Vaddey Ratner basically writes about a
young child Raami - the daughter of a minor Cambodian prince - and her family's
sufferings during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
Although the book is a fiction, Raami's ordeal was, I understand, in most
respects the author's. It is one of the most heart-rending books that I have
read. I have read the book Killing Fields and watched its movie, but Ratner's
is certainly more touching.
I first visited Cambodia in 1995 and was
taken to see one of the regime's former torture chambers. Skulls were piled up and pictures
of the victims were displayed for one to see. The impact was not as profound as
the book is having on me now. The author made feel as if I was there to witness
the cruelty of the regime with my own eyes! Loved ones died one by one, as a
result of the regime's callous and misplaced Utopian ideology, and in spite of
the race's Buddhist spiritual foundations over the centuries. A very powerful book indeed!
Her writing was superb, but it is not
what I want to say here. I have never thought much of the atrocities that Khmer
Rouge had inflicted on their own people. I had always be a little leftist or
socialistic all my life. Since the Khmer Rouge victory was basically a
peasant-driven initiative, and the fact that it had the support of China and
ASEAN then, I thought they were the legitimate party to rule Cambodia. How
wrong had I been!
Unfortunately, you are still seeing similar sad scenes being rolled out in West Asia today.
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