After the death of 350 people in Cambodia earlier this week in a bloody stampede, the world watched as a national day of mourning was declared. Now that it's behind us, history has shown time and time again that this forgotten little country in South East Asia is likely to once more vanish without a trace.
A handful of years ago, Cambodia enjoyed the most attention it had received since the Vietnam war spilled across it's borders when Angelina Jolie took a liking to the place and adopted her first child there. She was later honoured with Cambodian citizenship and yet now, aside from the occasional border scuffle with Thailand or the odd report of Khmer Rouge leaders being finally put on trial, the steamy tropical calm which hangs throughout Cambodia remains sadly unknown to the world.
The country itself is a gorgeous place, welcoming and kind - but tinged with sadness still. Indeed many of the people who ply their trades up and down the streets of Phnom Penh will speak of their memories of the Khmer Rouge - their fists curling up as they wrinkle their brows and relay brief flashes of the horrors from the past.
The atrocities committed during the 1970s which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead, now seem unthinkable.
In terms of the number of people killed as a proportion of the population (estimated at 7.1 million people) it was the most lethal regime of the 20th century
The Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured and eventually executed anyone suspected of being Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, an intellectual (meaning almost everyone with an education, or even people wearing glasses) and even deemed family ties to be destructive - separating mothers from their children and executing anyone who displayed affection towards members of their own family.
In 2008 I spoke to a security guard working at the capital's gorgeous Royal Palace - currently the residence of King Norodom Sihamoni. He told me he had worked there for decades: "all through the hell of the Pol Pot Regime.
"I've seen this place stay the same and change. Both together" he said. When asked to elaborate he let his arms hang losely by his side: "Terrible" he breathed: "Never again."
Unlike other countries in Asia, these days the Cambodians seem far less likely to cheat foreigners out of their money. A reasonable price for everything can usually be agreed and, more surprisingly, kept to. They live their lives quietly, but always with a genuine smile to hand.
If any country has suffered enough, this is it. And it breaks my heart.
With poverty comes desperation, no wonder it’s become the worlds’ best pedophile destination
ReplyDeleteCambodia has made efforts to stamp out 'sex tourism' in the past ten years, but it still remains far less of a priority than it does in neighbouring Thailand. Here is an interesting article from TimeAsia:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/1113/cambodia_child.html