Country life the perfect mask for old Khmer Rouge
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By Ek Madra
PAILIN, Cambodia, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Hidden deep in the Cambodian jungle, far
away from prying eyes, two top Khmer Rouge leaders quietly propagate the
peasant utopia their bloody Marxist revolution so dramatically failed to
create.
Unperturbed by international efforts to bring the masterminds of the "killing
fields" to justice, 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea and ex-president Khieu
Samphan now enjoy a quiet existence in wooden cottages tucked away in the
forest.
Were he alive today, Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's ultra-Maoist leader who tried
to turn Cambodia into a totally agrarian, peasant society, would have approved
of their rural simplicity.
For relatives of the 1.7 million who died from torture, execution, starvation
or disease during Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror in the 1970s, the sight
of the two guerrilla leaders enjoying such freedom is harder to stomach.
As ordinary Cambodians struggle with the poverty, broken families and moral
bankruptcy left by the genocide, the ageing duo lead lives remarkable only for
their normality.
In so doing, they also keep the Khmer Rouge's peasant dream alive.
"I'm very happy living here. I have no complaints. I am just content living
with my family," Khieu Samphan, 71, told Reuters in the sitting room of his
house, built in traditional Khmer fashion on wooden stilts.
The urbane, French-educated intellectual was once a key negotiator with the
United Nations efforts to get the guerrillas to lay down their arms and take
part in the 1993 elections which marked the beginning of the end of Cambodia's
30-year war.
Now a grey-haired old man in plain white shirt and bare feet, he appears to
have more mundane concerns.
"I am sorry I can't talk longer because it's nearly lunchtime and I have to fix
the electric cooker for my wife," he said when approached by a Reuters
correspondent.
FLOWER POWER
Once guarded by AK-47s, landmines and battle-hardened troops in their former
guerrilla stronghold in western Cambodia, the pair are now protected only by a
handful of young faithful in grubby combat-fatigues and neat rows of carefully
tended flowers.
But behind the simplicity lies a sinister and clear message -- the peasant
beliefs of the Khmer Rouge are alive and kicking.
"The concept of the Khmer Rouge hasn't died. They are still active, they still
have their cadres, they are still a threat to society," said Youk Chhang, head
of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which is meticulously archiving the
regime's atrocities.
"It's a matter of ideology for them. They were the leaders and they chose that
way of life. Their mentality hasn't changed a bit. A leopard never changes its
spots."
The significance of their love of flowers and gardening -- an uncommon pastime
in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia -- is not lost on many, mainly sympathetic, locals
of Pailin.
"Why do they plant flowers?" asked one former Khmer Rouge soldier who now
drives a motor-taxi. "Surely it is them trying to demonstrate their innocence."
Certainly, the pair seem unfazed by noises from the United Nations about
possibly restarting the five-year long talks with Phnom Penh, broken off in
February, to establish a genocide tribunal.
"I don't think about the trial and I don't know what they will do. I'm the same
as usual -- I don't think about the past," 77-year-old Nuon Chea told the
Cambodia Daily newspaper recently.
Widely believed to be the chief instigator of the mass killings, the Khmer
Rouge's chief ideologue is now kept alive by regular trips to expensive Thai
hospitals. Despite this, his wife is quick to emphasise the simple side of his
life.
"My husband and I both love gardening although he can't walk so well these days
and has to use a stick. But when we see all the flowers in the garden it makes
us so happy," Ly Kimseng, 67, told Reuters, politely declining an interview
with her spouse.
OPEN WOUND
For millions of ordinary Cambodians, the sight of the former Khmer Rouge
leaders living a life of freedom and ease remains an open wound in society,
demonstrating the failure of any attempts to end the southeast Asian nation's
endemic culture of impunity.
Of the other surviving Khmer Rouge big fish, only "The Butcher" Ta Mok and
"Duch," head of Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison are in jail awaiting
trial for their alleged role in the atrocities.
Ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary, always regarded as the "money man" of the
movement, now lives in the luxury of a Phnom Penh villa -- seemingly unmindful
of the rural ideology and under the aegis of an amnesty granted in return for
his defection to government ranks. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen is himself
a former middle ranking Khmer Rouge officer.
"They feel protected by the government. Every day they live in freedom is
another day of victory for the Khmer Rouge," Youk Chhang said.
10/07/02 21:42 ET
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