Thursday, 09 December 2010 19:36 Thomas Miller .
Photo by: Sovan Philong
School children examine a new anti-genocide monument unveiled at Preah Sisowath High School in Phnom Penh yesterday.Preah Sisowath High School in Phnom Penh unveiled a new anti-genocide memorial at a ceremony today hosted by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia.
“It’s a daily remembrance to those who have died, and I think that it’s so meaningful to us as Khmers who have lost so many lives at that time,” said DC-Cam director Youk Chhang.
“I think [the youth] are the best healing medicine, having the kids knowing this [history], learning this in school in a scientific way,” Youk Chhang said.
Two statements were emblazoned in gold in Khmer and English on the monument. One side reads: “Talking about experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime is to promote reconciliation and to educate children about forgiveness and tolerance.” The other side reads: “Learning about the history of Democratic Kampuchea is to prevent genocide.”
Chumteav Tun Sa-Im, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and Chea Cheat joined hundreds of students in attendance at this morning’s event.
Vithy, 15, said she thinks the new monument will have a positive impact on her peers.
“It’s good because I think some students in Sisowath High School, some of them didn’t know about the Pol Pot regime. When they see it they will remember about it,” she said.
Sisowath High School opened in 1935, the first secondary educational institution in Phnom Penh, DC-Cam said. A number of Khmer Rouge leaders were schooled there, including Pol Pot and his first wife Khieu Ponnary, as well as Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, both now facing charges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal that include crimes against humanity and genocide....read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010120945278/National-news/anti-genocide-memorial-inaugurated.html
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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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