Pol Pot survivor prepares to tell horrific tale (1 of 9, out of 16,000, who survived death camp)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | January 7, 2004 | Mark Baker

[dead]

Khmer Rouge leaders face justice after 25 years, writes Mark Baker in Phnom Penh.

Chum Mey survived two years of torture and fear in a Khmer Rouge death camp, sustained by thoughts of his pregnant wife and unborn child. Now he lives to bear witness to their murder and the fate of more than 1.7 million Cambodians who died in Pol Pot's killing fields.

Twenty-five years ago today, thousands of Vietnamese troops streamed into Phnom Penh to end the brutal four-year reign of the Khmer Rouge. But for Chum Mey, liberation spelt tragedy.

As he was marched at gunpoint into the provinces by his fleeing Khmer Rouge jailers, he had a chance encounter with his wife and the young son who was born weeks after he was sent to the infamous Tuol Sleng concentration camp in 1977.

Bearing witness . . . Chum Mey, one of only nine prisoners to leave the notorious
Tuol Sleng death camp alive, is ready to give evidence against the Khmer Rouge
leaders. Photo: Andy Eames

For two days they travelled to an isolated hamlet with a group of other prisoners. On the second evening, as the family rested, the guards ordered them into a rice field and opened fire with rifles.

"First they shot my wife, who was marching in front with the other women. She screamed to me, 'Please run, they are killing me now'," he says. "I heard my son crying and then they fired again, killing him."

Chum Mey managed to escape into a nearby forest. The memory of that night still brings tears to the eyes of the 73-year-old former motor mechanic.

"When I sleep I still see their faces and every day I still think of them. What was the crime of my wife and my son? If I am guilty, kill me, but why did they do this to so many innocent people?"

Chum Mey is one of only nine people known to have survived imprisonment in Tuol Sleng, where more than 16,000 Cambodians were sent for execution. He is preparing to give evidence at the trial of surviving leaders of the Pol Pot regime.

Under a new agreement between the United Nations and Cambodian authorities, an international genocide tribunal is expected to begin hearings in Phnom Penh this year.

Those facing indictment include the regime's No. 2 leader, Nuon Chea, nominal head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and Kiang Khek Ieu, the ruthless commandant of Tuol Sleng known as "Duch". Pol Pot himself died in 1998.

Like many of those sent to Tuol Sleng, Chum Mey was accused of being a subversive and a foreign spy. "They accused me of being a member of the CIA and the KGB, but I was just a poor mechanic. I didn't even know what those letters meant," he says.

For the first 12 days and nights he was tortured and interrogated. He was beaten with bars, his toenails were ripped out with pliers and he was given electric shocks until he lost consciousness.

"I still don't know why they took me there but I quickly learned to give them the answers they wanted to hear. I told them I was a CIA spy and I gave them the names of 50 or 60 people who I had recruited. It was all made up."

Chum Mey was spared because of his skills in repairing machines.

Now he sees his survival as imposing a duty to help bring justice for his family and all the Cambodians who died under the Khmer Rouge.

"I am ready to be a witness. I think all the people who died during the Pol Pot regime and all the survivors want me to tell the world about what happened to them. If we don't have justice, this can happen again."

[2banana]

And remember, the first thing the Khmer Rouge did when they took power was to ban guns from the people.

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[Moonman62]

But Pol Pot was a Leftist who hated America, which is why we're reading about this in an Australian paper, not an American one.

That's kind of spooky how Chum Mey got to see his wife and child one last time.

[antiRepublicrat]

And remember, the first thing the Khmer Rouge did when they took power was to ban guns from the people.

Thanks, I didn't know that, but then it is the standard first step of any murderous government.

[Prodigal Son]

Paging Noam Chomsky. Mr Chomsky please pick up the phone.

[DCPatriot]

Why in the h*ll are these killers still alive?

Another piece of proof that a World Court would be a sham. Milosovic won an election while on trial for his life after two years?

Maybe genocide *is* a natural human condition in order to keep the long term peace. The evidence today surely suggests it.

Very sad. Malvo and Mohammed, the snipers should already be put to death. Keeping these types alive while appeal after appeal....I'm sick of it.

[Gunner9mm]

Wait a minute -- this can't be true! I always heard that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were harmless agrarian reformers! Just like Mao and Che! Gosh, now you have gone and burst my bubble!! Next you all will be trying to tell me that "Uncle Joe" Stalin was a murderous dictator who killed millions of his own people!

[geedee]

Those who haven't seen The Killing Fields should rent it from their video store. I knew squat about Cambodia in the 80's, and to be quite honest I don't profess to be an expert now, but this movie is a must for all those who think EVIL can be negotiated away.

Guess who finally ridded Cambodia of Pol Pot? I think you'll be surprised.

Drumroll please . . . Vietnam. After we left.

The rest of the world stood idly by while the Cambodian people were massacred and "de-modernized" back to caveman days.

Watch the movie. I think it came out in 1984 but it's still the most realistic and raw portrayal of how real-life evil is always, always worse than anything a Hollyweird writer could come up with.

[Moose4]

Amazing irony: The saviors of the Cambodians were the Communist North Vietnamese. Lesser of two evils, I guess.

Oh, but the Khmer Rouge were Communists too, so they weren't nearly as evil as, say, conservative Republicans.

}:-)4

[Aquinasfan]

Remember how the "Domino Theory" was mocked, and is still mocked by moronic liberals? Words fail.

[sergeantdave]

Remember, not one protest from the anti-war hippies against Pol Pot's terror. Not one.

The leaders of the anti-war movement are not liberals. They are communists and fascists who condon mass murder and torture to further their Marxist agenda. They would not hesitate to kill you and your family if they had the power.

[tbpiper]

Paging Noam Chomsky.

Ummm....Mr Chomsky is out to lunch....permanently.

[Prodigal Son]

I wonder how he can look himself in the mirror knowing he supported Pol Pot?

[DoctorMichael]

"....Another piece of proof that a World Court would be a sham..."

Indeed!

Where is 'The Hague'? Where are all those 'International Tribunals'? Where is the UN.......the grand protector of the 'Rights of Humanity'?

The remnants of the Khmer Rouge leadership are STILL alive and living in PROTECTED RETIREMENT as we speak.

Bump........For Great Justice.

[Monterrosa-24]

But remember, the Vietnamese motive came from the border war and not to liberate anybody. The Vietnamese killed enough of their own but could not compare to Pol Pot in numbers of those murdered. Who remembers the Hue masacre? The bad thing about THE KILLING FIELDS as a movie is that it left Sidney S. and the NY Times off the hook for predicting a better life for most Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge. It even alowed voice to the idiotic belief that American bombings and warmaking was responsible for the KR insanity. The movie ended with John Lennon's most regrettable song, IMAGINE. His lyrics went a long way in describing the Khmer Rouge but they still found plenty to kill for. But with all these negatives, the movie is still a great depiction of the fall of Cambodia.

[KantianBurke]

Two things to keep in mind. Haing Nor who played the lead Cambodian character was murdered in LA a few yrs back in mysterious circumstances. Another is that Sydney Schanberg, the American journalist who looks for Nor, is an idiot leftist who initially cheered on the Khmer Rouge.

[dfwgator]

The blood of 2 million Cambodians is on the hands of the anti-war protestors who wanted us out of IndoChina. Way to go guys.

[bray]

Our Vietnam Vets kept these people alive for an extra 10 years. The Khamer Rouge (Red Army) was a good friend of the Democrat Party up until the killing fields were exposed. The Rats are always with oppressors like Pol Pot, Mao, Lenin and Saddamn!

Pray for W and The Truth

[Ditto]

Jane says Pol Pot is her hero.