Forgiveness Is Difficult for Vork Ty

Kok-Thay Eng

Vork Ty is a Cham woman living in Chankiek village, Ourussey commune, Kampong Tralach district, Kampong Chhnang province. She is 45 years old, and when the Khmer Rouge took control of Kampong Tralach in 1975 she was 15 years old. Vork Ty is careful to say that she does not remember many events that happened before the Lon Nol regime and she can only describe what happened to her village when the Khmer Rouge intensified its grip on Cambodia . Vork Ty does not remember when US B-52 bombers sprayed the Cambodian countryside with bombs, images that are still vivid in the memories of many Cambodian survivors today. What Vork Ty remembers is only the blurry images and sounds of low flying aircraft just above the tree tops, strafing people running to take cover.

When asked her opinion about America , Vork Ty said she does not know the United States ’ policies today or what it did about the bombing of Cambodia . The only things she knows about the United States are the American people who come to visit her village and ask villagers about their living conditions. Some have supported her village with English language tutoring and smaller village projects. Currently the embassy of the United States provides funding for her Imam San sect community to conduct a small research project on the traditional Cham dialect. She said, “Many Americans I meet are very nice. So I like America .”

Under the Khmer Rouge regime, Vork Ty lost an elder sister who was executed after stealing food in Kampong Chhnang. She does not know where her sister was buried or the larger details surrounding her death. The news about her death came to her through fellow villagers who were kind enough to send her family the bad news. Vork Ty, however, remains grateful that only her sister perished under the Khmer Rouge, while the rest of her family survived the regime. Vork Ty never blamed Allah for her and her family’s ordeal or for the death of her sister, but she is grateful to Allah that her family did not suffer as much as other families in the village. Before 1975 there were 63 families in Chankiek village, but in 1979 only 33 families returned to the village. Vork Ty’s faith in Islam remains strong, even stronger than it was before the Khmer Rouge. Indeed many villagers in her village think the same. They see the suffering under the Khmer Rouge regime as a suffering that happened to everyone including Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Thus God is not to blame.

Many villagers in Chankiek village were evacuated from their homes when the Khmer Rouge completely controlled Cambodia . They were sent many places: some to Khmer villages, a few others to Cham villages. Many of them were forced to eat pork, and women were not allowed to keep their hair long. They were not allowed to speak the Cham language. They were ordered to change their Cham names and given new Khmer names. Qurans were collected and burned. However, according to a woman in Chankiek village, one Khmer Rouge cadre also showed pragmatism in his practice of atheism. The cadre forced a woman to eat food with some pork hidden inside. When she ate the food she threw up in front of the cadre. The cadre thought that this showed that not eating pork was not only a belief, but also that some Cham people could not digest pork. The cadre therefore never asked her to eat pork again. Some village men reported that a Cham died after he was forced to eat pork due to sickness.

In early 1975, Vork Ty’s family moved from Chankiek village to a small town just 15 kilometers away, south of Udong. The first time she encountered the Khmer Rouge was when they marched into the town and ordered everyone to leave. She said her family and others left in haste. On a small dirt road leading away from the town, people marched with their belongings. Nobody dared stray from the road because the Khmer Rouge would shoot them if they did. Vork Ty’s family was sent to Kampong Cham. She was put to work in a children’s unit. She used to speak with some Khmer Rouge cadres and village guards in the field. She said she was very scared of the Khmer Rouge but she was never victimized by them in any brutal way. She saw a child who was tortured with plastic bag covering her head and beaten until she almost fainted. Later the child disappeared.

Although she did not suffer nearly as much as other victims of the Khmer Rouge, Vork Ty can not forgive Khmer Rouge leaders. She is also certain that other women she knows would not be able to forgive them because they lost too many loved ones. She said, “The loss to some families is too great to forgive anyone.” Vork Ty knows through newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, and television shows that there is a Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh . She also heard that what’s being done at the court is intended to help people feel relief that some degree of justice can be given to the victims, but won’t bring the complete justice that victims of murder should receive. She said, “It is only symbolic. It would be disappointing if any of the Khmer Rouge leaders currently on trial were released. I want them to stay in prison for the rest of their lives.”

END.

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MEMORY & JUSTICE

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