The hated Khmer Rouge will have 14 of their sites preserved to increase tourism. One of the 14 sites is the home of the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, responsible for genocide against his own people The number of murdered citizens is staggering.
The Cambodian cabinet has approved protecting the sites from encroaching people who might do damage to the sites and lose the nation money in foreign exchange from tourism. Cambodia was known as Kampuchea for a time but is now back to the original name of Cambodia.
In the 1970′s, the Khmer Rouge regime had killed 1.7 millions of their people for no reason. Sometimes citizens, whose only crime were wearing glasses, which of course made them suspicious, were killed. The regime was toppled in 1979 but the Khmer Rouge rebels fought on for years.
Pol Pot, who died in 1998 will have his burial site included in the tourist sites. Roads are being built and improved, connecting the famous site of Angkor Wat to the Khmer Rouge era sites. This is part of the regrowth of Southeast Asia as a manufacturing, commercial and now a tourist center. Neighboring Vietnam has a stock exchange and this is part of the policy of integration into the world markets that Cambodia is ready to engage in.
I wonder, did the Nobel committee nominate Pot Pot for a peace prize?
Khmer people ain’t nobody. They fight their own people, they’re undeveloped (and they’re not trying to be developed), and they’re just just…unsuccessful and behind.
In response to sum1witproblems, first and foremost your obvious ignorance shines through in your screen name and comment. Maybe if you would get an education first, then you would be able to intelligently comment on things.
Khmer people had everthing until the american bomb our land and pol pot came out of hiding. Cambodia use to own vietnam and thailand so get your story straight.Watch it on youtube about khmer history
The country of cambodia is a beutiful place and I think more people nee to visit so they cane understand better what they are going through and how they are trying to better their country.
I just spent 2 1/2 weeks over their and saw a lot of thing getting better.
I think that they need to have something to remind them of what was so that them things don’t happend again. just like we have here in the US so we remember the thing that almost devided us.
Hey “Khmer”, as a cambodian girl, im ashamed of your comment. You are being ignorant and you, yourself, need to get the story straight? What do you mean America made pol pot come out of hiding? Yes Cambodia had much more land in the past and yes the Vietnamese and Thai did take over a large portion of that land but what is there to get straight? What exactly are you defending here? The fall of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge isn’t exactly the most studied topic in schools but everyone knows that it wasnt america to harm cambodian (they went in with the intention to help) it was the cambodian people fighting their own.
In response to Amy,
I think what “khmer” meant to say was that the U.S. military & the U.S. State Departments initial classified B-52 air bombings over the Cambodia countryside was used by the Khmer Rouge leadership as an excuse to recruit and cultivate anti-American sentiments. Most of the Cambodians in the countryside, especially farmers were not very educated about the conflict that was spilling across the border from South Vietnam, American intentions and the growing ranks of the Khmer Rouge. Much of the bombings indeed killed many Cambodian civilians (~100,000). Some were even miscalculated and towns & villages were annhiliated (i.e. Neak Lung). Much of this in addition to the mix of Khmer Rouge propaganda helped recruit many farmers and uneducated people into joining the communist movement. Without the U.S. bombings, the Khmer Rouge movement might not have gained as much momentum as it did during the early 1970′s. But I do agree with you, at the end it was Cambodians slaughtering their own people.