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Mathos · 02-12-2007, 04:34 AM

Altogether some 20,000 people lost their lives during the evacuation of Phnom Penh. An alarming figure indeed, but as a comparison it is noted that some 100,000 people died in revenge killings, murders and balancing up grievances in France purely during the German retreat of 1945!

In Phnom Penh the different army groups of Pol Pot’s forces being totally unaware of who was who, clashed and killed one another quite randomly in the streets of the city, it took a few days for the levels of insanity to settle down. The National Bank was blown up with dynamite, this was not an act allocated to Pol Pot’s forces, the Khmer Rouge leaders had every intention of establishing a monetary system of it’s own. In the markets the stall holders were instructed to cut the costs of their goods by as much as 100% to the delight of the population but obvious despair of the mainly Chinese stallholders. NCOs’ from the original government army were supposedly taken to Siem Reap for new government training and were loaded onto trucks in their hundreds, twenty miles outside of Phnom Penh they were instructed to get off the trucks. Their arms were bound and they were badly abused before being bludgeoned to death.
Prince Sihanouk who had fled to Beijing prior to the invasion of the capital was due to return having agreed to accept The Khmer Rouge as the new government. Several highly ranked officers from his army were told to report wearing full dress uniform to welcome him back at the airport. Several prominent wealthy businessmen were instructed to join them. The convoy of vehicles was stopped near to Mount Thippadey, they were all killed by K.R. executioners waiting in ditches by the roadside. Similar massacres occurred throughout the North West, in general any official of any town was certain to be killed, his family were not spared the brutality of rape, torture, humiliation, and eventual death. Orders had been given to not to waste any bullets on those poor wretches, they were beaten to death with farming implements, rifle butts, rocks, kicking, the lucky, if there is such a thing or word for those poor victims, may have had their throats cut. Children were swung by their ankles into trees, smashing their heads in.

I have actually seen some of the graves of the killing fields, the thousands of skulls which are on show as a constant reminder to the world of what this regime committed against it's own people. Even now as you walk through those fields (I was there earlier this year) it is possible to see many human bones barely covered by the earth, among the dirt and foliage.

Some left Phnom Penh in cars, with consumer goods loaded inside and on the roofs, how they intended using fridges, fans, TV's in the jungle is antibody's guess, I reckon they had the right to take whatever they could though. When orders were given for private cars and trucks or any vehicle to be abandoned the contents ended up being strewn all over the roadside. A grand piano was sighted some years later, marooned in the middle of a rice field, lacquer peeling! For many it became too much, one witness later wrote:-

A shiny new Peugeot was being driven down the river bank, it went into the water with a splash and floated forward, until the river turned it round and it floated slowly backwards down-stream.

There were people inside. A man in the drivers seat, a woman besides him and children looking out of the rear windows their hands pressed against the glass. All the doors and windows remained shut.

Nobody got out!

We all stared as the car settled lower and the waters went over the roof.

A wealthy family committing suicide.

Approximately one thousand Cambodians living in France at the time of this ‘revolution’ exiles from the Sihanouk government, considered they should return to Cambodia and offer their personal worth for the new order.
The Khmer Rouge issued a statement via their Foreign Minister Leng Sary, and via his official at the Parisian Cambodian Embassy, that all interested Cambodians with children could return, but they must pledge to work as farmers. The manner of application was carried out with a strangeness by The Khmers Rouges, a peculiar manner indeed. Application forms had to be completed and approved by the Foreign Office etc... Little did they know.

The plane loads of returnees on the only flight schedule available, Paris Beijing to Cambodia (Pochentong Airport)were greeted at the airport by youthful Khmer men and women. The returnees who had had to wait in Beijing for the next available flight were clapping with happiness at returning to their homeland. Once inside they were divested of all money, clothing, presents and luggage in general. Women were raped, abused and some killed along with many of the men. They were split into various groups. Each group would have to live and work together, they were totally forbidden to communicate or inter-react with any Khmers Rouges or Khmers. All of them were treated like aliens. It was suspected by the Khmers Rouges that traitors would be amongst the numbers. By the end of the Khmers Rouges control of the country only two hundred remained alive. The other 80% had been murdered by the Khmers Rouges.

I have often thought of the plight of these poor people having been in a civilised country like France for many years and returning to this and the thoughts of it being a better place to live!

Pol Pot implemented an eight point programme throughout the land:-
1. Evacuate all of the people from all of the towns.
2. Abolish all markets.
3. Abolish the old currency (To be replaced with the revolution’s currency)
4. Defrock all Buddhist Monks and put them to work growing rice.
5. Execute all leaders of Lon Nol regime beginning with the top leaders.
6. Establish high level co-operatives throughout the country.
7. Expel the entire Vietnamese minority population.
8. Dispatch troops to all borders, especially the border with Vietnam.

I have it on record that Pol Pot loved mankind. It was individual man that he could not stand. He claims to have taken up arms on behalf of the suffering masses, the victims of superior war machines.
He destroyed those who irked him;

The educated

The wealthy

Foreigners

Foreigner admirers.

City dwellers.

The challengers

The religious.

His aim was to return the country to year zero.

I visited the prison museum in Phnom Penh.

All prisoners were photographed, they were all tortured and a so called biography of their hitherto existence was recorded. Prisoners were all stripped down to their basic underclothes and shackled to iron bars. All prisoners were woken at 4.30 every morning, they were instructed to drop down their under clothes to the ankles. They then had the opportunity to defecate and or urinate into small buckets. Those who failed to follow orders received between twenty and forty strokes from a whip.

On blackboards in each cell was the following.

You must answer all questions.

Do not try to hide facts, you are prohibited to contest.

Do not be a fool, for you are a person who has dared to thwart the revolution.

Answer all questions immediately, do not waste time trying to reflect.

Do not tell me about your immoralities or the revolution.

Whilst receiving lashes or electric shocks you must not cry out.

Do nothing, sit still until told to do something.

Do not make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your traitorous jaw.

Failure to follow the above rules will earn you many lashes of electric wire.

If you show any disobedience you will receive either ten lashes or five shocks of electric charge.

The Tuol Sleng is now a genocide museum.

On one day alone ;- May 17th 1978

FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TWO DEATH WARRANTS WERE ISSUED

I'll get back to Mae Sot next time I write.

02-12-2007, 04:34 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mathos Elite Member Last Online: Today 05:52 AM Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Wherever I put my head down between UK and BKK Posts: 1,691	Altogether some 20,000 people lost their lives during the evacuation of Phnom Penh. An alarming figure indeed, but as a comparison it is noted that some 100,000 people died in revenge killings, murders and balancing up grievances in France purely during the German retreat of 1945! In Phnom Penh the different army groups of Pol Pot’s forces being totally unaware of who was who, clashed and killed one another quite randomly in the streets of the city, it took a few days for the levels of insanity to settle down. The National Bank was blown up with dynamite, this was not an act allocated to Pol Pot’s forces, the Khmer Rouge leaders had every intention of establishing a monetary system of it’s own. In the markets the stall holders were instructed to cut the costs of their goods by as much as 100% to the delight of the population but obvious despair of the mainly Chinese stallholders. NCOs’ from the original government army were supposedly taken to Siem Reap for new government training and were loaded onto trucks in their hundreds, twenty miles outside of Phnom Penh they were instructed to get off the trucks. Their arms were bound and they were badly abused before being bludgeoned to death. Prince Sihanouk who had fled to Beijing prior to the invasion of the capital was due to return having agreed to accept The Khmer Rouge as the new government. Several highly ranked officers from his army were told to report wearing full dress uniform to welcome him back at the airport. Several prominent wealthy businessmen were instructed to join them. The convoy of vehicles was stopped near to Mount Thippadey, they were all killed by K.R. executioners waiting in ditches by the roadside. Similar massacres occurred throughout the North West, in general any official of any town was certain to be killed, his family were not spared the brutality of rape, torture, humiliation, and eventual death. Orders had been given to not to waste any bullets on those poor wretches, they were beaten to death with farming implements, rifle butts, rocks, kicking, the lucky, if there is such a thing or word for those poor victims, may have had their throats cut. Children were swung by their ankles into trees, smashing their heads in. I have actually seen some of the graves of the killing fields, the thousands of skulls which are on show as a constant reminder to the world of what this regime committed against it's own people. Even now as you walk through those fields (I was there earlier this year) it is possible to see many human bones barely covered by the earth, among the dirt and foliage. Some left Phnom Penh in cars, with consumer goods loaded inside and on the roofs, how they intended using fridges, fans, TV's in the jungle is antibody's guess, I reckon they had the right to take whatever they could though. When orders were given for private cars and trucks or any vehicle to be abandoned the contents ended up being strewn all over the roadside. A grand piano was sighted some years later, marooned in the middle of a rice field, lacquer peeling! For many it became too much, one witness later wrote:- A shiny new Peugeot was being driven down the river bank, it went into the water with a splash and floated forward, until the river turned it round and it floated slowly backwards down-stream. There were people inside. A man in the drivers seat, a woman besides him and children looking out of the rear windows their hands pressed against the glass. All the doors and windows remained shut. Nobody got out! We all stared as the car settled lower and the waters went over the roof. A wealthy family committing suicide. Approximately one thousand Cambodians living in France at the time of this ‘revolution’ exiles from the Sihanouk government, considered they should return to Cambodia and offer their personal worth for the new order. The Khmer Rouge issued a statement via their Foreign Minister Leng Sary, and via his official at the Parisian Cambodian Embassy, that all interested Cambodians with children could return, but they must pledge to work as farmers. The manner of application was carried out with a strangeness by The Khmers Rouges, a peculiar manner indeed. Application forms had to be completed and approved by the Foreign Office etc... Little did they know. The plane loads of returnees on the only flight schedule available, Paris Beijing to Cambodia (Pochentong Airport)were greeted at the airport by youthful Khmer men and women. The returnees who had had to wait in Beijing for the next available flight were clapping with happiness at returning to their homeland. Once inside they were divested of all money, clothing, presents and luggage in general. Women were raped, abused and some killed along with many of the men. They were split into various groups. Each group would have to live and work together, they were totally forbidden to communicate or inter-react with any Khmers Rouges or Khmers. All of them were treated like aliens. It was suspected by the Khmers Rouges that traitors would be amongst the numbers. By the end of the Khmers Rouges control of the country only two hundred remained alive. The other 80% had been murdered by the Khmers Rouges. I have often thought of the plight of these poor people having been in a civilised country like France for many years and returning to this and the thoughts of it being a better place to live! Pol Pot implemented an eight point programme throughout the land:- 1. Evacuate all of the people from all of the towns. 2. Abolish all markets. 3. Abolish the old currency (To be replaced with the revolution’s currency) 4. Defrock all Buddhist Monks and put them to work growing rice. 5. Execute all leaders of Lon Nol regime beginning with the top leaders. 6. Establish high level co-operatives throughout the country. 7. Expel the entire Vietnamese minority population. 8. Dispatch troops to all borders, especially the border with Vietnam. I have it on record that Pol Pot loved mankind. It was individual man that he could not stand. He claims to have taken up arms on behalf of the suffering masses, the victims of superior war machines. He destroyed those who irked him; The educated The wealthy Foreigners Foreigner admirers. City dwellers. The challengers The religious. His aim was to return the country to year zero. I visited the prison museum in Phnom Penh. All prisoners were photographed, they were all tortured and a so called biography of their hitherto existence was recorded. Prisoners were all stripped down to their basic underclothes and shackled to iron bars. All prisoners were woken at 4.30 every morning, they were instructed to drop down their under clothes to the ankles. They then had the opportunity to defecate and or urinate into small buckets. Those who failed to follow orders received between twenty and forty strokes from a whip. On blackboards in each cell was the following. You must answer all questions. Do not try to hide facts, you are prohibited to contest. Do not be a fool, for you are a person who has dared to thwart the revolution. Answer all questions immediately, do not waste time trying to reflect. Do not tell me about your immoralities or the revolution. Whilst receiving lashes or electric shocks you must not cry out. Do nothing, sit still until told to do something. Do not make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your traitorous jaw. Failure to follow the above rules will earn you many lashes of electric wire. If you show any disobedience you will receive either ten lashes or five shocks of electric charge. The Tuol Sleng is now a genocide museum. On one day alone ;- May 17th 1978 FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TWO DEATH WARRANTS WERE ISSUED I'll get back to Mae Sot next time I write. __________________ All the women take their blouses off And the men all dance on the polka dots It's closing time ! Last edited by Mathos : 02-12-2007 at 04:39 AM.