History & the Khmer Rouge: Anlong Veng, the tragic story of a once peaceful little village

lac Anlong Veng — Anlong Veng Lake. Photo DC-Cam

One of the missions of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is to promote education about the history of the Cambodian genocide. This project is one of DC-Cam's main activities. It is designed to promote healing, justice, reconciliation and democracy in Cambodia. One of the core textbooks for this project is entitled A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979). This textbook and its companion text, A History of the Anlong Veng Community, are the key texts in this genocide education programme.

The textbook A History of the Anlong Veng Community attempts to link the history ‘before’ and ‘after’ the Democratic Kampuchea regime (1975-1979) in order to provide a broader perspective on the events that led to this genocidal regime and on the history that followed, with a particular focus on the post-Kampuchea period with regard to the Anlong Veng community.

Small village

Until 1979, Anlong Veng was essentially a sleepy village with little historical significance. After 1979, and especially after 1989, when Vietnamese forces withdrew from Cambodia, the area surrounding Anlong Veng became an important stronghold of the Khmer Rouge. The village is located near the Dangrêk Mountains and the border between Cambodia and Thailand, two key factors in the Khmer Rouge's decision to establish military bases in the region. Anlong Veng was the movement's last stronghold and provides a ‘critical window’ into the movement's final days.

Democratic Kampuchea

As a reminder, the Khmer Rouge is the name given by the late Prince Sihanouk to the Cambodian communists. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) sought to implement a socialist revolution in Cambodia through a radical Maoist and Marxist-Leninist programme of transformation. After seizing power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge reorganised all aspects of society, beginning with the depopulation of urban centres.

Under the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime (the name given to the Kingdom of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge), many people were forcibly displaced from their homes to often remote locations in the countryside. This policy of forcibly moving people from one place to another caused incredible suffering and tension within communities.

In addition, money, free markets and private property were abolished. Religious and cultural practices were banned, and public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches and shops were closed or converted into prisons, re-education camps or other government-approved facilities. There was no public or private transport, and leisure activities were severely restricted. People were deprived of their basic human rights and were not allowed to leave the country. Families were broken up, labour camps were established, and society was collectivised. The Khmer Rouge believed that this radical programme would enable them to maximise agricultural production and achieve levels of efficiency and development that would otherwise be unattainable.

Utopia, failure and tragedy

The opposite happened, with large sections of the population dying of starvation, exhaustion or disease. In addition, to defend the Party against imaginary ‘internal and external enemies’ and to remedy the widespread failure of their radical policies, the Khmer Rouge implemented a security policy that targeted anyone associated with the former regime, intellectuals, wealthy individuals and anyone who appeared suspicious. People were arrested and often summarily executed or, in many cases, languished in prisons or re-education camps, where they suffered and eventually died.

The Khmer Rouge did not hesitate to use the most sadistic forms of torture to humiliate, break, dehumanise and destroy their alleged enemies. The regime also did not hesitate to apply its campaign of terror to all types of victims. Women, children and even the most committed members of the regime were subjected to torture and execution. Religious and ethnic minorities suffered, and the Khmer Rouge were particularly attentive to anyone of Vietnamese origin (or even simply non-Khmer).

Before the Khmer Rouge

Anlong Veng existed long before it became the last stronghold of the Cambodian communist movement. As early as 1907, French cartographers recognised the community when they established Cambodia's border with its northern neighbours. It is believed that, like other communities established along the Thai side of the border, Anlong Veng was colonised by Khmers who migrated from Upper Siam or what is now Sisakhet Province in Thailand.

In terms of administration, the region surrounding Anlong Veng has been back and forth between Cambodian and Thai control. Between 1941 and 1946, Anlong Veng was part of the Thai province of Plaek Phibunsongkhram. Thailand held what had been the Khmer provinces of Siem Reap and Battambang until 1946, when a border pact between France and Thailand guaranteed their return to Cambodia.

Since 1946, this region has been part of Cambodia. The French established a police station/border outpost along the border to guard against bandit attacks, which were a recurring problem in the region. Later, Anlong Veng's remoteness made it a relatively easy target for infiltration and occupation by the Khmer Rouge.

Under Khmer Rouge control

The Khmer Rouge occupied Anlong Veng in 1970 and, under their control, the inhabitants of Anlong Veng saw their traditional way of life change radically. The revolutionary ideologies of the Khmer Rouge forced the population to abandon their culture and community practices.

Life was difficult under the Khmer Rouge regime. There was not much food and people lived in suspicion. Anything could trigger mistrust. For example, one survivor recalls seeing people loaded onto a truck and taken to an execution site simply for taking too long to relieve themselves in the toilet or in a field.

The execution site in Kralanh is believed to be near a furnace in Phnom Trung Bat (Trung Bat Mountain). Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are thought to have been executed there.

For a time, under the Khmer Rouge regime, Anlong Veng was abandoned, with community members forced to settle in more remote agricultural areas. At the end of 1978, Vietnamese forces entered Democratic Kampuchea and, in January 1979, took Phnom Penh.

War zone

After the collapse of Democratic Kampuchea in early 1979, the inhabitants of Anlong Veng returned to their communities, but once again found themselves caught between military forces vying for their loyalty.

The remnants of the defeated Khmer Rouge forces took refuge in the Dangrêk Mountains, while joint Vietnamese and People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) forces occupied the Anlong Veng region.

From 1979 to 1989, the Khmer Rouge forces and those under their control lived either in Khmer Rouge military bases along the Cambodian-Thai border or in various refugee camps in Thailand.

The two main Khmer Rouge military bases affiliated with the Anlong Veng region were known as Mountain 1001 and Mountain 1003. For Cambodians who remained in the Dangrêk mountains or in Anlong Veng, life was difficult.

Fighting between Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces was frequent, and to defend the community, Khmer Rouge women and children were often employed in support activities such as setting traps, delivering food and supplies, or manufacturing weapons.

With the final withdrawal of Vietnamese forces in 1989, the Khmer Rouge went on the offensive and invaded a number of regions in Cambodia. At the end of 1989, Khmer Rouge forces from Mountain 1003, under the command of a mid-ranking military commander (Chhit Choeun), known as Ta Mok, launched an offensive to take Anlong Veng. The Khmer Rouge took the village in December 1989, and Ta Mok began organising a mass migration from the base camps to Anlong Veng.

The butcher

The community was very dependent on Ta Mok, even though he had a reputation for brutality. His troops were responsible for the massacre of civilians and Khmer Rouge cadres in the eastern part of Democratic Kampuchea, and he was described by some as ‘Ta Mok: The Butcher’.

Despite this reputation, Ta Mok was (and in many ways still is) a ‘revered’ protector of the community. Ta Mok spent a lot of time with the local population and implemented numerous construction projects.

With the support of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, the Cambodian government organised elections in 1993. These were boycotted by the Khmer Rouge. After the elections, foreign support for the Khmer Rouge largely disappeared and the communist movement, which had been in decline for years, was confined to a dwindling number of small enclaves.

The main leaders of the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot, Son Sen, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ta Mok) were increasingly at odds with each other and feared betrayal. On the evening of 9 June 1997, Pol Pot sent his commander Saroeun to execute Son Sen and his wife, who were staying in a house built by Ta Mok. Saroeun led a group of about twenty to thirty soldiers to Son Sen's house at around 11 p.m. They shot Son Sen and his wife, as well as his entire family. As soon as he was informed of Son Sen's death, Ta Mok ordered his forces to assemble, and an internal conflict broke out between the forces aligned with Ta Mok and those loyal to Pol Pot.

After five days of fighting, Pol Pot's forces surrendered and he, along with his generals and other leaders such as Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, were arrested. Some of the generals were placed in two iron cages that can still be seen today in Ta Mok's house by the lake.

Pol Pot was sentenced by a ‘people's court’ organised by the Khmer Rouge, which was more like a mock trial. This pseudo-trial consisted mainly of people reciting speeches condemning Pol Pot. In the end, Pol Pot was sentenced to life imprisonment under Ta Mok's administration.

The near end of the tyrants

In the period leading up to the 1993 general elections organised by the United Nations in Cambodia, many Khmer Rouge generals worked with government officials from the regimes of the People's Republic of Korea and the State of Cambodia. They established good relations, which facilitated negotiations for the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge forces in Anlong Veng.

Official integration ceremony in Anlong Veng in February 1999 (Source: Photo by Khun Ly/ Archives of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia)

The negotiations resulted in an agreement to leave Ta Mok's regime. When this agreement was revealed to him, fighting broke out between defectors and forces loyal to Ta Mok in March 1998.

The fighting continued for several months. It was during this fighting that Pol Pot, who was in poor health, died of a heart attack. Lacking oxygen and medicine, Ta Mok's troops were unable to treat him. During a strategic retreat, Pol Pot died in his bed on 15 April 1998, with his young wife and daughter at his side. He was cremated on a bed of car tyres two days later.

Over time, more and more of Ta Mok's soldiers defected and his troops became increasingly weak and demoralised. On 4 December 1998, the two sides reached an agreement for the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge and the definitive dissolution of all Khmer Rouge units.

On 9 February 1999, an official integration ceremony was held in Anlong Veng. Ta Mok was initially placed under house arrest, but he was eventually arrested and sent to a military prison in Phnom Penh, where he awaited trial. On 21 July 2006, he died at the age of 80. His body was transported to Anlong Veng, where a large funeral ceremony was held. A large stupa for Ta Mok was built in the Srah Chhouk pagoda.

In collaboration with the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism and the local community, DC-Cam has identified more than a dozen sites of historical or environmental significance. For a half-day excursion, visitors are encouraged to visit:

Ta Mok's house/museum; and Ta Mok's residence (central compound in the Dangrêk Mountains), which also houses the Anlong Veng Peace Centre.

Other sites of interest may include: the cremation site of Son Son and members of his family; the cremation site of Pol Pot; and Anlong Veng Lake.