| |
 |
|
|
Photo 1 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP (left): A puddle in a pit that was once a mass grave reflects the image of a tourist walking by the memorial stupa that has been built in honour of the 1.7 million to 2 million Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 2 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
JUNGLE NO MORE: Even in the last jungle holdout of the Khmer Rouge, capitalism has swept away its ultra-communist ideology. Anlong Veng, a thriving market town today, is teeming with handsome houses being built and is now a magnet for migrants from all over Cambodia eager to cash in on the 'killing fields tourism' appeal of the border town. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 3 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
TORTURE CHAMBER: A room in S-21 prison where 'enemies of the revolution' were tortured. When the Khmer Rouge fell to Vietnamese troops in early 1979, prisoners' bloodied corpses were found chained to beds like the one above. Shackles and ammunition boxes were near them, the latter filled with urine and faeces. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 4 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Children's heads were smashed against this tree at the Choeung Ek killing field. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 5 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Fighting for a cause: former Khmer Rouge soldier Sieng Pich, 70, said he joined the movement to bring Prince Saihanouk back to the throne and for 'a society where every one is the same'. Now, he laments 'we fought all our lives for the Khmer Rouge and the leaders have nothing for us.' -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 6 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Young Cambodians like high school student Eng Rithy, 17, (middle) sometimes only "50 per cent believe" the Khmer Rouge stories that their parents and grandparents tell them. More than half of Cambodia's population today were born after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the stories of hunger and torture they hear from their parents and grandparents are difficult to believe. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 7 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
New tech, old stories: for more than half of Cambodia's population today were born after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the stories of hunger and torture they hear from their parents and grandparents are difficult to believe. Here, on a 'genocide education tour', a high school student makes notes in front of a painting by S-21 survivor Van Nath at an exhibition at the prison which is now a museum. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 8 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Eerie landscape of loss: dead trees stand in a reservoir the late Khmer Rouge military commander Ta Mok built in the middle of Anlong Veng where he is favourably remembered as having brought roads and schools to the local community. The ultra-communist ideology that the Khmer Rouge pushed to its extreme has long been junked even here in their last jungle holdout which is now a thriving market town. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 9 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Still my hero: Former Khmer Rouge soldier Keo Khan, 49, still lights incense and remove weeds from the shabby grave of Pol Pot, whom he still calls "Ta Thom" (big grandfather in Khmer). -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 10 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Waiting for justice: The Khmer Rouge tribunal will be a turning point in Cambodia's history, says Mr Youk Chhang, director of non-profit group Documentation Center of Cambodia which has provided the court more than 80 per cent of its evidence against the senior leaders it has charged. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 11 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
A bone juts out of the earth near an oval crater that had once been a mass grave at the Choeung Ek killing fields -- a lychee orchard before the Khmer Rouge used it as a venue for executing up to 300 prisoners a day. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 12 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
Children, ignorant about where the stacks of bones and skulls come from, have no fear of the Khmer Rouge horrors. They play in the stupa and sometimes even 'wear' the skulls on their heads and chase each other around. All the remains as a reminder of Sang Prison near Trapeang Sva village is this memorial built by a local monk in 1999, stacked with skulls and bones inside. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 13 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
FROM AMONG THE BONES: The only reminder of Sang Prison near Trapeang Sva village is a memorial built by a local monk in 1999, stacked with skulls and bones inside. The teacher training college that was converted into a prison, where 10,000 are thought to have died, has been torn down. Its grounds now house a government facility. The killing field 1km east of the prison is now a mango plantation. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
Photo 14 of 14 |
|
| |
View all thumbnails |
|
|
MAN WITH A PAST: Mr Chuon Chhon (above left), 43, an ex-security guard at the local Kuk Sang or Sang Prison, still lives in the adjacent village of Trapeang Sva. It is unclear what his role in the prison was, he was cited by an ex-prisoner in oral history records as the head prison guard. -- ST PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN
|
|
|
|
