First They Killed My Father

The family arrives at the village of Ro Leap, their third move in the seven months since they were forced out of Phnom Penh. There is a town square where people wait for announcements and work assignments. When the family gets off the truck they are surrounded by villagers wearing black pants and red and white scarves, the familiar outfits of the Khmer Rouge. Someone shouts that capitalists should be killed and spits at Pa’s feet. Loung can’t understand why the villagers look at them so angrily when they are “very much the same.” She asks Pa what capitalists are, but he does not respond.

The five hundred original villagers of Ro Leap, called “base people,” are considered model citizens by the Khmer Rouge because they have not been “corrupted by the West” and supported the revolution. Kim explains to Loung that a capitalist is someone from the city, and that the Khmer Rouge view science and technology as evil. Things like electronics and cars allow the “urban rich to flaunt their wealth” and are also “contaminated” because they have been imported by foreign countries. Thus all such goods have been abolished; only trucks remain to relocate people and carry weapons to silence dissent.

That evening the chief arrives. He is Pa’s height and has sharp, coal-dark eyes. The chief tells the new arrivals that they must live by the strict regulations of the Angkar. Everyone must dress the same and wear the same hairstyles to avoid Western vanity. One by one a soldier dumps out each new family’s clothing. Loung watches in anguish as her beloved red dress, which Ma made her for New Years, is tossed on the pile. She cannot understand why the others seem to hate them. The soldier lights all the colorful clothes on fire as the chief says they will be issued a new set of black clothing every month.

The chief continues that all foreigners have been expelled, and everyone must be addressed as “Met” rather than “Mr.” or “sir.” Children must call their parents “Poh” and “Meh.” There will be no private property in the village, as everything belongs to the Angkar. People will be fed according to how hard they work, with the base people and soldiers monitoring for laziness or traitors. Schooling of any kind is not allowed. After this, Loung falls asleep. When she awakes she learns that a doctor, his wife, and their three children from Phnom Penh have committed suicide by swallowing poison.

Despite the professed equality of the Khmer Rouge, there are three “levels of citizenship.” First-class consists of the chief and Khmer soldiers, who make all village decisions and enforce the Angkar’s laws. The “base people” are largely free from oversight of the soldiers and do not have to work or eat with the new villagers. They are “bullies” who tell the new people what to do. Finally, the new people like Loung’s family who have been forced from cities are the lowest class. They have no freedom, are closely watched, and have the hardest workload. Within the lowest class are racial divisions, and as Chinese-Cambodians the Ungs must work harder to prove themselves valuable.

The family eats the communal dinner of rice and fish, but they are still hungry. Pa arranges for Kim to work as an errand boy at the chief’s house. The chief’s “boys” take a liking to Kim and often give him their leftover food to take home. It is clear from marks on his skin that they also abuse him, however, and Loung understands her ten-year-old brother’s sacrifice to help his family. Pa has grown extremely thin, and his eyes often linger on Kim’s bruises. Loung eats her food with shame.

There is almost no social interaction between villagers, as people fear others will find a reason to report them to the Angkar in exchange for more food, or in some instances to save their own lives. Loung works in the garden with her younger siblings, while her parents and older siblings toil in the rice fields for twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. The village is completely isolated from the outside world, with mail, radios, and newspapers banned. All news comes from the chief during meetings. The chief espouses the philosophy of the Angkar, saying it will bring about a perfect agrarian society free from Western influence. Soldiers patrol at night; if anyone is caught discussing politics their entire family disappears.

With women so overworked, few become pregnant. Those that do often miscarry, and most newborns die within days. Pa says the country will have a missing generation of children, and vows that Geak will not be the “Khmer Rouge’s next victim.” He works harder than anyone else, and the chief makes him leader of the new people. Despite the professed equality of “Democratic Kampuchea,” as the country is now called, the new people are treated like slaves and never have enough to eat. Those who steal food have their fingers cut off or are forced to work near minefields. Anyone who becomes disabled is killed, as they are useless to the “pure agrarian society.”

The Khmer Rouge also ban religion, fearing it will detract from people’s loyalty to the Angkar. They destroy religious sites including much of Angkor Wat, the enormous monument built in the ninth century by Khmer kings and one of the seven man-made wonders of the world. Loung remembers marveling at the sacred temples with Pa, who said it was where the gods live. The Khmer Rouge mutilate it with bullets and kill any monks who refuse to accept the Angkar. With the temple destroyed, Loung wonders “where the gods go.”