Cambodia’s history isn’t pretty. You don’t get to change it.
There have been many periods in human history that we would like to erase from our collective memories. The Holocaust, the Dark Ages, the World Wars, and many more atrocities did damage to the human race in ways that we still feel to this day. The scars of these times can be seen in the loss of knowledge and the ongoing racism and nationalism we have seen throughout the years.
As horrible as it all may seem, though, that doesn’t mean that we get to erase that history or change aspects about it to make us feel better.
One of the most brutal times in recent history was in Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. In a span of four years, 1975 to 1979, over 1.7 million people were killed through executions, starvation, and forced labor. This amounted to about a quarter of the country’s population at the time.
Pol Pot, the head of the Khmer Rouge, and his committee of generals and ministers drove people from the cities and forced them into agrarian life, destroying as much of modern Cambodian society they could at the time. One such move was to turn schools into detention centers, where prisoners were interrogated and often executed, including what is probably the most famous of all, Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh.
The former high school, also known as S-21, was the scene of over 14,000 deaths during the Khmer Rouge regime and stands today as a museum to the atrocities that occurred there. The interior walls of the building are covered with pictures of the victims that were taken when they arrived. It’s recognition of the lives and humanity that was lost there.
I lived in Cambodia for a year, very recently. I lived down the street from Tuol Sleng; I could see the buildings and high walls from my bedroom window. I would pass it when I walked down to the convenience store or sat across the street, barely an arm’s length away, while I waited for takeout. I never dared enter, knowing what happened there, but I was always aware of its importance and place in the minds of the Khmer people.
Very recently, Vice published an article that included colorized versions of pictures from Tuol Sleng. These pictures are the last remnants that many families have of loved ones that were lost during the savage Khmer Rouge regime. Their lives may have ended inside those cold walls, but their memories and place in history are kept alive by their families and those photos.
Unfortunately, the addition of color was not the only change to some of the images found in the Vice story. The artist, who’s name I refuse to mention here, colorized the pictures and also added smiles to some of the victims’ faces. Instead of the serious expression of someone who was faced with reality that they may never leave that place, we see the fraudulent smile imposed on by someone who is attempting to whitewash history.
To say that this act is appalling is as severe an understatement that could possibly be had. It is a direct slap in the face to the people of Cambodia and the families of the victims. I am not Khmer, but I am shocked and horrified that someone would think that this would ever be seen as appropriate.
It’s easy to think that Khmers are indifferent or dismissive of this part of their history. You won’t find many who talk about it at length or who visit Tuol Sleng. They go about their days, almost seemingly unburdened by the history of their country.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
They are fully aware of that history every time a bus of tourists unload out front of the museum and file in, cameras clicking away. They are reminded when they get into tuk tuks with advertisements for tours of the Killing Fields.
Most of all, they are reminded when they go back to the provinces for Pchum Ben or Khmer New Year. The missing members of their families are the strongest reminders of their people’s history and the atrocity that occurred there only decades ago. They may not show it, but they remember.
I only spent a short time in Cambodia, but I met some of the most resilient people in the world there. People whose families had been tortured and killed, but who still managed to smile. People whose dark history looms over them every day, but take the time to enjoy their times with friends and have a drink. People who face the struggles of a developing nation, but are determined to make better lives for themselves.
Those people deserve more respect than they received from an artist who tried to change history because it made him feel better. Changing aspects of history because it makes you uncomfortable is a disservice to the past and the future. Vice has since removed the images and the story, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was written and published in the first place.
I can only speak as someone who misses my short time in Cambodia. Context is important for history, and not everyone will be as lucky as I am to have called the streets of Phnom Penh home. Altering the past is a quick way to forget it, and I hope I never lose the memories of my time in the Kingdom of Wonder.
