People from Anlong Veng confront the past

“I’m glad to welcome former Khmer Rouge members from Along Veng today. Many of these people did not really believe what happened here (in S-21) was true, and  some of them did believe, but was not aware about the enormous extent of the atrocities. Today, they had the opportunity to come to see with their own eyes, and that’s make me happy,” said Mr. Chum Mey (80), one of only twelve known survivors from the S-21 prison.  He had just told a group of people from Anlong Veng about his own experience as a prisoner in the S-21 during the Khmer Rouge regime.


S-21 Survivor Mr. Chum Mey telling a group from Anlong Veng about his experience as a prisoner at the infamous S-21 prison.

It was 8 o’clock in the morning on 9 December 2010; six buses  stopped inr in front of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. Groups of nearly 300 people who had traveled over night from Anlong Veng  got off the buses.  They were quickly assigned tour guides, who walked them through each section of the former prison.

Participants walked from one building to another, shocked of the scenes that appeared in front of their eyes: small cells, beds with chains, photos of prisoners and corpses, long shackles, torture instruments and, paintings that demonstrated life inside the former prison.

This visit was part of a nation wide outreach program organized by the Public Affair Section of the Extraordinary Chamber of Cambodia (ECCC). The 9 December visit was remarkable, as many of the participants had worked many years serving Khmer Rouge.  Some of them even became amputees as a result of their sacrifice for the Khmer Rouge movement.  Prior to this visit they either did not believe the stories about atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, or they had little or no knowledge about the atrocities that were committed between 1975 and 1979. Anlong Veng was the last area in Cambodia controlled by the Khmer Rouge, and it came under government control as late as in April 1998.

In between building A and B, participants met with the Toull Sleng survivor Mr. Chum Mey, and listened to him telling his own experience of being a Tuol Sleng prisoner for 2 months and 11 days. The groups were quiet, their mind went deep into Mr. Chum Mey’s story of how Khmer Rouge torturing him. Him testimony gave them a better picture in addition to what they had just seen.

Mr. Chum Mey, who has tirelessly told his story to numerous S-21-visitiors said that he was very happy that today he  could told his story to former Khmer Rouge members and supporters from Anlong Veng.

“They asked me how I was tortured. I told them that, [the prison guards] beat me and broke one of my little fingers, they pulled my finger and toe nails, they electrocuted me which caused damages on my left ear. Even today I am unable to hear anything on that ear.. I think their question is important, and it is important that they  ot to see the evidences and hear  a survivor’s testimony,” added Mr. Chum Mey.

An opportunity to search for vanished relatives
“Is it this photo?” A group of 4-5 people  were standing in front of a photo board in building B. One of them was pointing to photo of a male prisoner who was wearing a sleeveless shirt and was labeled number 12. Behind them was a woman, looking closely at the photo, her lips trembling, while she was trying to hold back the tears running down her cheeks. This was Ms. Vong Yin, 60, who believed the man in the photo was her former husband who disappeared 33 years ago.  Ms. Yin tried not to cry in front of other people, but she could not control hear tears.


Ms. Vong Yin in front of one of many picture boards at the Toul Sleng museum.

 

To her memory, her husband named Pring, a former chief of the North Region hospital in Kampong Cham province, was arrested in 1977. Pring, 26 years old back then, was called out of his house at 7 pm, and never returned. Ms. Yin, seven months pregnant at the time, anxiously waited for him the whole night. The next morning, Ke Pork, the Secretary of the North Region, sent messengers to pick her from her house to see him in the regional office.

“I was 7 months pregnant. They called him from the house at 7 in the evening. The next morning, Ta Pork told me that he was arrested. He said my husband was CIA. He told me not to feel sad, and just to forget a piece of [bad] meat. I could not responed, but cried,” Ms. Yin recalled while tears continue to run down her cheek.

Not only her husband, but also her newborn baby was also taken away, being considered a baby of a traitor. “I gave birth to my baby in the hospital, and then the medical staff took my baby away. A while later, they returned and told me to throw away that piece of [bad] meat,” added Ms. Yin.

Ms. Yin remarried after the collapse of Khmer Rouge regime, and now has 4 children. But she never gave up a desire to search for confirmation of the death of her previous husband. Today’s study tour organized by the ECCC  finally gave her a chance to come see the former Tuol Sleng prison and search for traces of her husband.

In addition to seek a better to seek a better understanding of the Khmer Rouge regime and the ECCC, many of the participants of the ECCC study tour have wanted to come to the Toul Sleng museum to search for traces of their relatives. This was also the case for some of the other visitors from Anlong Veng.

Kao Sorn, 54, was searching for a photo of his own father whom he believed was detained and executed in Tuol Sleng. Long Hao, 58, was looking for her five brothers and cousins whom had disappeared since 1971 after they left their home village in Kampong Thom to join Khmer Rouge movement. Despite looking through the displayed photos,  Sorn and Hao did not see any trace of their relatives during their visit.
 

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