About Pol Pot

Including the policies implemented by Pol Pot in Cambodia and the resulting death toll, it is likely an entirely unknown figure. I have read the Chinese version of some of Pol Pot’s writings, where he stated that the claims by the West and Vietnam accusing him of causing the deaths of over a million Cambodians are entirely false. He said these were part of the propaganda war launched by Vietnamese invaders to justify their invasion of Cambodia. Considering that Cambodia’s population at the time was only over 3 million, I seriously question the authenticity of such exaggerated and enormous figures. The numbers cited by the Vietnamese invaders are completely unreliable. Many people say Pol Pot was a terrifying butcher, but I believe he at least had a side that was not so dark. Pol Pot had only two wives in his lifetime, and he lived in poverty throughout his life. When his base at Mount Malai was destroyed, and he was betrayed and forced to flee, there weren’t many belongings in his room. Among them were many books gifted to him by Mao Zedong, as well as a collection of Mao’s writings. During the period when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, Vietnam did invade Cambodia multiple times. Vietnam, strategically, did indeed attempt to annex Cambodia. These are undeniable facts. Even the Voice of America, which is widely regarded as a tool of Western propaganda, reported similar content. Furthermore, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Chinese leader Mao Zedong all supported the Khmer Rouge. If the Khmer Rouge were truly as terrifying and caused over a million deaths as Western propaganda claims, why did the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries continue to recognize the Khmer Rouge as Cambodia’s sole legitimate government in the United Nations for a long time? Why recognize what they allegedly viewed as a bloody and brutal terrorist organization as Cambodia’s only legitimate government? Although they try to justify it in various ways, these objective facts are things they can never change. In fact, Pol Pot, whose real name was Saloth Sar, was a tragic and idealistic communist. He may have taken overly extreme measures, but he consistently adhered to communist ideals, which in theory are eternally just. I believe the tragic life he led and the potentially extreme policies he implemented may trace back to his childhood. Regardless, his family in Cambodia was not particularly wealthy. In his later years, they might barely qualify as middle class. When he went to study in France, I imagine his financial situation was not particularly affluent. I suspect he experienced something similar to my own experience: coming from a not-so-wealthy family and studying abroad in a so-called developed country, personally witnessing the cruel oppression of capitalism against the poor and ordinary people. I believe this experience forged his belief in communism and his hatred of capitalism. We have both witnessed the evil of capitalism with our own eyes, and so our hearts are filled with anger. None of this is our fault; we had no other choice. I believe that no matter what he did, as long as he did not embrace Western capitalism, he would be labeled as evil, as a murderous maniac. Even though he lived a life of poverty, far better than those shiny, well-dressed, moralizing American politicians who are gluttonous and corrupt, you can claim he killed however many people, but no one can deny his efforts to fight against French colonial rulers and Vietnamese invaders for his country and nation. No one can deny his lifelong poverty and commitment to his ideals. Perhaps he did indeed commit suicide, unwilling to face what the so-called “justice” would bring him. Perhaps, even after experiencing all these things, there remained a part of his heart that held steadfast to his original beliefs. The same kinds of attacks and smears have also been directed at figures like Mao Zedong, Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, and others, exaggerating and distorting the effects of the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, and the three years of natural disasters, while attributing all these events entirely to Mao Zedong’s leadership mistakes. Regarding the Great Leap Forward and the three years of natural disasters, I have already addressed their authenticity earlier. As for the Cultural Revolution, it can be explained with a very simple example. This event is often portrayed as something profoundly negative, but if we revisit history, the last time a dynasty unified and ruled by the Han people existed—the Ming Dynasty—Ming Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) adopted almost identical policies in the early years of his reign. In fact, one could argue that Mao Zedong and Zhu Yuanzhang had many similarities in their post-foundation governance. Both eliminated a large number of meritorious officials who contributed to the founding of their regimes. During the early Ming Dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, there were even instances of suspending the imperial examination system for several years. The reason for suspending the examinations during the Ming Dynasty was that it was discovered that a large proportion of the successful candidates came from wealthy and aristocratic families of the former Yuan Dynasty. These wealthy merchants and local gentry were not entirely eradicated, and if the imperial examinations continued, allowing them to participate, many of the Ming Dynasty’s officials would still come from these families, and they could even dominate the court. Meanwhile, the children of the poor had no opportunity to advance. This is why the imperial examinations were suspended. Similarly, in New China, if the university entrance examinations had not been temporarily suspended, many of the university students admitted would still be the children of landlords from the old era. Only they had access to education, as they had the wealth to afford private tutors and schools. It was only by pausing the exams for several years that ordinary people and the poor, who had no access to good education in the old days, could receive basic education under the new government and then participate in university entrance exams. If this were not done, as the famous saying goes, “The lawyer’s son becomes a lawyer, the merchant’s son remains a merchant, and the politician’s son stays a politician; if things go on this way, nothing will change for decades.” The Cultural Revolution did destroy some aspects of traditional culture, but this was an unavoidable side effect. Only by doing so could the feudal superstitions of the past be eradicated, and the millennia-long dominance of feudal systems and ideologies over China could be completely overturned.

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Mike Shang