http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1334729,00.html
– Might be even worse if they were *Islamic* fundamentalists
Khmer Rouge Embraces Jesus
Pol Pot's Ruthless Killers Are Repenting Their Sins
By Jason Burke Sunday
The Observer – UK
10-23-4
The Khmer Rouge followed a harsh brand of communism, killing
nearly two million people in their bid to return Cambodia to
Year Zero. Now they have a new faith: evangelical Christianity.
Hundreds of former fighters have been baptised in the past
year. The Khmer Rouge's mountain stronghold, the town of
Pailin in south-west Cambodia, has four churches, all with
pastors and growing congregations. At least 2,000 of those
who followed Pol Pot, the guerrillas' former leader who died
six years ago, now worship Jesus.
Many new converts were involved in the bloody battles,
massacres and forced labour programmes that led to the
Killing Fields. Between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge sought
to eradicate religion, ripping down the country's biggest
cathedral, killing Muslim clerics and turning Buddhist
temples into pigsties.
According to one pastor, 70 per cent of the converts in
Pailin are Khmer Rouge. For many, it offers a hope of
salvation. 'When I was a soldier I did bad things. I don't
know how many we killed. We were following orders and
thought it was the right thing to do,' said Thao Tanh, 52.
'I read the Bible and I know it will free me from the weight
of the sins I have committed.'
The Khmer Rouge have been the focus of a drive by US-based
religious groups. Lee Samith, a senior aide of Pailin's
governor, was a military intelligence officer for the Khmer
Rouge and one of the cadres to convert. He had been
repeatedly visited by a missionary from a Colorado-based
group, who showed films of the life of Christ.
'I opened my heart and Jesus came in,' said Lee, 36. Like 90
per cent of Cambodians, he was previously a Buddhist. Now he
is involved in the New Life Presbyterian Church, on the
outskirts of Pailin. Its wooden walls are covered with
Christmas decorations and colourful posters portraying the
life of Jesus.
But Lee has yet to shed all his former ideology. 'Pol Pot
had good ideas for Cambodia and for all people,' he said.
'Only foreigners talk about genocide. Deaths due to class
conflict are inevitable.'
After being ousted from Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital,
in 1979 by the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge withdrew to the
mountains to fight a series of regimes.
Pailin, which is rich in timber and gems, has been the
economic springboard for the movement since its beginnings.
It is a rough place, full of bamboo brothels and bars
selling bad alcohol and worse food. It is reached by a
50-mile road so rutted and potholed that it takes even 4WD
vehicles more than three hours to negotiate. The thickly
forested hills, scene of dozens of battles over 30 years,
are heavily mined.
But the Khmer Rouge has now largely been brought in from the
cold. Pailin's governor is a member of the Cambodian Prime
Minister's party, despite being a former bodyguard of Pol
Pot. His deputy, Kuoet Sothea, a key aide of the genocidal
leader, told The Observer that many of his former
comrades-in-arms 'feel sorry for what they did. National
unity and solidarity is the main aim now'.
Several senior figures, such as 'Duch' – Kang Kek Ieu –
who ran the S21 complex in Phnom Penh where an estimated
16,000 people died, have converted to Christianity. Their
new faith offers more than spiritual comfort. After years of
negotiation with the UN, the Cambodian government has
reluctantly agreed to put those responsible for the genocide
of the late 1970s on trial.
Several Khmer Rouge leaders live in villas in Pailin,
profiting from large farms, logging of hardwood forests and
gem mining. Though many are old, they now fear dying in
prison. Christian repentance is likely to mitigate any
sentence they might receive.
Kun Lung, 49, started as a bodyguard for the senior
commanders and became the Khmer Rouge's best-known
propagandist, responsible for bloodcurdling broadcasts on
their infamous radio station. He was baptised recently and
now organises Pailin Radio, describing 'God's work' in two
daily programmes.
However, although it is the senior commanders who will stand
trial, the missionaries, funded by evangelical associations
in America, South Korea and Singapore, have found most of
their converts among the middle and lower ranks of the Khmer
Rouge.
Most veterans now eke out a living as landless labourers on
the estates of their former political chiefs. They live in
flimsy shacks and work 15-hour days. With no government or
international aid, local amenities are scarce. There is one
dilapidated health clinic for 30,000 people.
The missionaries have built an orphanage and Bible schools.
One pastor is planning a kindergarten. Other groups have
built wells, marked 'A gift from Jesus'.
