Forums > Social Discussion > The Killing Fields, Cambodia
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Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA
Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA
Posted:
I was going to post this in videos, but it seems much more appropriate here.
It's a work I did after my visit to the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia_under_Pol_Pot_(1975-1979)
The worst humanity can muster, a sad epic in the history of man, and not well known in the rest of the World. Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, claimed to have eliminated 800,000 people, while estimates run as high as 3 million killed not only by death camps and squads, but by the following chaos and starvation. 25 to 30% of the entire country's population at the time.
I witnessed areas of Cambodia where an entire generation is simply missing. Children are working because there are simply not enough adults to run businesses and do labor.
This video features snapshots from Tuol Sleng S-21 prison/extermination camp, where 20000 people went through and there are 7 known survivors. There are paintings done by one of the survivors that show the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Photos at the Killing Fields were taken in heavy rain, which washed away the dirt and exposed more bones that were strewn everywhere, even along the PATH we were WALKING ON.
It is a heartbreaking story that must be remembered in order to prevent it from happening again.
Put an end to genocide~
PS- If you find this video a good experience, please send this link to your friends, or repost it on other websites. Spread the word - only an elimination of ignorance will end mass genocide.
Thanks, and miss ya'll,
Kael (Currently back at summer teaching HQ - Chiang Mai, Thailand)
reachable at [email protected]
myspace: www.myspace.com/KaelGotRice
Facebook: Michael Komalarajun (BYU)
I was going to post this in videos, but it seems much more appropriate here.
It's a work I did after my visit to the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia_under_Pol_Pot_(1975-1979)
The worst humanity can muster, a sad epic in the history of man, and not well known in the rest of the World. Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, claimed to have eliminated 800,000 people, while estimates run as high as 3 million killed not only by death camps and squads, but by the following chaos and starvation. 25 to 30% of the entire country's population at the time.
I witnessed areas of Cambodia where an entire generation is simply missing. Children are working because there are simply not enough adults to run businesses and do labor.
This video features snapshots from Tuol Sleng S-21 prison/extermination camp, where 20000 people went through and there are 7 known survivors. There are paintings done by one of the survivors that show the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Photos at the Killing Fields were taken in heavy rain, which washed away the dirt and exposed more bones that were strewn everywhere, even along the PATH we were WALKING ON.
It is a heartbreaking story that must be remembered in order to prevent it from happening again.
Put an end to genocide~
PS- If you find this video a good experience, please send this link to your friends, or repost it on other websites. Spread the word - only an elimination of ignorance will end mass genocide.
Thanks, and miss ya'll,
Kael (Currently back at summer teaching HQ - Chiang Mai, Thailand)
reachable at [email protected]
myspace: www.myspace.com/KaelGotRice
Facebook: Michael Komalarajun (BYU)
To do: More Firedrums 08 video?
Wildfire/US East coast fire footage
LA/EDC glow/fire footage
Fresno fire
BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia
Posted:
Dude, can't watch the vide from where I am, (crappy connection) but well done for posting it.
Too many things like this happen in the world with so many people never really knowing too much about it.
Cambodia is still sadly very corrupt. If you have money here you can do pretty much whatever you want. Since I've been here I've seen a whole village demolished on the spot because some rich governor brought the land, I've seen a man standing up for his family get shot, and it all boils down to money in the end.
I wish this beautiful country would stop hurting itself
The Pol Pot Regime was a horrific time for this country, along with the fighting between the CPP and the Funcinpec party, too many innocent people died in the struggle for power.
Thankyou for going to the effort of doing this Kael, this country is very special to me.
With love, and peace, Maus
Dude, can't watch the vide from where I am, (crappy connection) but well done for posting it.
Too many things like this happen in the world with so many people never really knowing too much about it.
Cambodia is still sadly very corrupt. If you have money here you can do pretty much whatever you want. Since I've been here I've seen a whole village demolished on the spot because some rich governor brought the land, I've seen a man standing up for his family get shot, and it all boils down to money in the end.
I wish this beautiful country would stop hurting itself
The Pol Pot Regime was a horrific time for this country, along with the fighting between the CPP and the Funcinpec party, too many innocent people died in the struggle for power.
Thankyou for going to the effort of doing this Kael, this country is very special to me.
With love, and peace, Maus
SILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia
Posted:
Maus! You in Cambodia!
Tell us more!
Maus! You in Cambodia!
Tell us more!
.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....
BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Posted:
Completely agree with you both...
Cambodia is a beautiful land with positive people... it will take generations to rebuild what it has lost
Something I've thought of lots since I came back... what effect has tourism and Westernisation had on these countries?
Have we made it worse... bringing our relative wealth to an entirely uneducated population for the past 20 years? (I mean tourism, not anyone particularly)
Or do we balance that effect by 'positive' tourism (what Kael and maus are doing)?
x
Completely agree with you both...
Cambodia is a beautiful land with positive people... it will take generations to rebuild what it has lost
Something I've thought of lots since I came back... what effect has tourism and Westernisation had on these countries?
Have we made it worse... bringing our relative wealth to an entirely uneducated population for the past 20 years? (I mean tourism, not anyone particularly)
Or do we balance that effect by 'positive' tourism (what Kael and maus are doing)?
x
Getting to the other side 
GOLD Member
Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA
Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA
Posted:
Maus!~ You're in Cambodia and I missed you? That's too bad I got my bum dragged all around that country by a friend who thankfully spoke fluently - from Poipet to Siem Reap/Angkor to Phenom Phen. Any chance you'll be in Chiang Mai soon? :P
It definitely is an amazing country and I wish to return sometime in the future.
Clare, I wouldn't call them uneducated - the child vendors at Angkor Wat - you can hold full conversations in english with them (more than I could say about my students in Thailand) and if you name a country or state from the USA you're from, they can name the capital city.
In other words, they're educated in the ways of grabbing tourist's money
Tourism kept Thailand afloat after the financial crisis of 1997 - otherwise the economy would have completely gone down the toilet. Cambodia is bouncing up too - my friend tells me there are dozens more hotels in Siem Reap since he went last year and tourism is booming. Foreign investing into Cambodia is also booming - especially at the Angkor Complex.
More money into Cambodia will hopefully help their common citizens in the long run - as the attention by other countries. I can only hope that more capital will transfer into better schools, hospitals, police force, roads (paved from poipet to siem reap please?) and such overall.
I can hope more people would pay attention to the atrocities of genocide too, so that we could prevent it from happening in Darfur and Myanmar :/
Westernization, or globalization - is a whole other thorny issue I will refuse to post on at this time... grrr
Maus!~ You're in Cambodia and I missed you? That's too bad
I got my bum dragged all around that country by a friend who thankfully spoke fluently - from Poipet to Siem Reap/Angkor to Phenom Phen. Any chance you'll be in Chiang Mai soon? :PIt definitely is an amazing country and I wish to return sometime in the future.
Clare, I wouldn't call them uneducated - the child vendors at Angkor Wat - you can hold full conversations in english with them (more than I could say about my students in Thailand) and if you name a country or state from the USA you're from, they can name the capital city.
In other words, they're educated in the ways of grabbing tourist's money
Tourism kept Thailand afloat after the financial crisis of 1997 - otherwise the economy would have completely gone down the toilet. Cambodia is bouncing up too - my friend tells me there are dozens more hotels in Siem Reap since he went last year and tourism is booming. Foreign investing into Cambodia is also booming - especially at the Angkor Complex.
More money into Cambodia will hopefully help their common citizens in the long run - as the attention by other countries. I can only hope that more capital will transfer into better schools, hospitals, police force, roads (paved from poipet to siem reap please?) and such overall.
I can hope more people would pay attention to the atrocities of genocide too, so that we could prevent it from happening in Darfur and Myanmar :/
Westernization, or globalization - is a whole other thorny issue I will refuse to post on at this time... grrr
To do: More Firedrums 08 video?
Wildfire/US East coast fire footage
LA/EDC glow/fire footage
Fresno fire
BRONZE Member
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Posted:
Hmmm... Progress, but at what cost?
And I meant uneducated, as in... all the educated people were killed or forced into hard labour during those years... that's going to have a terrible effect for generations.
Anyways... never worry... enjoy your travels
x
Hmmm... Progress, but at what cost?
And I meant uneducated, as in... all the educated people were killed or forced into hard labour during those years... that's going to have a terrible effect for generations.
Anyways... never worry... enjoy your travels
x
Getting to the other side
BRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia
Posted:
No Kael, sorry, I'm not so much travelling any more as just living here.
Have a few websites I will post up when I have some more time.
No Kael, sorry, I'm not so much travelling any more as just living here.
Have a few websites I will post up when I have some more time.
Stargazer
6,650 posts
6,650 posts
Posted:
Recently there has been a massive find of oil fields just ahead of the Cambodian/ Vietnamese coast. The fields are estimated to contain as much oil as the Saudi Arabian fields. If not anything, the money coming from this natural resource should be sufficient to boost Cambodian and Vietnamese economical and educational development.
If there is anything (IMO) to be learnt from stories like Pol Pot/ Khmer Rouge and alike, it's that we/ they as a people have to solidarise themselves and get together to fight corruption in their government.
The entire planet, but especially in (S/E)Asia corruption and injustice is a disease that breeds for the past two millenniae and the ppl, the citizens do accept it as a necessary evil. They do accept their governments and leaders as "fate"... revolts and revolutions, that really put an end to corrupt regimes are of short effect, if any.
Along with the incapability of "standing up for themselves" it's the western governments and weapons industry to be blamed for standing aside with their hands in their own or the Asean citizens pockets.
The manufacturing and distribution of landmines (IMHO) is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such - More on land and anti personnel mines
To me it's absolutely unbelieveable that politicians, managers and CEO's - of weapons manufacturers and those that support the distribution of landmines - are still not held personally accountable for the damages the(ir) products inflict on civilians and children.
Thanks for posting this Kael...
Recently there has been a massive find of oil fields just ahead of the Cambodian/ Vietnamese coast. The fields are estimated to contain as much oil as the Saudi Arabian fields. If not anything, the money coming from this natural resource should be sufficient to boost Cambodian and Vietnamese economical and educational development.
If there is anything (IMO) to be learnt from stories like Pol Pot/ Khmer Rouge and alike, it's that we/ they as a people have to solidarise themselves and get together to fight corruption in their government.
The entire planet, but especially in (S/E)Asia corruption and injustice is a disease that breeds for the past two millenniae and the ppl, the citizens do accept it as a necessary evil. They do accept their governments and leaders as "fate"... revolts and revolutions, that really put an end to corrupt regimes are of short effect, if any.
Along with the incapability of "standing up for themselves" it's the western governments and weapons industry to be blamed for standing aside with their hands in their own or the Asean citizens pockets.
The manufacturing and distribution of landmines (IMHO) is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such - More on land and anti personnel mines
To me it's absolutely unbelieveable that politicians, managers and CEO's - of weapons manufacturers and those that support the distribution of landmines - are still not held personally accountable for the damages the(ir) products inflict on civilians and children.
Thanks for posting this Kael...
the best smiles are the ones you lead to 
GOLD Member
wandering dingo
167 posts
Location: Aussie in London, Australia
wandering dingo
167 posts
Location: Aussie in London, Australia
Posted:
While I have read alot about the Pol Pot regime, and the genocide, and all of that, even when in Cambodia I felt I could not visit s21, as these kind of things tend to really affect me. It was enough for me to know it had happened, and to try to understand how that must feel when it is your own country, your own family, your heritage, without having to see it myself. Hence I could barely bring myself to watch the video (Crying at work not a good look). But well done on putting it out there, and hopefully reaching alot people with it.
It is also tragic that on the whole, (especially western and educated) people don't know anything about this kind of major historical happening. Let alone that it even happened.
While I have read alot about the Pol Pot regime, and the genocide, and all of that, even when in Cambodia I felt I could not visit s21, as these kind of things tend to really affect me. It was enough for me to know it had happened, and to try to understand how that must feel when it is your own country, your own family, your heritage, without having to see it myself. Hence I could barely bring myself to watch the video (Crying at work not a good look). But well done on putting it out there, and hopefully reaching alot people with it.
It is also tragic that on the whole, (especially western and educated) people don't know anything about this kind of major historical happening. Let alone that it even happened.
Only three things are certain: Death, Taxes, and that England will not win back the Ashes in this lifetime.
Pooh-Bah
2,419 posts
Location: la-la land
2,419 posts
Location: la-la land
Posted:
I lived in Chiang Mai from 76~86.. I don't remember too much about it as I was quite young, but my mother made a point of educating me about Pol Pot to ensure that I never forget about how evil the human race can be to each other.. it keeps repeating tho.. throughout history there are reports of atrocities against our neighbours. I cannot understand what can drive a person to hurt, maime or kill.. I hope I never will.
I jsut hope one day there will be enough people in the concious collective to not allow genocide to happen, but I don't expect that to be in my life time.
I will remember you, every person that has ever had their life taken by evil.. I will remember you.
(ps... Is my old school CMIS still going? It was behind the university close to Wat Gate? )
I lived in Chiang Mai from 76~86.. I don't remember too much about it as I was quite young, but my mother made a point of educating me about Pol Pot to ensure that I never forget about how evil the human race can be to each other.. it keeps repeating tho.. throughout history there are reports of atrocities against our neighbours. I cannot understand what can drive a person to hurt, maime or kill.. I hope I never will.
I jsut hope one day there will be enough people in the concious collective to not allow genocide to happen, but I don't expect that to be in my life time.
I will remember you, every person that has ever had their life taken by evil.. I will remember you.
(ps... Is my old school CMIS still going? It was behind the university close to Wat Gate? )
I honour you as an aspect of myself..
You are never to old to storm a bouncey castle..
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