When I say the name Pol Pot, what comes to mind? What about the name Khmer Rouge? Most of you who are reading this blog might not have ever heard these two names before. A few weeks ago I thought that these names were known by most, but after surveying some of my friends I have come to the opposite conclusion.
Ok, let me try this again. When I say the name Adolf Hitler, what comes to mind? What about the name Nazi? I’m guessing most of you have heard these two names before. I’m not 100 percent sure why that is, but I am 100 percent sure why I wrote this blog. I just finished a blog entitled Standing Tall, but I have decided to delay posting it. God has placed it on my heart to raise awareness for the mass genocide that occurred in Cambodia in the late 70’s. I’m writing this blog for my fellow Racers and anyone else that would like to be informed on an issue that is extremely important as we travel to Cambodia next month.
We have all heard about the Vietnam War. This is a war that is still a huge scare for the US. We were fighting with the hopes that Vietnam would not come under communist rule like their neighbors to the north, Russia. When the war was being fought, Cambodia trying to remain neutral. This lasted for a couple years, but due to the proximity of the fighting the war spilled over the borders into Cambodia. The aftermath of the war, which ended April of 1975, left Cambodia bombed and with zero infrastructure. The world shut its eyes on Cambodia. This left it vulnerable for a take over, which is exactly what the Khmer Rouge did.
On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, lead by Pol Pot, took over the capital city of Cambodia. There was celebration at first but after a few hours it was clear of why the Khmer Rouge was there. Pol Pot wanted to establish a classless communist state based on a rural agrarian economy and a complete rejection of the free market and capitalism. I found a website that gives good detail on what happened over the four year reign of the Khmer Rouge. So read this slow, and take your time to understand the mass genocide that occurred over 40 years ago but that still affects Cambodia today.
“The Khmer Rouge arrested and killed thousands of members of the previous government and regimes, including soldiers, politicians, and bureaucrats, who they considered to be not “pure people”. This term, as used by the Khmer Rouge, meant those who were fit or capable of building the agrarian state they had set out to establish.”
“Over the following years, hundreds of thousands of intellectuals, professionals, members of minorities and ordinary citizens who were deemed not to conform were also killed in a systematic campaign to eliminate those deemed to be “impure”.”
“Many were held in prisons where they were interrogated, tortured, and executed. The most famous of these prisons, S-21, held about 14,000 prisoners while in operation. According to the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, only about 12 survived.”
“While figures on the number of people who died during the Khmer Rouge’s rule are disputed, most estimates say between 1.4 million and 2.2 million people were killed.” That was about 25 percent of the total population.
No one was ever punished for these crimes. Pol Pot died peacefully in his home in 1998 and was never tried for any of these crimes. Cambodia was once a thriving nation before the 70’s, but is now considerably behind most of their neighboring countries. Some sources say it is the poorest and most underdeveloped country in all of Asia. Corruption is also still a relevant issue in Cambodia .
This is what we are stepping into N Squad. We will see a generational gap because they were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge. What I have written though in just a general overview. There are many layers to this topic that could be expounded on. I’m writing this blog because I’m passionate about this topic. The triangle tattoo on my leg has to do with a similar issue that is currently occurring in the Darfur region of Africa with Joseph Kony and his rebel army the LRA. There is an importance to understanding a county’s history before we step in and start our ministry. I ask that this month you lean into the history of Cambodia. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me. I can’t wait to start another month of ministry with you beautiful people.
Also don’t forget to check out the link that Fran sent us in this weeks CNCs. http://prayercast.com/cambodia.html it is full of great current information.
Stay well and stay informed
-Joe Hamann
