An Analysis of Life and Death Under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia

This essay explores the horrific period of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which lasted from 1975 to 1979. The essay details the regime's efforts to establish a Marxist-Leninist and Maoist society, abolishing private property, money, and traditional culture. It highlights the extreme restrictions imposed on the Cambodian people, including limitations on movement, expression, and leisure activities. The Khmer Rouge's indifference to human life resulted in massacres and genocide, with an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people killed. The essay examines the miserable conditions of life and death under the regime, emphasizing the brutality and the devastating impact on the Cambodian population. The essay also includes a bibliography with sources used for the research.

Running head: WHAT WAS LIFE AND DEATH LIKE UNDER KHMER ROUGE
What Was Life and Death Like Under Khmer Rouge
The Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1WHAT WAS LIFE AND DEATH LIKE UNDER KHMER ROUGE
What was life and death liked under Khmer Rouge?
Answer:
The twentieth century has witnessed quite a few political leaders that ruled their
country by inflicting terror. The rule under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia is one such
example of past horrific deeds of the political groups. The horrific chapter of Cambodian
history has been closed recently, and still is a topic of several political and historic
discussions. The term Khmer Rouge was originated from French and used to denote the
minions of Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and later on, the Party of Democratic
Kampuchea1. The regime of the CPK began in 1975 and ended in 1979, and during this time,
the Khmer Rouge established policies to secure their power.
The Khmer Rouge strived to reform the society by creating a different social order
that was based on their Marxist-Leninist and Maoist idea of model peasant society, which did
not have class division or foreign influence2. They tried to establish this new system of
society by employing extreme and coercive methods. In order to achieve their goal of
autonomy, the Khmer Rouge abolished money, private property, clothing that had foreign
influence, free market, religious practices, normal schooling, and traditional culture3. Every
kind of religious institutional establishments, such as pagodas, churches and mosques, as well
as educational institutions like schools and universities were either shut down or turned into
re-education camps, prisons, granaries and stables.
1 "Khmer Rouge History". Cambodiatribunal.Org, 2018, http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-
history/khmer-rouge-history/. Accessed 3 Oct 2018.
2 Tyner, James, and Stian Rice. "Cambodia’s political economy of violence: Space, time, and genocide under
the Khmer Rouge, 1975–79." Genocide Studies International 10.1 (2016): 84-94.
3 Tyner, James A., and Stian Rice. "To live and let die: Food, famine, and administrative violence in Democratic
Kampuchea, 1975–1979." Political Geography 52 (2016): 47-56.

2WHAT WAS LIFE AND DEATH LIKE UNDER KHMER ROUGE
The Khmer Rouge went to such measures as to deprive the people of Cambodia of
their basic rights. Crossing the line of their cooperatives was forbidden and gathering to hold
any kind of discussions was not allowed. Under the regime of Khmer Rouge, there was
neither any private property, nor any kind of public or private facility of transportation. They
put on extreme restriction on the leisure activities and any kind of non-revolutionary
entertainment was banned. People were prohibited from any demonstration of affection, love,
humour, empathy, and pity. Instead, they were to consider the Angkar Padevat, the high-level
leaderships of Khmer Rouge, as their mother and father, and blindly believe, respect and
obey them.
Any gathering of minimum three people was considered to be for the purpose
conspiring against the party, and were accused of treachery and executed. They murdered
thousands of soldiers, civil and military officers from the Khmer Public regime, as they were
not qualified to join the revolution. During their regime, the Khmer Rouge imprisoned,
torture, and killed a number of citizens, minority people, intellectuals, and even their own
members by accusing them of disloyalty. Even the slightest disobedience was resulted into
deaths of thousands of people. They were ignorant of providing proper healthcare service and
medicine, which concluded into the death of several patients including children. The
purification of the urban people by forcing them to live in new villages was in other words
death sentence for them4.
The Khmer Rouge was indifferent about the human lives, and ruled with repression
that lead to massive massacres and genocide. The party murdered anyone whom they
perceived as a probable threat or challenge to their power, which lead to an estimated killing
of 1.5 to 3 millions of people that is almost 25% of the population of Cambodia. The lives
under the Khmer Rouge were as miserable as the deaths.
4 Hartmann, Shannon Colleen. Scripting Mass Atrocity: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Diss. 2018.

3WHAT WAS LIFE AND DEATH LIKE UNDER KHMER ROUGE
Bibliography
"Khmer Rouge History". Cambodiatribunal.Org, 2018,
http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/. Accessed
3 Oct 2018.
Hartmann, Shannon Colleen. Scripting Mass Atrocity: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge.
Diss. 2018.
Tyner, James A., and Stian Rice. "To live and let die: Food, famine, and administrative
violence in Democratic Kampuchea, 1975–1979." Political Geography 52 (2016): 47-56.
Tyner, James, and Stian Rice. "Cambodia’s political economy of violence: Space, time, and
genocide under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–79." Genocide Studies International 10.1 (2016):
84-94.