Tag Archives: khmer rouge
In the Cambodian Clink
Imagine a place so filthy, infested and decrepit that the Khmer Rouge didn’t want to use it as one of their torture chambers, so used it instead as a pigpen. That place was T3 prison, one of the first pieces…
A Reporter’s Dangerous Guided Tour through Democratic Kampuchea
During Cambodia’s most desperate hours, Elizabeth Becker, along with a few other journalists, was given a tour of Democratic Kampuchea in 1978. For the first time ever in Cambodia, Elizabeth Becker presents her multi-media exhibit from that trip. The exhibit…
Shame of Cambodia’s Memorial to Slain War Reporters
Anyone who knows anything about the Cambodian Government will know they never do anything quickly. But it’s appalling how slow they’ve been honouring the more than three dozen journalists who were killed or went missing during the bloodshed and turmoil…
Cambodia’s Long Journey Towards ‘Relative’ Normality
Modern residency units in Phnom Penh now come in a variety of shapes and sizes and prices, but back in the early 1990s when UNTAC invaded town, it rapidly became apparent that there weren’t many units available that any foreigners…
Before the Laughter Began – Dara Than’s Story
Deep furrows run from the corners of Dara Than’s eyes. They come from countless smiles that cause his face to contort as he bashfully covers his mouth, as wheezy explosions of laughter wrack his rotund body when something strikes him…
Khmer Rouge Division 703
Khmer Rouge Division 703: From Victory to Self Destruction: Vannak Huy This monograph traces the history of an elite division of the Khmer Rouge, from their inception in the battlefields in the early 70s, through their triumphant entry to Phnom…
Cambodian Gold Diggers
English resident Canadian-born author Geoff Ryman is in the running to win the prestigious Hugo award for best science fiction/fantasy story of 2007 for his superb short-story, ‘Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter’. It is truly wonderful – an entertaining tale of…
Thirty Years of Pain
“The more you know, the less you understand; the more you understand, the less you know.” I put that in quotation marks, but has anybody ever actually said it? They should have. The thought occurred to me as I read…
Battambang: The Days After the Vietnamese Left
by Chhay Vet Vietnamese soldiers had been slowly trickling back home for years but it wasn’t until the 9th of September in 1989 that the final three divisions left Battambang. To mark this auspicious occasion a leaving ceremony was performed…
Killing Time in the Killing Fields
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Fifteen kilometers from Phnom Penh a Buddhist stupa sits in the middle of manicured lawns surrounded by heavily-trafficked dirt paths. Throngs of Western tourists, dressed in beachwear and earphones, walk around, treading lightly over the bones of Cambodian people that…