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\Majorlhay
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. P-Campo
A
Tempor.,y Campo
me tell you his long sad story of
bruta lity and death.
Q:
"Did anyone in your ex–
tended family die in Cambodia?"
A:
" Oh, maybe 45 of my family
died."
Q:
"How did they die?"
A:
"The soldiers of Poi Pot
killed them. They did not give any
rice for them. So they were very
sad and very hungry. One day
they died."
Q:
" After 1975, when Poi Pot
a ssumed power, what was it
like?"
A:
"After Poi Pot carne to
Phnom Penh, they carried me
away to Kampuchenan province.
So
1
worked very hard there-no
food to eat.
I
was very sad every
da
y."
Q :
"Did you work in the
!!:
e fields? "
i
A:
"Yes, in the fiéid planting
s
rice."
~
Q:
"What did the soldiers doto
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the people? What did you see?"
international aid workers here than
in the smaller Ban Kaeng. Shelters
provided for the refugees were also
much larger and better built than
those at Ban Kaeng.
"Pravena ran off to take photo–
graphs of the different areas of the
camp, Vinai began interviewing a
group of Cambodian men, 1 walked
down the central road of the camp to
find refugees who spoke either Thai
or English.
"I carne upon one section of the
camp with peop1e sitting on mats
spread over the ground and singing.
The song leader motioned for me to
come join them. 1 removed my shoes
and a space was made for me to sit
down near the front. The song leader
addressed me in limited English.
"He had been born in Kanda prov–
ince near Phnom Penh 30 years ago,
he said. His name was Naiem Sakun .
He was educated at an English–
language Christian school and pre–
vious to 1975, had worked for the
American Embassy in Phnom Penh.
He, along with his wife and seven
other members of his family, had
recently been able to escape from
Cambodia to find safety here in
Thailand." J questioned him about his
recent experiences in Cambodia. Let
26
A:
" 1 see the soldiers of Pol Pot in
the field where we plant rice.
T
see
them by my eyes. Every day they call
the people to go to the field. What
time do they call us to work? 3
o'clock in the morning. We work
until 12 noon. Come back, eat rice.
Two to three spoons per man. After
maybe 15 minutes to finish eating,
they call again, 'Go, go, in all the
provinces of our country, they are
planting much rice, but not here.'
lf
one doesn't go, sometimes they carry
him away into the mountains and kili
him by the. gun . And sometimes by
the stick and he will die.
"One day they tell me, 'You go to
thefield and plant rice.' 1go but l work
very slowly. 1am weak and not strong.
So tbey beat me. 1 líe down with blood
in my mouth. They kick my teeth . (He
showed me all the missing teeth in the
side of his mouth.)
J
prayed to them,
' My brothers, help me, please don't
beat me. ' So they got angry again and
beat me. 1could not get up. They carry
me and tie my hands to the bamboo
post. They didn ' t give me any rice to
eat. For three days
r
did not eat any
rice."
Q:
"How did you get here from
your home? Did you walk? ' '
A: " Yes, I walked with my family ."
Q:
"How long did it take? "
A:
"lt took maybe 10 days."
Q:
"What do you think about
Thailand helping Cambodian refu–
gees?"
A:
" 1 thank Thailand because they
help the people near their country."
Q:
" Did the soldiers of the Poi Pot
government know that you had worked
for the American Embassy?"
A:
"Poi Pot did not know."
Q:
"If
they knew you had worked
for the American Embassy, what
would they have done to you?"
A:
"They did not know."
Q:
"But what if they
knew,
what
would they have done?"
A:
"They would shoot you imme–
diately."
Q:
"Where do you want to go if
. you Jeave the refugee camp?"
A:
"1
want to study the Bible
because I am a Christian. 1 bate it
when 1 see the world people very
bad."
"1 thanked him for talking with
me. As 1 said gooq-bye and walked
away, sobered by what I had heard, l
pondered what it would be like if 1
were thrust into the same circum–
stances. Forced to work long hours in
the fields with little or no food, to see
my friends and family dying of star–
vation, to see the weak and helpless
shot and bludgeoned to death by
agents of a harsh and dreadful gov–
ernment. To Mr. Naiem Sakun, it
had been very real.
"While 1 had been interviewing
Sakun and other individuals who had
at one time been residents of Phnom
Penh, Vinai had been concentrating
on interviewing an entirely different
class of Cambodian, the average rice
farmer and laborer. The first person
he spoke with was Mr. Pot, a 70-
year-old man who in his youth had
been a soldier with King Sihanouk.
Mr. Pot was from the province of
Chiangkat and had lived through the
entire experience of the change of
Cambodia from a peaceful French
colonial, rice-producing country to
the Cambodia of today.
" Vinai began by asking about Mr.
Pot's family.
Q:
"How many children do you
have?"
A:
"Ten children, six of them have
been killed."
The
PLAIN TRUTH