Escaping the Khmer Rouge Read online

  Chileng Pa as a young man.

  Escaping the Khmer Rouge

  A Cambodian Memoir

  CHILENG PA

  with CAROL MORTLAND

  McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

  Jefferson, North Carolina

  Publisher’s note: This book was written over the years 1999 to 2005 in close collaboration between Chileng Pa and Carol Mortland. Chileng Pa died in April 2005 as the manuscript was being completed.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

  BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

  e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-2828-8

  ©2008 Carol A. Mortland. All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Cover photograph ©2007 Shutterstock

  McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

    Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

  www.mcfarlandpub.com

  Dedication by Chileng Pa

  (2004)

  This book is a simple strand of remembrance, a document from memory created for the young generations of Cambodians and others in this world. I write it to raise the awareness of a dark period in Cambodian history, when the dictatorial, strong arm of the Khmer Rouge ruled the country for three years, eight months, and twenty days. The rule brought nothing but tragedy to my fellow countrymen.

  I write this to honor the memory and spirit of all the innocent Cambodians who sacrificed their lives defending their nationality and the right to practice their religion. Among them are my wife Devi, my son Sokhanarith, and nine members of my wife’s family, my beloved grandmother Sophal Prong, my stepmother Neary, and more than two million other kind-hearted, peace-loving souls.

  I dedicate this book to their spirits.

  I dedicate this book also to my wife, Chan, my daughter Sokhary, and my son Sokchea, who allowed me to care for them, feed them, caress and love them in the life I was grateful to have after the horrors of Cambodia. I am grateful for the support and love they and the rest of my family gave to me and accepted from me in the United States. Thank you.

  Acknowledgments

  This book is my first experience at writing a book. I was filled with anxiety and fear when I started the actual writing. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Carol A. Mortland, who is my wonderful sponsor. She read my drafts and made corrections to them, and encouraged me when I felt depressed by my memories.

  I also want to express my appreciation to the friends who have helped with this writing while I was in prison. We were in a difficult situation, but they put aside their own concerns to assist me in finding the English words I needed to tell my story.

  Then, I would say thank you in advance to you, the reader, for your interest in finding out what happened in the country of Cambodia when it was governed by the Khmer Rouge regime, and what happened to me in my lifetime. Thank you for taking your time to read my true story.

  Most importantly, I must thank my wife, Chan, my daughter, my son, my brothers, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law for your constant love and support, no matter the circumstances of our lives. I thank my beloved friend and abbot of my temple, extended family, and friends and colleagues, both in Cambodia and America. You gave me life again after the Pol Pot years. You listened to me, argued with me, cared for me, loved me. I will never forget you.

  —Chileng Pa, 2004

  My gratitude goes first to Chileng Pa for telling his story to me and allowing me to finish it for him, and to his family, for permitting its publication. I thank Chileng’s family: Chan, the woman Chileng loved first and last; his daughter, Sokhary, and son, Sokchea; the brothers of his youth with whom he was joyously reunited in the refugee camp and who have remained his responsibility until they had to take responsibility for him after his illness, Meng, Mhang, and Leang; his wife’s sisters, Chandy and Chanthol, who continue to “rule” us all; his foster children; his brothers-in-law; and his brothers’ wives.

  I want to also thank Chileng’s American prison comrades and teachers who helped him write his story. These amazing people assisted him in writing and rewriting his story. I wish I knew your names. Thank you, for listening to him and honoring his story with your interest, advice, and knowledge.

  My thanks to those who assisted in this book’s creation. I thank the Cambodians who taught me about their history, culture, and lives and thus incurred my commitment to Cambodia’s stories. I thank my biological family for their strength and interest, my sister, Annette Gililland, and brother, Tom Mortland, who attended Chileng’s funeral ceremonies; and students, colleagues, friends, and family who reviewed the manuscript and made suggestions, including Drs. Linda Kosa-Postl and Caroline Hartse. I’m grateful to Dr. Chris Byrne for creating the map.

  As always, I thank my colleague, Dr. Judy Ledgerwood, for her knowledge, assistance, and friendship, and her husband, Un Kheang, for the same. Personally, without my family, how could I do anything?

  —Carol Mortland

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Preface by Carol Mortland

  Cast of Characters

  Chronology

  Introduction by Carol Mortland

  1. • My Good Life

  2. • Love at First Sight

  3. • Becoming an Adult in a Country at War

  4. • Serendipity and Separation

  5. • Hope and Heartbreak

  6. • “Liberation”

  7. • Bamboo Grave

  8. • A Poem for Grandmother

  9. • Witness to Death

  10. • The Worst Night of All

  11. • A Fearful Escape to Vietnam

  12. • A New Life in Cambodia, Thailand, and America

  13. • An Interruption to This Story

  Epilogue by Carol Mortland

  Glossary

  Suggested Reading

  List of Names and Terms

  Preface

  by Carol Mortland

  Chileng is not the real name of the man whose story follows, at least not the name by which he was known in America. In deference to the wishes of his wife and daughter and the privacy of his family, I have used pseudonyms to relay the story of my Cambodian brother to you. With the exception of myself and several historic and academic figures, I’ve used pseudonyms for those who have been part of his life.

  Using pseudonyms is curiously appropriate in writing about Chileng, for name changes have tracked his life. When he was born, he was given his family name, Pa, and was called Chileng after a type of gecko. Later, he was nicknamed “Leng” by his schoolmates.

  Living in the hell created by the Cambodian communists, he changed his name to Thy to conceal his identity as a soldier for the previous government. When he fled to Vietnam, he changed his name to Lam to prevent the Khmer Rouge from discovering his whereabouts and demanding his return.

  In the refugee camps, he learned of a potential sponsor living in the United States named Duong Sang. Hoping this man would become his sponsor and thinking his name was Song rather than Sang, Chileng changed his name to Samol Song so they would appear to be relatives. Duong Sang did, indeed, become his sponsor, so Chileng’s name in America became Samol Sang.

  Many years later, he became number 27490-086, to the astonishment of his family and community, not to mention his American friends and colleagues. In the end, Chileng wanted his book to be written under his birth name, Chileng Pa or, in the Cambodian manner, Pa Chileng, thus bringing his life full circle—at least symbolically.

  While pse
udonyms are appropriate for writing about Chileng, I regret their use.

  Pseudonyms shield the true honor I believe this story sheds on Chileng and his families: those lost in Cambodia and those alive in America. They reflect the ordinary and the extraordinary of human life, in both ordinary and extraordinary times. They were weak and strong, fragile and brash, thin and fat, poor and rich. Always, they loved one another and life, not in a sentimental manner but in a complex, enthusiastic, and vibrant way.

  I want to add another word about names and naming. When I was with Chileng, I was struck by Cambodians’ ubiquitous use of kinship terms. Not only in Chileng’s childhood community of Chinese Cambodians, many of whom were extended family, but in all of Cambodia, it is usual for people to address one another by kin terms. People the age of one’s grandparents are called by grandparent terms; people the age of one’s parents are called aunts and uncles; and those of one’s own generation by sibling terms. Thus, Chileng referred to many of his friends as “brother” or “sister.”

  Informally and intimately, the term people have used most often in addressing Chileng is bong, literally meaning “elder.” It was used first by his siblings, who added bro, calling him “elder brother,” then by his childhood mates for whom bong meant “friend.” Later, friends, colleagues, and fellow policemen and soldiers also called him bong. After his marriage, his wife used bong as a term of respect which Cambodian wives have traditionally used in addressing their husbands.

  This term of intimacy, respect, and affection became perversely transformed in the mouths of the Khmer Rouge to mean “comrade.” It may have had that meaning when they talked with one another, but when they used it to address their subjugated population, it held an antipodal meaning—antithetical to respect, the polar opposite of love.

  How ironic that the Khmer Rouge used the same terms of familiarity and affection with people they treated in the most brutal of ways. After typing the word bong repeatedly and imagining Chileng saying the word again and again to the Khmer Rouge, I often wondered that these words hadn’t lost their meaning. How could one use “brother,” “sister,” “uncle” repeatedly to people one hated and not have those words contaminated? How could one use the word bong with one’s brothers and friends and not remember having said the same word thousands of times to the detested Khmer Rouge? I asked Chileng once about this, but he couldn’t understand my question. Why couldn’t the same terms have such different meanings?

  When Chileng escaped Cambodia, he again heard the word in its traditional meaning. When he married Chan, bong regained its richness, its hue deepened by his in-laws and brothers. Chileng was now bong to an expanding circle of family and friends who depended on him. I was fortunate to be added to that company. Other than “father” and “baown,” the term he used to address his wife, bong was his favorite term of address.

  Cast of Characters

  Aimee Brel — professor at Chileng’s secondary school

  Ath — economic chief of Prayap village

  Bopha — female resident of Prayap village

  Bunthy — Chileng’s younger sister

  Chan — Chileng’s second wife

  Chandy — Chan’s eldest sister

  Chanthol — Chan’s second elder sister

  Chea — traveler met on evacuation out of Phnom Penh

  Cheng — Chan’s youngest brother

  Chileng Pa — Chileng’s birth name

  Chum — police lieutenant in Phnom Penh

  Chung — oxcart driver with whom Chileng lived for awhile

  Dara — Chileng’s friend in Phnom Penh and at the Police Academy

  Devi — Chileng’s first wife

  Duk — prisoner in Vietnamese border camp

  Duong Sang — Chileng’s namesake and sponsor in America

  Eng — captain at military headquarters in Phnom Penh

  Houng — Chan’s father

  Huot — Khmer Rouge canal worksite chief

  Kanika — Uncle Chung’s wife

  Kany — Chileng’s mother

  Keang Pa — Chileng’s father

  Khan — worker at the canal worksite

  Kim — Chileng’s mother-in-law, Devi’s mother

  Kosaul [Aul] — Chileng’s neighbor in Prayap

  Lam — Chileng’s alias in Vietnam

  Leang — Chileng’s youngest brother

  Leng — Chileng’s childhood nickname

  Lim — female resident of Prayap village

  Mari — childhood friend of Chileng and Chan

  Meng — Chileng’s first younger brother

  Mhang — Chileng’s second younger brother

  Monida — Khmer Rouge female guerrilla

  Monsieur Pa — Chileng’s childhood nickname

  Mutha — Khmer Rouge transportation leader for Prayap village

  Narin Lorn — captain with the Pailin sheriff’s department

  Navi — Chan’s mother

  Neary — Chileng’s stepmother

  Nep — Devi’s uncle, resident of Prayap village

  Nim — friend with whom Chileng escaped to Thailand

  Noch — Chileng’s friend in Phnom Penh and at the Police Academy

  Ong — Chileng’s father-in-law, Devi’s father

  Pheng — childhood friend of Chileng and Chan

  Pa — Chileng’s grandfather

  Pong — Khmer Rouge soldier —

  Proeung — Prayap villager

  Rann — Devi’s first younger brother

  Samnang — Devi’s second younger brother

  Samol Song — Chileng’s alias in America

  Saran Than — Chileng’s sponsor in America

  Sareth — friend with whom Chileng escaped to Thailand

  Sean — Khmer Rouge village leader of Prayap —

  Sina — drill sergeant at the Kompong Chhnang Police Academy

  Siphal — Devi’s young sister

  Sokchea — son of Chileng and Chan

  Sokhanarith — son of Chileng and Devi

  Sokhary — daughter of Chileng and Chan

  Sokhom — sergeant with the Pailin sheriff’s department

  Sokram — Chileng’s friend in Phnom Penh and at the Police Academy

  Sokun Pin — Chileng’s friend who worked at the American Embassy

  Sophal Prong — Chileng’s grandmother

  Sovong — Chileng’s friend on the canal site

  Tak — troop commander at the Kompong Chhnang Police Academy

  Thanh — Devi’s elder sister’s husband, an army captain

  Thol — a foreman at the canal site

  Thom — lieutenant friend from the 69th military supply brigade

  Thy — Chileng’s alias under the Khmer Rouge

  Ton — Chileng’s bicyclist mechanic boss in Prayap village

  Tuy — Khmer Rouge soldier

  Vibol — Devi’s third younger brother

  Visal — Khmer Rouge work leader in Prayap village

  Yann — lieutenant at the Kompong Chhnang Police Academy

  Chronology

  Around 7,000 years ago — First evidence of people living in northwest Cambodia

  802–1431 — Hindu-Buddhist Angkor kingdom flourishes in SE Asia

  1863 — France takes over Cambodia as a protectorate

  1920s — Chileng’s grandfather immigrates from China to Cambodia

  1941 — France installs Prince Norodom Sihanouk as king of Cambodia

  October 1950 — Chileng is born in Phnom Penh

  1953 — Cambodia wins independence from France and becomes the Kingdom of Cambodia under King Sihanouk

  1955 — Sihanouk abdicates to pursue a political career; his father becomes king and he becomes prime minister

  1958 — Chileng’s mother dies

  1966 — Chileng meets Chan at school

  1969 — With Vietnam War intensifying, the United States begins secret bombing of North Vietnamese troops in eastern Cambodia

  March 1970 — Lon Nol wrests power from
Sihanouk in a coup d’etat and establishes the Khmer Republic; the Cambodian communists, or Khmer Rouge, gain ground

  June 1970 — Chileng graduates from high school

  August 1972 — Chileng drops out of school to become a policeman

  Late 1973 — Chileng’s father dies

  February 1974 — Chileng marries Devi

  Early 1974 — Chileng joins the army

  January 1975 — Chileng’s son, Sokhanarith, is born

  April 1975 — Khmer Rouge overthrow Lon Nol and establish Democratic Kampuchea. In the next four years, they evacuate the cities, destroy the country’s infrastructure, turn the population into slave laborers, and cause the deaths of up to one-third of the people

  April 18, 1975 — Chileng and family evacuate Phnom Penh, heading south, then east on Highway One

  July 1975 — Chileng’s father-in-law is taken away by the Khmer Rouge

  — Chileng and family arrive in Prayap village in southeast Cambodia near the Vietnamese border

  Fall 1975 — Chileng joins bamboo-cutting crew

  Fall 1976 — Chileng’s grandmother dies

  Early 1977 — Chileng leaves Prayap to work at canal and levee worksite

  April 1977 — Wife and baby killed, Chileng escapes to Vietnam

  May 1977 — Chileng is transferred to Bon Teng Refugee Camp in Saigon

  July 1978 — Chileng is transferred to Long Anh Refugee Camp for military training

  December 1978 — Chileng is one of thousands of Cambodian soldiers attached to Vietnamese troops who invade Cambodia

  January 7, 1979 — Vietnamese troops take over Phnom Penh

  February 1979 — Chileng is demobilized

  — Vietnamese establish the People’s Republic of Kampuchea