ANGKOR and I

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22 Cambodia, and hence on two occasions I studied abroad in France, namely in 1974 and 1980. Cambodia under the Pol Pot Regime The year 1975 was a major turning point in modern Cambodian history. The Vietnam war ended with the withdrawal of US troops, the surrender of Saigon on April 30, and the victory of North Vietnam. As news of the liberation of Indochina spread around the world, there seemed to be no end to the Vietnamese refugees who sought to escape by boat from the country, with their clothes on. These were referred to as the ‘boat people.’ In Cambodia on the other hand the capital city of Phnom Penh fell on April 17, and “liberation forces” entered the city. These were in reality guerillas under Pol Pot, who were referred to as the “Khmer Rouge.” They promptly ordered the forcible dispatch of Phnom Penh citizens to rural areas, and the order was carried out the same day. Everything concerning the former system was viewed with hostility, and policies linked to the purging of intellectuals, abolition of currencies, breaking up of families, forced collectivization of agriculture, and so on, were sanctioned to the extreme. This may be viewed as the Cambodian version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, that was driven by Mao Zedong. Also, externally the nation was closed, conflicts such as border disputes with the former friendly nation Vietnam intensified, and the central government was eliminated. In due course, a military clash erupted between the two armies at the border of the Mekong Delta, and the Vietnamese, taking advantage of the situation, launched an invasion. In January 1979, the Pol Pot regime was ousted from the capital, and the Heng Samrin regime that was supported by Vietnam, came into being. It is reported that since 1975 over 1.5 million people were driven to die in Cambodia under the Pol Pot regime, due to factors such as forced migration, starvation, carnage