The Editor

There has been quite a bit of coverage about the Khmer Rouge

in the Phnom Penh Post lately. In fact, the coverage given the

Khmer Rouge has been going on for many years as some people now reflect on the

20th anniversary of the fall of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I feel the KR is

getting too much publicity and this has probably helped fuel their existence

today.

The KR is still a sore and a nightmare in the heart and mind of

every Khmer, especially those who survived their reign then and even now. To

mention them is to inflict even more painful memories that make the heart ache.

It has been over 16 years since they were ousted from power, yet they are still

a force to be reckoned with. They still inflict death and suffering on innocent

Khmer whose only wish is to be left alone.

When will this madness end?

When will they stop killing innocent people and destroying Cambodia? Until

Cambodia is annexed by Vietnam or Thailand? Most likely. At the rate that they

are going, it may well happen within my life time.

The KR claim they are

"nationalists, patriots and anti-foreigner," in particular against the

Vietnamese. Everyone knows the patriot line is a lie. They are very good at

lying and cheating people. How many foreigners or Vietnamese have they killed

since their conception in the 70s? Very few, in comparison to the destruction

and killing of the Khmer, their own kind, with the assistance of their "foreign

friends."

They have essentially wiped out a generation, perhaps a million

or two Khmer. They killed only a few foreigners. No, they are not "nationalists"

nor are they "patriots". They are more like the Vietnamese or Thai who couldn't

wait to swallow up Cambodia.

Let us not forget that the Khmer Rouge have

worked with or for their "Vietnamese friends" before their relationship got

severed. Also, they are currently working (or have been in the past) with the

Thai since their expulsion from Phnom Penh. No need to mention other foreigners,

such as communist China. In my humble opinion, they are probably not going stop

their cowardly activities until Thailand's "new border" is the west bank of the

Mekong River and Vietnam's is the east.

Of course I am very bitter about

the KR, the group that is responsible for the death of nearly my entire family

and my people. Many including myself are suffering, and probably will for life.

They came close to wiping out my native homeland. No Khmer could ever have done

that to a Khmer, so people said. But that's what the KR did and are still doing.

It is sick beyond human comprehension. What they have done to their own kind, to

themselves, is beyond reality.

One thing is for sure, they could not have

done it all by themselves. They have had a lot of help from foreign powers and

also from the media who continue to give the KR a new lease on life. Those who

are or have been siding with the KR, no matter how large or small, should be

ashamed of themselves. Their lack of conscience and morality is lower than the

lowest parasite on earth. What goes around will comes around for the KR and

their supporters.

In conclusion, I hope that those who are sympathizing

with the KR, especially the younger generation who did not experience the many

brutalities in the last 25 years, will stay away from the devil.

Most

importantly, I hope that the KR rank and file continue to wake up from their

inhuman activities and return to society. There is not a single good reason to

continue to go on fighting and killing fellow Khmer anymore, not one! There are

not too many Khmer left on this planet as it is. We can't afford to lose anymore

Khmer life. Enough is enough, please. As a victim, I have already forgiven the

KR for their past animal behavior. I will, however, never forget what they have

done to me and my people.

- Ranachith (Ronnie) Yimsut, (One of the only survivors of a Khmer Rouge

massacre.) - Oregon, USA.