New Straits Times

CAMBODIANS MARK GENOCIDE IN DAY OF ANGER

Hundreds pray for Khmer Rouge victims, watch emotional play on ‘Killing Fields’

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BLACK-CLAD students reenacted the horrors of the Cambodian genocide at the “Killing Fields” yesterday to commemorat­e the two million people killed by the Khmer Rouge’s murderous, Maoist regime.

Hundreds gathered at the notorious site here to mark the annual Day of Remembranc­e with prayers and performanc­es, including students wielding wooden rifles, knives and bamboo sticks in mock attacks.

“We performed these scenes in order to remember the genocidal Pol Pot regime and the cruelty that the Cambodian people suffered,” said Chhaem Khleuong, a fine art teacher who played a Khmer Rouge cadre.

A quarter of Cambodia’s population died under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime, culled in mass killings or of starvation, forced labour or torture.

His brutal reign came to an end in 1979, and the Khmer Rouge atrocities are still remembered at

museums and sites dedicated to victims of the genocide.

The Day of Remembranc­e, more commonly called the “Day of Anger” in Cambodia, is held at the Choeung Ek “Killing Fields”, where some 15,000 people were confined and sent to their deaths between 1975 and 1979.

It was an emotional day for many attendees, some who cried as students pretended to slit victims’ throats, shoot them dead or subject them to waterboard­ing.

“These views brought my feelings back to the Pol Pot era, the killings were heinous,” said 62year-old Chan Ren, who lost more than 10 relatives under the regime.

“Today, people attend the event to pray to the souls of people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge,” she added.

Several of the genocide’s chief orchestrat­ors have been tried by a United Nations-backed court, though critics say prosecutio­ns have been too slow.

In November, the Khmer Rouge’s former head of state Khieu Samphan and “Brother No. 2” Nuon Chea were found guilty of genocide and sentenced to life in prison. Pol Pot, nicknamed “Brother No. 1”, died in 1998 before he could be brought to trial. Page 60 pic: Actors re-enacting a scene on Khmer Rouge regime tactics during the annual ‘Day of Anger’ in Phnom Penh yesterday.

We performed these scenes in order to remember the genocidal Pol Pot regime and the cruelty that Cambodian people suffered.

CHHAEM KHLEUONG

fine arts teacher

 ?? AGENCY PIX ?? Women crying while watching the re-enactment of Khmer Rouge regime tactics in Phnom Penh yesterday.
AGENCY PIX Women crying while watching the re-enactment of Khmer Rouge regime tactics in Phnom Penh yesterday.

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