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Building the New Cambodia: Educational Destruction and Construction under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Thomas Clayton
Thomas Clayton*
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Extract

On 17 April 1975, the communist Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and established Democratic Kampuchea. Declaring an end to “over two thousand years of Cambodian history,” Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot announced a new beginning, referred to metaphorically by scholars of the period as the “Year Zero.” The “new Cambodia” lasted exactly three years, eight months, and twenty days, during which time the people of Cambodia were subjected to a cataclysmic social experiment as part of what one historian has termed “the world's most radical … revolution.”

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , Spring 1998 , pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by the History of Education Society 

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References

1 Cited by Chandler, David, A History of Cambodia, 2nd ed. (Boulder, 1993), 209.Google Scholar

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13 Refugee account cited by Chandler, Kiernan, and Lim, Muy Hong, Early Phases of Liberation, 9. Indeed, children were not spared. For refugee accounts of such incidents, see Quinn, Kenneth, “The Origins and Development of Radical Cambodian Communism” (Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1982).Google Scholar

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24 Cited by Twining, Charles, “The Economy,” in Cambodia 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death, 110. Quinn (“The Origins and Development,” 20) calls this speech, given on the 17th anniversary of the founding of the Cambodian Communist Party, the “single most important and revealing speech by any Khmer Rouge leader.” Google Scholar

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26 Khieu Samphan's Ph.D. dissertation (“L'Economie du Cambodge et ses Problèmes d'Industrialisation” [University of Paris, 1959]) was translated by Laura Summers and published as Samphan, Khieu, Cambodia's Economy and Industrial Development (Ithaca, 1979).Google Scholar

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28 In Explaining Cambodia: A Review Essay (Canberra, 1994), Serge Thion criticizes the tendency by scholars to connect Khieu Samphan's dissertation with Khmer Rouge policies, claiming that no reference is made to the dissertation in surviving Democratic Kampuchean documents. In spite of Thion's citation analysis, it seem entirely reasonable to me to interpret the Khmer Rouge's isolationism and dedication to self-sufficiency within the context of Khieu Samphan's concern about the hegemonic dynamics of the world capitalist system.Google Scholar

29 See note 4.Google Scholar

30 7 January 1979, “Liberation Day,” was celebrated as a national holiday in the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989) and the State of Cambodia (1989–1993).Google Scholar

31 See, respectively, Whitaker, Donald, Area Handbook for the Khmer Republic (Cambodia) (Washington, 1973), 114; Duvieusart, B. and Ughetto, R., République Khmère: Project de Restructuration du Système d'Education (Paris, 1973), 19; Watts, Kenneth, Draper, Charles, Elder, David, Harrison, John, Higaki, Yoichi, and Salle, Jean-Claude, Kampuchea Needs Assessment Study (Phnom Penh, 1989), 152–153.Google Scholar

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34 In fact, schools were closed as early as 1971 in territory which the Khmer Rouge had “liberated” from government forces. See Quinn, Kenneth, “Political Change in Wartime: The Khmer Krahom Revolution in Southern Cambodia,” Naval War College Review (Spring, 1976): 3–31. For other discussions of pre-1975 Khmer Rouge policies in liberated territory, see Sarin, Ith, “Nine Months with the Maquis,” and “Life in the Bureaus of the Khmer Rouge,” in Communist Party Power in Kampuchea (Cambodia): Documents and Discussion, ed. Timothy Carney (Ithaca, 1976), 34–55; Thion, Serge, “Cambodia 1972: Within the Khmer Rouge,” in Watching Cambodia (Bangkok, 1993), 1–19.Google Scholar

35 Kiernan, , The Pol Pot Regime. For a discussion, see Ayres, , “Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.” Google Scholar

36 Pol Pot's remarks to visiting Yugoslavian journalists in March 1978, cited by Mysliwiec, , Punishing the Poor, 7.Google Scholar

37 On the destruction of school buildings, see Hirschhorn, Norbert, Haviland, Lyndon, and Salvo, Joseph, Critical Needs Assessment in Cambodia: The Humanitarian Issues (Washington, 1991); Ol, Ek Sam, “The Situation of Higher and Technical Education”; Cambodian Ministry of Education, Education: State of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, 1990). On book burning, see Barron, John and Paul, Anthony, Peace with Horror (London, 1977); my interview with Seng Lim Neou, Vice Minister of Health, State of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, 15 July 1992). On the destruction of educational equipment, see my interviews with Chan Nareth, Vice Director, Chamcar Duang Agricultural Institute (Phnom Penh, 23 July 1992); Seng Lim Neou; Om Nhieu Sarak, Director, Khmer-Soviet Friendship Higher Technical Institute (Phnom Penh, 17 June 1992).Google Scholar

38 Barron, and Paul, , Peace with Horror. Google Scholar

39 My interview with Sarak, Om Nhieu.Google Scholar

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41 My interview with Om Nhieu Sarak, Director of the Institute in 1992. The Director described the Institute during the Khmer Rouge regime as a prison, not an educational facility.Google Scholar

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46 Cambodian Ministry of Education, Education: State of Cambodia, 4. The State of Cambodia succeeded the People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1989. While the leadership of the two governments was essentially the same, the name change signaled the beginning of a move toward a multi-party political system and a free-market economy.Google Scholar

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48 Unidentified “Soviet sources,” cited by Ross, Russell, Cambodia: A Country Study (Washington, 1987), 128.Google Scholar

49 Cited by Unesco, , Inter-Sectoral Basic Needs Assessment Mission to Cambodia (Bangkok, 1991), 18.Google Scholar

50 My interview with Sarak, Om Nhieu.Google Scholar

51 See, for example, Ablin, David, Foreign Language Policy in Cambodian Government: Questions of Sovereignty, Manpower Training, and Development Assistance (Phnom Penh, 1991); Galasso, Elisabetta, Education in Cambodia: Notes and Suggestions (Phnom Penh, 1990); Kaminski, James, “Marxist Educational Theory: Reflections on Cambodia,” The Australian Journal of Education 29 (no. 1, 1985): 17–35; Ross, , Cambodia: A Country Study, UNESCO, Inter-Sectoral Basic Needs Assessment Mission; UNICEF, Cambodia: The Situation of Women and Children (Phnom Penh, 1989).Google Scholar

52 My interviews with, respectively, Iv Thong, Director, Economics Institute (Phnom Penh, 19 June 1992); Sahan, Kea, Undersecretary of State for Education, Kingdom of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, 14 July 1994). Michael Vickery (Cambodia: 1915–1982) refers to the tendency of scholars and Cambodians to relate only the negate aspects of the Khmer Rouge regime as the “Standard Total View.” David Ayres (“Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge”) applies this concept specifically to the field of education. Both scholars argue that Democratic Kampuchea was characterized by wide regional and temporal variations in terms of violence and destruction.Google Scholar

53 See Chandler, Kiernan, and Boua, Chanthou, Pol Pot Plans the Future. Google Scholar

54 9 April 1976 Khmer Rouge radio broadcast by Khieu Samphan, cited by Ponchaud, , Cambodia Year Zero, 122; Vickery, , Cambodia, 1975–1982, 171.Google Scholar

55 For discussions of primary education based on refugee accounts, see Ayres, , “Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge”; Gyallay-Pap, Peter, “Reclaiming a Shattered Past: Education for the Displaced Khmer in Thailand,” Journal of Refugee Studies 2 (no. 2, 1989): 257–275; Kiernan, , The Pol Pot Regime; Quinlan, Orla, “Education Reform in Cambodia” (Master's thesis, University of London, 1992); Stuart-Fox, and Bunheang, Ung, The Murderous Revolution; Vickery, , Cambodia, 1915–1982. Google Scholar

56 “Prehminary Explanation Before Reading the [1976 Four-Year] Plan,” in Chandler, Kiernan, and Boua, Chanthou, Pol Pot Plans the Future, 159.Google Scholar

57 Refugee accounts cited by Burgler, Roel, The Eyes of the Pineapple: Revolutionary Intellectuals and Terror in Democratic Kampuchea (Saarbrücken, 1990); Gyallay-Pap, , “Reclaiming a Shattered Past”; Quinlan, , “Education Reform in Cambodia”; Vickery, , Cambodia, 1975–1982. Google Scholar

58 Kiernan, , “The Survival of Cambodia's Ethnic Minorities”; Kiernan, and Boua, Chanthou, Peasants and Politics. Curiously, the 1976 Four-Year Plan calls for the organization of “printing in foreign languages, especially English, starting from mid-1977 onwards” (“The Party's Four-Year Plan,” 114). As there is ample evidence that bi- or multilingualism was severely discouraged for the Cambodian population at large, it is likely that English language skills were intended to support the international publication of government statements.Google Scholar

59 “Preliminary Explanation Before Reading the [1976 Four-Year] Plan,” in Chandler, , Kiernan, , and Boua, Chanthou, Pol Pot Plans the Future, 159.Google Scholar

60 Personal communication with Ayres, David (September, 1996). According to Ayres, these texts are among the archives of the Tuol Sleng Documentation Center in Phnom Penh.Google Scholar

61 My interview with Sahan, Kea; Vickery, , Cambodia, 1915–1982. Google Scholar

62 Vickery, , Cambodia, 1915–1982, 171.Google Scholar

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64 “The Party's Four-Year Plan,” 113.Google Scholar

65 “Preliminary Explanation Before Reading the [1976 Four-Year] Plan,” 160.Google Scholar

66 Gyallay-Pap, , “Reclaiming a Shattered Past,” 260; also see Ayres, , “Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge”; Stuart-Fox, and Ung, Bunheang, The Murderous Revolution. Google Scholar

67 For the full texts of these and other revolutionary songs used in Democratic Kampuchean education, see Chandler, Kiernan, and Lim, Muy Hong, Early Phases of Liberation. Google Scholar

68 “Preliminary Explanation Before Reading the [1976 Four-Year] Plan,” 160. Several scholars argue that Cambodia was following the lead of the People's Republic of China in terms of the integration of work and education (Ayres, , “Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge”; Jackson, , “The Ideology of Total Revolution”; Quinn, Kenneth, “Explaining the Terror,” in Cambodia 1915–1918: Rendezvous with Death, 215–240). It should be noted, however, that work played an important role in education throughout the socialist world; see Carnoy, Martin and Samoff, Joel, Education and Social Transition in the Third World (Princeton, 1990).Google Scholar

69 “The Party's Four-Year Plan,” 113.Google Scholar

70 Cited by Curtis, , Cambodia, 132.Google Scholar

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72 “The Party's Four-Year Plan.” Google Scholar

73 Vickery, , Cambodia, 1975–1982, 172; the Institute is described by Gyallay-Pap (“Reclaiming a Shattered Past,” 260), as a “low-level technical college.” Without citing her sources, Marie Martin (Cambodia) states that there were two technical schools in Phnom Penh.Google Scholar

74 Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple. Google Scholar

75 Jackson, , “The Ideology of Total Revolution,” 76.Google Scholar

76 Vickery, , Cambodia, 1915–1982. Google Scholar

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80 Cited by Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple, 83.Google Scholar

81 Footnote to the translation of “30 March 1976 Decisions of the Central Committee on a Variety of Questions,” in Chandler, Kiernan, and Boua, Chanthou, Pol Pot Plans the Future. Indeed, it is difficult to understand why a regime as dedicated to self-sufficiency and independence as the Khmer Rouge would send students overseas. Though they did maintain diplomatic relations with China and North Korea and did accept assistance from these countries (see Kiernan, , The Pol Pot Regime ; Chandler, , Brother Number One ; Heder, Stephen, “The Kampuchean-Vietnamese Conflict,” in The Third Indochina Conflict, ed. David Elliott [Boulder, 1981]: 21–67), the Khmer Rouge perceived all forms of international aid as threatening to Cambodian sovereignty. In his dissertation, for instance, Khieu Samphan had argued that international assistance, including educational assistance, had the effect of drawing recipient countries into the economic spheres of influence of donor countries (Samphan, Khieu, Cambodia's Economy and Industrial Development). Khmer Rouge planners similarly cautioned against international aid in the Four-Year Plan, stating that “without feil” such assistance would be accompanied by the imposition of “political conditions” (“The Party's Four-Year Plan,” 47). It may be that the Khmer Rouge, forced to choose between independent nondevelopment and development with the possibility of external conditions, were willing to gamble with their sovereignty in order to gain certain technical knowledge, including that related to gunpowder and petroleum production.Google Scholar

82 For discussions, see Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple; Kiljunen, , Kampuchea. Google Scholar

83 Account given by Cambodian refugee Peang Sophi, cited by Chandler, Kiernan, and Lim, Muy Hong, Early Phases of Liberation, 11.Google Scholar

84 Sophi, Peang, cited by Chandler, Kiernan, and Lim, Muy Hong, Early Phases of Liberation, 11; emphases in the original.Google Scholar

85 2 June 1976 Khmer Rouge radio broadcast cited by Ponchaud, , Cambodia Year Zero, 99. Political meetings were referred to as “miting,” a loan word from the Vietnamese “mittinh” (Chandler, Kiernan, and Lim, Muy Hong, Early Phases of Liberation). Chandler, Kiernan, and Muy Hong Lim comment that such borrowing was “[i]ronic…for a regime that ha[d] so ruthlessly pruned foreign words from its vocabulary” (Early Phases of Liberation, 10). Highlighting the significance of the changes that the Khmer Rouge sought for Cambodian society, linguistically and otherwise, Ponchaud (Cambodia Year Zero) explains that the use of words such as “miting” and “fasciste” was made necessary because there were no equivalents in Khmer for these concepts.Google Scholar

86 Carney, , “The Organization of Power,” 87.Google Scholar

87 Carney, , “The Organization of Power,” 87.Google Scholar

88 Picq, Lawrence, Beyond the Horizon: Five Years with the Khmer Rouge (New York, 1989), 37. Lawrence Picq was the only Westerner to live through the Khmer Rouge regime.Google Scholar

89 Picq, , Beyond the Horizon, 37. On the basis of similarities between developments in Democratic Kampuchea and the Chinese Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Quinn (“The Origins and Development”) argues convincingly that the Khmer Rouge were ideologically indebted to Mao.Google Scholar

90 Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple, 84.Google Scholar

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92 Kiernan, , The Pol Pot Regime.Google Scholar

93 Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple, 84; Vickery, , Cambodia, 1915–1982. Google Scholar

94 Jackson, , “The Ideology of Total Revolution,” 78.Google Scholar

95 There is at least some similarity between reeducation in Democratic Kampuchea and that in Vietnam after 1975; see e.g., Terziani, Tiziano, Giai Phong! The Fall and Liberation of Saigon (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

96 For other examples, see quotes from Khmer Rouge documents in this article; Khmer Rouge documents collected by Chandler, Kiernan, and Chanthou Boua in Pol Pot Plans the Future; and Khmer Rouge radio broadcasts, a number of which are included in Jackson, , “The Ideology of Total Revolution,” and Ponchaud, , Cambodia Year Zero. Google Scholar

97 Burgler, , The Eyes of the Pineapple, 83; Carney, , “The Organization of Power,” 88.Google Scholar

98 Ol, Ek Sam, “The Situation of Higher and Technical Education,” 2.Google Scholar

99 Service d'Information du FUNSK, Front d'Union Nationale pour le Salut du Kampuchea (Zone Libérée du Kampuchea, 1979), 14.Google Scholar

100 Service d'Information du FUNSK, Front d'Union Nationale, 14–15. For a detailed examination of education and social change in Cambodia in the 1980s, see Clayton, , Education and Language-in-Education. Google Scholar