Cambodia - Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh

Assalamualaikum. Chomreabsuor. 

After Choeung Ek killing field, we went back to town. Boleh baca sini untuk cerita pasal Choeung Ek Killing Field. 

Masa turun dari tuk-tuk, aku sudah rasa ndak sedap badan. Panas sejuk panas sejuk. Tekak pun rasa pahit semacam. Sah demam! Kalau biar aku duduk di tuk-tuk, confirm akan tidur tanpa belas kasihan. Tapi aku gagahkan diri juga untuk turun. Sudah alang-alang sampai haruslah teruskan niat untuk menjejak; mau repeat visit ntah bila kan. Kami decide untuk roam freely dalam museum ni so we didn't rent the audio guide let alone hire a guide to show us around.

Sepatutnya sebelum pi Choeung Ek, patut pi Tuol Sleng ni dulu. Sebabnya sebelum tahanan dihantar pi Choeung Ek untuk dibunuh, mereka terlebih dahulu diseksa dengan kejam di penjara ni. Tuol Sleng letaknya di tengah bandar Phnom Penh, while Choeung Ek is an hour away from the capital. Cuba bayangkan betapa bijaksana pemerintahan si Pol Pot durjana ni! Mau tutup kegiatan binatang diorang, haruslah kawasan pembunuhan kena somewhere farther away. Supaya orang ramai ndak tau.

30 January 2015
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom Penh

# Pintu masuk Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Sebenarnya, dulu penjara ni adalah sebuah sekolah menengah. After Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian Civil War, it was then converted into a prison or interrogation center. Tuol Sleng was then renamed as Security Prison 21 (S-21). Buildings here are preserved as they were left when Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979. Fyi, there are at least 20,000 detainees from Tuol Sleng executed at Choeung Ek. 

# Ridiculous rules set by the Khmer Rouge.

# One of the cell. Nope, tu bukan katil! Rather it is a rusting iron bedframe, modified into a torturing instrument. At some rooms, they are black-and-white photos above the instrument; showing the room as it was found.  

Soon after Khmer Rouge ambil alih sekolah yang mempunyai 5 blok ni, construction began to adapt the prison to the detainees. Windows were covered with iron bars; mainly to prevent escapes. Paling ndak boleh blah bila dapat tau, penjara ni 'dipaksa' tampung sampai beribu banduan. Diorang ditahan, diseksa & disoal jawab. Kalau jawapan yang banduan tu bagi ndak macam apa yang Pol Pot mahu or 'pegawai penjara' ndak puas hati with the detainees' attitudes, jadinya sila bersedia untuk terima habuan di Choeung Ek. Hatta minum without asking permission from the guards pun akan terima hukuman.

# The first building we entered.

Kununnya, Bangunan A ni special sikit because less cells were built here. Ada dalam 20 prisoner cells. Yang ni memang khas untuk rakyat yang berpangkat & golongan bijak pandai. Politicians, government servants, soldiers, doctors, engineers etc etc. Kenapa diorang ndak seksa golongan macam petani; u asked? Golongan tu tentera Khmer Rouge sudah brainwash awal-awal...and MOST of them memang termakan racun yang dibaja. And eventually joined Pol Pot. Ntah apa si Bedebah tu janji sama diorang tapi kesian sangat. Bila diorang sedar what they did were wrong & started to rebel, Pol Pot akan 'tukar status' diorang jadi banduan. In which nyawa diorang pun akan berakhir di killing field. Sigh!

# Classroom converted into crude cells.

# Corridor. Mesti seriau gila banduan dalam sel bila dengar or nampak bayangan prison guards berjalan di sini.

Nampak tempayan besar tu (refer picture below)? Dulu palang tu buat gantung buaian student. But during the Khmer Rouge years, tu dijadikan salah satu alat menyeksa banduan. Tempayan diisi dengan air super busuk i.e kencing, air longkang. Detainees were hung upside down. Bila banduan passed out, diorang akan direndam dalam tempayan tu. Once sedar, interrogation will start again. I wonder apa jaklah jawapan yang diorang mau dengar dari banduan tu semua.

# Nampak macam pemandangan biasa kan? Bangunan sekolah terbiar. Tapi?!! Ntah berapa nyawa ndak berdosa terseksa di sini.

# Electrified barbed wire. Mampu mau escape?

# Gila cheapskate. Nombor tu represents tempat gantung kunci for each cells. 

# Motif buat sel sekecil ni? Supaya tiada interaction between the inmates. Takutlah tu kalau semua bersatu hati & memberontak.

# Among the posters yang ada di sekolah ni. 

Despite being unwell, I managed to visit all the buildings. Budak-budak lain gave up after the second & third buildings. Diorang just duduk di bench depan one of the building & waited for me to finish touring. Ada banyak gambar banduan yang pernah ditahan di sini. They displayed the photos at each buildings. Also ada detailed biographies of the detainees. Yang tu memang simpanan tentera Khmer Rouge. Semua banduan yang baru masuk di S-21 ni akan diarah untuk tulis cerita hidup diorang dari kecil up until penahanan diorang di S-21.

From at least 20,000 who were imprisoned here, only 7 made it out alive. 14 others has been tortured to death before the Vietnamese forces found them. Most of the exhibited photographs showing people being tortured were captured by a Vietnamese combat photographer. Macam mana diorang boleh jumpa this prison? Diorang ikut bau busuk of rotting corpses which eventually lead them the prison's gates. Boleh imagine macam mana busuk bau tu sampai askar jadikan 'penunjuk arah'? Sickening! 

# Graves of the 14 last victims at the school's courtyard.

Before exiting the museum, we met Bou Meng whom is among the three of handful survivors. Dia tengah promo his book; story about his life in the prison. Tapi memang ndak beli lah kan, belum masuk kelas Khmer language lagi. Tettt! 

Keluar dari sini, melilau cari Omriya. Sebab tuk-tuk ndak boleh parking sembarangan di luar muzium ni, so kenalah gigih cari di mana Omriya & his friend parked their tuk-tuks. Whatspp Omriya tapi undelivered. Nasib ndak lama usaha mencari; turned out handphone Omriya ran out of battery. Lompat naik tuk-tuk & laju bagitau yang kami lapar! Last meal adalah breakfast di Halal Restaurant pagi tadi. No wonder perut buat konsert dangdut-cum-rock. Demam satu hal, perut lapar satu hal. Betterlah jamu perut before things get worst kan. Tu aku sambung next entry. Sekian. *ahaks*

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