Pol Pot

by Philip Short

  341 ‘Not what I expected’. . . monkhood: Becker, Wlten the War, pp. 424–5; In Sopheap, interview. See Martin Stuart-Fox, Buddhist Kingdom, Marxist State, White Lotus, Bangkok, 1996, p. 80, for the importance of the monks’ ceremonial fans in neighbouring Laos. ‘In the entire world’: ‘Long Live the Marvellous Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea’, Tung Padevat, Aug. 1975.

  341–2 Island of purity . . . learns from us: Pol Pot, Report, p. 188;’ Extraits de quelques textes du Bureau 870’, Doc. 32(N422)/T83i8,VA. Although Pol himself never publicly criticised China in these terms, in a speech to a closed Party meeting in August 1976 he paraphrased Mao’s remark to him the previous summer—that China was ‘a capitalist country with no capitalists’—asserting that China and North Korea ‘have socialism as a base, but they [are] not clear of the capitalist framework’ (Four-Year Plan, p. 107). Such views explain why Pol’s tribute to Mao during his visit to China in September 1977 was not re-broadcast by Radio Phnom Penh (Chandler, Seeing Red, p. 45).

  342 Not using money . . . victory: ‘Extraits de quelques textes du Bureau 870’, supra; Henri Locard, untitled typescript, p. 11; Chandler, Facing, p. 231. ‘Growing capability’: David Morell and Chai-anan Samudavanija, ‘Thailand’s Revolutionary Insurgency: Changes in Leadership Potential’, Asian Survey, vol. 19, no. 4, Apr. 1979, p. 332.

  343 ‘Without precedent’: Ieng Sary, Der Spiegel interview, May 2 1977. We do not have . . . any book: Pol Pot, Yugoslav interview; Four-Year Plan, pp. 46 and 49. ‘We want to . . .practical way’: Ieng Sary, Der Spiegel interview, supra; News from Kampuchea, vol. i, no. 4, Oct. 1977, p. 35. ‘Certain [foreign] comrades’: Pol Pot, Talk with Khamtan. He may well have been thinking of members of Khamtan’s own party. David Chandler quotes Thai Communists as saying of the Khmers Rouges: ‘Their understanding of Marxism, of socialism and class analysis was terrible’; ‘[Theirs] was the revolution of the downtrodden, pure and simple’ (Tragedy, p. 280).

  345 Inveigh against: Revolutionary Youths, July 1976, pp. 17–31 and Nov. 1976, pp. 1—15.

  347 Ieng Sary . . . sutras for her: Thion, Pattern, pp. 158–9; Becker, Wlien the War, p. 171; Nikán, interview. Thiounn Thioeunn (interview) gave a scathing assessment of the medical qualifications of Sary’s daughters. Suddenly our driver: Sihanouk, Prisonnier, p. 263. Mother-in-law: This is guesswork, but Madame Khieu fits Sihanouk’s description (see Ong Thong Hoeung, Récit, p. 3), the one difference being that she was then in her late seventies, rather than her sixties, as the Prince thought. Sihanouk insisted that the mysterious passenger was not Khieu Ponnary, whom he knew by sight, and it is difficult to think of anyone else who would have warranted such exceptional treatment.

  348 Detailed reports: ‘Report of the Eastern Zone Congress, July 17 1977’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8294,VA, which speaks of the dangers of’people starving and suffering, and losing confidence in the Party’. See also the regular telegrams on the economic situation in the regions in the ‘Khmer Rouge Communications File’, DC-Cam. By mid-1976, food supplies were deteriorating even in the Foreign Ministry in Phnom Penh. At the end of the year Laurence Picq and other Ministry workers were suffering from oedema caused by malnutrition (Picq, Horizon, pp. 67—8, 78 and 84).

  350 Our principle . . . agents’: ‘Minutes of meeting between Ieng Sary and Chinese Ambassador’, undated but apparently early 1976, Doc. 32(N422).T8188,VA. We must heighten: ‘Directive No. 32 of the Party Standing Committee of the Eastern Zone’, Sept. 5 1976, Doc. 2.5.06 in De Nike et al., pp. 385–6. The timing is important. Pol had said in late July: ‘We don’t use old workers, because if we [did] there would be many complications politically’ (Four-Year Plan, p. 47). But that had been the position since late 1975. The Central Committee directive on which the Eastern Zone document was based—extending the prohibition to intellectuals—was presumably issued in the last days of August or the very beginning of September. Ong Thong Hoeung and at least thirty colleagues were sent to the factories at precisely that moment and withdrawn a month later. Is the possession . . . learn it fast: Tung Padevat, Sept-Oct. 1976, pp. 1–32; Pol Pot, Talk with Khamtan; Preliminary Explanation, p. 160.

  352 Between a third and a half: Although there is no way of proving it, I tend to agree with Michael Vickery that between a half and two-thirds of the population were, at least in relative terms, reasonably fed until 1978 (Themes, p. 131).

  354 Soth: Minutes of the CPK Standing Committee meeting, Mar. 8 1976, Dossier D684, DC-Cam.

  354–5 At the end . . . Long killed: Hu Nim, confession, May 28 1977, in Chandler et al., Pol Pot Plans, pp. 289 and 293–6.

  355 Evidence emerged: Hu Nim, confession, May 28 1977, in Chandler et al., Pol Pot Plans, p. 295. Doeun, in his confession, insisted that he did pass on the information to Pol Pot, but without making clear how quickly he did so. At about 4 a.m. . . . Vietnam: This account is based on Long Nârin, interview, and Kiernan, Regime, pp. 321–3. While I do not agree with Kiernan’s interpretation, he provides a useful summary of the known facts.

  356 In public: See Nuon Chea, letter to Pham Hung, May 23 1976, quoted in Kampuchea Dossier, vol. 1, pp. 130–1.

  357 But there were . . . lackeys or not: ‘Talk between Ieng Sary and Sunao Sonoda, Foreign Minister of Japan, in Tokyo, June 12 1978’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8297,VA. Kiernan gives an account of the negotiations which is much more sympathetic to Vietnam (Regime, pp. 115–20), based on his interpretation of the minutes of the CPK Standing Committee, May 14 1976. ‘Sacred feeling’: Pol Pot, Tran Thanh Xuan interview. Zhang Chunqiao: These details were furnished by a Chinese historian who wishes to remain anonymous.

  357–8 In it, he used . . . servants: Pol Pot,’Keynote opinions of the Comrade delegate of the Party Organisation at the [Western] Zone Assembly’, Tung Padevat, June 1976, pp. 14–65.

  358 S-21: The following account draws on Chandler, Voices, and on Deuch, interview with Nate Thayer, Battambang, April 1999. First time: According to Ney Sarann (confession, Sept. 30 1976), Chhouk joined the CC at the CPK’s Fourth Congress in January 1976. Pol’s former cook: Moeun, interview. Rule of thumb: Suong Sikoeun, interview; Picq, typescript, p. 222.

  359 Shortly afterwards . . . destroy us: Dossiers L01373, Aug. 2, L01374, Aug. 3 and L01442, Sept. 2 1976, DC-Cam; and Pol Pot, Preliminary Explanation (Aug. 23 1976), p. 161. Tracts . . . those we suspect: Dossier L01445, Sept. 9 1976. According to Son Sen, seditious pamphlets were discovered on at least five occasions that year, in April, June, July and August/September.

  360–1 There is a sickness: Pol Pot, Report, pp. 183–5.

  362 Resignation: BBC SWB FE5323/B/1. Pol’s resignation, announced by Radio Phnom Penh on Sept. 27, was backdated to the 20th, the day of Ney Sarann’s arrest. It was allegedly approved by a cabinet meeting that day, but whether in fact such a meeting ever took place is unclear. Twenty years later, neither Nuon Chea nor Mok had any recollection of these events (interviews with Nate Thayer). Ieng Sary, however, did remember, which, as David Chandler has noted, tends to confirm that it was linked to a foreign policy issue (Brother, p. 180 n.44). Had Pol really been ill—or had it been an internal manoeuvre to turn the tables on political opponents—the last thing he would have done would be to have the news broadcast by Radio Phnom Penh. November 1976: The following account is drawn from Phi Phuon (interview), who named the members of Pol’s delegation and his interlocutors identically in separate conversations, several months apart. Pich Chheang confirmed that the visit took place, but was unable to remember the details (interview). The delegation stayed at Diaoyutai, a well-guarded walled estate, west of the Forbidden City, containing villas for high-level visitors.

  363 Relationship . . . reliable: Pol Pot, Study Session, p. 172, and Report, p. 191. Before . . . lackey: Dossier L01500, Oct. 9 1976, DC-Cam.

  364 Algeria: The existence of such centres, long a taboo subject in France, was discussed in a series of articles in Le Monde in 2001, and in television documentaries broadcast by Antenne 2 and the Franco-German ch
annel ARTE. Both were told . . . torture and death: See Hinton, Why?, pp. 95 and 113–15; and Rithy Pann’s film, S-21: La Machine de Mort Khmère Rouge, transmitted by ARTE on June 2 2003.

  365 Baignoire: Peter Scholl-Latour, Death in the Ricefields, St Martin’s Press, New York, 1981, p. 32. In a civilized: Bunchan Mol, Charek Khmer, pp. 177–82. ‘Conquer-or-be-conquered’: Thun Saray, quoted in Prasso, p. 20. See also Mabbett and Chandler, Khmers, pp. 160—1.

  366 ‘In the ancient kingdom’: Criddle and Butt Mam, Destroy, p. 213. ‘Had I been arrested’: Deuch, interview. Bread: Picq, typescript, pp. 188–90.

  367 John Dewhirst: ‘Details of my course at the Annexe CIA college in Loughborough, England’, Dossier D1444, Sept. 5 1978, DC-Cam.

  369 Soon afterwards . . . into our ranks: Becker, When the War, p. 236;Vickery, Themes, p. 117. Khieu Thirith remembered the visit as being in mid-1976. I suspect it was later —probably in November or early December. Pol alluded to her findings so clearly in his speech of Dec. 20 that one may reasonably deduce he had only recently been made aware of them. ‘Hidden enemies’: Pol Pot, Report, p. 207. ‘Lackeys . . . swept away’: ‘Resolution of the Eastern Zone Congress, July 17 1977’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8294,VA. See also Kiernan, Eastern Zone Massacres, pp. 16, 27, 37, 48, 51 and 88; and Kiernan, Chickens, pp. 185 et seq.

  370 ‘Authority to smash’: Minutes of the CPK Standing Committee, Mar. 30 1976, Dossier D693, DC-Cam. Pon: Untitled 1978 notebook with entries by Pon and Tuy, DC-Cam. Inmates . . . into a pit: Interview with an S-21 guard in Rithy Pann’s film, S21: La Machine de Mort Khmère Rouge, supra.

  370–1 We stopped . . . black and shrunken: Haing Ngor, Odyssey, pp. 217–18 and 222–3.

  371 Antechamber: Picq, typescript, pp. 217,230 and 238.

  373 ‘Bristly dog gambit’: Douglas Pike, testimony before the US Congress House Committee on International Relations, Oct. 4 1978, cited in Ablin and Hood, Agony, p. xl.

  375 On the 24th . . . serious injuries: MTI correspondent Gyori Sandor, quoted in Chanda, Brother Enemy, p. 194; Pham Van Dong, ‘Interview by Vietnam News Agency’, undated but January 1978, JCA, vol. 8, p. 263. ‘Deep gratitude’: Pham Van Dong, ibid, p. 268.

  376 The nature . . . vigilant: This account of the talks between Pol and Hua is taken from Doc. 32(N442)/T8300,VA.

  377 Kim II Sung . . . victories as our own: ‘Talks with Pol Pot, Ieng Sary and Vorn Vet, Pyongyang, Oct. 5 and 6 1977’. Doc. 32(N442)/T8307, VA; BBC SWB FE5633/A3/2.

  378 Crowed victory: See Pol Pot’s speech of Jan. 17 (SWB FE5717/A3/2), where he speaks of’a monumental victory . . . [which] may be compared to the great victory of April 17 1975’.

  380 ‘We have to gather’: Pol Pot, Abbreviated Lesson, p. 224.

  381 How do we gather: ‘Pay attention to pushing ahead with the work of building the forces of the Party and the collectivity and make them strong and stronger’, in Tung Padevat, Mar. 1978, pp. 37–53. Personality cult: Vann Nath, Portrait, pp. 42–82 and 86; Testimony of Ung Pech, in De Nike et al., p. 81. Marxist-Leninist groups: Details of these and similar visits are recorded in BBC SWB FE, passim.

  383 ‘We have ceased’: Pol Pot, Yugoslav interview.

  384 Our slogans . . .grip on power’: ‘Réunion particulière du Comité Central du Parti du 22 Janvier 1978’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8302,VA.

  385–6 But the worst. . .profoundly hostile: By far the best account of So Phim’s fate, and the terrors wrought afterwards on the population in the East, is given in Kiernan, Regime, pp. 392–416, from which the following is largely drawn. The only point on which I take issue with him is the claim that, in the final days, Phim wished to seek help from the Vietnamese. This rests mainly on a 1992 statement by Heng Samrin, who by then had long since thrown in his lot with Hanoi and therefore had his own interests to defend. Samrin s claim is all the harder to swallow because, until the late summer of 1978, he was himself on record as holding strong anti-Vietnamese views (see Heder, Pol Pot to Pen Sovann, p. 25).

  386 So many thousands . . . in that way: Deuch, interview with Nate Thayer; see also Vann Nath, Portrait, pp. 79–81.

  387 60 per cent: ‘Excerpts from the Meeting of 870, August 5 1978’, in De Nike et al., p. 412. Khmer psyche: In Sopheap commented: ‘To Europeans, his arguments may sound far-fetched, but for Khmers they made sense . . . In emotional terms, Pol Pot knew exactly how to speak in order to touch Khmer hearts’ (interview).

  388 On September 28 . . . own choosing: This account of Sihanouk’s reappearance and the events leading up to it is taken mainly from Prisonnier, pp. 209, 212–17 and 259_93. On his isolation from April 1976 to September 1977, see pp. 125–45, 168 and 174–5; and Schier, Sihanouk, pp. 21–2. Deng Yingchao: Norodom Sihanouk’s unpublished ‘Memoirs’ quoted by Julio A.Jeldres in ‘China’s Growing Influence in Cambodia’, Africana: rivisti de studi extraeuropei, no. 8, Pisa, 2002, p. 8.

  388–9 Last ten days . . . he did not: Pich Chheang and Moeun, interviews. The date of Pol’s speech marking the CPK’s 18th anniversary is given as Sept. 19 in Doc. 32(N422)/T83i8, VA. For the broadcast version, see SWB FE/5930/C/1–6 and FE/5931/C/1—13. On Sept. 29, Pol received the Chinese Ambassador, Sun Hao, in Phnom Penh (SWB FE/5933/A3/12), and on Oct. 2 he attended a Standing Committee meeting (Doc. 32(N422)/T83i8, supra). Puzzlingly, neither he nor Nuon Chea was present at the Sept. 30 National Day reception at the Chinese Embassy, but this may have been for other, unconnected reasons. If the Sept. 19 date is correct, it suggests that he was in Beijing from the 20th or 21st until about the 28th. However, it is also possible that the visit took place in early October.

  389–90 Pol explained . . . into the jungle: ‘870 to 12’, Jan. 20 1979, Doc. 32(N442)/T7293,VA.

  390 ‘If we carry out . . . weak spots’: ‘Réunion particuliére du Comité Central du Parti du 22 Janvier 1978’, supra. I have cited these excerpts here since in practice they were not implemented earlier. ‘Vietnamese stink’: ‘The National Duties of All of Us’, Tung Padevat, ]uly 1978, pp. 1–3.

  391 In his speech . . . deleted: Picq, typescript, pp. 340–1.

  392 ‘May run wild’: BBC SWB FE5962/A3/2–5. On November . . . seventh: The only known details of the Fifth Congress are contained in a cadre’s notebook, of which a partial translation exists in the VA (Doc. 32(N442)/T8389).A note by the Vietnamese editor, presumably based on an untranslated section, suggests that the notebook may have belonged to Ieng Sary.

  394 That night.. . man in the baseball cap: This account is taken from Becker, When the War, pp. 427–9; Dudman, St Louis Post Despatch, Jan. 15 1979; and Phi Phuon, interview. Significantly, Phi Phuon’s account was consistent with those of Becker and Dudman on all important details. At 4 a.m. . . . Beijing: Phi Phuon, interview. Pol had ordered: This was the version given to me by British diplomats in Beijing in February 1979.

  395–6 On Christmas Day . . . in shreds: Unless otherwise specified, this account of the invasion relies on Chanda, Brother Enemy, pp. 341–3.

  396—7 Pol met Sihanouk . . . running water: Sihanouk, Prisonnier, pp. 316–20.

  397 He had spoken . . . short period of time: Pol Pot, recorded appeal to the Cambodian people, broadcast at dawn on Jan. 5, local time, BBC SWB FE6009/A3/1–3. Chinese knew differently: Yun Shui, Diplomats, pp. 499–501.

  398 Son Sen left the city: Phi Phuon, interview. Set out at dawn: Ibid., Khieu Samphán, interview. David Chandler, relying on Y Phandara’s memoir, describes two helicopters passing over Phnom Penh that morning,’carrying Pol Pot and his close associates to exile in Thailand’. Sadly—the image is so evocative one wishes it were true—reality was more prosaic. According to Mey Mak (interview), who headed the civilian sector at Pochentong Airport, one helicopter left the military sector of the airport on the evening of Jan. 6, but it was never established who was in it. Two of the remaining helicopters were apparently flown out by their pilots on their own initiative the following morning (ibid.; and Ong Thong Hoeung, Récit, p. 164), but most remained on the ground and were captured by the
Vietnamese, along with the rest of the Democratic Kampuchean air force. Special train: Long Visalo, interview, and Y Phandara (Retour, pp. 179—89) both say they saw Ieng Sary aboard the train. He himself claims to have travelled to Battambang by road with Khieu Samphân (Maben interview), but Samphân has denied this (interview).

  399–400 Did we have . . . simply rumours: Mey Mak, interview.

  400Prisoners . . . occupation forces: An American, Michael Deeds, was among the last to be interrogated atTuol Sleng. His final confession was dated Jan. 5 1979 (Cambodia Daily, Apr. 15—16 2000). See also Deuch, interview with Nate Thayer. ‘On your own’: Kân, interview.

  401 ‘Band of cretins’: Ong Thong Hoeung, Récit, p. 163.

  CHAPTER TWELVE: UTOPIA DISBOUND

  402 To Pol’s relief . . . had embarked: Nikán, interview; In Sopheap, interview; Henry Kamm, Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land, Arcade, New York, 1998, pp. 153—6. Dressing-down: In Sopheap, ibid.

  402–3 But most of the discussion . . . help persuade him: The following account is drawn mainly from the summary of Ieng Sary’s meeting with Deng and Geng Biao on Jan. 13 in Doc. 32(N422)/T 10.622, supra.

  403 That same evening . . . Pol Pot: Sihanouk, Prisonnier, pp. 342–5 and 365–71. See also Chanda, Brother Enemy, pp. 363–9; and the summary of Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua’s meeting with Ieng Sary on Jan. 15 in Doc. 32(N422)/Tio.622, supra.

  404 The problem . . . do nothing: Doc. 32(N422)/Tio.622, supra.

  405 Geng found . . . authorised: Ibid. Lee Kwan Yew also noted that Kriangsak was ‘prone to worrying, especially over the fall-out from Cambodia’ (Third World to First, p. 297). He proposed . . . merchants in Bangkok: This account combines Geng’s report of Kriangsak’s remarks with additional details of their talks provided by Han Nianlong to Ieng Sary at their meeting on Jan. 18.

  406 On February 1 . . . was ignored: ‘Report of the Conference on Feb. 1 and 2,1979’ in Doc. 32(N442)/T724,VA.