Memoirs of a Former Khmer Rouge Leader
Khieu Samphan's Book Gains New Import Ahead of his War Crimes Trial
Mar 27, 2009
French-educated Samphan (born 1931) languishes in jail after his November 2007 arrest charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), or Khmer Rouge tribunal.
This has brought his 2004 book "Cambodia's Recent History and the Reasons Behind the Decisions I Made" back into the public eye.
It provides a rare inside glimpse into an infamous reign of terror. Up to 2 million Cambodians perished during the 1975-79 ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge Democratic Kampuchea regime. Victims have since poured forth with stories, but there has always been little from former leaders to answer the question 'how could this happen?'
Looking Behind the Author's Agenda
Samphan's translator and editor, the highly respected veteran Cambodian journalist Puy Kea, appeals in his blurb to readers to understand why he even dared to help write the book.
"I decided to write this book because I consider it part of a journalist's role to report news and information in a fair, balanced manner. In doing so I hope this book contributes to the efforts to strengthen Cambodian democracy," Puy Kea writes. "I … hope that this book proves to be a useful source of information for further study and debate."
Advocates of a trial of former leaders maintain the trial is an important step in preventing history repeating, so Puy Kea's arguments that the memoirs of one of the few surviving former leaders may help piece together history for those who suffered are poignant.
Cambodia, Colonialism and the Cold War
Samphan's arguments focus very much on the role of 19th and 20th century global politics in the rise of the Khmer Rouge, warning repeatedly against ignoring those factors if history is not to be repeated. He does not deny slaughter happened under the Khmer Rouge – just his personal involvement.
His views are not surprisingly backed by his longtime attorney, Jacques Verges, who authors the forward to the 156-page Cambodia-published work, which is available in Khmer, English and French.
Verges has been dubbed the Devil's Advocate for his defense of other notorious historical figures including Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and terrorist Carlos the Jackal. Verges has always maintained his choices are a backlash against colonialism and its unwillingness to take responsibility for the consequences of its own actions.
Was the Khmer Rouge a Frankenstein's Monster of Global Politics?
Critics have maintained that this book is no more than a very senior official of a terrible regime seeking absolution, but despite being penned with an obvious bias, it also, potentially, gives an extra dimension to understanding what drove people to do what the Khmer Rouge did.
Just as a memoir by a former Nazi or Bosnian leader would not count in their defense, Puy Kea's plea that it at least be observed as a valuable historical document seem valid, especially now media access to the elderly, ailing and incarcerated Samphan has been prohibited.
Can it shed light on what motivated humans to torture, starve, execute, deny medicine to and work to death up to a fifth of their own people? Do people shy away from reading the rare versions of history of people like Samphan because they do not want to confront the ghosts of their own histories or admit their own leaders of the last century should be accountable too?
The acts of the Khmer Rouge were undeniably inhuman. But whether or not Samphan is convicted in his imminent trial, the version offered by a man at the heart of one of the bloodiest regimes of the last century provides a supplement not only to scholars of the Khmer Rouge era, but also students of politics, history and ourselves.
"[I] myself, have not been able to find the answer yet," Samphan concludes his work.
Cambodia's Recent History and the Reasons Behind the Decisions I Made, author Khieu Samphan (with Puy Kea). Published 2004 by Ponleu Khmer Printing and Publishing House.
