodia’s national identity — a reminder of how swiftly a nation can descend into darkness, and how crucial it is to remember.

 

-2025-05-21

[Hanuman2547]

A very sad time in Cambodia's past.

[madone]

Once in Cambodia, I encountered an old man who chilled me to the core, a thousand-yard stare, and no reason but complicity for still being alive.

I had rented a bike in Phnom Penh years ago, and sat at a restaurant across from my hotel the next morning watching as a couple guys came with a key and drove it away from the hotel parking.

A friend and I followed and watched them drive it behind the shop I rented from. It was just a couple of blocks away

When we walked into the shop from the front and asked what was going on, they denied they had the bike until we walked around back, and there it was. A very tense set of conversations ensued.

There was a skinny old man in a sarong on a sleeping platform in the middle of the shop with a shaved head who barked instructions and glared daggers at us as they gave my passport back,

The dude was evil incarnate.  I can still picture him nearly 20 years later,