No visit to Phnom Penh is complete without a visit to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. And for the uninitiated, a word of caution: Tuol Sleng is certainly no Disneyland. The museum (Former Khmer Rouge S-21 Prison) is made up of four nondescript school buildings. Each building was the actual site of unimaginable atrocities. The original tools/apparatus used by the Khmer Rouge regime to torture the prisoners are on display. So are the interrogation rooms and cells that housed these poor souls – their restless spirits still linger the desolate grounds… you could just feel their presence!
I planned to spend an hour at the museum, but ended up more than two hours there. And mind you, I am not a fan of gory movies or ghost stories. I am actually very faint hearted. The torture rooms and cells reeked of death, so I didn’t spend too much time in there. But at the gallery where thousands and thousands of mug shots of actual prisoners were on display, I couldn’t help but look at each and every one of them. While many looked afraid (and resigned to their fate), there were also many who smiled for the camera – obviously they were too innocent to know what was in store for them… and there were many children! My heart sank. How could they do such a thing? By taking away the children’s right to live as children! Their childhood robbed in broad daylight and their lives drowned in the mass graves at Choeung Ek.
For a tourist attraction, Tuol Sleng is unusually dead (pun unintended) silent. Visitors, even the noisy tourist-bus types, looked at the displays silently, almost all with a heavy heart and a perturbed look. Indeed, it’s hard to be unaffected by the sheer horror of the events that took place there. It’s that horrific!
As I left the museum, a middle-aged amputee approached me at the gate and asked for money. While I empathized with his predicament, I feel that one should not exploit the situation to gain something. And one should not exploit the many innocent children who need a roof over their heads, good education, healthcare and proper nutrition by promising them money in exchange for sex or slavery.
The ghosts of Tuol Sleng still haunt many in Cambodia today. And the legacy of Khmer Rouge continues to live on. While we can never erase the past, we can build a better and brighter future for Cambodian children… Do you care enough to help make this possible?
