Patriot, Lucky Spirit, Villain: Pol Pot Remembered

ANLONG VENG, Cambodia — Twenty years ago on April 15, Pol Pot, the leader of one of the 20th century’s most radical and murderous regimes that resulted in the death of around 2 million Cambodians, died while under house arrest here in the jungles of Anlong Veng.

The circumstances of the Khmer Rouge leader’s death have always been murky, with some suspecting he was poisoned or took an overdose upon hearing his former comrades were to hand him over to an international tribunal. Ta Mok, the notorious warlord who had Pol Pot arrested in the ultra-communists’ final stronghold in 1997, insisted that he had died of a heart attack.

Days later, his decomposing body was burned on a bed of tires.

To the vast majority of Cambodians and the international community, Pol Pot’s death consigned the Khmer Rouge’s “Brother Number One” to the annals of history as one of the most infamous dictators of the 20th century, alongside the likes of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mao Zedong.

But that view isn’t as popular here in Anlong Veng.

The final remnants of the Khmer Rouge — the radical communists who unleashed a reign of terror upon Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, leading to around a quarter of the population dying of starvation, illness, overwork, or murder — controlled this region on the Thai border until late 1998.

While residents settled into a quiet life after Khmer Rouge soldiers changed into government fatigues during highly orchestrated “integration ceremonies” almost two decades ago, many have retained fond memories of the movement’s leader.

“I admired his patriotism. I don’t know why people think he’s bad,” said a former Khmer Rouge soldier who was part of the 1998 “reintegration” and requested he be identified by the name “Chea.”

“I saw Pol Pot twice from afar but I also participated in a gathering where Pol Pot gave speeches telling people to work hard and continue to struggle. His words were firm but he always had a smile on his face,” said the former child soldier while nervously dragging on a cigarette.

“He talked about enemies, especially that the Vietnamese were invaders. I liked him.”

So Khen, a 44-year-old carpenter who lost his left leg in a mine blast in 1994 after being drafted into the Khmer Rouge ranks as a teenager, recalled the day he heard Pol Pot had passed.

“When I first heard, I didn’t believe it but the commander told me it was possible because he was fragile. When I heard the news I was sad; I regret losing Pol Pot,” Khen said sitting outside his house on the outskirts of town.

“I also feel empathy because he was the leader of the Khmer Rouge but he just died in a small hut. Until this day I still think highly of him.”

Khen admits that he lost some trust in Pol Pot after he ordered the brutal slaying of former Khmer Rouge Defense Minister Son Sen and his family in 1997, which resulted in Ta Mok ordering his arrest. But Khen refused to accept that the movement’s leader was responsible for the huge numbers of deaths of his fellow countrymen in the 1970s. In a similar narrative to that peddled by Pol Pot’s deputy Nuon Chea at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Khen blamed the killings on lower level officials straying from the party line.

“I have doubts about why so many people died. In my opinion, I think it was lower level Khmer Rouge or leaders who were behind this. I never trusted Son Sen; I think it might have been his doing,” he said.