Baht is one of the moto(rcycle) drivers Ed and I had for a day trip around Battambang, a small town (but Cambodia’s second largest city) in Western Cambodia. Baht is about 38, though he looks no older than 25. While showing us around Wat Phnom Sampeau, site of one of the local killing fields in Khmer Rouge days, Baht shared with us some of his memories during the four years of brutal Khmer Rouge rule, 1975-1979.

Baht’s family was separated, he going to work in one of the children’s camps, his older sisters going to other camps, and his older brother in a third. Baht would often sneak away to his mother, but she was often out working in the rice fields. Because the Khmer (Cambodian) people were fed only a cup or two of watery rice per day, Baht and his cousin took some eggs from one of the temples that was being used as a barn. When the old monk in charge of the temple caught them and asked what they were doing, Baht and his cousin lied. Though the monk could tell they were lying, according to Baht, he just told them to quickly run away, which they did. (Under Khmer Rouge rule, monks were either killed or forced to disrobe and take on duties in the communities, as this one did, though apparently without losing his goodwill.)

Another time, Baht saw an old man who had been tied up, wearing nothing but shorts and left so the ants would bite him, a painful punishment especially for someone in an already weakened state. The old man called out to Baht, promising him bananas if he untied him, which Baht did, allowing the old man to run away. When the Khmer Rouge leader asked the children who had untied the old man, all the kids dutifully pointed to Baht. The leader, or teacher, as Baht called him, grabbed Baht and went on a search for the old man, saying, “if we don’t find him, I’ll kill you instead.” Fortunately for Baht they found the old man, who sadly was not so lucky.

At one point, Baht’s mother worked in the kitchen and so was able to sneak him some extra ears of corn which he ran away with to eat in secret. When he was caught with the corn, he was tied to a post and left there all day and overnight as an example to the other children. His mother came to find him in the morning and asked why he was being punished. The “teacher” berated Baht for “ruining the revolution” by stealing from Angka (the Khmer Rouge organization). Baht’s mother was unable to take the blame for giving her son corn because punishment for adults was far more severe than for children (she could have been killed). Fortunately Baht knew this and kept silent.

Baht’s older brother, who was about 17, died under the Khmer Rouge rule, supposedly by drowning. But, as Baht pointed out, learning about the death through hearsay leaves a certain amount of room for error.

After the Vietnamese brought about the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Baht was reunited with his mother and one sister. For many years it was just the three of them, his other sisters missing due either to the constant moving of people during the Khmer Rouge, malnutrition, or brutality. His mother cried every day for her lost daughters, leading to premature blindness, Baht says. One day, however, one of his sisters found them. This repeated itself several times over the next several years until the rest of his family, save his deceased brother, was reunited. (Because Baht’s family was originally from a village, which was regarded as a virtue under the Khmer Rouge, they fared much better than the city people, who were forced to leave the cities and work in the villages under harsher circumstances.)

Baht told his stories in a matter-of-fact manner, and often with a smile. As we were exiting one of the killing caves, Baht said that he is a Buddhist and because of this he is peaceful. However, he continued, if he ever saw his “teacher” again, he would kill him. Interestingly enough, this isn’t entirely far-fetched. Many of the Khmer Rouge cadres not only survived the regime (which killed many of its own people) but escaped punishment in the aftermath as well, leading to a half-formed peace today. More on this in a future blog…