October 9, 2009
By Michael Saliba, J.D. (Northwestern Law ’09), Consultant to the Center for
International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law
On October 9, 2009 the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) distributed
textbooks about the Khmer Rouge to high school students in the Samrong
District of the Takeo Province. The book, A History of Democratic
Kampuchea, was written by Khamboly Dy of DC-Cam in partnership with the
Cambodian Ministry of Education. It is meant to serve as a supplementary
text and teaching aid for high school teaches all across the country. The
DC-Cam staff was met at the local high school by the director of the school
as well as the chief of the Samrong District educational office.
After introductory remarks, Khamboly Dy addressed the large audience of high
school students. He gave them a brief overview of the history of Democratic
Kampuchea and explained the importance of studying and understanding what
happened during that period. He described how the Khmer Rouge evacuated all
the people from the cities and relocated them to the country side where they
were put to work in the fields. The Cambodian people were forced to live in
co-operatives as the Khmer Rouge eliminated all forms of personal property
and all forms of monetary currency. He described how the Khmer Rouge
specifically targeted the educated class. According to one estimate by the
Cambodian Ministry of Education, about 85 percent of educated people were
killed during that time. Khamboly Dy analogized Cambodian society after the
fall of the Khmer Rouge to a broken glass; a shattered society which was
very difficult to reconstruct.
Khamboly Dy further remarked that none of those students in the audience
were alive during the period of Democratic Kampuchea, but many of their
parents and grandparents suffered during that time. He argued that there
was even a greater imperative for students to learn about the history of the
Khmer Rouge. The younger generation, he explained, could draw on this
knowledge to build a more peaceful society.
Dara Vanthan from DC-Cam then spoke to the audience about the work that
DC-Cam does and the objectives it strives to accomplish. He explained that
DC-Cam aims to record and preserve the history of the Khmer Rouge regime for
future generations. Furthermore, it strives to compile and organize
information that can serve as potential evidence in a legal accounting for
the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. The information that DC-Cam collects and
analyzes includes an enormous collection of documents, films, and
photographs from the Khmer Rouge period.
Dara Vanthan also gave the students a brief overview of the Extraordinary
Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The ECCC, he explained, was
established by both the Cambodian government as well as the international
community in order to prosecute those Khmer Rouge leaders who were most
responsible for the crimes committed during the period of Democratic
Kampuchea. He urged the students to follow the developments of the tribunal
by watching the trial proceedings on television or reading about the
tribunal in newspapers and the internet.
After the panel presentation several students energetically approached the
podium and asked some very good questions. One student asked the panel how
the tribunal would help victims given that the crimes had already been
committed. Dara Vanthan explained that participating in the trial
proceedings and having a chance to confront Duch helps many victims in the
healing process. Furthermore, he stressed that those victims participating
as civil parties were entitled to collective and symbolic reparations.
Another student asked why Duch is not punished in the same way that Saddam
Hussein was punished. Dara Vanthan stressed that the tribunal had not yet
convicted Duch or determined his sentence. He elaborated by explaining
that, unlike in Iraq, international and Cambodian criminal law prohibits the
death penalty.
After speaking with students individually at the conclusion of the
presentations, it was evident that the event was a major success. Many of
the students remarked that they had heard about the Khmer Rouge from their
parents but they were excited to receive their new books and expressed a
genuine interest in learning more about their history.
The event was attended by representatives from all of the thirteen high
schools in the Samrong District. The representatives each received copies
of the book to distribute to their students. Through many outreach efforts
such as this one, DC-Cam has distributed nearly half of the 300,000 books
published this year. Based on the positive feedback DC-Cam has received, it
plans to increase that number to 700,000 next year.
PHOTOS: http://www.dccam.org/Projects/Genocide/Photo_Gallery.htm
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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