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| Im Chaem (R) standing next to Chhang Youk (Photo: AP) |
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| A child looking at Ta Mok's body (Photo: Reuters) |
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
By Dustin Roasa
The Washington Post
ANLONG VENG, CAMBODIA - In a dimly lighted concrete classroom with smudged and peeling walls, the principal of Anlong Veng High School recalled the man who had built it, the late Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok.
"Everyone here loves Ta Mok. He was a good leader, and he cared about his people," 42-year-old Sreng Kor Ma said. Known as "the Butcher" for his brutality during Khmer Rouge rule, the commander remains popular in this remote former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, where he built hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure and where thousands of the organization's former soldiers still live.
But this year, 12 years after the Khmer Rouge surrendered, long-held loyalties are finally being challenged in Anlong Veng. In April, a local truth and reconciliation forum allowed victims to publicly confront people who had participated in the regime. In June, the government distributed a high school textbook here that for the first time teaches the history of the Khmer Rouge to the children of its former soldiers.
Please click here to read more...
"Everyone here loves Ta Mok. He was a good leader, and he cared about his people," 42-year-old Sreng Kor Ma said. Known as "the Butcher" for his brutality during Khmer Rouge rule, the commander remains popular in this remote former Khmer Rouge stronghold in northwestern Cambodia, where he built hospitals, bridges and other infrastructure and where thousands of the organization's former soldiers still live.
But this year, 12 years after the Khmer Rouge surrendered, long-held loyalties are finally being challenged in Anlong Veng. In April, a local truth and reconciliation forum allowed victims to publicly confront people who had participated in the regime. In June, the government distributed a high school textbook here that for the first time teaches the history of the Khmer Rouge to the children of its former soldiers.
Please click here to read more...
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