Cambodia - A brief history

Cambodia has such a dark history and I didn't even know anything about it. I do remember watching a movie in elementary though about some white guy trying to teach some Southeast Asians how to flush a toilet. The defining moment was when A little girl finally got it ... "One, Two, Three." Now that I look back on it, I suppose they were refugees from Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge was a group of radicals who wanted to reform the entire country of Cambodia. Americans were bombing Cambodia (during the Vietnam War?) and the people just wanted it to all end. The Cambodian king at the time, King Sihanouk, lost his power and Pol Pot (leader of the Khmer Rouge) marched into Phnom Penhand took control over the country.

Pol Pot wanted to create a socialist utopia with its foundation on agriculture. Farmers and country folk were the only ones necessary for his dream, so anyone who could even remotely oppose him were exterminated. This included teachers, writers, educated people, doctors, actors ... even people who wore glasses were killed. Not only were these people killed, their families were killed too.

Everyone leftover worked as slaves to the Rouge, cultivating the land, and growing crops for the country's economy. Anyone who opposed, questioned, said anything bad, or even gave a bad look to the Khmer Rouge was killed.

This lasted for four years in the late seventies until Vietnamese forces came in and took over Phnom Penh. During their reign, the Khmer Rouge killed between 1 to 3 million Cambodians.

The Khmer Rouge was driven into the jungles of Cambodia and began losing their influence and in 1998, Pol Pot was found dead at the hands of his own soldiers, but no one really knows what happened.

In the movie, "The Killing Fields," the horrible story of this event is told through the true tales of a survivor. Prahn was a journalist who wasn't able to flee the country before the Khmer Rouge took over, so he had work as a slave, while hiding his intelligence. He eventually escaped and found his way to a red cross neutral zone, where he was reunited with his American best friend. He spent the rest of his life in America.

The actor who played Prahn was also a Cambodian refugee. His story was just as sad. Him, being a doctor, had to hide his intelligence to avoid being killed. His wife got sick, but couldn't get help from her husband for fear that he'd be killed, so she died in order to spare his life.

It was a good movie and anyone going to Cambodia definitely should see it before going.