Cambodia's Corrupt and Tragic Reign of Khmer Rouges Essays

After they seized power in Cambodia in April 1975, Saloth "Pol Pot" Sar and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the death of 1.5-3 million Cambodian's and were perhaps one of the most ruthless regimes of the 20th century. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate Pol Pot's means of maintaining power from 1975 to 1979. An account of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's drastic internal reforms including the slaughter of millions, economic reorganization, political restructuring, and the cultivation of social/ethnic groups will appear in section B. External forces including funding from China and the United States and repressive measures such as censorship, torture, and execution will be assessed. This

The Khmer Rouge forces took over Cambodia, and evacuated the nation's cities. They emptied schools, hospitals, factories and abolished all forms of money and wages. Religion, popular culture, and all forms of self expression were forbidden. They were forced into the countryside to do forced labor, and got less than 90 grams of rice a day. Where most people died from fatigue, disease, execution, and starvation. Now people of Cambodia are exchanging this terrible genocide for healing. Trying to find peace and a resolution for all those who have lost loved ones, or encountered this terrible genocide

Cambodia is a small country of Southeast Asia, less than half the size of the state of California (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Cambodian government in the mid 1970’s was unstable as Lon Nol, the Cambodian prime minister, and his forces were being stretched dealing with conflicts of Vietnamese communists, and a rising group of Cambodian communists called the Khmer Rouge Party. (Peace Pledge Union) As the government grew weaker and began to loose control, The Khmer Rouge Party overthrew the country. They began killing for their cause in 1975. The Khmer Rouge Party, under the rule of a man called Pol Pot, enforced a new way of life following values and rules similar to Maoist-Communism (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Party attempted, in simplistic terms, to nationally centralize the middle or farming class of Cambodia (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian

Cambodia also known as Kampucheea to the Cambodians (and my family) is a country located in Southeast Asia. The country itself borders Vietnam and Thailand, and similar to all of the countries within Southeast Asia has a rich culture and language unique from its neighbors. From April of 1975 to January of 1979 the communist party of the Khmer Rogue led by the dictator Pol Pot had killed ¼ of the Cambodian population through starvation, labor concentration camps, and even execution (Tang). After the regime of Pol Pot had ended however, what happens to the survivors? What happens to the people in the country that now have to figure out what next? Many Cambodians decided to escape Cambodia

Genocides are defined as a large group of killings often of a specific ethnic group or nation. Genocides targeting specific groups happen all over the world. Sometimes they are well known, while in other cases they are hidden and not published as much. Unlike the Holocaust, The Khmer Rouge Regime caused a smaller scale genocide in the heart of Cambodia. Beginning in the late 1960s the Khmer Rouge Regime came into power. Their leader Pol Pot committed atrocities, killing a little over two million innocent people. Pol Pot believed that this new society was becoming evil. He decided to bring the city of Phnom Penh back to the middle ages with communal farming. He murdered every “intellectual” of the country. He killed anyone who had any education, or even worse, glasses. He isolated the city and everybody in it. There are many stories coming from the victim's point of view and how they felt as 2.2 million of their own were killed. There are also reasons of why the Cambodian government's committed this atrocity. Finally, there are the views from America and its feelings towards watching the genocide go down from outside the country. Looking through all of these different lenses of this genocide help get a big picture of how and why something so horrific could have happened.

Vietnam eventually overthrew the Khmer Rouge and effectively installed a socialist regime consisting of Khmer Rouge defectors. Most members of the Khmer Rouge escaped and fled to Thailand to receive assistance from the western countries. The Soviet Union would end up fighting the Khmer Rouge with help from China and Vietnam for over a decade. Due to economic sanctions that the U.S. placed on Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge had to withdraw their troops and leave. Afterward, a peace agreement was signed and a coalition government was formed and former monarch, Prince Sihanouk, was elected to run. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge until 1997, when he was placed under house arrest until he died of natural causes without any charges being pressed against him (“The Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Rouge lasted until 1999, when most of it’s members died off or been arrested (“The Cambodian Genocide). After the genocide, the world was silent and refused to talk about it. Craig Etcheson, a Cambodia expert from George Mason University, felt that “For many years, their was a virtual taboo on even speaking of the Khmer Rouge, as if their words were … a malevolent spirit lurking in the corner of every room (Hume and Coren). Most of the Cambodian citizens were too afraid to speak up because they did not want to relive the horrors of what occurred. In essence, the Cambodian genocide was one of many genocides throughout history that share similarities with other

The Cambodian genocide happened between 1975 and 1979 in the country of Cambodia. Almost 2 million Cambodians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Buddhist, Cham, intellectuals, anyone with above a 7th grade education, and western influenced-people were systematically killed during the genocide. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge started the genocide on April 17th, 1975 when they evacuated the city of Phnom Penh along with other major cities and forced people into the countryside where their work camps were. Even though Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge failed to create a “Pure Kampuchean Society”, their actions devastated all of Cambodia. Millions of Cambodians were displaced from their homes and lost their belongings. The trauma of the work camps caused PTSD in millions of people, which have been passed down to generations who did not experience the genocide. Various diseases and famine have also affected many Cambodians after the genocide. Despite this, many Cambodians were willing to share their gruesome past. For example, Loung Ung, Cambodian genocide survivor, wrote the memoir First They Killed My Father. Her memoir describes her struggles as a five year old girl leaving behind everything she considered as home. Through her experiences, she communicates to her audience an important theme: that people are willing to do anything for family.

Arguably, the formulation of internal purges within the Khmer Rouge can be considered a consequential, contributing factor to the death toll of the Cambodian genocide. Fostered by a “mix of hubris and paranoia”, the upshot culminated widespread violence and terror. From 1977 to 1978, Pol Pot initiated purges against the “hidden enemies, burrowing from within”, causing Khmer Rouge cadres to turn on themselves. The purged were mostly imprisoned within S-21, and out of the 14,000 who walked through the gates, more than 1,000 were Khmer Rouge cadres accused of disloyalty to the regime. 12.50 - Overall it is estimated that 200,000 individuals were executed due to the bloody purges put into motion by Pol Pot. - make it clear that these individuals

No Leader of any country should have the power to kill innocent people, however as history has shown that is not always the case. In Cambodia, a leader named Pol Pot Started Khmer Rouge, ruled from 1975-1979. It was in these years that he began a murderous regime. The CPK, also known as The Communist Party of Kampuchea, can also be referred to as Khmer Rouge’s other name. Khmer had so much power and authority that he was able to beat helpless people to death. He would do this by smashing their heads with hoes. Why a hoe you might ask? This was to save the bullets for use on others. Khmer’s reign was so powerful, so ruthless and full of death that his reign was classified as a genocide.

The history of Cambodia is something quite remarkable. This country has somehow seemed to prevail through their most difficult time ever, the Cambodian Genocide.

The Khmer Rouge gave harsh treatments to the Cambodians and still they dealt with all the tyrannical constrains while suffering through. Thetelegraph.com states, "The defendants deny charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, to the dismay of survivors and relatives of victims.” meaning that Pol Pot denied the fact that the Cambodia genocide even occurred and the brutal conditions he caused his country’s people to have. Overall, this all for sure proves and shows evidence on supporting the Cambodia massacre was a

Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.

The prior five years before the killings began Cambodia was in a civil war which promptly ended in 1975, the people of Cambodia were overjoyed with the new beginning that would come with the end of war. But this joy

History: Pol Pot: Cambodia's Curse. 2007. Accessed December 10, 2015. Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. New York, NY: Eopch Times International, 2004.

Discrimination and mass murders of Vietnamese in Cambodia continued, and regional data on the minority in the country illustrates the need for external actors to intervene. Hostage situations, ethnic murders, large scale drug smuggling, and an immigration law that targeted Vietnamese in the country are just some of the issues occurring in these 5 years. In June 1993 the Cambodia Constitution was adopted and signed, which established Sihanouk as now King and outlined a series of articles that aimed to address issues across the board. The articles protected free speech, human rights of the Khmer citizens, sovereignty of the nation, and economic policy among many other aspects. The anti-Vietnamese discrimination was rising in Cambodia, often expressed through hate speech or propaganda of people who blamed the Vietnamese for internal problems of the country. Vietnamese made up about 5 percent of the population, and although attacks and killings lasted for years in this interim period and was a huge issue, the constitution still seemed to lack efficiency in addressing this issue. By 1998, the process of demobilization began once again, this time with a more intense, calculated time table. Along with international financial