11. QUAD BIKES TO GENOCIDE

WARNING! This post is not recommended for young children (except the quad bike bit)

QUAD BIKES IN THE MUD; It's a tad bizarre but our Killing Fields tour included an hours ride around the countryside on quad bikes. I say bizarre because it was fun... And the Killing Fields were anything but.. Our guide James, had the best English of any guide we encountered. We felt like father what's his name as we handed clip-on koalas to the beautiful village children all along the trail.

The village 

The children

The smiles

YEAR ZERO: THE SILENT DEATH OF CAMBODIA (1979); This is the title a compelling documentary that I saw at high school.

(To watch it for free, go to http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/year-zero/)  I never forgot this film. Ever since, I have been interested in Cambodia or Kampuchea as it was called then. Actually Cambodia has changed its name several times in modern history. Never a good sign for the people when the country cannot make up its mind about its own name. It was called the Kingdom of Cambodia from 1953 through 1970, Khmer Republic from 1970 to 1975, Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979, People's Republic of Kampuchea from 1979 to 1989, State of Cambodia from 1989 to 1993, and Kingdom of Cambodia since1993... See what I mean?

Anyway, the film is about how the Khmer Rouge came to power through civil war and American bombing (don't think I don't love Americans, I do... Some of my best friends, just not keen on the secret carpet bombing of a neutral nation "back to the stone age"...). In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge army, many of them illiterate peasant teenagers wearing black pjamas home made car tyre sandals, and carrying Chinese or Russian machine guns, came into Phnom Penh, they were greeted as heroes. But... they had been indoctrinated to believe that city people, educated people, people who spoke other languages, and people who wore glasses etc were "enemy number one" and were responsible for all the woes of the peasants. Their orders; evacuate all cities and towns in the country starting with Phnom Penh within 48 hours under the guise that the Americans were going to bomb. And so they did, at gun point if necessary. Everyone, old, young, sick, health were marched out of Phnom Penh to a fate worse than death... Many died in the exodus. But that was nothing compared to what the Khmer Rouge did to their own nation over the next 4 years.

Child soldiers, perpetrators of mass murder and yet victims at the same time

Standard issue hand made military footwear, or car tyres and inner tubes

Their leader, Pol Pot, an internationally educated psychopath and lover of French literature, had the insane vision of returning the country to the glory of the ancient Khmer nation. To achieve it, it was necessary return the country to an agrarian society of slave peasents. The concept of family was eradicated, men worked in mens labour gangs, women on female camps and children in their own labour gangs. John Lennon had a similar brain wave; "imagine no religion, no possessions to". Unlike Mr Lennon, Pol Pot literally took the view that all possible opponents needed to be liquidated. To quote his dogma; "better to kill an innocent than to let an enemy live". And so they killed and killed and killed, 1 in 4 of their own race.

All the while, the "super powers" turned a blind eye. You can view the documentary for free on the net at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/year-zero/. Well worth an hour if you have any doubt about who really rules the world. What it taught me at the time was that, though the Nazi holocost was in the past, somewhere in the world for the rest of the system, some sort of holocost was going on.

THE KILLING FIELDS VISIT; The audio tour of The Killing Fields was very well done, narrated by an eye witness and containing recorded interviews of both captives and captors. Despite the sheer diabolical nature of the atrocities committed in this country by then children soldiers we can also see that the young perpetrators were victims too. Some, forced to kill their own families, brainwashed by wicked adults into doing wicked things. Where are these children and teenagers now? They are around our age, 40s, and 50s. Many must be out there in the community if they have not killed themselves already.

Just one of hundreds of extermination camps.  

Not entirely relevant but I like lizards

SIDE POINT; Though Cambodia has its own currency, the Riel, most everything we purchased was with US dollars.  Any change worth less than $1 was given in Riels.  This came in handy for the unfortunate... or professional beggars we encountered.

S-21, ASIA'S AUSCHWITZ; We visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was once a high school. In 1975 when Pol Pot decreed that education was no longer needed, it became Security Prison 21, a diabolical torture and death prison. 17,000+ people were imprisoned here. Photos were taken of each inmate upon arrival. They were forced under torture to invent written confessions to ridiculous things like being members of the CIA or KGB. Several non-Cambodians were also detained and killed here including 2 Australians.

Even after the Vietnamese invaded and revealed the genocide to the world, Pol Pot went on to become the countries prime minister. The Khmer Rouge was still recognised by the UN and international community as the legitimate government of Kampuchea for years. He died peacefully in his old age. Difficult to imagine such a tool of the devil receiving a resurrection, on the other hand, how we look forward to Jehovah bringing the victims back to life.

The 10 rules read to people upon arrival 

3 storeys of classrooms converted into torture chambers

Classrooms to prison cells

The murdered

Thankfully, we know that soon Jehovah will be pressing the undo button.

REVELATION 21:3, 4. With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

Cambodian children's art works of peace

Paradise regained

Love-you-bye

Lloydnalex